From A (Documentary-FILM) INSIDE JOB - Essay Example

Naturally, as successive presidents, both Democrat and Republican, allowed for further and further deregulation to take place, the levels to which private industry were able to stray into previously uncharted waters, was a fundamental determinate with regards to what was actually precipitated. Although this deregulation was of course a massive contributor factor, one must also consider the means by which the individual private firms themselves self regulated. This is of course a separate issue and one that cannot be overlooked.

Ultimately, just as with regards to the levels of government and financial regulation that it previously determined the systemic approach that firms took to business, a corresponding drop with regards to self-regulation was also realized; thereby providing something of a perfect storm by which the financial collapse was able to be realized. Similarly, with regards to the stakeholders that can ultimately be blamed for this collapse, it is the belief of this student that these stakeholders break down into the following three groups: government, key leadership within the firm’s, and lower-level employees.

The list that has been given has been related from the most culpable to the least. Although it may seem strange that the government is listed as the primary culprit, the reason for such a belief is due to the fact that only a very naive and narrow minded person would assume that business, lacking many of the constraints that it formerly bound it in prior prosperous decades, would somehow be able to regulate itself to a better and more complete degree. Secondly, the leadership positions of many of the large firms in question bear a great deal of culpability due to the fact that they were fully aware that an impending crisis could easily strike.

This was of course evidenced in the film by many internal memos that were able to be disseminated which noted the concern and subsequent disregard that many of the shareholders exhibited. Lastly, representing the shareholders that have the least culpability, it is necessary to consider the individual employees. Although it might be reasonable to merely pass over these individuals, the fact the matter is that many of these individuals realized that the current path of they were on was untenable; nevertheless, rather than raising the alarm, basically went along with it.

With regards the rating agencies, it must be understood that these entities functioned not in the way that one would assume; rather, they functioned in something other hand –in– glove manner with the very firms that they were tasked with measuring. Whereas one might assume that the rating agencies were able to cut through the fluff and get down to the numbers which defined the overall strength of these diverse entities, the fact of the matter is that the rating agencies were not performing due diligence and were merely providing satisfactory reports on a range of firms that exhibited key, fundamental, and ultimately disastrous shortcomings.

A mortgage-backed security is an asset backed security that leverages a loan based upon the cash flow that is intended to be generated from a mortgage. Mortgage-backed securities are in and of themselves not necessarily a bad thing. However, within the constraints of the system, as it existed prior to the collapse of 2007/2008, mortgage-backed securities were lumped altogether. In such a way, the investor and many of the loans they were