The Last Days Of Lehman Bros Bbc2 Bbchd

[RentingForever]

I was also surprised to see this on the BBC so soon... it certainly makes these times seem historic - where there appears to be a concerted effort to bring seemingly esoteric economic events into the popular concious.

I enjoyed it a lot, as I did the excellent documentary on the Wall Street Crash of 1929 earlier in the evening (played as a radio documentary without the historical imagery you could almost imagine they were talking about the current crisis. The similarities are striking).

I think it's a season of BBC programmes about the credit crunch. I'm a little worried, though, that this effort to "historicise" the events distances them from us and reinforces the idea that it is now over, that we are "in recovery".

There's a documentary on tonight, including interviews with Brown and Darling. Interesting to see their spin on the story, and how truthful they are.

[wonderpup]

It really did highlight the fact that no-one who ran the US & UK banks really understood CDO's etc

So the fabled expertise that these 'rare talents' were supposed to possess turns out to be pure hype- so what were they actualy doing to earn all those billions in bonus and salary?

[Moley]

So the fabled expertise that these 'rare talents' were supposed to possess turns out to be pure hype- so what were they actualy doing to earn all those billions in bonus and salary?

Well, I can shout "Get me Paulsson" at a blonde woman as well as the next man. Should I apply for a job? (I don't think I could have fallen to the floor quite so inelegantly, though).

[Joey Buttafueco Jr]

So the fabled expertise that these 'rare talents' were supposed to possess turns out to be pure hype- so what were they actualy doing to earn all those billions in bonus and salary?

WTF

[Austin Allegro]

I was very curious about the religious angle - The biblical recital; alluding to Nebuchadnezzar - and the religious art and Judas - whose relevance to banking I found more difficult to fathom. I wondered if this was a mere embellishment for dramatic effect and artistic merit in the making of the program - or if it captured a culture among western bankers to consider Judeo-Christian scripture as a frame of reference. I wonder if this was intended to be an oblique comment on western perspectives about Islamic and Buddhist fundamentalist views? I wonder if the point is that the senior figures involved need a philosophy other than capitalism in order to make any meaningful decision? I'd have liked this theme to have been taken further and be better explained... but, perhaps, this is just my making too much of some basic filler material.

The bit where the receptionist quotes the Bible chapter and verse was a bit weird. I think the religious imagery was a heavy handed attempt to lend a bit of drama to otherwise quite dry material by trying to put the collapse into apocalyptic terms. I also suspect there was a bit of good old BBC bias going on - you know, these Yanks are all religious nuts and think God's telling them what to do, etc. The bit with the NINJA girl talking was very much of that mindset. Her accent was even worse than Mr Bolam's!

[jocohen]

Fuld, Blankfein (sp?) and Dimon are all Jewish I think...

...but then so was Bugsy Segal...

(....maybe Mack was the only Italian-American...)

Most of the senior bankers are Jewish and even the italian americans got honory Rabbi titles ...read Liar's poker by Michael Lewis.

The conversations seem to be toned down versions of how these guys interact