By ANDREW MORSE
STAFF WRITER
On Monday, Nov. 4, the College Democrats held their signature event of the semester: a screening of the film Too Big to Fail, in Keating 1st. The film premiered on HBO in 2011 and deals with the financial meltdown of 2008. It follows U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, played by William Hurt, and his team as they rush to save the financial system from a complete and total crash.
The College Democrats chose to show this film because of its educational and entertainment value.
“I thought it was well done, I read Hank Paulson’s article in Bloomberg and he described events and conversations just like they appear in the film, it is very informative and accurate”, said Michael Billotti, GSB ’15, president of the College Democrats. “There is a need to make sure the public knows that what the banks did was wrong, unethical and irresponsible”.
Too Big to Fail portrays the financial crisis from the perspective of both government officials and Wall Street executives. The initial crisis in the film is the downward spiral of Lehman Brothers, an investment bank that had high exposure to toxic housing assets, which caused its investors to lose confidence quickly. Paulson refuses to allow another bailout to a financial firm. As Lehman Brothers’ value continues to drop, Paulson struggles to create a deal in the private sector to save the fourth largest investment bank in the world.
While all eyes were focused on the Lehman Brothers’ situation, the rest of the financial system came dangerously close to toppling over the edge. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two federally chartered mortgage finance companies, had to be taken over by the government to avoid collapse. In the middle of negotiations to save Lehman Brothers, it was revealed that the insurance giant AIG was in jeopardy of not being able to pay its debts. Paulson and his advisors were forced to come up with solutions for all of these firms that can be approved by Congress and do not erode investor’s confidence in the financial system any further.
The cast includes Paul Giamatti, Billy Crudup, Topher Grace, James Woods, Bill Pullman and Tony Shalhoub. The cast members must balance their roles as business leaders and lawmakers with the emotions of their characters and how they exist outside of the public eye. Paul Giamatti won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Mini-series or Television Movie for his portrayal of the embattled Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke.
Throughout the film, politicians and government officials in the Treasury department are surprised by how the banks have been conducting business. Too Big to Fail highlights many of the faults within the legislative and regulation processes and how they respond to businesses. Multiple times throughout the film characters allude to the fact that the whole system is based on trust. Banks pursued incredibly risky investments without taking into consideration all of the consequences of their actions. In short, they violated the public’s trust. The regulation process was slow moving and incapable of recognizing the problem until it was too late.
“The most important themes of the film are the need for oversight and regulation, things like the Dodd-Frank Bill,” said Billotti. “There is a level of transparency and regulation that is needed. Also, politicians must understand and be educated about the financial system.”
The College Democrats are already planning for next semester when they hope to have a speaker on campus. When asked about next semester’s event, Billotti said that they have reached out to a couple of speakers but do not know anything for sure yet. He would like to have someone like Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, former Director of Speech Writing for President Barack Obama John Favreau or Democratic nominee for the New York City Council in the 15th district Ritchie Torres come to Fordham.
Torres is running for a council seat in the central Bronx. He has garnered a lot of attention for his age as he is only 25 and for being the first openly gay political candidate in the Bronx to win a nomination for the Democratic Party. Many of Fordham’s College Democrats have had the opportunity to intern with candidate Torres. The club has dedicated a lot of effort into his office.
