The financial crisis of 2007-2008 is also known as the global financial crisis. It was a severe worldwide economic crisis considered by many the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The crisis began in 2007 in the subprime mortgage market in the United States. From there, it developed into a full-blown international banking crisis. It led to the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. The crisis was then followed by a global economic downturn, called the Great Recession.
The crisis was primarily caused by deregulation in the financial industry. This permitted bans to engage in hedge fund trading with derivatives. But banks demanded more mortgages to support he profitable sale of these derivatives, creating a financial crisis.
The documentary looks at all the factors that led to the crisis, as well as efforts by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to save the United States from an economic collapse.
