In the video titled “Wall Street’s Shadow Market | 60 Minutes Archive,” the viewer is taken on a deep dive into the financial crisis of 2008. The segment highlights how Wall Street’s greed and incompetence led to the creation of a vast unregulated shadow market worth nearly $60 trillion. The crisis began with a terrible bet on risky mortgages, which were then bundled into complex securities that few could understand. These securities were sold to banks, pension funds, and institutional investors around the world, leading to catastrophic losses when homeowners began defaulting on their mortgages.
The role of credit default swaps, private insurance contracts that were sold as risk-saving devices, is also explored. These swaps multiplied the losses and ultimately brought down some of the biggest firms on Wall Street. The video sheds light on how the financial system was brought to its knees by risky investments and side bets, exposing the criminal neglect and incompetence of those at the top of financial institutions.
Through interviews with experts and industry insiders, the video paints a grim picture of the financial crisis and raises questions about the sustainability of the current financial system. The viewer is left with a sense of urgency to understand the risks and complexities of the financial world to prevent future crises of this magnitude.
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Video “Wall Street’s Shadow Market | 60 Minutes Archive” was uploaded on 05/21/2024 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes