CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Government were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he
holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and
administering them, for the good and safety of society- the basic principle that
should be instill in the mind and heart of every public official.
The documentary Inside Job showed how such principle had been
overlooked by the people within the government. The documentary pointed out
the flaws that the government and financial systems big people had made. It
reiterates how did the global crisis of 2008 happened.
According to Director Charles Ferguson, this film attempts to provide a
comprehensive portrayal of an extremely important and timely subject: the worst
financial crisis since the Depression, which continues to haunt us via Europes
debt problems and global financial instability. It was a completely avoidable crisis;
indeed for 40 years after the reforms following the Great Depression, the United
States did not have a single financial crisis. However, the progressive
deregulation of the financial sector since the 1980s gave rise to an increasingly
criminal industry, whose innovations have produced a succession of financial
crises. Each crisis has been worse than the last; and yet, due to the industrys
increasing wealth and power, each crisis has seen few people go to prison. In the
case of this crisis, nobody has gone to prison, despite fraud that caused trillions
of dollars in losses.

It can be deduced that greed is the main source of everyones mishap

during the 2008 global economic crisis. The US government together with the
financial systems big people had enriched themselves at the expense of others.
The changes in the financial industry in the decade leading up to the
crisis, the political movement toward deregulation, and how the development of
complex trading such as the derivatives market allowed for large increases in risk
taking that circumvented older regulations that were intended to control systemic
risk. In describing the crisis as it unfolded, the film also looks at conflicts of
interest in the financial sector, many of which it suggests are not properly
disclosed. The film suggests that these conflicts of interest affected credit rating
agencies as well as academics who receive funding as consultants but do not
disclose this information in their academic writing, and that these conflicts played
a role in obscuring and exacerbating the crisis.
A major theme is the pressure from the financial industry on the political
process to avoid regulation, and the ways that it is exerted. One conflict
discussed is the prevalence of the revolving door, whereby financial regulators
can be hired within the financial sector upon leaving government and make
millions. They had massive private gains at massive public losses. Economic
bubble arises. They claim to diversify risk where in fact they are making things
more complicated and risk leaps to higher notch. They spent lots of money,
money that wasnt an income but just mere money created by the system. They
spent the peoples hard earned income. The government however, conducted no

major investigation to justify such bloating figure in the economy. And to make
things worse, the people behind such crisis is still within system, insinuating that
they are needed to correct such fall.
The financial system is stable for decades but not until corruption in the
political system made its way through it. Government should lead its people
towards greater good. It is the governing body of the land and should be peoples
protector. But as self-interest came into perspective such duty is the neglected
and forgotten.
Businesses on the other hand are established with gaining profit as the
primary objective. But such objective should be achieved in just and fair manner.
One need not defraud others. One need not have high moral to determine whats
right and wrong. One just needs to be humane because at the end of the day,
still, the poorest pays the most.
Overall, the film has illustrated a story wherein the rich became richer and
the poor became poorer. According to the film, the financial institutions has
formed a conspiracy with the government and with the academe, wherein when a
top executive of a financial institution retires or resigns from his post, due to the
foreseeable problem of the deregulated derivatives, they would go back to the
academe publishing articles and providing a consultation expertise that
advocates deregulation on the government. The derivatives applied on the
business transactions is a form of bet wherein one party wins and the other
looses. And in this case, the party who won was the huge financial institutions,

taking home their own personal incentives while leaving the other party which is
the ordinary people, empty-handed.
On the other hand, the film has some gaps that are left unanswered. In a
movie review by sly thinker from Canada, he said that the movie oversimplifies
the causes of the crisis. It focuses primarily on deregulation and Wall Street's
incentive structure and culture of reckless risk-taking and lax morals and ethics. It
also briefly mentions poor risk assessments by credit rating agencies and
predatory lending, without really explaining what it was or getting into any depth
on the matter. Sub-prime lending was mentioned only in a very cursory manner.
There was no mention of the Clinton Administration's push for sub-prime lending
to expand mortgage loans to low and moderate income people. There was no
mention of the Federal Reserve's contribution to the housing bubble as a result of
its policy to ease credit conditions in the early 2000s to soften the impact of the
collapse of the dot com bubble and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There was no
mention of the shadow banking system; how it contributed to the crisis and how it
greatly amplified the losses. There was no mention of David X. Li's Gaussian
copula formula and how it was used by credit rating agencies to justify AAA
ratings for collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that consisted of baskets of
higher risk debt instruments.
In this regard, I recommend that on the future revisions or part II or series of
the film, a more lengthily discussion should be given to the details provided by
the economic crisis. The economic and financial terms should be elaborated and

discussed to be able to be understood by people who have no reasonable

knowledge on such. The other side of the story should also be taken into
consideration. The key financial players who refused to be interviewed in the film
should be patiently pursued to air their sides to weigh in both sides. Much
investigation should also be taken in order to know the other effects of the global
financial crisis not just on countries with hot financial spots but also to the
developing countries that may be affected by such. Our country, Philippines
should also be given attention because we are a strong ally to the United States
and it plays a strong control on our economy. The same is true to the other
countries which are closely related and would be directly affected by the
economy of U.S. and other strong nations due to the massive destructions it
made to the global economy. Globalization is very prevalent. Thus, a domino
effect might result if one countrys economy collapse, all else might follow. A strict
and proper regulation should then be approved in order to control the risk of
derivatives. An equipped knowledge with all prevailing issues and laws and other
information that is linked with the economic crisis should also be expanded in
order to give viewers the chance of making their own conclusions out of reliable
and verified data available. Let the viewers have the relevant data needed and
make them create their own opinion on their own without the bias or conflict of
interest by the writers or producers of the film.
This documentary should be subjected to public viewing especially to the
following individuals:

Students. This film will educate individuals primarily those students taking
business administration and the likes. This will provide them with insights and
further understanding on the role they must play in the financial environment.
This will also increase their awareness on how complicated the future
environment they will be subjected into. The film exposed how an individual
blows the whole economy and the effect it had to the whole world that will
strengthen students resolve to enter the financial world with integrity and just
dealings instill in their minds and hearts.
Legislators. This movie should also be viewed by public official specially
the legislators. This film showed how one wrong law passed can make a total
mess not only in the government but to the whole nation. Also, this will also give
them the idea of who should be appointed to be their right hand in governing the
nation especially to that function that has involve money.
Lastly, this film should be viewed by the public sector. This will teach them
the importance of selecting appropriate person to run the government. This
documentary might focuses on how the economic downturn happened but still
goes back to one primary issue, the inability of the public to choose right people
with strong will of governing the nation towards the greater good.