The Big Short (Adam McKay) -2015

The politicians deregulated the U.S. financial institutions to the extant that big banksters and fund managers realized that they could make big money by creating and selling financial instruments and bonds that were nearly worthless.  Real estate sales professionals stopped being realistic about the ability of individuals and families to qualify for loans and repay them.  During the second Bush administration, unethical and greedy people fed an unstable housing market that eventually collapsed causing a great worldwide recession and nearly unraveling the world economy.  This movie is about the few people (Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt et al.) who saw what was happening and bought bonds that bet against the strength of the housing market.  Director McKay tells the story in a creative manner giving viewers a quick history lesson at the same time.  The crash came in 2008 and millions of innocent citizens were hurt by it.  The country and the world may learn this lesson as given in this neat package, or they could let just it happen again.  [JAM 1/20/2016]