The Flaw

• Title: The Flaw
• Duration: 82 min.
• Country: United States
• Director: David Sington
• Script: David Sington
• Year: 2011
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7IQe7CBPCc
• Synopsis: The film shows how excessive income inequality in society leads to economic instability. At a time when economic theory and public policy is being re-examined this film reminds us that without addressing the root causes of the crisis the system may collapse again and next time it may not be possible for governments to rescue it. People all over the world are still struggling with the aftermath of the greatest financial crisis since the Wall Street Crash of 1929. We all know what the effects have been but what exactly were the causes? The Flaw ranges widely across the history of American capitalism in the twentieth century, its rigor laced with sardonic humor and peopled with a cast of characters that spans Nobel-prize winning economists and distressed home owners to the New York Times financial correspondent on the brink of foreclosure and the Wall Street banker who feels the pain encoded in his spreadsheets. The film argues that the roots of the crisis lie in the changing relationship between the rich and the rest in American society.

Banking and Finance' in the film

Splices the thoughts of economists such as Robert Shiller and Joseph Stiglitz with the testimony of participants in the housing market and some entertaining cartoons and archive clips. Mr Sington's case is that the boom and bust was closely tied up with the growing inequality of the US population that emerged after 1980. As wealth accumulated in the richest 1% of the population, the living standards of the bottom 50% stagnated. To maintain his or her standard of living the average.

Personal commentary

The Flaw admirably goes back to chart the course of financial policy from the 1920's to today, making startling connections in economic variables across the period and putting all this mess into the context of history. The Flaw has the misfortune of telling the same story as Inside Job and then the only movie yet to have made clear the cause and effect of the financial collapse of 2008.