The Big Short Explained
The Big Short is a 2015 movie that breaks down the 2007-2008 financial crisis in a smart, funny way. It shows how a few smart people saw the housing market was about to crash and made huge bets against it, while banks and everyone else ignored the warning signs.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film)
The story starts with Dr. Michael Burry, played by Christian Bale. He is a hedge fund manager with a sharp eye for numbers. Burry digs into mortgage data and spots a big problem. Most home loans, called subprime mortgages, go to people who cannot really afford them. These loans get bundled into securities that banks sell as safe investments. Ratings agencies give them top scores even though they are risky. Burry creates credit default swaps, which are like insurance bets that pay out if those mortgages fail. He puts over a billion dollars into this bet, paying high fees each month while waiting for the crash.https://spoilertown.com/the-big-short-2015/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film)
Next, we meet Jared Vennett, a banker played by Ryan Gosling. He hears about Burry’s idea and shops it around. He explains complex finance terms using celebrities like Margot Robbie in a bubble bath to make it simple for viewers. Vennett convinces Mark Baum, a skeptical investor played by Steve Carell, to join the bet. Baum and his team travel to Florida. They see shady mortgage brokers handing out loans to strippers and others with no income. They learn ratings agencies are in on the scam, giving bad bonds AAA ratings to keep the money flowing.https://spoilertown.com/the-big-short-2015/
Then there are young investors Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley, played by John Magaro and Finn Wittrock. They stumble on Vennett’s pitch and need help from retired banker Ben Rickert, played by Brad Pitt. With his connections, they buy swaps too. The group faces huge pressure. Clients pull money, banks drag their feet, and prices stay fake-high because banks freeze them to sell off junk before the fall. Geller and Shipley try to warn the press, but a Wall Street Journal reporter won’t run the story to protect his sources.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film)https://spoilertown.com/the-big-short-2015/
When defaults rise, the housing bubble bursts. Banks lose billions, leading to the global crisis. Burry’s fund jumps 489 percent, making over 2.69 billion dollars profit. The young investors turn 30 million into 80 million. Baum cashes in big too. But they all see the real cost: millions lose homes, jobs vanish, and no one on Wall Street faces real punishment. The movie, based on Michael Lewis’s book, mixes laughs with anger to show how greed and lies nearly wrecked the economy.https://www.avclub.com/the-big-short-builds-a-smart-comedy-out-of-the-2008-mor-1798185974https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film)
Sources
https://spoilertown.com/the-big-short-2015/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film)
https://www.avclub.com/the-big-short-builds-a-smart-comedy-out-of-the-2008-mor-1798185974
