Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Donate today to give back in celebration of all that #PublicMediaGives. Your contribution will be matched $1 for $1.

Seeing The Financial Crisis Through 'The Big Short'

Goldman Sachs agreed late yesterday to pay $5 billion to end investigations into claims that it knowingly sold faulty mortgage bonds in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup have already settled.

This comes during a week that the financial crisis has been in the news for other reasons. Yesterday, “The Big Short,” based on the Michael Lewis book that documents the events that led up to the 2008 crisis, was nominated for five Oscars.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young takes a look at the film and how things have changed since 2008, with Barry Ritholtz of Ritholtz Wealth Management and Sylvia Alvarez of the Housing & Education Alliance.

Guests

  • Barry Ritholtz, chairman and chief investment officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management in New York, and the author of “Bailout Nation.” He tweets @ritholtz.
  • Sylvia Alvarez, licensed realtor and executive director of the Housing & Education Alliance in Tampa Bay, Florida. She also serves on the advisory board for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She tweets @SylviaAAlvarez.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

In "The Big Short," Christian Bale plays the eccentric real-life trader Dr. Michael Burry, one of the few who figures out how unstable the housing market is. (Paramount Pictures)
/
In "The Big Short," Christian Bale plays the eccentric real-life trader Dr. Michael Burry, one of the few who figures out how unstable the housing market is. (Paramount Pictures)

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.