Video: Review of 4-Part Frontline Financial Crisis Series 'Money, Power, and Wall St.'

The PolyCapitalist is kicking May off with a number of must watch videos, and this epic 4-part Frontline special follows the crisis from what is arguably its point of genesis: a 1994 JP Morgan retreat in Boca Raton, Florida which of led to the creation of the first credit default swaps.

Frontline has done an incredible job getting many of the key players and insiders, including a number of top Wall St. bankers, to go on record about what happend. Even if you've read all the books, seen the earlier Frontline financial crisis special, and think you know all you need to about the financial crisis, this is still must watch.

The big new item for me, and I'm a bit surprised this has not received more ink, was the March 2009 battle between Larry Summers and Tim Geithner over what to do with the megabanks. My prior understanding was that Summers and Geithner were two peas in a pod. Not always it turns out.

According to Frontline, in March 2009 Summers, along with fellow economist Chritina Romer, pushed for what was called 'Old Testament Justice', meaning firing a bank CEO and or possibly nationalizing one of the megabanks. In contrast, Geithner, who it would appear is more of a protege of Bob Rubin than Summers, fought hard to treat the banks with kid gloves and use stress tests to help instill confidence back into the marketplace.

Obama ultimately sided with Geithner, which seems to contradict earlier reporting that Geithner had ignored Obama's instructions to dissolve Citigroup. Frontline definitely presents Summers in a better light and Geithner and Obama in a worse one.

I have only a minor gripe with this Frontline series, which is the annoying editing. In a multi-part, complex story, reusing clips to aid telling the story is probably unavoidable. However, I felt they recycled too many from within the four part series, as well as from an earlier Frontline special on the financial crisis from a couple years ago. But this is a minor, forgivable quibble given the extraordinary job the Frontline team did to compile and document the crisis up through present day.

Overall, perhaps the key point made in the series - and one I could not agree more with - is that the financial crisis still has not ended. Where it will go from here is as much dependent now on politics as markets or economics.

Video: Debt and Redemption Documentary

At the risk of sounding trite it's often helpful to put a face and voice behind the news.

This short documentary by VPRO, which does excellent work overall btw, has some good coverage of the fallout from the dealings by both small and large Italian municipalities in derivatives like interest rate swaps. And if terms like 'derivative' turn you off but you're still interested in learning more and trying to understand the financial crisis, then video is particularly recommended.

Interviews include the Rolling Stone's Matt Tabibbi, Brooklyn based investor-blogger Reggie Middleton, and former IMF Chief Economist and Professor Simon Johnson.

The most interesting fact from the documentary for me was learning how the City of Milan agreed to be on the hook financially to a bank in the event of a debt default by Italy (the nation state).

Are there any other municipalities which have contractually guaranteed the debt of a sovereign state?

Video: Jeff Gundlach On What's Better Than Gold if Financial Armageddon Strikes

Wall Street Collusion: Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

Must read NY Times article on how the Too 'Bigger' to Fail megabanks control and manipulate the multi-trillion derivatives market.

An excerpt from the article:

“On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.

The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.

Drawn from giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the bankers form a powerful committee that helps oversee trading in derivatives, instruments which, like insurance, are used to hedge risk. In theory, this group exists to safeguard the integrity of the multitrillion-dollar market. In practice, it also defends the dominance of the big banks.

The banks in this group, which is affiliated with a new derivatives clearinghouse, have fought to block other banks from entering the market, and they are also trying to thwart efforts to make full information on prices and fees freely available.”

and the money graphic: