‘Big Short’ offers big megaphone for Sanders’ message

[sonofspy777]

"Mr. Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-described socialist seeking the presidency as a Democrat, has put greater regulation of Wall Street, the dismantling of big banks and greater federal regulation of financial markets at the center of his campaign. Specialists say “The Big Short” — which boasts an A-list cast including Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale — can only help get Mr. Sanders‘ message across to the broader American movie-going public.

“‘The Big Short’ is an argument for Sanders,” said Matthew Dallek, an assistant professor of political management at George Washington University, arguing the film encapsulates the anger and resentment many Americans still harbor toward the so-called “1 percent.”"

This out of a RW newspaper!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/31/bernie-sanders-message-gets-megaphone-in-big-short/


Go Bernie Go!

[Uncle Joe]

1. This should be a fascinating movie.

Thanks for the thread, sonofspy.

[Helen Borg]

9. Saw it. It's really educational!

Quite funny too, in the way they explain important concepts in a simple manner.

[Luminous Animal]

12. It is . I highly recommend it.

[peacebird]

2. Awesome!

[BlueStateLib]

3. 🎇Berne voted for legislation that created the housing bubble🎇

A key part of the movie was Dr. Michael Burry waiting for the 2 year teaser rate given to home buyers to expired triggering a default avalanche. So what happened two years before 2008 that caused the housing bubble?

Bernie Sanders and congress bought into George Bushes ownership society and voted yes for every housing initiative Bush proposed

American Dream Downpayment Act 2003
Dec 16, 2003 - President Bush on Tuesday signed into law the American Dream ... payment and closing costs, and further strengthen America's housing market
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031216-9.html

Zero-down mortgage initiative by Bush is hit -


BUSH ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW HUD "ZERO DOWN PAYMENT" MORTGAGE
Initiative Aimed at Removing Major Barrier to Homeownership

LAS VEGAS - As part of President Bush's ongoing effort to help American families achieve the dream of homeownership, Federal Housing Commissioner John C. Weicher today announced that HUD is proposing to offer a "zero down payment" mortgage, the most significant initiative by the Federal Housing Administration in over a decade. This action would help remove the greatest barrier facing first-time homebuyers - the lack of funds for a down payment on a mortgage.
http://archives.hud.gov/news/2004/pr04-006.cfm

Bush drive for home ownership fueled housing bubble
By JO BECKER, SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and STEPHEN LABATONDEC. 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — "We can put light where there's darkness, and hope where there's despondency in this country. And part of it is working together as a nation to encourage folks to own their own home."
- President George W. Bush, Oct. 15, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html?_r=0

Bush proposed housing initiatives didn't go far enough for Bernie Sanders, the housing bubble would have been worse if what Bernies wanted done was implemented

[Proserpina]

5. The Housing Bubble and Crash was due to CONTROL FRAUD

The loan originators, the people who wrote the mortgages, lied. They lied repeatedly. They lied to accountants, they lied to judges, they lied to the borrowers, they lied to the agencies that rated the securitized bonds made up of these "liar loans", they lied to every county Registry of Deeds!

Don't try to palm this off on either Congress as a whole, or Bernie Sanders in particular. That would be a LIE!

And although I loathe him with the heat of a thousand suns, I don't think W can even be blamed. This was financial fraud, all the way.

If you want proof, I can provide a reading list. Start with the regular threads in the economy group on this website: Stock Market Watch, and Weekend Economist. Read "Econned" by the blogger Yves Smith, whose actual name escapes me, but you can look it up.

[CorporatistNation]

10. The Fuse For The Debacle Was Lit When Glass Steagal Was Eliminated and the Commodities Futures

Modernization Act was signed into law... Who was the President who signed these bills? Whose spouse wants to be President NOW?

Watch the movie... Read the book by Michael Lewis upon which The Big Short is based. Basically a dramatization/documentary.

ANYONE who sees this movie should understand clearly who to vote FOR in the Presidential Primary and more importantly... WHO NOT TO VOTE FOR!

[ismnotwasm]

14. That is not what the book implies

It's a great read, Glass-Steagall is not mentioned one time, and is out of the scope of the book. Nice try though

[CorporatistNation]

17. Perhaps Not Mentioned, However Repeal of GS And The CFMA Had Everything to do With

setting the stage for the debacle... Kick!

[reformist2]

7. This is a Repug lie. Fraud caused the bubble, and people who weakly scolded them to 'cut it out.'

[tecelote]

8. Good one!

[mhatrw]

15. How much would it have cost the government to buy every one of the houses and lend them

to their owners with more favorable loan terms?

It would have cost far less than it cost to bail out the "too big to fail" investment banks who made huge bets (not just on housing, but also on all sorts of derivatives) knowing they would lose.

[nxylas]

4. Lots of pro-Bernie comments underneath

I'm guessing the Washington Times wasn't expecting that. They probably took it for granted that the reader reaction would be "OMG I'm outraged by this socialist propaganda!"

[Jack Rabbit]

11. How can the story of the 2008 crash be told without it being pro-Bernie?

Or at least anti-establishment?

It can't even be blamed exclusively on Republicans. Democrats were in on the heist, too. It started with Uncle Ronnie and every president who followed him, including Clinton and Obama, has been part of the problem. Phil Gramm was the Republican senator who was behind banking regulation, but it was the Democratic president Bill Clinton who signed it into law on the advice of Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. The crash of 2008 may have been on the Frat Boy's watch, but it was Eric Holder who drove the getaway car for Legs Dimon and Pretty Boy Lloyd.

Hillary Clinton takes money from the criminals of 2008 and promises to continue the pro-corporate policies of the last three and a half decades that brought us the S&L crisis of 1988 and the meltdown of 2008, more income inequality, more fraud and more trade deals that give sovereignty to criminal corporations. You will pardon me if I oppose Mrs. Clinton's candidacy. I don't see the America of 2020, after four years of a Clinton Administration, as being a better place than it is now. Somehow, I see voting for Mrs. Clinton over a quasi-Nazi like Donald Trump as accepting the lesser of two evils. So, while I will vote for her on that basis, I will also actively oppose her once she is in office as I would a Republican president. She'll make some small, positive reforms in terms of equal pay for women and legal rights for gays and give some lip service to protecting black youth from murderous rogue cops, perhaps announced by White House adviser Rahm Emanuel. However, their will be more income inequality, fewer members of the middle class and more bodies in Arlington sacrificed to the noble cause of oil company profits.

[hootinholler]

6. "many Americans still harbor"

Like we should have forgiven and forgotten by now Sheesh!

Something everyone who had to find new work at 50+, everyone who lost their equity in their home, everyone with kids struggling to find apropos employment while shouldering crushing school loans, are reminded of daily.

Yeah we still harbor disgust at the third way, but also a bit of self loathing for being too busy 20 and 30 years ago to keep up with what was really going on. For trusting the MSM back in the day after they propped up Uncle Walter as a figurehead long after the bias towards the uber rich was instituted.

[Punkingal]

13. They count on us forgetting.....

And some of the posters on this forum have, judging by their comments.