re: #59 Franklin

As soon as I finished the movie I researched the criticism of it to see how authentic the story was (hadn’t read the book yet at that time). The biggest criticism I could find was that they (the protagonists) exacerbated the collapse because of their short positions.

Which is crap since the banks themselves started to short as the crisis was looming.

Anyway, I was glad they touched on the quasi-hypocrisy of their position during the Moody’s scene.

EDIT: And the casino scene with Brad Pitt telling them not to celebrate.

Eisman especially is disturbed when he realizes he’s made a shitload of money because millions of people lost their homes.

I’m not they exacerbated the situation so much as added a piece of straw on the camel’s back. The collapse was going to happen with or without those shorts. You had a shaky foundation (subprime mortgages) supporting layer upon layer of securities — each a repackaged version of the layer under, beside or above it. All was golden as long the housing market was booming. But the guys with the short positions all understood that booms never last forever.