“The Big Short” (2015)

The Big Short

What happens when commercial banks combine thousands of crappy sub-prime mortgages into one new instrument? Voilá - we now have AAA rated bonds, ready to sell to unsuspecting investors. Dr. Michael Bury investigated and discovered the volatility of these collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), then set out to bet against the housing market. He created “credit default swaps” and convinced banks to take his money by selling them to him. Banks were more than happy to take what they considered to be a “sucker’s bet”, but ultimately risked bankruptcy during the 2008 “Great Recession’s” collapse of the housing market.

The movie won the 2016 Academy Award for “Best Adapted Screenplay” and features teriffic performances by Steve Carrel, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt and Jeremy Strong. Click here for a review by Roger Ebert. Click here for a wikipedia overview of the film.