From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson ("No End In Sight"), comes INSIDE JOB, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia. Narrated by Academy Award® winner Matt Damon, INSIDE JOB was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

If there is just one finance blog I would consider required reading to understand the depth of corruption in Wall Street, it is naked capitalism. It was created by Yves Smith, the author of ECONNED: How Unenlightened Self-Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism.

In her book she describes how going back to the 1970s, there was a push by free-marketeers to use Economics, not Finance, to not just create policy but to develop the trading tools that has created the hydra of the 1980s S&L and the current banking collapse, the sub-prime mortage orgy and the derivatives unicorn and rainbows markets.

Smith is ruthless when it comes to denouncing Economics as a discipline that is not qualified to provide policy advice and she has no problems calling out free-marketeers as looters. To say I deeply admire the breath of her financial knowledge and her fearless activism is to put it mildly.

It's why, when she says a documentary about the crisis is good, I take notice. From naked capitalism - Inside Job: A Movie Wall Street is Sure to Hate  read more »

Interesting juxtaposition: Eliot Spitzer is writing a column for Slate, while David Paterson is shaking up his team of campaign consultants.

Gov. David A. Paterson is said to be considering shaking up his political team by downsizing the role of the Global Strategy Group, which has been a one-stop Democratic political consulting and polling shop for the last two Democratic governors.

I've done work for a subsidiary of Global in the past, so I'm not entirely unbiased here. That said, what David Paterson needs aren't new consultants. What he needs is a higher level of leadership, partisan and generally. For example, can anyone imagine Eliot Spitzer putting up with the Diaz/Kruger rebellion?

David Paterson is a wonderful, funny and smart human being. I've never heard anyone offer an unkind assessment of his character and person, which, in this state, is remarkable in itself. But sometimes, that's just not enough. There are times when the whip needs to be cracked, and now is one of those times.

Our friend Ben Smith writes about an intriguing, if completely unlikely scenario: Eliot Spitzer as a replacement for Hillary in the Senate.

Now, Spitzer-stalgia isn't entirely unknown among New York Democrats; you hear the whispers with some frequency, especially among the more bloodthirsty, crush-your-enemies partisans.

Intriguingly, Eliot also seems to believe it's time to step back into the public eye. At least, that's what one could reasonably deduce from his long-form Op-Ed in today's Washington Post.

That said, let's not forget why Eliot left. It wasn't because of moral revulsion over his socks and the unusual use to which he put them; it was because he had zero political capital and backers left. That's not the best foundation to prevail in the unseemly horsetrading that would accompany securing that choice spot.

Second, who says Hillary wants to move to the cabinet, as Secretary of State or in any other capacity? Consider the history: The Secretaries of State of every administration since Reagan's have served only one term. Condoleeza Rice, one-termer; Colin Powell, the same; Madeline Albright and Warren Christopher; James Baker; George Schultz and Alexander Haig. From Hillary's perspective, which is arguably the only one that matters on this subject, taking that job - and serving at the pleasure of the President - is career suicide.

I don't think she'll do it, and she'd be right not to. Hillary's place is in the Senate as the foremost advocate for healthcare reform.

Eliot Spitzer