The protagonist of the film is Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary when Lehman went bankrupt, and the plot basically revolves around Paulson. First of all, I have to say that I do not understand economics and finance. The main thing I watch when watching these kinds of films is the liveliness and the embodiment of human nature. The following are some of the fragmentary intuitive feelings and thoughts I have watched this film.
The entire film reproduces the scene at the beginning of the financial crisis, and the storyline and news reports are more in line. From the performance of the whole film, Paulson is like a loving father, and those Wall Street tycoons are like Paulson's disobedient children. In addition to Paulson, the loving father, there are several babysitters, such as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, New York Fed President Geithner (who became the Treasury Secretary of the Obama administration), and an SEC chairman. , but I can't remember the chairman's name. And these nannies, in the film, are all under Paulson's orders, showing that in the US financial system, the government is centered on the treasury secretary.
And those Wall Street tycoons, like all the children in the world, have the same attitude towards their fathers. Usually, the most annoying thing is their father's discipline, but when something happens, they all go to their fathers to help them confidently. In the financial crisis caused by the subprime mortgage in the United States, all the capitalists who were constantly clamoring to relax supervision, the government itself is the problem, and the market is automatically regulated, no matter what they said before, they went to the government. There are queues there for government bailouts. Among these people in the queue, Wall Street tycoons are naturally at the forefront. In addition to Wall Street, the three major American auto companies are also favored by the government and "nationalized" themselves. I remember reading some news reports on this, and one of the reports that struck me was that the porn industry in the US (seems to be mostly pornographic companies) was also lining up, asking for government bailouts, and telling the government, especially In an economic crisis, the pornography industry has high social value and can relieve people's anxiety, so the government cannot sit idly by and watch the collapse of the pornographic industry in financial distress.
At the beginning of the film, Lehman Brothers CEO Fuld asked Paulson to call Buffett and ask Buffett to consider buying Lehman. Paulson made the call. The film begins with this plot, and almost all of them are Paulson. How did Elson and his subordinates intervene in the market, such as pulling Wall Street tycoons to the Fed behind closed doors, forcing their own ideas to bleed for Lehman's resale and so on. These situations are really not in line with neoliberal discourse, but Americans seem to have little ideological burden and are very pragmatic. Chinese liberals should really learn this, because many people in China are ideological slaves, and no matter when, where, or what the situation is, social operations must conform to the ideology in their minds, regardless of any cost. To be honest, their ideology is precisely taught by the Americans, but the Americans are very realistic, they are not burdened by dogma, and they are not even afraid of nationalization. In this regard, the Chinese intellectuals are far worse. Heaven is in the country and the people, and there is crap between advancing and retreating.
In the film, Paulson's image is quite positive, a diligent and hardworking bureaucrat, while Bernanke is like a cautious little daughter-in-law who dares not speak loudly. The New York Fed's Geithner is a dynamic With the efforts of these people and the cooperation of the Wall Street tycoons who were locked up by them, Barclays Bank of the United Kingdom finally agreed to buy Lehman Company, but this brilliant victory disappeared immediately, because The acquisition was immediately rejected by the British regulatory authorities. In the film, Paulson immediately called the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Chancellor's reply was "We don't want to infect your cancer." According to the news reports I read, this sentence of the British in the film is indeed what he said in reality. The four potential buyers of Lehman in the film, Buffett's acquisition was rejected because Fuld thought the offer was too low, a South Korean bank failed because Fuld overvalued Lehman's real estate business, and the Bank of America's acquisition was rejected by another. Merrill Lynch, a beleaguered company of its kind, was the first to be acquired, while the Barclays takeover was rejected by the British government. The plot of the film has developed to this point, and the acquisition war led by Lehman and the US government has completely failed. In fact, the acquisition of Bank of America and Barclays in the film is basically dominated by the US government. Lehman has lost its right to speak and wait for itself. The arrival of the final destiny. With all the buyers out of the way, Paulson was faced with a choice between letting Lehman fail or direct government funding—as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae did—to bail out Lehman. Paulson's choice was the collapse of Lehman.
After the collapse of Lehman, the financial crisis in the United States and even the world raged, the stock market plummeted, and other big companies on Wall Street were shaken for a while. In the film, Paulson kept answering the phone after Lehman collapsed. Wall Street tycoons complained that Lehman's collapse put themselves at risk, and General Electric CEO Immelt, who was engaged in the real economy, also called to complain about the lack of credit funds. The company is very difficult. And French Finance Minister Garrard also called to complain about how Paulson could make this "terrible" mistake. It is worth mentioning that the French female finance minister became the current president of the International Monetary Fund. As a result, Paulson, who declared that he would never bail out companies again, was afraid. He immediately slapped himself and immediately provided funds for the dying American International Group (AIG) to prevent its collapse. At the end of the film, the U.S. government injected hundreds of billions of dollars into Wall Street and asked Wall Street to lend to businesses. As a result, Wall Street has really become "too big to fail".
Just as Chinese real estate developers have the ability to kidnap the Chinese government and the Chinese people, Wall Street in the United States has kidnapped the American government and the American people, and the degree of kidnapping is much higher than that of Chinese real estate developers. In the film, Paulson once fought for the kidnapping and caused Lehman to go bankrupt, but the second half of the film shows that these big financial institutions really cannot fail. If Lehman falls, the economy of the United States and even the world will be destroyed. Facing great difficulty. Paulson finally succumbed. He continued to inject capital for Wall Street giants. He eventually became just a "footnote" for Wall Street giants to be too big to fail.
Even today, many people still don't understand why alone did not save Lehman. Many people believe that if the US government prevented the collapse of Lehman, the financial crisis would not have deepened. Some people say that if Lehman is saved, McCain will be in the White House, and there will be no threat of "Obamacare"; some people say that if Lehman is saved, the stock market will not plummet, then Michael Jackson There's no need to promise 50 comeback concerts in London. He wouldn't be as stressed, he wouldn't be taking those sedatives, then, he might still be alive and so on. All these claims, including the movie "Too Big to Fail", seem to convey to people that "too big to fail" has become a fact. As we all know, during the Obama administration, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement took place in the United States, and Wall Street has become the cancer of American society (as the British Chancellor of the Exchequer said), but the "Occupy" movement cannot hurt Wall Street, because this cancer has Society symbiotically perishes and becomes an integral part of the social body. If this cancer is removed, society and the economy will collapse. If this cancer is not removed, society will slowly suffocate in small-scale collapses. Especially after the collapse of Lehman, it is too big to fail to become the consensus of the society, so what is there to fear on Wall Street? You can make money madly regardless of the risk. After the incident, the government pays the bill, in fact, all the citizens pay the bill. It is your own to make money, and the people will take the money when the accident happens. Then, this cancer will not get smaller, it will only get bigger, and the ability to kidnap will become stronger and stronger. The crisis in the United States can only be alleviated, it can only be postponed, and it can only be temporarily Suppression will not be eliminated, and it will become more and more violent in the future.
So, the last question remains, if the U.S. government directly invested in preventing the collapse of Lehman, can this financial crisis really avoid developing into what it looked like after Lehman collapsed? I don't understand economics and finance, let someone knowledgeable answer this question! I heard that Paulson has his own memoirs. I don’t know how he would evaluate his decision to treat Lehman Company afterwards. If there is this content in his memoirs, it should be a good reference.
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