VICE on HBO looks at factors that led to the 2008 financial crisis and the efforts made by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to save the United States from an economic collapse.
The feature-length documentary explores the challenges these men faced, as well as the consequences of their decisions.
Ultimately, the people – the homeowners – over 10 million – would be sacrificed and not a single Wall St. Banker went to jail.
“It’s not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number.”
— a Treasury Department spokeswoman explaining how the $700 billion number was chosen for the initial bailout.