Came out looking best: Hank Paulsen. The whole movie is told from his perspective (more or less), and in lieu of any other protagonist worth rooting for he serves in a pinch. If this was Brick he would come across as Brendan to Ben Bernanke’s Brain. Warren Buffett comes across as a delphic sage for all the ten seconds that he spends on screen. Also, the director, the cinematographer and the writers. A scene where Paulson’s office works out how their press officer should explain credit default swaps also spells it out for us viewers as well or better than the superlative Planet Money team did on NPR.
Came out looking worst: The FECSEC chair Chris Cox comes across as over his head and Rich Fuld of Lehman looks like a foolish dreamer who mostly lost a lottery that everyone else (more or less) won. John Thain of Merrill Lynch stinks up the motliest lineup since the Usual Suspects when he threatens to spike the TARP plan to save the world economy at literally the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute because it might trim his golden parachute. As Alyssa Rosenberg noted the movie covers too much ground to explain just how rich Thain’s complaint really is. Still, king lord asshole is clearly John McCain, who “suspended his campaign” just to tie up and eventually spike legislation that Paulson’s staff honestly believed was the last exit before chernobyl.
I would not revisit this issue ad nauseam, even if it does make me want to stab someone with a fucking pitchfork, except that it is really important that we not do it again. The more people understand exactly what happened the lower the chance that the cast of 2 Big 2 Fail will ask a bunch of mopey questions about how nobody saw it coming.
***Update***
Also, btw, too. Somewhere Paul Krugman is poking himself in the eye with a fork.
Tim F.
@Wiesman: Heh. Scott Paulson (Paulsen?) was a morning DJ in Pittsburgh back whenever I grew up there. Thanks, sorry, fixed.
Villago Delenda Est
McCain nailed that down with the utter debacle that was his cancelled Letterman appearance. Instead of telling Dave that “Look, Katie Couric asked me on, it’s in conflict with you, I need a raincheck for your show, please”, which Dave would have accepted as a fact of reality (“I’m just a crummy little entertainment show, I’m not the news”), McCain had to tell an outright lie that was shockingly easy to suss out. Letterman got live footage of McCain on the CBS Evening News after he was told by McCain that McCain had to go back to DC immediately. Well, not THAT immediately, obviously…
The rest is history. Combined with McCain’s utterly idiotic selection for a running mate, I’m sure this was a decisive factor in pushing a lot of people into the Obama camp.
Wiesman
Oh, you replied. I deleted it since you fixed.
Now everybody will know!
Dan
Cox was SEC, not FEC.
Tim F.
@Dan: Yeah. Late night, typing fast.
Spaghetti Lee
I didn’t watch it. I guess it’s a testament to how fucked up Wall Street is when Hank Paulsen is the good guy.
Brian S
I thought about watching it, but I didn’t because I figured I’m under enough stress at present and I don’t need to see if my head will actually levitate off my body if I increase the dosage.
Dream On
Crooks & Con Men, every one of them. No good guys in sight.
Joseph Nobles
Was this a screener, or did I screw up and not set the DVR?
Comrade Kevin
I’m recording it, later tonight, as my stupid brother is recording “The Event” (lolwut?). Will watch it tomorrow.
4jkb4ia
Even if I had HBO, I get the impression that if you read the book you are better off than having seen the movie.
Sorkin leaves you an impression of Paulson that is not heroic but basically benign. Paulson has something of an idea what could happen, but is overwhelmed by events when the crash comes. Paulson also knows nobody he can trust other than Bernanke and the people who worked for him at Goldman. Essentially Paulson is the adult because he chose public service and the Wall Street types are in the clutches of various kinds of fear and greed.
One of these days, I am going to see “Inside Job”. $20 for a DVD is about the same as for another book.
phantomist
“Are you hip to what the Bankers are saying?… Dig it, they’re telling it like it is. They know what’s happening in the city.”
Hank Paulson
Martin
Cox was my rep before his SEC gig. Over his head is an understatement. His entire understanding of finance comes from the bond masters of the universe over at PIMCO. This is ground zero for abolishing the SEC and any financial regulation. Cox’s appointment was not far removed from Bolton’s appointment as ambassador to the UN.
sfinny
Don’t have HBO so didn’t see it. I’m torn on whether or not I would want to see it as it relives an incredibly difficult time. Living it in real time as a member of the financial industry, in a small company that was devastated by the larger players, was horrible. Unfortunately the big guys have learned little, and are pissed that people are casting aspersions at them. Poor dears.
Steeplejack
@Comrade Kevin:
It’s on HBO again at about 4:15 EDT Tuesday morning and on HBO2 at 8:00 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
El Cid
Never forget that if it weren’t for Nancy Pelosi’s strategic and unwavering direction of House Democrats, the TARP vote would have been hung around the Democrats’ neck for the Republicans to push them into the water.
For once, Republicans lost out when they had counted on Democrats to yield to the immense pressure by big finance demanding TARP’s passage and the frequent unwillingness of so many elected Democrats to connect political strategy with how the country actually gets run.
‘C’mon, Democrats,’ says Scumtongue, ‘you don’t really need us. You can pass it. Think of the country, in Our Time Of Need. You know you want to… And you know you’ll do it anyway, so stop threatening us because you always give in anyway.’
Pelosi warned the House GOP that the Democrats would only offer enough Democratic votes to pass the bill if Republicans supplied a majority of their own bloc.
Jackasses like Newt Gingrich had been running around to all the right wing talk shows on how the Republicans had to vote ‘no’ to save us from the Democrats’ soshullism.
Well guess what — and nobody in the god-damned fucking media cares to point this out to Mr. GOP Presidential Scholar Statesman — when the morning of the vote it suddenly became clear that the Democrats were holding firm and too many House Republicans were going to vote against TARP, either Big Finance and their super-wealthy allies or general bigwig muckety-mucks told Gingrich ‘you better get with the fucking program because this is a god-damned priority for us‘.
The very fucking morning that the vote was to be held, suddenly Gingrich slammed his ass in full reverse, and while the prior days or weeks (I forget) he’d been screaming against TARP and how the Republican Freemakit Patriots had to defeat it, that very fucking morning he suddenly began saying that though the bill was extremely flawed, it had to be passed.
Mr. Fucking Scholar Statesman. Chicken-shit coward.
So the vote took place and Pelosi and the Democrats held. And the bill was defeated. Because the GOP didn’t hold up the deal, and Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats had enough of a fucking clue to realize what would have happened if they’d been suckered into being the ‘mature’ party and been the ones who voted TARP through on their own.
All of a sudden the shit changed for the GOP Patriot Galt Heroes: they suddenly started getting the same realization or howling calls I figure Gingrich got.
This time, nobody with real power & wealth in this country were going to put up with their babbling, nihilist shit.
The GOP House ‘leadership’ had apparently rounded up the prion-ridden strays and threw them into the cattle guides to walk where the googly-eyed, shaking in their boots GOP Deputies wanted them to go.
Think about that: 95 House Republicans reversed their votes and voted for it. Because Pelosi and (hopefully the rest of) the House D. leadership stood their ground and made the GOP drag out the lariats so that they wouldn’t vanish as the party of even more big business servitude.
Thank Nancy Pelosi once again. Think about what the political balance and climate would be if Democrats had listened to the immense pressure to go ahead and approve it on their own for the good of ‘the country’, meaning their most prominent backers on Wall Street.
And let’s all praise Gingrich for at least having the consistency to change his screaming empty arguments overnight, whereas the real party base in such types as Sean Hannity manage to reverse their POV in mid-sentence, depending on which influential guest they’re talking to.
Ija
What about Geithner? How big was his role in all this? I thought he got the job as Treasury Secretary in part because of the stories about how important he was in all the deal-making to save the failing banks. Was he really that influential or was that just spin and PR?
jaywillie
OT but Nick Pinto of Minneapolis City Pages as a rather serious story of Pawlenty’s pardon of a convicted child molester in 2008, who was arrested and charged in Nov. 2010 for molesting his own daughter 250 times over the last 8 years:
source: http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/12/jeremy_giefer_child_molester_pardon.php
Now, think about this quote by then Minnesota House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty in 2001:
If the press picks up this story, Pawlenty could be done very quickly.
Mitch Daniels
I wanted to watch it, but my wife won’t let me.
Suffern ACE
@phantomist: The comparison works much better than I initially thought. As the story opens, Hank Paulson is standing over the corpse of the banking industry, whom he dated for awhile, whom he can’t admit out loud that he still loves, but that passion for her drives his every decision. Had she given a sign that there was trouble? Why yes, she called him, left him a message that the SPVs were bad and she was in trouble…
Mark S.
McCain’s performance during the financial crisis was a complete joke. He “suspended” his campaign, went to the WH and made such a fool of himself that Cheney laughed in his face. He had no idea what was going on.
Whispers
Well of course something like this will happen again. Or something worse. Has the culture on Wall Street changed?
Has the structure of the market changed appreciably? No, we still have a small number of players raking in enormous profits, and none of these people were ever held accountable. (Well, maybe one or two, but the lesson learned was that the wealthy can pass on their losses to the public at large.)
mr. whipple
@El Cid:
Well done.
El Cid
@jaywillie: Maybe Pawlenty consulted with Huckabee on how to choose which dangerous offenders to release from prison since they were now no longer threats to anyone.
Dave
Hank Paulsen is fucking retarded. Was this the movie of that Andrew Ross Sorkin book? Cos he’s fucking retarded, too.
Jenny
@jaywillie:
Wow! This is almost as big than some obscure rap lyrics!
TPaw – soft on child molestation.
Mittens and Newt will beat him bloody with this.
burnspbesq
@El Cid:
I assume that I can find the unredacted version in the fiction section of my local public library.
You got some imagination on you.
Rihilism
@Ija: In Sorkin’s book I thought Geithner came across as a chicken running around with it’s head cut off. I haven’t read TBTF for a while but it seems to me he spent most of his time telling CEO’s to buy Lehmann regardless of whether it was a good idea or not. Just buy Lehmann and the problem is solved. If I remember right, it was like absolute panic followed frequently by a strange disinterest. It was truly a bizarre performance and I kept thinking afterward, “This is who Obama wanted at Treasury?”
Have to agree that the only person who came out of it ok was Buffet. Of course, he had the sense to stay out of the clusterfuck.
@sfinny: I don’t know what the movie is like, but I highly recommend the book. I knew when I started reading it I’d be pissed, but I think it’s important that people are exposed to this information…
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Saw the notice here that it was on, turned on the TV, and started it…
Didn’t have the stomach for it. Spent the night flipping back and forth between Get Shorty and Hard Day’s Night, which were far more entertaining.
Tried to explain Beatlemania and screaming girls to my 16-year old son, too. He is as astounded as I am that those guys were worldwide sensations in their 20s.
Paula
My husband & I watched and it really mad us angry all over again. I watched very closely as the events unfolded in 2008. I was a bank analyst for many years and the discussion of TBTF was often discussed, but sadly many would either look the other way or believed that bankers were smart. And they did play congress,the president, and Paulsen,and Timmy and Ben.
In the movie, Hank came off as the adult in the room, my memory tells me otherwise. He made a lot of mistakes and missteps that made matters worse. I never understood why a life-long Treasury person is not named to the secretary position. I feel the same way about SEC. We really need ppl that can hit the ground running. I want a regulator in charge not some idiot that believes in free market and self-interest bull shit. I mean dont get me wrong, i believe in capitalism but i believe in greed more. After all,
they are protecting us, the citizens, from the predatory and corrupt practices thereby insuring a more effective and efficient market (I didn’t say perfect).
Also, often over looked was the fact that Sec Cox dramatically increased the acceptable leverage for investment banks, which of course increased their risk profile.
Now I have to try to let the anger go. I mean, what can we do when they have all the power and we have none?
Ija
@jaywillie:
It looks bad, especially the quote about the children not being PAwlenty’s problem. But the original conviction was for statutory rape with a girl he ended up marrying. It depends on how old the guy was when he was charged with statutory rape. If he was also a teenager, I don’t know, I can sort of understand why Pawlenty might have though that it was more “having sex with my underage girlfriend” rather than “hardcore sexual offender.” He was wrong to think that, of course, with this new accusation against the guy, but at the time, who knows?
I don’t think it will hurt him that bad because 1) the guy is white and 2) Pawlenty’s a Republican.
Nom de Plume
@burnspbesq: @El Cid: I assume that I can find the unredacted version in the fiction section of my local public library.
His post is sourced. Is there a particular part of it you disagree with?
Rihilism
@Dave: Sorkin may be stupid and he may have had a particular agenda in mind while writing it, but it’s a great book and I’m not surprised someone made it into a movie…
fasteddie9318
I’m waiting for Sorkin’s next book, Fucking Marginal Tax Rates–How Do They Work? to come out on Kindle and then I’ll read both of then as a duology.
fasteddie9318
@jaywillie:
As opposed to being done quickly, which he’ll be in any case.
burnspbesq
@Nom de Plume:
If you think that’s “sourced,” we have very different ideas about what “sourcing” means. That’s “you, too, can write like Matt Taibbi – let me show you how.”
The scary part is that Cid will take the Taibbi comparison as a compliment.
El Cid
The noble work of a true statesman intellectual:
Gingrich before the TARP actually was going to immediately come up for a vote:
On the day of the vote itself, when Gingrich’s advice to stop the <a href="“>commie bailout* had apparently had too much success, and Gingrich’s huge “Frankly” head had been floating everywhere denouncing it and thus too hard to hide from the class of ultra-wealth and not say anything:
Apparently Newt Gingrich’s opinions on this legislation were considered crucially important beyond the right wing distortion feedback media. His pivot was clear to such honored commentators as Michele Malkin, who had first cheered Gingrich for advocating killing the bailout, and then the day of the vote getting ‘back on the couch with Pelosi’. (Google search it, as I can’t put in any more links.)
(Likewise, search YouTube for “Newt Gingrich to McCain; Fix The $700 Billion Bailout” to see hard-hitting journalist Sean Hannity point out that Obama looked all passive and wimpy and probably was just going to vote ‘present’ while McCain is grand and lordly and heroic and truly American for ‘suspending his campaign,’ which, even worse, McCain didn’t do. Gingrich too admired McCain for taking on ‘this huge, heavy burden’ by turning his full attention toward fixing our economy by himself.)
Wise man Gingrich did have a better solution ready, though.
Appearing on FakesNooz with Gritty von Snide-eren, here’s “Frankly” Gingrich himself to the rescue with in-depth economic analysis:
*Note that this tale about Gingrich doesn’t require you to have a particular view on the TARP.
El Cid
@burnspbesq: What the fuck are you talking about?
Could you at least know what the fuck you’re sneering about and stop imagining yourself on Balloon-Juice Patrol: Lawyer Division?
El Cid
@burnspbesq: Fucking learn what Google is, prick. Or at least develop some fucking memory.
But the sharply placed Taibbi jab from the honed blade of his legal mind has pierced my swollen head, and I am bleeding out all my accumulated hubris by remembering what the fuck Gingrich did, how the vote went down, and the reporting of Pelosi’s Democratic maneuvering that day.
No, this blog deserves more than my Taibbi-esque rant, which it became the moment I wrote it and some douche felt like he didn’t like it.
Crawling across the floor by sheer effort of gallpower, I can only be grateful that the swordsman kept sheathed his double-sided blade of a Glenn Greenwald reference.
Anyway, fuck it, debate it with whomever you want, I already don’t give a shit, or do one of those things where you declare victory by forfeit or by a claim that ‘I must have made you really mad so I must be winning’ type things, and leave. Mostly the leave part.
Rihilism
@El Cid:
I too am confused as to what burnspbesq’s point is.
Nom de Plume
@Rihilism: I too am confused as to what burnspbesq’s point is.
There’s no confusion, except by him. Cid’s posts are not only thoroughly sourced, they match my own memories of the events, which were less than three years ago, and to which I was paying close attention.
Rihilism
@Nom de Plume: I guess the problem is style????? I don’t know if it’s the same El Cid from back when I used to read on Yglesias, but I’m pretty sure it is, and I always liked his style and content…
Janus Daniels
Rihilism seems less confused about burnspbesq than burnspbesq about burnspbesq (or burnspbesq about El Cid, who posted correct info BTW).
El Cid
I think it’s about me sounding mean about Wall Street money types and that some little boy somewhere thought I was literally claiming that Wall Street hooded evil people were calling Congress. That’s the big thing. That must by the “Taibbi” part. Pfffft. Jesus fucking cripes.
I’d assume that some grade school children would already be at a level where they could distinguish which sections were simple retellings of what events actually happened, and which parts were just humor, mockery, bitterness, personification, and whatnot.
I forget, though, what clods read this scholarly blog of record named “Balloon-Juice” and get offended that anyone dare fail first to get blog comments approved by the Journal of Business Ethics or some such.
I entirely apologize for complimenting Nancy Pelosi for what she reportedly had done, a claim which seemed to be similar to the actual results of the day. And for noting that Newt Gingrich was saying one set of things about how Republicans should vote (particularly to popular right wing media) and reversed himself completely on that day. That was wrong. I apologize for having suggested that anyone with lots of money in the financial system might have wanted the TARP passed and as such might somehow be able to ask or throw a coin into a fountain and wish that maybe some Republican Congressmen voting against the bill might change their vote next time around.
A few minutes ago I saw a Wall Street hired assassin burn down a liquor store down the street. I’m off to call Matt Taibbi, I’m sure I have his number somewhere. Either that or whenever three of us meet together and think mean enough thoughts at Goldman-Sachs, He will appear. I totally mean all of that.
And when Our Dear Leader Taibbi arrives, all of us Vampire Squidder faithful will be summoned up to that golden land in the sky where each of us can forever be the exclusive guest on a major Sunday TV talk show and say mean things about big finance business which could really hurt the feelings of people who work closely with such people.
Good night, and I apologize for all of the above as well, I made it all up.
El Cid
@Rihilism: I’m the same. I basically got fed up with too many things vanishing from whatever blog comments thing he used, and once away I just wasn’t interested enough in Yglesias’ stuff to go back. Oh, but for the glory days of SLC and Chris Ford…
eemom
@El Cid:
I liked it.
eemom
@El Cid:
ah, the legends of how we all wandered the blogodesert for forty years until Moses John led us Home. ‘twould make a good thread, so it would.
Batocchio
Hmm, my impression was that Paulsen was a corrupt scumbag. In the private sector, he was a key lobbyist for the increased lending ratio for financial institutions (from 12:1 to 40:1, IIRC) that helped make the collapse possible, and as the Treasury Secretary, he structured things to favor Goldman Sachs. But I’m happy to read more, and will check out the film when I can.
Sharl
Awesome retrospective, @El_Cid. Jibes with my memory as well. And you backed it up, as you generally do with your more substantial comments.
James E. Powell
@Batocchio:
My impression then was that every single person involved, including everyone in the White House, was a corrupt scumbag.
My impression now is that every single one of them got away with it, kept their own money, and have successfully shifted political responsibility for everything to the Obama administration.
Rihilism
@El Cid:
Oh man, heady times indeed. Though I am astounded you remember their handles, which I had completely forgotten. Your reminder aside, it seems likely that those names would be brought out in a recovered memory session with my therapist…”Where did the evil man touch your psyche?”…
SRW1
@burnspbesq:
What are you objecting to? That El Cid violated your sensibilities because what he was saying suggests that some of your potential clientele may be assholes? How very inconsiderate of him indeed!
burnspbesq
@El Cid:
Not going anywhere. Will always call bullshit when appropriate. You don’t like it, there’s the door.
Just Some Fuckhead
Yeah, that might require a little self-awareness and shame, Burns, neither of which you possess.
baldheadeddork
@Ija:
Geitner did play a fairly important role and I think the movie did him justice.
He wasn’t deeply involved in the discussions inside Treasury to create the policy. That was mostly between Paulson and his staff, and Ben Bernanke. If you want to use a war analogy, Geitner was a lieutenant to Bernanke and Paulson’s generals. He reported to Paulson and Bernanke what was really happening on the battlefield and had the greatest contact with the bankers.
The key point about Geitner’s performance during this time is that he didn’t swallow the ideological bullshit that defined almost all financial policy during the Bush administration. He recognized the meltdown when it started and he responded pragmatically. That seems like a low hurdle, but if he had been an ideologue like Chris Cox at the SEC – or Hank Paulson until the blowback from the collapse of Lehman snapped him to attention – the outcome would have been much worse.
Rihilism
@baldheadeddork: All of what you say may be true, but it appeared (in Sorkin’s book, at least) that Geithner’s only solution to the problem seemed to be merger merger merger. At the time, this may have been the only solution that presented itself to Geithner, but in retrospect, placed in the context of “Too Big To Fail”, this did not seem the most productive means to resolve the underlying issues…
Judas Escargot
@jaywillie:
Don’t worry. They won’t.
Judas Escargot
@El Cid:
IMO anyone who doesn’t agree that Very Important Phone Calls are sometimes made between Wall Street and Congress is either naive– Or must have some vested interest in those phone calls, and would prefer that the Little People not know about them.
ornery curmudgeon
That Hank Paulson comes out well in the movie is a clue something isn’t right; but if a clue is not seen, does it really exist?
The ‘tell’ is that a major financial insider was placed into government office just in time to negotiate a ‘bailout’ for a disaster *caused* by their own financial institutions. The Big Lie here is that these were bumbling multi-billionaires that just messed up … and happened to make many, many billions more on the way.
Don’t know if the nation has gotten actually less intelligent since Enron’s debacle, it seems difficult to fathom. But I’m sorry to hear the rehabilitation of Hank Paulson is going so well.
There is more coming. It would be very wrong to think the ‘big boys’ didn’t learn anything from this ‘unforeseen’ debacle.
chopper
@burnspbesq:
i’m LOLing.
El Cid
@burnspbesq:
You could at least indicate that there’s some English words you could use to suggest what is actually bullshit, particularly with that sort of high-falutin’ fancy talk which involves evidence.
El Cid
@Judas Escargot: I didn’t mean to suggest that phone calls weren’t or couldn’t have been going on by various big money types to Congressmembers or through various intermediaries — just that (a) I wasn’t claiming to have direct evidence of that, though I would guess that by now there are a number of interviews or histories about that time period which do in fact establish that, and (b) it was just the ‘I suppose’ narrative fitting between the actual, empirically based events which I was, to any observer capable of looking at the screen, focusing on.
I wasn’t going to write that, but Matt Taibbi told me to.