I'm a little groggy this morning. My wife and I caught a 4:37 pm train to NYC last night and got home this morning at 1:00 am. It was a long day, but it was well worth it. I had the opportunity to see Steve Bannon's brilliant new documentary on the financial crisis - GENERATION ZERO. This is a film that every American must see. I thought that I.O.U.S.A was an excellent documentary about our fiscal crisis. I thought FOR LIBERTY was an inspirational documentary about the Ron Paul movement. But, GENERATION ZERO is a powerful, moving, scary telling of a crisis that was 30 years in the making and had its roots in the 1960s.
I didn't realize how close the country came to collapse during the dark days of September 2008. This film makes it clear how close we came to the abyss. The film opens and closes with video from CSPAN that reflects the anger of middle class America andhow close we came to a complete and utter meltdown on September 18, 2008 when there was an electronic bank run that was hurtling out of control. Watch this clip to understand the situation.
The film opens with well respected financial bloggers like Barry Ritholtz, Michael Panzer and yours truly discussing the breadth of the crisis. The film begins in a low key manner and slowly builds to a crescendo of fear, corruption, greed and incompetence among the elite who control the country. Bannon puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of Wall Street bankers and their corrupt protectors in Washington DC. Essentially, the theme of the film is that the rich ruling elite have gamed the system for decades and have destroyed the middle class of this country. Government malfeasance in passing the Community Reinvestment Act, repealing Glass Steagall, and allowing 5 Investment Banks (Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch,and Morgan Stanley) to leverage 40 to 1 led to the crisis. When these firms converted from partnerships, with individual liability, to corporations with no personal liability, pandora's box had been opened.
Bannon skewers the Baby boomers who came of age during the turbulent 1960's and then turned into the greedy yuppies of the 1980's and 1990's. Bannon brilliantly ties together this financial crisis with Strauss & Howe's Fourth Turning book. The film proceeds through the Unraveling of the 1990's and early 2000's. Neil Howe is the calm voice of reason throughout the film. The Unraveling is induced by greed, shortsightedness, inability to make tough decisions and most of all debt. The prominent spokespeople in the film included Newt Gingrich, Tobin Smith, Shelby Steele, Amity Shales, and Peter Schweizer.
The film is very stylistic. When discussing the Wall Street investment bankers you see Great White sharks devouring huge chunks of meat. The symbolism is fitting. I think that every American who is concerned about the direction of this country should see this film. The ending to this film has not been written. We have entered the Fourth Turning. It can end in glory or annihilation. Neil Howe points out that we have come out of each previous Fourth Turning as a stronger nation. That bit of optimism competes with the massive debts and poor decisions that have been made over decades. A feeling of doomresonates throughout the film. Whether America can rise up and take this country back from the ruling elite is unanswered. The more people that see this film, the better chance we will have.
Fox Business Channel will air a 10 minute segment tonight at 7:00 pm about GENERATION ZERO. Steve plans on a general release to movie theaters in mid-March. A tie in to the National Tea Party on April 15 would be a perfect way to have asmany people as possible see this important film.
I am proud to be associated with this film in my small way. It is people like Steve Bannon who give me hope that we canget this country back on track.
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Narrow minded people who want to pick on individuals should wake up and listen to the FACTS. We are in real trouble, and people need to stop placing blame and focus on how we can save this country. Until people take responsibility and work on solutions nothing will get better.
ROFLMAO... So let me see if i have this right. Its not deregulation and making new regulation will not help the economy, but greed and liberal socialist are to blame. So how do they propose to make the "greedy" "commie" "socialist" stop being that way, Magic? Oh i know...wait another 50years and see if the new generation miraculously isnt greedy? Fact is regardless of who is to blame without regulation greedy, monopolization, and abuse of the capitalist system will always be present. And you dont have to be "smarter than a 5th grader" to understand that.
Awesome article. I am 46 yrs old with 2 teens and i am embedding in their head that debt is bad and saving is good. Things are not free and you control your own wealth. Something that schools do not teach and it is up to us the parents to give our kids this knowledge. Prepare for the worse and hope for the best. If we teach the next generation that they control their own wealth and hard work is rewarded by wealth, not just monitary, then maybe we can help them out of the mess this generation created.
Congress is a disgrace with the Senate not far behind. the country;s in hole what do these IDIOTS in Washington do SPEND ! SPEND ! SPEND !. a case in point the new ( what was wrong with the old one? ) embassy in London UK at a cost of approx a Billion dollars I.E. notice the govt gives an approximate cost more then likely it's 1.3 billion dollars. I equate that with going into a store ordering an item thats listed for $19.99 and when you go to the cashier to pay the cashier she say's it's $28.89 and you of course would answer saying " Oh is that all let me give you $35.00 in case you need more " IDIOTS ! then at the embassy their idea of security is to build a 100 foot moat around the embassy, with all the bunglers at Homeland security a moat is 21st century security. I could open a history book and look up Castle's and get that idea. another one a 15 billion dollar jobs creation bill that claims it will generate 150,000 new jobs .hmmmmm lets see 15 billion divided by 150k is hmmmm that's a hundred thousand per job, the average job will pay a salary of $45k per yr hmmmmm wheres the other money ????????????????????????? . STOP SPENDING MY MONEY YOU BUNGLING IDIOTS. Peskytaxpayer in West Virginia
I saw Hannity's review of Generation Zero and I think this film should be viewed by every taxpayer and intend to suggest to Hannity that he lead a drive that asks people everywhere to buy the DVD then view it two or three times and then pass it on to someone with the request that that person then do the same and maybe this could create a ground swell of activity that could reach millions, can you help to spread the word, I am starting this myself right now and urge millions to do the same
I haven't seen this documentary yet. I've only seen the previews and the Hannity review. I've noticed many reviews of it and I'm very curious. I've been familiar with the generation theory of Strauss and Howe for many years now. I'm glad someone made a documentary about it, but I'm a bit suspicious of it having a rightwing slant. On the Fourth Turning forum, many of the people there also are a bit wary of how the theory will be portrayed. From what I can tell, it definitely is overly dramatized. It's a complex theory and I'd hate for it to be simplified to much, especially if it serves a particular political agenda.
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