Love of money, The

In September 2008, capitalism looked like it was on the brink of collapse. This is the story of how the crash was caused, what happened, and how generations to come will be affected by its legacy. In just one week banks across the world ran out of cash. Lehman Brothers collapsed; America's largest broker Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America; and AIG, the world's largest insurance group was nationalized. For over a year, governments had battled to contain the financial fallout from America's sub-prIme loans. But for some, time had run out. The world's economy went into freefall. This series takes a look at the week itself and explains how cultural and financial decisions taken over the last 20 years led to the crash of 2008 and how the fates of all the main players were interlinked. It meets the people who saw their careers, their reputations and their fortunes disappear overnight. It tells the revelatory tale of the birth of easy money and cheap credit and how this was then exported around the world with catastrophic results. Finally, the series reveals just how close we came to a total meltdown and asks what the ongoing costs of the rescue will be.

Featuring exclusive interviews with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as well as the CEOs of leading financial institutions and finance ministers from around the world, THE LOVE OF MONEY places the crash in its social context, analyzing how it was reported by the media and how it has changed the lives of so many. (oficjalny tekst dystrybutora)