The Thousands

Lately my brother has been declaring at family gatherings that America is a rotten, decadent society. Awkward! But after seeing Charles Ferguson’s unmissable documentary Inside Job, I’m inclined to agree. Calmly, compellingly, Matt Damon explains how the 2007-08 global financial crisis unfolded – and how nothing has changed since then. Ferguson provocatively suggests that bankers, government regulators, academic consultants and credit ratings agencies – basically, everyone except consumers – knew the complex system of ‘mortgage-backed securities’ and ‘collateralised debt obligations’ was dangerously unstable, but milked it for profit anyway.

What left me simultaneously furious and despondent was that state power now actively entrenches corporations. Barack Obama might vow to reform the system, but his key advisers are Wall Street insiders. So were Clinton’s, both the Bushes’ and Reagan’s. Journalists, foreign politicians and consumer lobbyists share Ferguson’s dismay. Some key players have the grace to admit their culpability; others wiggle unbecomingly on Ferguson’s mild-mannered skewer. The worst scumbags refused to be interviewed, appearing instead in file footage. Former New York attorney-general and governor Eliot Spitzer, hounded from office in 2008 for hiring hookers, provides an oddly moral voice. His indiscretions are chickenfeed compared to Wall Street’s shocking shamelessness.