Product Details

• Actors: Reported By Jim Gilmore
• Directors: Michael Kirk
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: January 5, 2010
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002Q5O6ZW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,609 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #3 in Movies & TV > DVD > TV News Programming

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Pbs Release Date: 01/05/2010

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How entrenched self-interest to the extent of blindness stymied the earliest attempts to prevent future economic meltdown, February 11, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frontline: The Warning (DVD)

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.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Tragic Tale of Wall St. Pseudo-Transactions, May 26, 2010

By 

Doctor A. (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frontline: The Warning (DVD)

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."

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You Greed for Wrecking the Economy, May 28, 2010

By 

Michael A. Saxton (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frontline: The Warning (DVD)

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.