Money for nothing is an excellent, compelling, revealing and accurate look at how the FED distorts and manipulates the world economy. There are no conspiracy theories here, just the cold, hard facts. It is a sobering, unflinching look at what brought the world to the brink of collapse in 2007 and the aftermath.
The movie doesn't interview former FED chairmen Greenspan or Bernanke (and really what but confusion could come from that anyway?) but lets them speak (lie) for themselves through past interviews and speeches. Interestingly included is the Fed's current chairman Janet Yellen (perhaps she had no idea she would be future chairman at the time of filming), interesting because at the end of the movie FED is portrayed has ultimately clueless and inept (and I believe it is behaving as such). Also included is a vast cast of observers and commentators; including former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, current and former regional Fed presidents, vice presidents and governors, as well as columnists, academicians, book authors and major investors whom study the Fed. Curiously absent is anyone from the current TBTF banks or any banks or businessmen at all for that matter. What the film sadly leaves out is any mention of the role of cheap energy, as if our economy exists on the back of the banking system alone! WWI is implicated in the abandonment of the gold standard when the reality was: who needs gold when you have abundant cheap energy? Just print the money you need to finance whatever you want. Future growth fueled by cheap energy will pay all the bills.
The United States realized this much too late during the Great Depression, sticking to the gold standard and unable to jump-start the economy by borrowing against future growth enabled by cheap, abundant crude oil.
Thus the deep flaw of this film is that the availability (or lack thereof) of cheap energy is never implicated in any of our economic problems and fortunes, as if the fed alone creates and controls economic activity. It often misattributes economic events to the actions of the Fed which are in fact more closely tied to the price of crude oil.
Despite the movie's blind spot with regard to the role energy plays in the economy it otherwise leaves no stone unturned. We learn about the terrible precedent set by the bailout of LTCM and the psychology of the "Greenspan Put". Greenspan birthed the idea of a free lunch, heads you win, tails you win (the fed bails you (or whatever market you are playing in) out), all reward and very little risk. We learn how the Fed and Fed alone created the biggest asset bubble in American history. We learn what a precarious position our economy is now in despite appearances, appearances due to the distortions of the markets by the Fed. The Fed can't take away the "punch bowl" (QE and zero percent interest rates) EVER and it knows it. The fact that we print the world's reserve currency is the only thing keeping this country from disaster. The film's conclusion totally misses the fact that we are suffering from the gradual depletion of cheap energy.
Some great quotes: After closing the "gold window" Nixon tells America: "What does this mean for you? You're dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as it today" probably one of the greatest lies ever told.
On Greenspan: "This alleged libertarian was presiding over the socialization of risk in our economy "
The now infamous Bernanke quote (in perfect context): "The problem in the subprime market seems likely to be contained" (March 2007!)
Greenspan: "I've always believed we underestimate the impact of stock prices on economic activity, (open bracket) (close bracket) if (open bracket) the stock market (close bracket) continues higher this will do more to stimulate the economy than anything (open bracket) else could (close bracket)."
Greenspan (2011): "The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that, so there is zero probability of default."
The games the Fed is playing with our economy can only last for so long.
The movie doesn't interview former FED chairmen Greenspan or Bernanke (and really what but confusion could come from that anyway?) but lets them speak (lie) for themselves through past interviews and speeches. Interestingly included is the Fed's current chairman Janet Yellen (perhaps she had no idea she would be future chairman at the time of filming), interesting because at the end of the movie FED is portrayed has ultimately clueless and inept (and I believe it is behaving as such). Also included is a vast cast of observers and commentators; including former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, current and former regional Fed presidents, vice presidents and governors, as well as columnists, academicians, book authors and major investors whom study the Fed. Curiously absent is anyone from the current TBTF banks or any banks or businessmen at all for that matter. What the film sadly leaves out is any mention of the role of cheap energy, as if our economy exists on the back of the banking system alone! WWI is implicated in the abandonment of the gold standard when the reality was: who needs gold when you have abundant cheap energy? Just print the money you need to finance whatever you want. Future growth fueled by cheap energy will pay all the bills.
The United States realized this much too late during the Great Depression, sticking to the gold standard and unable to jump-start the economy by borrowing against future growth enabled by cheap, abundant crude oil.
Thus the deep flaw of this film is that the availability (or lack thereof) of cheap energy is never implicated in any of our economic problems and fortunes, as if the fed alone creates and controls economic activity. It often misattributes economic events to the actions of the Fed which are in fact more closely tied to the price of crude oil.
Despite the movie's blind spot with regard to the role energy plays in the economy it otherwise leaves no stone unturned. We learn about the terrible precedent set by the bailout of LTCM and the psychology of the "Greenspan Put". Greenspan birthed the idea of a free lunch, heads you win, tails you win (the fed bails you (or whatever market you are playing in) out), all reward and very little risk. We learn how the Fed and Fed alone created the biggest asset bubble in American history. We learn what a precarious position our economy is now in despite appearances, appearances due to the distortions of the markets by the Fed. The Fed can't take away the "punch bowl" (QE and zero percent interest rates) EVER and it knows it. The fact that we print the world's reserve currency is the only thing keeping this country from disaster. The film's conclusion totally misses the fact that we are suffering from the gradual depletion of cheap energy.
Some great quotes: After closing the "gold window" Nixon tells America: "What does this mean for you? You're dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as it today" probably one of the greatest lies ever told.
On Greenspan: "This alleged libertarian was presiding over the socialization of risk in our economy "
The now infamous Bernanke quote (in perfect context): "The problem in the subprime market seems likely to be contained" (March 2007!)
Greenspan: "I've always believed we underestimate the impact of stock prices on economic activity, (open bracket) (close bracket) if (open bracket) the stock market (close bracket) continues higher this will do more to stimulate the economy than anything (open bracket) else could (close bracket)."
Greenspan (2011): "The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that, so there is zero probability of default."
The games the Fed is playing with our economy can only last for so long.