By Kent Lyndon
Why? Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short” is much more important to our daily lives, that’s why. Those of you who have read my columns, through Rick’s “Inweekly”, will be way ahead of the game when it comes to understanding the subject matter of the movie.
“The Big Short” and “Too Big To Fail” should remind you that I couldn’t have fabricated these stories in a million years. Here’s a word of warning about the movie ‘The Big Short”: Continuous “F” bombs will be flying through the air like out-of-control drones. You also will be subjected to a brief scene of partial nudity as it relates to being inside a “gentleman’s club”.
The main subject matter, however, is spot-on and follows the book, twice read, quite nicely. Tune out the “F” bombs and tune in the explanations about leverage.
Had you forgotten about Collateralized Debt Obligations and Credit Default Swaps from my previously referenced articles? It’s okay.
“The Big Short” will give you a basic refresher course that will cost no more than the price of your ticket and your popcorn.
Compliment this viewing by finding a copy of the HBO movie “Too Big To Fail” by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The book is 600 pages long, so I only read it once. “The Big Short” highlights the CDO and CDS and how their leverage clobbered the mortgage markets. “Too Big To Fail” highlights how all the major financial firms circled the wagons and tried to deal with the fallout before the massive socialist-style bailouts took place. The two works really do compliment each other well.
Here’s my fear: Once you have seen both of these movies, you’ll accuse me of “sugarcoating” my articles. Ha! Ha! No way. I merely was trying to lead you in important directions without any hype at all.
Have fun and get angry, at the same time, with these movies. They’ll make more sense to you now. More columns will follow. Things are happening out there.