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'The Big Short' Roundtable: “You’re Rooting For These Guys. They’re Like Us. They’re Outsiders" (Original Post) Quixote1818 Jan 2016 OP
Thank you for posting CoffeeCat Jan 2016 #1
See the movie Jack Rabbit Jan 2016 #2
How about the "synthetic collateralized debt obligation"? longship Jan 2016 #3
Go see this movie shadowmayor Jan 2016 #4
Well, I've read the book multiple times. longship Jan 2016 #5
It was delightful, loved all the characters, glad to see lots of older people in the show. ancianita Jan 2016 #6
In the book, there is an iconic scene near the end. longship Jan 2016 #8
Thanks! It's on my current list. ancianita Jan 2016 #9
thanks nt mhatrw Jan 2016 #7

CoffeeCat

(24,411 posts)
1. Thank you for posting
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 12:57 AM
Jan 2016

I watched the entire piece and loved it. Thanks!

I watched the movie a few hours ago, so this was nice to help me decompress. It's going to take a while to come down from that movie.

Steve Corelle said it best when he said that it was a romp until it was a horror movie, and then it was terrifying.

Jack Rabbit

(45,984 posts)
2. See the movie
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 01:43 AM
Jan 2016

I saw it Monday. It's very good and very educational. Selena Gomez tells us all about credit default swaps painlessly.

longship

(40,416 posts)
3. How about the "synthetic collateralized debt obligation"?
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 03:26 AM
Jan 2016

How does the film describe that? The book explains it in plain language and narrative exactly what was going wrong.

It was the credit default swaps which enabled Wall Street to make new bonds created from those swaps because the swaps exactly duplicated the risk of the original mortgage.

However, the synthetic CDO enabled Wall Street to replicate those bonds over and over again. That's why the collapse was so huge. The risk of one bad mortgage could be replicated over and over. When one small group of mortgages went south, many bonds would zero. It did not take very many bad mortgages to effectively zero out the entire economic system.

BTW, the book is really great.

shadowmayor

(1,325 posts)
4. Go see this movie
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 04:23 AM
Jan 2016

I think you will enjoy the way the movie explains the synthetic market. It's a bit different from most movies, but the complexities are told by way of stories outside of the "script".

longship

(40,416 posts)
5. Well, I've read the book multiple times.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 04:29 AM
Jan 2016

I fully intend to see the movie. Unfortunately it will not likely show here. So I will likely have to wait for the DVD.

I am a huge fan of Michael Lewis.

ancianita

(35,813 posts)
6. It was delightful, loved all the characters, glad to see lots of older people in the show.
Sun Jan 3, 2016, 07:46 AM
Jan 2016

I loved the Carell character the most, because his face kept us knowing when laziness (mortgage broker machinery), labeling (bankers), expediency (ratings agencies) and tools in suits add up to macroeconomic corruption. It pisses me off, still, that the hedge fund rich can get away with saying "It's a fine line between stupidity and illegality", and that even the guy who left the filth of it all said, in the end, "You said you wanted to make money, didn't you?"

We here all figured this stuff out years ago, but there's a huge audience of those who should be made vigilant for the chicanery to come.

longship

(40,416 posts)
8. In the book, there is an iconic scene near the end.
Mon Jan 4, 2016, 06:01 AM
Jan 2016

Steve Eisman, and his compatriots, Vinny Daniels and Danny Moses (Eisman played by Steve Carell and cast as Mark Baum) are sitting on the steps of St. Patricks on Fifth Avenue. The entire economic world is melting down and they have all become very wealthy by shorting it. It is a poignant scene because they take no comfort in the situation.

It's yet another reason why Michael Lewis' book is such a good read.

READ IT! You will love Steve Eisman.

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