Frontline The Warning

Posted In: Inside Job

Loyd Natewa says...

While you were sleeping, past and present elected powers and their appointed cronies were playing fast and loose with your money. The result was the complete de-stabilization of America's economy and the political hi-jacking of the nation's banking system. If you want a crash course in how we got to where we are today, this film is a good start. America's financial woes didn't occur overnight and there is plenty of blame to go around. "The Warning" presents a clear and balanced explanation of our failure.

Posted on March 10, 2011

Maye Mcabier says...

Product arrived within 5 days and was exactly as I had ordered.I will purchase from this vendor again.

Posted on March 10, 2011

Ara Ebbing says...

An objective and fact-based account of how derivatives impacted our 2008 economic depression.Sadly, many people fail to understand that these financial instruments are essentially "vaporware" -- the exclusive side-bets of uber-wealthy insiders that have no intrinsic value or sustainable wealth creation. The complete lack of federal regulation and the absence of transparency is virtually casino capitalism in a black box.



Alongside derivatives exist credit default swaps, securitized debt instruments, and the entire smorgasbord of pseudo-transactions of Wall Street. Ironically, the gains from these transactions are privatized, while the losses are socialized...the ultimate in corporate welfare. Given the well-documented nefarious tactics of Summers, Rubens and Greenspan to shield the derivatives market, the courageous efforts of Brooksley Born to bring this debacle to light are extraordinary.



After viewing this presentation (or any of the numerous documentaries on our current economic catastrophe), it is astounding that any thinking person would object to the need for appropriate market regulation or mandated transparency in our public and private institutions. As Justice Louis Brandeis once remarked, "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

Posted on March 11, 2011

Sherrill Crecco says...

The allegations in this book are startling. Jim Marrs gives us a picture of total cover-up of the actual facts of 9/11. The Bush administration tells us that Arab terrorist armed only with boxcutters hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, collapsing both buildings, and into the Pentagon, and another plane that didn't make it to Washington DC went down in Pennsylvania due to the actions of brave passengers. Now Jim Marrs tells us that none of it is true.



The government released information about the terrorists who were supposedly flying the planes, but it later was found that some of them were not even on the planes. Marrs questions whether the hijackers actually intended to commit suicide and whether they were actually flying the planes. He presents an alternate theory that the planes could be controlled from the ground. The Arab who was supposed to be flying the plane that hit the Pentagon was such a lousy pilot he was kicked out of flight school, yet the plane made a maneuver that required a high level of skill. Marrs also questions whether that plane actually hit the Pentagon (the hole in the building was smaller than the plane) and why no remains of the plane or passengers were found.



The horrible images of the WTC collapse will stay with all of us who saw it on TV on September 11, 2001: people jumping out of windows from all levels, the smoke billowing from the top, the black dust cloud on the streets, and people running and screaming, trying to get away. But did the planes crashing into the buildings bring them down? Or was it controlled explosions that collapsed those buildings? What about Building 7, one of the smaller buildings, that also collapsed? Marrs says that some of the rescuers and those fleeing the buildings heard explosions in places not penetrated by the planes.



What about the actions of our President, George W. Bush? Why did he just keep on reading to school children when he got the news? Didn't he think he could be a target too and that the children's safety was in jeapardy? Or did he already know he was not a target? And why didn't he get jets in the air and order them to travel at top speed to the attack sites? How can Bush claim to put homeland security first when he failed so completely to protect Americans on September 11, 2001?



This book raises many questions, many of the most interesting from the families of the victims. Ellen Mariani's RICO lawsuit openly alleges that the Bush adminstration cuold have stopped 9/11. The most sinster part of what this suit alleges is that the attacks served the interests of the Bush adminstration which wanted to go to war in Iraq. It ended criticism of Bush's policies and tended to unite both parties behind the Bush agenda. Bush got his war in Iraq, and now we are reaping the sad consequences.



You can take the material in this book, at one extreme, to make a claim that the Bush adminstration was actually behind the 9/11 attacks or you can just take it to indicate incompetence in dealing with a crisis that led to a cover-up of the facts. In either case, it should remind Americans to look beyond the explanations given by the Bush adminstration. September 11, 2001 was one of the worst days most of us have lived through. It has affected all of us in many ways. We deserve to know the truth.

Posted on March 11, 2011

Elli Attard says...

I am a big fan of PBS Frontline documentaries as they seem, at least in my opinion, to be a bit more unbiased than most. This is especially true of political documentaries.



Alan Greenspan for years was considered a financial guru. He carried the opinion that the market would regulate itself and didn't need government interference. How wrong he was (and he later admitted it to congress, and really took a death-dealing blow to his reputation). This is another example of the collective ignorance of the government and old fashioned greed causing people to not only ignore legitimate warnings, but to actively push to cover it up.



I recommend watching this with i.o.u.s.a., FRONTLINE: Ten Trillion and Counting, and Frontline: Inside the Meltdown for a bigger and more in depth overview of the financial crisis.



Mike Saxton, Author of "7 Scorpions: Rebellion"

Posted on March 12, 2011

Maris Picozzi says...

This doc. is more real then we know, also respect PBS for airing and Born for trying to save fellow Americans from a downfall, I feel its real and there might be more coming as she says at the end.

Posted on March 13, 2011

Miguelina Frisby says...

I am not taken with conspiracy theories in general. The tone of most conspiracy theory books borders on the hysterical, and the authors can often be the source of their own undoing. (Even though the Bushes' long and well documented history includes unbroken and financially prosperous business relationships with not only the Saudis, but also with Hitler, it serves no one to repeat the connections as though the Bushes are Nazis.)



However having said that, I read the entire book. There were moments of wading through vagueries and inflammatory accusations. But I couldn't deny the facts -- too many of them -- and was stunned by the contradictions revealed in the 9/11 report.



I have read Richard Clarke's "Against all Enemies" (highly recommended) and urge readers to purchase that book. This is well written by an "insider" who was loyal to both Democratic and Republican administrations. I've also read Kevin Phillips (American Dynasty) Joe Wilson (The Politics of Truth), Bob Woodward (Plan of Attack), and Ron Susskind (Price of Loyalty).



A disturbing reality emerges about this administration after reading these varied accounts. I sincerely hope the shroud of secrecy will be lifted exposing those who should be held accountable, so that we may avoid another tragedy - natural or otherwise - while "under their watch."



If nothing else, this is a quick, entertaining read, stimulates thinking, and in my opinion, the actual documentation provided within the book and in its appendices is the most compelling. (Along with the web site listed at the end - 911 truth dot org )



(Have you ever read the full text of Presidential Bulletin entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike US"?The one that President Bush received in August while he was on vacation? I had not. Reading that, I think, would motivate any ordinary American to end their vacation and assemble everyone who had any knowledge, power, and / or authority to enter into discussions to determine exactly what this Bulletin meant in order to thwart any efforts Bin Ladin had in place to cause us harm.)



Read the Rico Complaint (in the appendices) filed on behalf of widows who refused "hush" money from the government. That alone, raises questions which the American people deserve concrete answers to.



By the way, the gentleman who did not purchase the book and reported that this book is a sham in his mind because of a couple of answers he took on faith from the official 9/11 report: The FAA said it lost track of the airliners because the transponders were turned off and they didn't know where the planes were until it was too late.



Well, fact is, Flights 11 and 175 were at all times on Boston's flight control radar. When Flight 11's transponder was turned off that only kept Boston from tracking the plane's exact altitude - the plane was still being tracked on Boston's primary radar. Many Boston flight controllers actually watched the planes go down on their radar. (One of them testified to this fact before the Commission) Why did the FAA apparently distort the facts?



NORAD did not respond in any manner for 57 minutes after first being notified of Flight 11 being hijacked. Why so long?



When General Myers was asked why the F-16s didn't prevent the Pentagon from being hit, his reply was that the F-16s were moving like "scalded apes at 500 mph." That sounds fast - it is the speed commercial airliners travel - but for an F-16, it is crawling. F-16s which can go up to 1,500 MPH. Why were they moving so slowly?



These are just a few questions raised. There's a lot more to read, and surely with enough outcry from American citizens, our government - the one for and by the people - will prosecute those who are accountable, remain at large, and possibly at the helm.

Posted on March 15, 2011

Ruthanne Mesmer says...

This is the story of one woman who was the lone wolf in the financial world who tried to sound the alarm of the impending financial disaster. Her warning would make her an enemy of very powerful people who would attempt to shut her up and shut her down. Unfortunately, they would succeed.



Brooksley Born who is appointed Chairperson of the Commodities Futures Trade Commission (CFTC). As chairman of the CFTC, Born was authorized to regulate agriculture futures and derivatives. The men she would go up against are Allan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Robert Rubin, who served as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy under Bill Clinton, and Tim Geitner.Rubin's top deputy would be Harvard Economist, Larry Summers. Together they formed a powerful influence. When these men spoke, Government and Wall Stree listened.



Over-the-counter derivatives soon get her attention for its lack of regulation. Derivatives, or swaps, are essentially insurance policies that companies enter into to protect themselves against unforeseen calamities. It is a twenty-seven trillion dollar market that was hidden from public view. In 1993 Proctor & Gamble sued Bankers' Trust for losses in the millions from swaps.Proctor & Gamble employees find secret tapes of conversations between Bankers' Trust representatives bragging how they played P & G knowing they would lose. The only way the Federal Trade Commission found out about the fraud from the high profile lawsuit.The largest banks are operating in secret. There is no recordkeeping, reporting, or regulation of swaps and their failure could take down the entire financial system.



Worried about an out-of-control financial instrument, Brooksley Born decides to attempt regulation by issuing a concept release. She will not only face the economic and banking titans, but also the most powerful lobby ever--the banking lobby. Their immediate push only heightens Born's suspicion, and she continues her regulatory action, which her agency is empowered to do. She is only answerable to the president.The "President'sWorking Group reacts. It consists of Greenspan, Geitner, Summers, Arthur Levitt, the SEC chairman, the head of the FTC, and other members picked by Rubin. Their intent is to browbeat Born into retracting her concept release, but she refuses.



The Working Group gets both houses of Congress to hold meetings immediately in the Summer of 1998. The old boys' network led by Senator Phil Gramm believes the good old boys, and Born is battered by the hearings. With no support or political clout Congress does nothing, but it doesn't take long for her prophecy to develop. In fact, it takes only six weeks when a hedge fund called Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) starts to melt down, exactly what what worries Born. Members of Congress begin to call for regulation but Allan Greenspan has no intention of yielding, and Congress backs him up. There will be no regulation against fraud, no transparency, no capital reserve requirements, and no record of transactions. The only action Congress takes is against the CFTC.Congress imposes a regulatory freeze on the CFTC because Born is the bearer of bad news, and not viewed as a team player.Powerless, she resigns. Wall Street is left to regulate itself at Greenspan's urging, and the last two years of the Clinton admnistration turns out to be the heyday of the derivative. By 2007, the OTC derivatives market grows to $595,000,000,000,000--that's trillion. Almost ten years after the collapse of LTCM the worst crash since the Depression occurs.



Robert Rubin eventually leaves government to join top management at Citibank. After the crash, the government gives the bank 100 billion to keep Citi afloat. Larry Summers and Tim Geitner have become Barack Obama's chief financial advisors.Allan Greenspan retires just before the crisis of 2006. He realizes that his belief of a lifetime that the free market is self-regulating, is flawed.Larry Summers now says that he is very much in favor of derivative regulation. The Treasury Dept.releases a proposal with some of the same ideas Born made more than a decade ago. The banking industry still very opposes regulation. Without it, Brooksley Born a modern day Cassandra, predicts the same thing again in a different form until we learn from our experience. She epitomizes the meaning of public servant.



The question remains, if Brooksley Born's prophecy was heeded, would a financial crisis had been averted? The answer is yes.



Finally, the CFTC is still powerless as a watchdog agency for the public.



This is a phenomenal account of what happened, and who is to blame for the financial crisis from which this country still reels. For anyone who wants to understand what happened, this will inform you in 60 minutes.













Also recommended:

PBS' website where the discussion of the financial crisis continues, and a timeline of deregulation over the decades is offered.



Leopold, Les, "The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity."Chelsea Green Publishing, White River, VT.2009

Posted on March 17, 2011

Janel Chinskey says...

This PBS DVDs preserves a memorable episode from their award-winning Frontline documentary series. "The Warning" is a surprising revelation of how early warnings of impending economic meltdown were tragically ignored; high-ranking members of the Clinton administration were at odds witha lone woman seeking to advocate the need to regulate the complicated new derivatives market that would eventually sour the nation's economy. A fascinating story of how entrenched self-interest to the extent of blindness stymied the earliest attempts to prevent future economic meltdown. Highly recommended, especially for public library documentary collections. 60 minutes.

Posted on March 17, 2011

Sacha Dunton says...

Marrs's book is another expose about the complicity versus incompetence theory. The problem with this theory is that complicity will never be proven; because if it does, then the world order and the make up of power will change, and the distrust in government will reach its ultimate peak, and that in itself would lead to anarchy. That is why the Kennedy assassination per example, remains a mystery, and that is why people are uncomfortable with conspiracy theories !

However, incompetence is a much better and acceptable scenario when it comes to the federal government. When a federal agency claims incompetence for its mistakes, it will receive more funding and more human resources, and will eventually expand to a bloating level in order to reduce these mistakes. Ironically, whenever an error occurs, it is usually blamed on that same bloated bureaucracy that was expanded to begin with to resolve that same problem. It is an interesting cycle, nevertheless a vicious one.

Are you confused yet? If you are, that is good ! Because that is the whole idea, which is to remain in a state of confusion; therefore, we accept whatever we are told, and that in turn would reduce our inner conflict about two opposing ideas, that eventually force us to choose one, in order for us to quell that inner conflict and regain our inner balance and harmony.

Anyway, Marrs's book is concise, blunt, and straight to the point. It is filled with well known and overwhelming facts. It will provide the reader with a speedy and interesting perspective on the 9/11 events.

Posted on March 22, 2011