All views held are solely his own and subject to change. But The film takes a historically objective examination of the decisions, and their consequences, made by Federal Reserve policymakers. The transcript from the Federal Reserve chairman's interview with Scott Pelley.
Through the agreement, the US would link the Dollar to gold while all other nations linked their currency to the US dollar. Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Congress rammed through the CARES Act — which economist Michael Hudson explains is not a "bailout" but a massive, $6 trillion giveaway to Wall Street, banks, large corporations, and stockholders. Though less homes were being built and many construction workers were out of work, the Fed accomplished its mandate and returned inflation to manageable levels.And in 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed a laissez-faire and Ayn Rand objectivist advocate by the name of Alan Greenspan to the world’s most powerful central bank. Volker took great pride in the Fed’s ‘independence within the government’ and did the politically unpopular thing to do by raising interest rates over the next few years — at one point, reaching as high as 21%. With such low interest rates, housing prices were artificially inflated for borrowers willing to sign for a home. The rest of the film takes a close examination of Mr. Greenspan’s decisions during his tenure.The three events during Greenspan’s tenure most closely examined are that of the stock market crash of 1987, the collapse a prevention of contagion by Long Term Capital Management in 1998 and the creation of the housing bubble before collapse during the mid-2000s.During each, the film argues, Greenspan acted as an interventionist in ‘cleaning up the mess,’ but did little to prevent it from occurring in the first place. President Lyndon Baines Johnson envisioned a Great Society and winning the Vietnam War through a massive troop build-up.To combat the inevitable rising inflation through a massive increase in government spending on war and social programs, Chairman William Martin wanted to raise interest rates. Greenspan’s aggressive cutting of interest rates to prevent a recession after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks did exponential damage in adding fuel to the housing crisis. ... BEN BERNANKE, Federal Reserve Chairman Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve is available to stream through Netflix.
To make matters worse, Congress gave the Fed sole authority to regulate housing markets and those companies issuing loans, which the Fed did not act to regulate.The film explains how The Fed responded when Greenspan retired after an unprecedented 5 terms and Ben Bernanke took reigns — through unprecedented action of bailouts and quantative easing.At one point during the mid-2000s, the film cuts to Brooksly Born, Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission testifying to Congress on the need to regulate some new derivative markets, a position in which Greenspan disagrees. As the Fed looks to ‘normalize’ rates in the near future, many economists explain that the Fed is ‘out of bullets’ in terms of correcting any crisis that may be on the horizon.With the stability of the Euro increasingly in question, and Puerto Rico in a ‘death spiral’ of debt obligations they have stated they cannot repay, watching Money for Nothing will give you fresh eyes through which to view economic events occurring throughout the world.You can follow more of John’s writings including such topics as poetry, politics, policy and humour on Facebook here. Inside the Meltdown.
Such actions taught traders and large banks that there was little downside risk to their increasingly aggressive actions.The film also concludes that Greenspan encouraged markets in the creation of “Asset Bubbles,” whereby individuals drew equity out of their home to support consumer spending, which would have otherwise been recessed during the mid-2000s. Mike Bryan, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, talks about money—its definition, the problem it solves, what fiat money accomplishes, and how the Yapese used giant wheels of stone for money—in four video segments that teachers can show to students or use for their own professional development.