Aspects of the financial system explored, people might have missed
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DanPhx — 12 years ago(October 23, 2013 04:49 PM)
Fantastic post!
One small quibble
This is the market, you think this is overvalued so you sell it. this is undervalued so you buy it. you are in effect bankrupting, swindling the person you are dealing with.
If I sold MSFT at $35 this morning to someone who thinks it's worth more, but it fell to $33 by closing, I didn't swindle him any more than I go bankrupt if it skyrockets to $42.
If both parties are operating in good faith with the same information available, it's far from a swindle.
If either party's solvency is resting on a single trade or even all of their trading, they are fools who have no one to blame for the consequences of taking that risk but themselves.
It's not an indictment of the street light system on roadways that some people die in the process of jaywalking.
Now in the specific case of derivatives it was first and foremost a collapse of information but that would be another movie
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hoov-4 — 12 years ago(February 22, 2014 11:37 AM)
thornsthorns, this is such an excellent post that I missed the first time I watched the movie. Now watching it for a second time right now on Sundance, I came on here to read some comments. Your comment is the best. Thanks kindly for explaining it like this.
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svetiev_b — 11 years ago(April 26, 2014 04:26 PM)
This is one of the greatest explanation posts I have ever read on these forums.
I believe you should put this under some heading in the FAQ section of this movie. It is a wealth of information about everything that's wrong with our society at this point in time. Thank you. -
internethero — 11 years ago(June 23, 2014 02:47 PM)
It makes me sad that so many of you are misinformed to such a degree that you would actually believe this propaganda.
Banks do not lend out money that does not exist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking
(or see ECON101)
Financial markets are not a zero-sum game (see ECON101 yet again). How would you propose start-ups raise money without investors?
The assets they sell are priced according to market sentiment (and what you call "the masses" are other banks primarily). If you want to assume the risk of holding an asset it is your choice, no one is forcing you. There are risks inherent in owning a house as well, or crossing the street.
I don't have time to address all the erroneous claims in your text. But the above is a start.