We bring on a special guest, Daniel J., to discuss the allegedly true (hence the asterisk) story behind the housing bust and subsequent financial crisis of 2008 as depicted in The Big Short (also a book of the same name by Michael Lewis) . There is a lot going on here, and we don't even get to the asymmetrical aptitudes of the players vs. the regulators, or the scandal involving the regulators spending their time looking at porn, or the alarm-bells being sounded by the likes of Brooksley Born that went unheeded.
Here is the marketing spin on the movie:
"Based on the true story of four outsiders who saw what the big banks, media and government refused to: the global collapse of the economy. A bold investment leads them into the dark underbelly of banking, where everyone and everything is in question.
In 2008, Wall Street guru Michael Burry realizes that a number of subprime home loans are in danger of defaulting. Burry bets against the housing market by throwing more than $1 billion of his investors' money into credit default swaps. His actions attract the attention of banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), hedge-fund specialist Mark Baum (Steve Carell) and other greedy opportunists. Together, these men make a fortune by taking full advantage of the impending economic collapse in America."
Needless to say, the Austrian-analysis disputes this and much more.
Other things that we failed to mention were that these people in the film weren't the only ones to see this coming (Ron Paul & Peter Schiff were talking about it for years) nor were they the only ones betting against the housing market (Kyle Bass).
Needless to say - the official narrative and the story told in the film are highly dubious. We hope that you learn something in this episode and enjoy listening!
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For show notes and more, please visit: www.actualanarchy.com/20
Presented by www.ActualAnarchy.com
Robert and I analyze popular movies from a Rothbardian/AnarchoCapitalist perspective.
We use movies as a starting point for people who may not be familiar with this way of thinking. Discussion of the plot and decisions that characters make in relation to morality and violations of the non-aggression principle are our bread and butter.
We also will highlight and discuss any themes or lessons from Austrian Economics that we can glean from the film.
The point is to show what anarchy actually is with instances that are presented in film.
We publish at least once per week; and occasionally will do specials surrounding holidays or events (elections/olympics) and have guests.
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