I guess I should start this column by stating the obvious. I am no Roger Ebert nor Milton Friedman! My idea of a great motion picture usually involves either belly-laughs or revolves around the question; “who done it?”  As for understanding complex economic theories like Friedman? Well, to me “higher math” involves taking off my shoes, so as to have access to 11 additional digits. (I think the 11th is a bunion, but I’m not sure anymore which is which.)

Having said all of that, let me tell you about a motion picture I think everyone should see… particularly if you are like me and have been struggling to figure out how the so-called Great Recession came to be. Inside Job was written, produced and directed by Charles Ferguson. Although his film won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary, I doubt it has been seen by more than a tiny percentage of Americans.  That’s a shame, but not surprising. After all, it has no car chases, gratuitous violence nor bare bosoms. Those deficiencies aside, it is well worth the 108-minutes it will take to watch, as it gives you an easily understandable explanation of the situation that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

Ferguson maintains the problem began back in the 1980s with the Reagan Administration’s sweeping reforms that eliminated many of the federal regulations that had long governed Wall Street. That, he contends, created an atmosphere ripe to be exploited by brilliant con-artists in thousand-dollar, three piece suits, who all too often were aided and abetted by so-called “economic experts” from the academic community.  (Whether that aid was given because of personal greed or naïveté depends on whom you ask.)  

But don’t think this film is just two-hours of GOP and Wall Street bashing. Ferguson maintains in the post-Reagan years, BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES—and their presidents—were complicit in allowing and even encouraging what was virtually a worldwide Ponzi scheme. Even more jarring, however, is his contention that nothing meaningful has been done since the financial collapse to avert yet another major economic meltdown. In fact, it is his position that many of the folks who were most guilty of causing the 2008 crisis are still among the nation’s most influential and powerful.

Ferguson is not your typical Hollywood filmmaker. His bachelor’s degree is in math from the University of California at Berkeley and he later earned a doctorate in political science from MIT…two institutions considered by many to be bastions of liberalism. On the other hand, Ferguson was an astute enough capitalist to create a software company, which he later sold to Microsoft for $133-million.

Because of his unique background I was particularly interested in seeing how Wall Street viewed Ferguson’s film and so I went to Barrons.com, the online publishing voice of the Dow Jones Company. I assumed any Barron’s report dealing with the film would trash it as “left-wing propaganda.” I was wrong. While reviewer Gene Epstein felt the movie had oversights, his major criticism was that Ferguson’s rage was misdirected…with Washington far more culpable than Wall Street. You will have to make your own call on that. As far as I’m concerned, there’s more than enough blame to go around.

At any rate, the movie is Inside Job. I rented it from Netflix, but you may well want to ask our local public library to add it to its DVD collection. I’d like to see it readily available to everyone. And remember, you don’t have to be an economist or financial whiz to watch it. I got a lot out of it, and clearly I’m no genius. After all, I’m the guy who can’t figure out which is a toe and which is a bunion!

Jim Holmes lives in Live Oak.