HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031989.jpg
1.38 MB
Extraction Summary
2
People
3
Organizations
1
Locations
1
Events
1
Relationships
3
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Article / movie review (house oversight committee record)
File Size:
1.38 MB
Summary
This document appears to be a scanned page of a review or article discussing the 2010 documentary 'Inside Job' directed by Charles Ferguson. The text analyzes the film's critique of the financial crisis, specifically focusing on the corruption within academia, the Federal Reserve, and the White House, while noting the narrator Matt Damon's call to action. The document bears a 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031989' footer, indicating it is part of a larger document production from the House Oversight Committee.
People (2)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Ferguson | Director/Filmmaker |
The creator of the documentary 'Inside Job', described as critiquing academia and economists.
|
| Mr. Damon | Narrator |
Matt Damon, narrator of the film, mentioned exhorting viewers to demand change.
|
Organizations (3)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| White House |
Mentioned as a place where some challenged professors held positions of responsibility.
|
|
| Federal Reserve |
Mentioned as a place where some challenged professors held positions of responsibility.
|
|
| Academia |
Subject of Ferguson's critique regarding corruption by consulting fees.
|
Locations (1)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
Referenced in the context of 'non-Wall-Street-connected workers'.
|
Relationships (1)
Ferguson challenges professors... they are reduced to stammering obfuscation.
Key Quotes (3)
"Markets are not like tectonic plates, shifting on their own. Visible hands write laws and make deals"Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031989.jpg
Quote #1
"You can't be serious!"Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031989.jpg
Quote #2
"Inside Job is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned)."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031989.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,279 characters)
How did this happen? Mr. Ferguson is no conspiracy theorist; nor is he inclined toward structural or systemic explanations. Markets are not like tectonic plates, shifting on their own. Visible hands write laws and make deals, and in this case a combination of warped values and groupthink seems to have driven very intelligent men (and they were mostly men) toward folly. In addition to business and government, Mr. Ferguson aims his critique at academia, suggesting that the discipline of economics and more than a few prominent economists were corrupted by consulting fees, seats on boards of directors and membership in the masters of the universe club.
When he challenges some of these professors, in particular those who held positions of responsibility in the White House or in the Federal Reserve, they are reduced to stammering obfuscation - Markets are complicated! Who could have predicted? I don't see any conflict of interest - and occasionally provoked to testiness. Mr. Ferguson, for his part, cannot always contain his incredulity or rein in his sarcasm. Occasionally his voice pipes up from off camera, saying things like, "You can't be serious!"
But it is hard to imagine a movie more serious, and more urgent, than "Inside Job." There are a few avenues that might have been explored more thoroughly, in particular the effects of the crisis on ordinary, non-Wall-Street-connected workers and homeowners. The end of the film raises a disturbing question, as Mr. Damon exhorts viewers to demand changes in the status quo so that the trends associated with unchecked speculation of the kind that caused the last crisis - rising inequality, neglect of productive capacity, endless cycles of boom and bust - might be reversed.
This call to arms makes you wonder why anger of the kind so eloquently expressed in "Inside Job" has been so inchoate. And through no fault of its own, the film may leave you dispirited as well as enraged. Its fate is likely to be that of other documentaries: praised in some quarters, nitpicked in others and shrugged off by those who need its message most. Which is a shame.
"Inside Job" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Some drug and sex references and pervasive obscenity, though not the verbal kind.
When he challenges some of these professors, in particular those who held positions of responsibility in the White House or in the Federal Reserve, they are reduced to stammering obfuscation - Markets are complicated! Who could have predicted? I don't see any conflict of interest - and occasionally provoked to testiness. Mr. Ferguson, for his part, cannot always contain his incredulity or rein in his sarcasm. Occasionally his voice pipes up from off camera, saying things like, "You can't be serious!"
But it is hard to imagine a movie more serious, and more urgent, than "Inside Job." There are a few avenues that might have been explored more thoroughly, in particular the effects of the crisis on ordinary, non-Wall-Street-connected workers and homeowners. The end of the film raises a disturbing question, as Mr. Damon exhorts viewers to demand changes in the status quo so that the trends associated with unchecked speculation of the kind that caused the last crisis - rising inequality, neglect of productive capacity, endless cycles of boom and bust - might be reversed.
This call to arms makes you wonder why anger of the kind so eloquently expressed in "Inside Job" has been so inchoate. And through no fault of its own, the film may leave you dispirited as well as enraged. Its fate is likely to be that of other documentaries: praised in some quarters, nitpicked in others and shrugged off by those who need its message most. Which is a shame.
"Inside Job" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Some drug and sex references and pervasive obscenity, though not the verbal kind.
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031989
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