Customer Reviews

Ascent of Money

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

How did we get into the current financial mess? Niall Ferguson has put together one of the best programs on this. What's unique about Ferguson is a sense of history and time. He is one of the most creative historians in the world today. Ferguson goes back and studies the current crisis in terms of past crises. It's interesting that many big Wall Street firms used databases of only ten years in making hundreds of billions of dollars of real estate bets. Giant economic train wrecks are a part of free enterprise for better or worse. The 19th century was marked by a series of international financial disasters. (Contrary to what you might of heard, "globalization" is not new. In fact almost every major financial crisis of the last 200 years had international implications.) I would recommend Ferguson's book The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World I would also recommend Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History This book is not easy reading but also has a unique value by going back hundred of years - not Wall Street's ten years. You'll find out that China as the world's largest economy is anything but "new". It was the world's largest economy for hundreds of years up to about 1800.

Sadly, Ferguson is not too optimistic about America's "recovery" plans. From 1981 to today we went from being the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor. He is very skeptical that borrowing trillions more from China and others is going to make things better.

This documentary offers a unique window into the complexity of modern global financial markets, and is particularly salient in light of the recent economic crisis. It is really a historian's view on the role of money and finance throughout human history, and places modern political economy in crucial context. Ferguson argues implicitly that the indispensable role of financial history has been somewhat underappreciated even within academia, and that a better understanding of what makes the economy tick is critical to future prosperity. The book version of this work is also great, but the documentary complements the arguments with stunning visuals from around the world. This DVD is a must see for anyone working in the financial industry, any students of economics or history, and anyone wishing to better grasp contemporary finance.

This is an excelent beginning, but was misled to believe it was the whole Series. It is not.

There is MORE. Found this out the first time I watched the whole 2 hours. Part of a series I saw on PBS TV on Economics, Banking and the American Civil War... was no where to be seen. Turns out there is more than 2 hours to this series.

The Money trail leads to some very interesting human history. The look at economic history in "The Ascent of money" is well worth a look. It's tight.

A friend of mine sugguested that I look at this film. I am glad that he did! The Author really knows his stuff and it is obvious that he also enjoys teaching about it. If you want to know a bit more about the complex subject of money and how it effects evrything on this planet then this is worthy of your consideration.

The best book / Video / CD on how the world ended up using the monetary system we have. Long read/watch/listen but well worth the time. I sent a copy to both my 20 something kids, because they need too understand our financial world if they are to survive happily the next 60 years.

You can't dispute facts, and those are exactly what Niall Ferguson provides in this thoroughly informative documentary. This production should be required viewing in every high school and college if we want our future generations to have a true and clear picture of the genesis of of world finance, its history, its present state and where it is headed if things are allowed to continue on their current course.

WITH THE UNIQUE AND BRIGHT BACKGRAOND OF N.FERGUSON, THE PBS DOCUMENTARY EXPLAINS A LOT OF THE REAL ROOOTS OF WERE ARE WE IN THE CRISIS.

THE HISTORY IS VERY WELL EXPLAIN AND THE VISUALS ARE REALLY EXCELLENT.

IT IS VERY USEFULL FOR THE EXPERTS AND THE LAYMAN.

IT IS FUN AND IS INSTRUCTIVE WITH OUT THE EXPERT LENGUAJE OF THE BOOK.

All I'm going to say is that this documentary, rather than attempt to inform people about what money is and where it comes from, diverts away from the subject entirely, and turns it into an entertainment about Incas, jews and Shakespeare. This is a really horrific piece of propaganda from the ever declining BBC. I doubt very much that the documentary writers were ignorant to the basic, simple mechanism of the fractional reserve system (whereby banks, rather than lend you money that they already have, create it out of thin air!), so my conclusion is that they have purposefully ommitted such a discussion to divert people from the real problem. This film is a filthy load of propaganda for the status quo, and the presenter is an irritating mongrel, who was probably too stupid to grasp that the theory of the documentary was wrong. If I could give this 0 stars I would. Absolutely awful.

And by the way, Did you know you can watch entire documentary free online?

Right off the bat he welcomes us to the world of money but this is misleading because the real culprit in Ferguson's financial "who done it" is credit and credit derivatives (easy lending practices in short, because speculation drives "growth") and NOT money.

If this is an expose it fails to mention names and show corrupt systems. If it is a lecture it where is the detailed analysis of the system? And why does it fail to provide alternatives? And if it is history lesson it is obviously enamored by the hedonistic high speculative and dangerous techniques of modern finance; but maybe it's a warning, if that is the case its message is not urgent enough or transparent enough to evoke action from the viewer.

But I suppose if you know nothing about modern finance (or sleep in economics) you will now have something novel to add at the dinner table discussion. But this video is way better than the book he followed up with of the same title, which is riddles with inaccuracies, omissions, and errors. Interesting, the more I watch this watch this film (ive seen it 3 times) the more I understand that what Ferguson is really documenting is a history of exploitation.

But what ultimately drew such low marks from me is its lack of synthesis, direction. All this jumping around of subject matter and centuries is annoying and paradoxical. This film has the stamp "approved for the masses" all over it, neither critical nor enlightening, a person would be better off watching Scooby-Doo then expect to become knowledgeable on this subject.