Analysis Of The Documentary The Untouchables

The documentary “13th”, directed and written by Ava DuVernay and released as a Netflix Original in 2016 is about the history of racism and inequality across America, corresponding with the mass incarceration of African-Americans in modern prison. The title represents the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution stating the abolishment of slavery. The target audience of this movie is the federal system, black communities, and the modern society. This movie seems to coincide with the Black Lives Matter movement that stormed the country in 2015 after the death of black males at the hands of police officers. Mass incarceration across the United States makes up a Majority of the movie. DuVernay bases the movie of the narrative that

I believe that the behaviors of the Ford, Firestone, and the financial corporations on Wall Street were considered criminal behaviors. There was sufficient evidence against these corporations. Apparently, the prosecutors could not prove criminal intent in their behaviors; however, in the case of the financial institutions on Wall Street, you cannot have millions of loans bought and sold that clearly do not meet the standards of a “good loan”. Additionally, it seems utterly irresponsible for the executive banking institutions to not be aware of these loans not meeting the standards for all of the years they were being bought and sold. I believe knowing this information proves criminal intent because no further action there was taken to prevent these loans from being bought and sold without regulation.

MODERATION: In order for this crisis to have reached such alarming heights is a clear demonstration that there are not enough legislation and regulations in place to ensure that banks are not exploiting the public. For loans to have been declared unconstitutional is so alarming that America should be embarrassed that so many of their citizens were exploited. The travesty continued when banks, not the victims, were given additional funds to balance their books in the midst of the crisis. They gave themselves huge bonuses for having pulled off the greatest heist in the history of America. After securing their bailout and bonuses, they still foreclosed on the victims

As said in every economics class, the reason every business goes into business is to make money. The same can be said in criminal cases involving businesses. In the majority of cases, executives and people highly ranked in the company tend to bend the numbers in the financial/accounting areas of the business or corporation. They do not do this for fun, but rather to make money. Something needs to be done before corporations really get out of hand.

Before the advent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1933 and the general conception of government safety nets, the United States banking industry was quite different than it is today. Depositors assumed substantial default risk and even the slightest changes in consumer confidence could result in complete turmoil within the banking world. In addition, bank managers had almost complete discretion over operations. However, today the financial system is among the most heavily government- regulated sectors of the U.S. economy. This drastic change in public policy resulted directly from the industry’s numerous pre-regulatory failures and major disruptions that produced severe economic and social

Due to TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program, Banks made record profits in 2009 and were able to repay these government funds within the year that they were provided. Banks invested the government money and, as a result, made record profits. CEO’s received their large bonuses as a result of the repayment; however, homeowners lost their homes, jobs and confidence in

After watching this film, I learned to never judge or discriminate others because of the color of their skin or because of their appearance. The Documentary entitled A Class Divided surprised and helped me understand how other races feel when they are being discriminated. It also displayed the different attitude the kids portrayed due to power. It also showed me we have to implement change to our young kids at an early age. We should continue to educate everyone that all should be treated equally no matter what their appearance appears to be. The scene I would remember a month from now from this film is the different body language each kid displayed, how confused they were. The behavior that each child shown. Some felt left out; some felt like

Recently, Wells Fargo was fined $185 million for opening up nearly 2 million accounts without permission of the account owners. The pressure to raise the average number of accounts began as early as 2009, employees who did not meet the sales targets were fired. Wells Fargo overlooked the fraud committed in order to meet those numbers. Since the exposure, Wells Fargo has fired roughly 5,300 employees. Though the effects on Wells Fargo go beyond the fine, this example shows how large banks and businesses are able to commit crimes without any real punishment. The Wells Fargo scheme was explicitly illegal, yet there are many business practices that, though unethical, are legal.

The economic downfall of 2008 illustrates the impact of unbridled corporate pay structures on our economy. Securities fraud, committed as a result of incentive packages offered to executives to create quick profits, had a detrimental effect on the overall economy. As observed during the Bank and Loan bust of 1989, CEOs take greater risks when offered stock options in their compensation packages. The 2008 Financial crisis, sparked by subprime mortgage market and hedge funds, was driven by banking executives making short term risks that served detrimental to stockholders in the long run. Furthermore, many compensation packages offered Golden Parachute clauses with no claw backs to both performing and underperforming executives.

While financial banks were inadequately controlled by regulatory agencies, there was a necessity for fresh policies to resolve these issues. Prior to the Volcker Rule becoming implemented, the crooked financial activity done at the time had affected the clients of the banks. The complexity of the regulations caused dissatisfaction for the clients and customers and eventually affected the overall business flow of the bank institutions. There was a strong need for new procedures and restrictions before the banking industry would have another breakdown and in the worst case, cause another financial crisis within the American economy. The biggest problem during this crucial financial time included how the banking industry was consistently earning large amount of money from these high-risk trades with the institution’s own

However, Economist Barry Eichengreen points out that vesting the Fed with additional regulatory power and responsibility for the stability of the financial system was a political nonstarter. The recently bailed out AIG was using money provided by the Fed to pay retention bonuses totaling up to $6.4 million to 73 of its leading employees. Aware of the bonus payments, the Fed claimed to be powerless in preventing them. Later, a darker fact revealed that AIG was allowed to pay off obligations to Goldman Sachs using Fed bailout funds. The Fed knew about these transactions, and even instructed AIG lawyers not to divulge to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) internal memos authorizing said payments to Goldman Sachs.

These bankers and investors knowingly caused one of the worst economic recessions in American history and they were barely punished for

An investigation begun, which looked to hold banks accountable for their actions during the financial crisis and pervious time periods where their actions led to a significant collapse. U.S Attorney Tompkins stated he had “made a commitment to the American people to hold financial institutions accountable for practices that violated the law and wreaked havoc on the financial system, and my office takes that commitment very seriously. Our investigation into Bank of America’s mortgage and securitizations proactive continues.” (Department of Justice Sues Bank of America for Defrauding Investors in Connection with Sale of over $850 Million of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities. 2013, August 6) Similar statements were made to ensure the American people that steps were being taken to hold bank accountable for illegal actions that they had made, which led to a massive housing market crisis.

In 2008, the fourth largest bank, Lehman Brothers, collapsed due to risky loans and subprime mortgages and the consequence was the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression. As a result, the federal government created a commission to investigate the causes of the crash. Although the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission did lay the blame on the economic factors of high-risk mortgage lending practices, Bill Gertz a reporter from The Washington Times claims a further Pentagon report states that there was “financial subversion carried out by unknown parties, such as terrorists or hostile nations” who used covert methods to facilitate the crash by targeting vulnerabilities in the United States financial system. Moreover, the reporter

Since corporations are not physical things or people, it is very easy for them to avoid any kind of trouble. Corporations have become great at passing on their externalities to the public. An externality is an expense of any kind, whether it is something such as environmental damage or forcing people in an area to pay money for something, that a corporation forces the public to pay for while they privatize all profits. Corporations being externalizing machines fit in very well with their psychopathic behavior. They externalize any cost to the public because they can and it helps them achieve their goal of making as much money as possible. A quote from Robert Monks puts it very well, he says “The corporation is an externalizing machine