"The Big Short" Writer On Why The Bank Bailout Was A Mistake

[@Smudgie]

Banks don`t want government restrictions but will run to government for publich money to cover losses. Debt is socialised, profit is privatised.

[@jonathanparrott2574]

+Phil Porter Good post. I like that post.

[@djones9881]

+Phil Porter only libertarians oppose this nonsense

[@hellowill]

+Phil Porter The truth is like poetry, most people fucking hate poetry.

[@soccerlovin1]

Except for the fact that the government made a profit on the bailout by 2012.

[@DSmith365]

good analysis.

[@darkinstinctful123]

02:27 That pen chose the easy way out.

[@chrism82793]

haha just decided to rollout... you better rollout...Kevin hart

[@potthethird]

He was so young :(

[@Steve27775]

+Los Blancos Someone was playing I Am Pen, from the makers of I Am Bread. You have to get to the writer's room from the studio.

[@dadadruma]

+Los Blancos Pen Go Roll On The Floor Laughing Its Ass Off (Text Lingo), ROTFLIAO? LOL

[@Hollyweed1]

+Los Blancos IM OUTTA THIS BITCH!

[@anthonycruciani939]

Great book by a talented guy. Really illustrates how corrupt Wall Street is. Lewis has been shedding light on that since Liars Poker.

[@jimjimfrancis22]

This may be the best movie for the last ten years. I was very impressed.

[@jeffreysalthouse6861]

When the bailout came what did the banks do? They paid commissions to all of those losing brokers so they could continue making bad investments. And nobody has been punished for any fraud in this business.

[@davidhutchinson5233]

Always amazes me in my own nation. Socialism is FINE for billionaires and corporations....tax cuts, subsidies, giveaways but OH NO...for Main Street America? F em right? This guy is 100% on point. Surprised Colbert let him talk.

[@anthonyfuqua6988]

Why? I'm sure Colbert agrees.

[@stardestroyer44]

@@anthonyfuqua6988 lol colbert might have u think he agrees, he doesnt

[@sikky20]

I was around my mid 20's when the economy nearly went belly up, I worked at a bank, to me it seemed like common sense to just let it all crumble and not let any bail out take place, the more experienced and seasoned private bankers and investment guys looked at me and laughed, my rationale wasn't so much that the big banks needed to break up, I had more faith in the ppl that the banks would crumble all on its own and it would've been prime opportunity for new ppl to rise and innovation would've created new financial institutions and more creative ways things would work. The crash would have been a nightmare, 10X worst than the depression, not by #'s but by sheer # of ppl being affected vs the depression since the population was nearly 10X bigger meaning the ppl affected in this crisis would've outnumbered the entire us population during the depression, this '08 crash, would have in fact been another depression and would have been far far worst, the politicians didn't want that on their clock, so they did everything in their power to avoid it, hence the bail out, banks were to some degree aware of this. The problem w/everything that happened is that these big banks weren't being negligent or dumb, they were being very careless and knew to some degree the gov't was incompetent enough that if they were scared enough they'd practically give a blank check to make the problem go away. That's what big bank did when they came to gov't, and when the dust somewhat settled, big banks made sure the status quo would not be affected. If the gov't just let the shit hit the fan, there's no denying the fallout would've been (In relative terms) apocalyptic, but 'til this day, I felt the recovery would've been that much quicker and stronger. If you have a diseased arm, are you going to chop it off cleanly to get it over with, or slap some neosporin hoping the inevitable will miraculously get better.

[@VisualiseTheFun]

Cynically, I have to ask what makes anyone think that the new institutions would have been any better than the old ones?

[@65csx83]

There is no recovery from apocalyptic.

[@jonathansykes4986]

@@VisualiseTheFun Regulations. After 2008, congress passed strict regulations so something like this could never happen again.

[@donvandamnjohnsonlongfella1239]

If the disease is the entire body then you aren't going to chop anything off. Big business, Big banks. Big government. It's all working together to support the top 1% and they will never chop any part of themselves off. You are still Naive as all hell. You haven't learned a thing.

[@AYVYN]

Most banks were incompetent but not all of them. I would’ve put a hundred grand into JP Morgan and made an easy quarter million. Unfortunately, I was 10 years old.

[@mrjoanofarc]

I could listen to a lot more about banks from this guy!!

[@mandingo9999998]

Michael Lewis is a national treasure.

[@JaseFace1985]

Global. It affected the whole world and for those who've read the book/seen the film, we at least understand a little better.

[@StoicPrince1674]

Stephen: Is there something these guys are shorting that we can bet against right now? Answer: YES! Buy GME stock! The greatest short squeeze of this decade.

[@jacobandrews2663]

Bro I'm here for the same reason. HOLD

[@jucebar1735]

@@jacobandrews2663 HODL !

[@TheSuperMillonare]

HOLD !!!!

[@Eliasysidroramirezjr]

Is this still viable???

[@GravyMate]

Yeah how’d that go nerds

[@m169marroquin]

My sister was flipping houses in '05 and I looked at the growth over the years and said this has to be to good to be true.

[@Sonofawildanimal4241]

Look at things now

[@95vamos]

The whole conversation prologued up to that pen, falling, rolling and falling... The future's scaray.

[@95vamos]

Scary, now I sound like an idiot. I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.

[@markalan4462]

the next short.... student loans... you're welcome

[@203_Boy]

Mark Brent Explain yourself big boy

[@203_Boy]

Automation?

[@RustyrSpoons00]

the banks are doing the exact thing with car loans. They just call them tranches now instead of CDOs. It won't be nearly as big as the housing crash but it will be a big problem.

[@MTCoblivsicas12345]

Well student debt (tution fee) loans is different because it is backed by the federal government making it less likely to implode because the U.S government has greater capacity to absorb debt. Moreover mortgage debt has always been higher than student debt. However, I think credit card debt will be the next thing to short it, it is now around $16,000 per U.S household similar to what it was during 2008. Most Americans put medical expenses on a credit card and with an aging population it is a ticking time bomb. The next quick short already happened as with Bitcoin when it reached $20,000. Many celebs pumped the price up then dumped it when it reached that level.

[@KungPao666]

Not private loans...

[@Angrylittlelouie]

The Banks are a special interest group for politicians. when was the last time the Government letf a bank to fall under? Not even in the great depression. They will bail them out again.

[@jonathansykes4986]

Lehman brothers failed in 2008.

[@meloncholicbliss]

You should include Michael Lewis in the title. He's done much more than just write The Big Short. I know it's relevant now but he's a celebrity in literature world.

[@gemmaskate]

Abhishek Prasad Yeah I thought the same thing. Even if he was a nobody, he's the guest and his name should be in the title

[@Sonofawildanimal4241]

Massive bailout happening now, trying to stop the bleeding.

[@sambeawesome]

That pen was having the time of its life, I'm sure. :)

[@TheStanishStudios]

It was really on a roll

[@sambeawesome]

+TheStanishStudios Ba dum cshh ;D

[@ljy.73]

Short that pen.

[@julescourtine2434]

the pen slowly rolling off of the desk from 2:28 is really unnerving

[@neoneherefrom5836]

Jules Courtine you need medication then

[@robertsanssouci2093]

Obviously it was a massive mistake. Them failing was an equalizer for working class folks. But nope, we bailed them out and they gave themselves bonuses

[@freetrailer4poor]

He is right look at the balance sheets. They are not that strong yet paying massive bonuses, buybacks, and dividends. Maybe they should have some equity?

[@hariking22]

Im starting to lose my respect for colbert. What the fuck is he in love with Hillary for??? and what do u mean she ll break em up next time? Playing with people's lives here.. break up those fucking banks now before they do it again. Man i really wish Bernie wins. #Bernie2016 #feelthebern

[@stefanhennessey6396]

If you think Bernie will break up the big banks you're delusional. He won't do anything as president.

[@Channel-ng1mn]

+Stefan Hennessey And do you think Hillary or Trump will do it?

[@stefanhennessey6396]

Lol no, Trump especially. Clinton says she'll be tough but who knows what that means. Banking in this country won't change, it should have changed last recession, nothing happened.

[@dianezulu5669]

+Stefan Hennessey Cynicism has never helped humanity accomplish anything. But keep at it. You may think you're better than all the sheepple of the world because you see bullshit, but the people in the position of power loves people like you, with your learned helplessness, just as much as they like the people who believes in the bullshit they put out.

[@stefanhennessey6396]

Diane Zulu I believe in real solutions and realistic visions, i'm not calling anyone a sheep, but a lot of people have no idea what they are talking about when they start talking about politics.

[@FrankDBoyce]

Michael Lewis is the man. Go read Flash Boys and Boomerang ASAP!

[@the1onlynoob]

The fact you have to ask that question on why government shouldn’t save a private entity is both insanely unamerican and anti-capitalists.

[@65csx83]

How times change! When I was starting out, the complaint against banks was you needed to prove you didn't need the money to borrow it.Then, their only way to get repaid was from the borrower. Now the Federal Government (taxpayers) gets stuck with the bill.

[@retiredkidbuck]

BOHICA

[@smarterthanyou9090]

You can thank Clinton and Obama for that. Clinton put the legislation in place to crash the economy and Obama did the dirty work while in Congress to get fannie and freddie to give out those loans with a quid pro quo that the Government would pay the defaults off.... and that's exactly what he did.

[@gregbard]

You are absolved.

[@freaksuyash]

Bernie Sander Bro, what do it next time. Do it now..

[@GuntherL1]

because socialist regimes have an amazing track record

[@NorskKiwi]

Sanders wants to break up the banks

[@notosure2148]

@@GuntherL1 I think you're confusing communism or capitalism with socialism. Either way, Sanders' stance is not government control of banks, but to break them up. Currently, it's bank control of government that is causing the biggest issue. Like it always does. (Rothschild)

[@selimgure]

That a nation legally allowed to carry arms not raiding Wall Street and the banks never ceases to amaze me.

[@yfccssdg]

So, making the bubble bigger...

[@geraldkohl3417]

Well here is the reason in a nutshell why America is in the turmoil it is in.He confesses to knowingly selling bad bonds and everybody laughs and applauds him.

[@geraldkohl3417]

Did he give the money back that he made from these deals?

[@geraldkohl3417]

No need. I think we both know the answer.

[@geraldkohl3417]

+Marina Pratt And the money he stole from his clients didn't hurt either.It is easy to confess to your crimes when there is no consequences for those actions.

[@geraldkohl3417]

Nobody put a gun to his head unless that is legal also.Greed drove him to do what he did.And now he can feign contriteness and keep the money Win win for him.

[@tuuliamoors4134]

+gerald kohl Perhaps you consider everyone who has ever worked in finance a criminal, okay... But I think the point Marina was trying to make about Lewis was that he got out of that business pretty quickly. He already left in his twenties after only a couple of years, in the late 1980s, and has since been doing an excellent job shining a light on what's actually happening and what's wrong with the financial system and banks. He had a job he was being paid too much for (by his own admission) and he walked away from it. If he had been greedy and money-obsessed by nature he obviously would have stayed. Who leaves big secure salary and bonuses to write about finance instead? He was far more likely to have been making money - and far more money - on The Wall Street than writing about it.

[@Noutchka]

I just finished the book. It is so good !

[@dans8935]

Same here! Great book!

[@jabarnes77]

One of my favorite movies of all time

[@TheRammerReport]

crazy thing is that something similar is happening again

[@emichels]

Thanks financial crisis for letting me buy Bank Of America at $6!

[@stevensong8784]

1:41 - 1:53 They mention that in the end of The Big Short film.

[@JamanWerSonst]

Not bailing the banks out would've been morally the right thing to do, but it would have cause insane collateral damage. Of you fuck up and lose money on a bet, obviously thats your fault, so why would we bail out the banks? Well, the banks are the entities that keep our economy going. They lend the money people use to invest in stuff and buy stuff. Take that away and you have an ecnomic crisis of epic proportions. So bailing them out might not have been morally right, but overall it was the right thing to do. BUT right after the bailout we should have made sure that these banks can't do the same thing all over again: Break up the big banks, regulate Wall Street. We didn't do that. That was the mistake. I think a drunk driver is a good analogy. A drunk driver crashes. So do you rescue him from his burning vehicle and give medical aid, even though he is a fucking dumb ass for driving drunk? Yes, but right after that you prosecute him and punish him and make sure he isn't driving again or at least not driving drunk.(in real life we can't really make sure someone isn't driving drunk again. But we can make sure Wall Street isn't going nuts again by regulating them) The same is true for greece in the EU. Once greece failed the EU had to bail them out, because otherwise it would be terrible for the people in greece and and it could have a domino effect on other weak economies in the EU. But right after you bailed them out you should fix the system that led to the crash in the fist place. Neither the US nor the EU did anything to prevent these things from happening again. In the EU its just stupidity and complicated political circumstances. In the US its corruption. Wall Street can buy politicians pay them for not introducing regulations.

[@qiranwang]

+Empty0Set That's a better analogy! Let me add to that to make it more clear: the fire department's operations are funded by the taxes paid by the house owners in that neighbourhood, so why should they pay for something stupid that house owner who kept propane tanks in his house? Because if the rest of the house owners don't shell out, the fire in that idiot's house is going to spread to the entire neighbour hood.

[@JPH1138]

Well the government had the option of buying out the banks instead of bailing them out. Own a majority share, install their own board to run them responsibly, and if they get into a good fiscal position they could have re-privatised them, sold the shares and potentially gotten the money back.

[@Huyvovo903]

+Jared Hannsohn That sounds good on paper and maybe even on practice but such an idea would make Republicans, who strongly advocate small government, to flip out their shit given that they're controlling Congress at the moment.

[@LibertarianRF]

Jared Hannsohn name one program the government has run well.

[@LibertarianRF]

As in profitable...

[@TheTusharkalhan]

Stephen apologized in the end saying sorry about that

[@Whosaids0]

Chooo! Choooooooo! Hey what's that? Its a bird? Nope, its a plane? Nope....

[@drlex]

The Big Short right now is US Dollar and the best way to short it is to own Currency Default Swap - Bitcoin. Of course the irony is most people will disagree and dismiss it, but that's exactly the point...

[@ruhurtin4squrtin34]

+drlex you dont know jack. $ is rising=bad sign for world economy. you will lose money shorting $. bitcoin is waste like gold

[@drlex]

+Andre Isis yeah home prices will never fall..

[@ruhurtin4squrtin34]

drlex hey moron the $ has been weakened for 15 yrs[that's right YEARS].. so you expect it will be weak for next 5 years? what the fuck has home prices have to do w/ your idiotic advice.

[@drlex]

+Andre Isis please don't follow my advice, stick with your wallpaper and hate.

[@ruhurtin4squrtin34]

drlex sure but dont pollute w/ your novice financial advice. can you reverse engineer the implied option value?

[@TheNORegretShow]

So in other words its gonna happen again. Warren Buffett said it best. We get smarter but not wiser.

[@bc82870]

i' ve watched this movie 10 times already

[@rjohnson993]

So... "here we go again." Nothing changed and it goes back to this.

[@kristine6996]

When you fraudulently misguide your rating system worldwide you are playing with Every persons or companies money on the planet. And Yes, taxpayers money isn't supposed to support a fraudulent system it is ment to protect us against such a way of behaviour. Ben Rickert is my Hero and rolemodel. He has been there, done that and went for a change of lifestyle. For the better. You can not call the man naive, on the contrary. Thank you Ben, from France 👒.

[@MussoliniLondon]

Same thing is happening with Evergrande, all the rating agencies won't out them into default even though they've defaulted

[@superlativeOFgood]

Michael Lewis!

[@Renfade]

See the pen rolling down the table at 2:28

[@TitoTimTravels]

I still think the bailout money should have gone to the American people. We would have paid our mortgages, or gone shopping. Either way the banks would have ended up with the money but not as many mortgages would have gone toxic. (i bought a small, affordable house, but that is another issue ha ha)

[@flashers.5212]

I had to watch it 3 times to understand what was happening (more or less). It was a good film.

[@MichaelFlynn0]

a great movie - watched it a few times.

[@LuckyDogProductions]

This makes me so sad, since 2000 America stopped being America

[@Butter-gz4kb]

Matt M. Matt, it stopped be America right before the Vietnam War; look who elected prison, our justice system is handled by behind the door handshake, we are afraid of brilliance and disclosures, etc.

[@hisoverlorduponhigh90]

I now demand a full write off on my mortgage.

[@justmemadison]

People need to lighten up. So quick to be angry...just lurking, waiting for something, anything to be said that they might disagree with - even if they disagree just a little it's good enough to get mad. Stop watching a show because they discuss something you don't like. Stop buying a product because the commercial comes on during a show you don't like. Stop going to stores because their parent company supports a policy you don't don't like. At the same time you want to yell about freedom of speech, the free market and capitalism...blah, blah, blah. Just knock it off and live your lives. All this false outrage is a disservice to us all.

[@Eli-cq8jq]

I watched the movie. I didn't check this book yet.

[@4dMiNi5Tr4t0r]

Who else noticed the pen rolling down on the table at the end?

[@alnistas]

"Next time we can't bail 'em out, we gotta break 'em up" What now?!

[@marshacreary9771]

And people wonder why these tragedies keep happening

[@CharlesV27]

Help us Bernie Sanders, you are our only hope.

[@cptmuska]

Don't be sorry if you're honest.

[@angienatoyn]

Bank bailout then bank executives get fat bonuses.

[@waggoneer]

Capitalism without bankruptcy, is like Christianity without hell. - Frank Borman

[@Xalgucennia]

I have to disagree here, You may or may not have a moral opinion on the state of the banks but 1)I'm pretty sure if we didn't bail out the banks, not to mention the auto industry, the recession would be a lot worse. The industries bailed out are today highly profitable employers. 2)Keep in mind that these bailouts were loans, not gifts almost all of which have been paid back in full with interest, barring a small number of bankruptcies etc, and that we've made money on them 3)Even Steve Eisman, Mark Baum in his movie/book has said that he's satisfied that the new liquidity requirements and regulations on the banks will prevent 2008 from repeating

[@hugonongbri8100]

I do think there is something right now that a bunch of people are shorting on....

[@pauldiam0nd]

This was such a great movie!

[@imicca]

I disagree because it is impossible to allow such a large banks to fail, because if they fail which means your money, your retirement and everything connected to banks fails, do you even understand the catastrophic consequences of this.?

[@nickm8874]

Liar’s Poker, Blind Side, Moneyball ....

[@anthonyfuqua6988]

Liquidity had to be restored to the credit market to keep the U.S. economy from a depression. However, the banks should have had a government overseer to guide them through the bailout and the next few years. It's criminal bonuses were paid to bankers who tanked the economy. After the markets were stable, the worst offenders and biggest banks should have been broken up. If something is too big to fail, it's too big to exist. Investment banks shouldnt be allowed to have regular banking functions and regular banks shouldnt be able to make risky investments. My regular bank, Wachovia, was brought down during the meltdown.

[@maddierosemusic]

I do not watch, Colbert, but this was ALMOST a good interview. He doesn't know enough to question Lewis properly. I don't know anybody who knows anything about money has NOT read "Liar's Poker", by Michael Lewis, describing in DETAIL how he sold terrible bonds to clients. He doesn't admit it, but he "Jammed" plenty of bonds to lesser 'clients' more than a few times.

[@samjones0528]

This was a great film, but I felt disgusted by the end of it.

[@Noallegiance]

And people reckon we have free markets

[@KevsShwaShwa]

Put his name in the title.

[@UnfrozenCavemanTrader]

@ 2:19 It would have been funny if instead they chanted "burn him"

[@dce89109]

Nobody's talking about the precedent. Go against the US and get paid.

[@hopaideia]

Like the WTC in NY just before 9/11 they knew it was going to be burned down and bought the insurance policy

[@blah5325]

This video needs more views. Why can't the tonight show have them as a guest? Colbert has more balls. Tonight show is idiotic nonsense.

[@gemmaskate]

02:26 Is Stephen's desk on an angle?

[@haraldfranck9]

The movie was entertaining, but very misleading and inaccurate, tries to blame the banks, when the problem really was the monetary policy.

[@AYVYN]

It took 7 years for unemployment to recover instead of 10 like the great depression. I could’ve fed myself for 2 years with the tax money their bailouts took from me alone.

[@ajhampton3722]

"Christian Bale plays..." BATMAN? no wait...

[@spiritual6193]

short bets now on 1. student loans 2. consumer auto loans.

[@mavarick13]

Wells Fargo commercial airs before the video.

[@rahul2494927]

So, if they want to, they can bail Out Poverty !

[@andersfant4997]

A Great movie.

[@skyepicus]

None of the people in the audience that are laughing, lost their homes.

[@freetrailer4poor]

Breaking up the big banks is not important, the small banks are just as bad.

[@jonathansykes4986]

We don't bail out the banks and this guy is in the bread lines today in 2022. If he's lucky. We should have nationalized them.

[@AYVYN]

They took $2000 from every tax pay for the $700 Billion Dollar TARP bailout alone. $2000 would feed me for 2 years. And they spent trillions more on other bailout programs.

[@jonathansykes4986]

@@AYVYN where the heck do you live where 2000 feeds you for 2 years.

[@washichurehab4573]

"missreading"? Bullshit. They did it on purpose, lawmakers want some bazillions too.

[@hmmm9658]

I think they needed the bail out to save millions of peoples life savings but the second they were stabilised should have been nationalised or broken up

[@WalterLiddy]

I don't follow you. How is preserving the banks themselves saving people's money? They could have offered a 'buyout' package to anyone who could show they had losses due to the fraud going on without keeping the banks as-is.

[@evilgary747]

How do I make a bet on this student loan situation?

[@Invader1337]

keep an eye on Navient

[@marshacreary9771]

That's putting it a little too crudely

[@alexeilindes7507]

And citi bank who is a person is a full blown politician! Hooray!!!

[@schmidtzcargolbull]

he went and did a bill Clinton voice at the end there

[@reference2me]

Why and who decided that the Govt. should back subprime bank loans ... ??? an invitation to disaster... how could the greedy banks resist that ??

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

The shithead voters who keep voting republican & democrat only. Kill, bomb, nuke those voters, and then republicunts & demopubs would stop being re-elected.

[@trackboy17]

What do lobbyist do? Idk what they do, but everytime someone talks about a big company and politics it always involves lobbyists.

[@SFO14]

trackboy17 they bribe people. That's what they do.

[@203_Boy]

It's basically peer pressure against lawmakers. Peer pressure to do whatever the banks want

[@josepharte]

Fucking are you kidding me? The fact that banks have been resisting change and resorting to underhanded methods to prevent their reform is at the very heart of the problem of moral hazard which I assure you, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed and the US Treasury considered gravely when they decided on bailing the banks out. The point wasn't because they had influence on the political process. The point was that they were (and still are) so central to the the financial sector and by extension the general economy that we had no choice but to "bail them out" (where the word "loan them money" is much more accurate and much less politically charged). I am sad to say I have lost my respect for you, Mr. Lewis.

[@joesr31]

Bailing them out wasn’t the mistake, they had to or the entire world’s economy would collapse. However, they should have broken them up instead of merging them together

[@mynicco]

rip the pen that fell off his desk.

[@Takashijsi]

The title of this movie always makes me think of Martin Short growing ten feet and becoming a supervillain :O

[@superlativeOFgood]

+Mads Vestergaard I can see what you're thinking, but maybe growing twelve feet, I must say!

[@btvbrndn]

They could’ve bailed them out but just publicize every bank they bail out

[@josephtedros2089]

I just saw a pen fall on tv, so I guess it does happen to everybody.

[@josemariasn94]

I love Michael J. Fox

[@mark-ish]

Back in the good old days, no batiste outro music 🙏

[@Jamesmax22]

Next is student loans. Forget the name of the Dr. They just mentioned, but he is already deep into this.