Generation Zero

This is a right wing attack ad disguised as a documentary.There are no real facts presented, just the normal right wing rants about how everyone who doesn't agree with their view point is ruining the country.Democrats = communists,all regulations are strangling the business world,social programs are bleeding us dry, etc. At least they could have tried to make this interesting but no the constant attacks on everyone but Wall Street and so self righteous that after less than a quarter of the documentary it starts to grate on your nerves. Hippies, Godlessness, 50's mothers (women), Community Reinvestment Act, ACORN, too much regulation caused the 2008 crash! REALLY?!! If you don't think but follow along and believe all the right wing crap this film will appeal to you, otherwise don't bother watching this.

The best thing I can tell you about this flick is that watching it is a useful exercise, of a sort. It does one welcome thing, which is to exhort us to use our heads, and thereby do honor to a long line of head- using progenitors in western civ.

So: Watch the movie while keeping this in mind: The flick will from time to time try to throw in an inducement to indulge a knee-jerk emotional revulsion to some boogum or other; for example, the "hippies".

Hold back. Follow the better angels of your thoughtful, circumspect self and listen to the welter of "serious" thinkers as the presentation attempts to marshal them toward a larger view of the current "crisis". What I think you'll see (not feel) is that the attempt to deliver a broad, convincing, explanatory perspective falls flat. The individuals spliced into the presentation may each have something interesting to say, but the pageant of this documentary fails to knit them into something cogent and convincing.

There are so, so many ways to interpret economic reality which are much, much more compelling than this rather confused, disparate patchwork.

I watched this for one reason: Bannon (the writer/editor) is now (2017/02) on the NSC. He's the dog who caught the car. I wanted to see if perhaps this documentary would have embedded in it a hint or two as to anything Bannon may be able to claim in the way of praxis: In other words, one would wish that, once the dog catches the car, it turns out to be a magic car that breaks the spell and turns Bannon from a dog into a statesman with a clear, focused perspective; one which contextualizes economic reality in a practical way, suggesting a way forward into what he calls "economic nationalism".

This flick doesn't give me hope. For example, it will not surprise me if his response to the hard economic reality which promises only to continue to rob American futurity is to exercise heavy power. And that's just the old standby/more of the same: Keep us on the hamster wheel, and throw monetary tokens into the pit and torch them--just like in days gone by. He doesn't really have a truly republican vision.

Disclaimer: I'm a former hedge fund guy.

Did I see the crash coming? Yes, but barely.

My fund, and a fund I represented, had mucho skin in game tied to domestic interest rates and LIBOR. So, I wanted...willed...all to be fine.

Didn't work.

1/6 of all hedge funds crashed, and didn't cost the tax payers a penny. Like a noncompetitive mom&pop restaurant, they were correctly left to fail.

Core of crash was three-pronged:

1: Federal Reserve: They've created boom/busts for 100 years. How? Just as Soviets couldn't centrally plan the price of a pencil, wheat, or gold, no one on earth can correctly centrally plan the price of money.

2: Federal Government: Goes back to the Community Reinvestment Act, forcing banks to lend to people, regardless of credit rating. Hey, I want ALL people to be rich. But, selectively punishing banks for not lending "enough" to certain racial groups is evil, anti-market, and proved to be, destructive. Banks love to lend...love it, and care not of one's race, gender, or sexual orientation. They absolutely do care if one can pay back a loan.

Think I cared the race of my clients investing $5 million, $1 million, or even in my entry level fund, $250K?

3: Wall Street(creation of CDOs etc), rating agencies (rated garbage as "A"), and Fannie and Freddie (bought garbage mortgages,and therefore, encouraged them) played huge role in this mess too. But, without items 1 and 2, 3 would have been impossible.

Wow, i've never seen such a ridiculous piece of right-wing propaganda in my life. With a straight face, they actually try to make the case that the 2008 financial crash was the fault of...get this... 1960s hippies. Yes, you heard me correctly, it was The LIBRULS!!11!!!!!1 The crash didn't happen because of deregulation, corruption and financial deepening - no, it was because Americans lost their 'morals' and began consuming conspicuously. that's right. the consumer's fault. we did this. oh, and the democrats, of course.....and the Chinese for some reason.

This is a sad attempt to say that this wasn't capitalism's fault - that it was a perversion of capitalism with too much government intervention.

This movie has politicians in it. Need I say more. Now you can do the critical thinking or you can give them credit and think they are the good guys. But they are now trying to gain your trust and get your votes by claiming to be for the people. They are set up under lies such as "Citizens United" where David Bossie openly admits that a great way to persuade is through movies. He is behind other movies such as Occupy Unmasked where the occupy protesters are claimed to use violence and intimidation. This movie is another "tactic" to gain trust when in reality people knew about the financial crisis in 2008 and who is behind it. Watch David Bossie's productions with cautious reserve. They like to tell some truth mixed with lies and an agenda that will keep lining their pockets and those they serve.