What role did the credit rating agencies play in the current economic crisis? Frank Raiter reveals how he was pressured to compromise standards in a push for profits, and what was really going on behind closed doors at the credit rating agencies. “During this period, profit was primary; analytics were secondary.” Who was watching the watchers? Surprising new revelations about the economic debacle.
Producers: PBS Distribution
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NOW: 4/13/2007: Stock Alert – Public Performance
NOW takes a look at hedge funds, the secretive and often risky investment accounts that have brought incredible wealth and power to some, but with the potential to spell dire consequences for ordinary Americans. Billions of dollars are invested in hedge funds, which are not regulated, and there’s a chance some of your retirement money is in one. Hedge fund managers say they won’t tell anyone how they make their money – not even the government.
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Looking for Lincoln – Public Performance
The series will dissect the myths that have grown up around Abraham Lincoln, and in doing so, will address outstanding questions surrounding him – questions about race, equality, religion, depression, and sexuality – by carefully interpreting the evidence provided by people who actually knew him.
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The Jewish People: A Story of Survival – Public Performance
This is the story of Jewish survival. From slavery to the loss of their homeland; from exile to anti-Semitism; from pogroms to near annihilation in the Holocaust, how did they endure when so many other communities have vanished? Hosted by Martha Teichner, senior correspondent for “CBS News Sunday Morning,” THE JEWISH PEOPLE: A STORY OF SURVIVAL explores some of the answers. While other films have explored Jewish religion or Jewish culture, this original production is the first Jewish film organized around the central themes of survival and the achievement of a people. Moving chronologically, this film offers a sweeping overview of four millennia and the numerous civilizations — Babylonian, Roman, Muslim, Spanish, Soviet and other — that have ruled over the Jewish people.
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I.O.U.S.A – Home Use
America is on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.
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NOW on PBS: 12/26/2008: Credit and Credibility – Home Use
What role did the credit rating agencies play in the current economic crisis? Frank Raiter reveals how he was pressured to compromise standards in a push for profits, and what was really going on behind closed doors at the credit rating agencies. “During this period, profit was primary; analytics were secondary.” Who was watching the watchers? Surprising new revelations about the economic debacle.
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NOW: 4/13/2007: Stock Alert – Home Use
NOW takes a look at hedge funds, the secretive and often risky investment accounts that have brought incredible wealth and power to some, but with the potential to spell dire consequences for ordinary Americans. Billions of dollars are invested in hedge funds, which are not regulated, and there’s a chance some of your retirement money is in one. Hedge fund managers say they won’t tell anyone how they make their money – not even the government.
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FRONTLINE: The Untouchables
Are the CEOs of mega-banks too big to jail? Though fraudulent practices at banks contributed to America’s financial meltdown, to date no Wall Street titan has been convicted of a crime connected to the crisis. FRONTLINE investigates why Wall Street’s leaders have escaped prosecution.
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FRONTLINE: Cliffhanger
This February, as the nation faces yet another round of fiscal crises, FRONTLINE investigates the inside history of how Washington has failed to solve the country’s problems of debt and deficit. Drawing on interviews with key players in Congress and the White House, FRONTLINE goes behind the scenes to show how a clash of politics and personalities has taken the nation’s economy to the edge of the “fiscal cliff,” and now to a second round of standoffs over the debt ceiling and sequestration. The film explores the deep ideological divide inside the Republican Party and the struggle between House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Speaker John Boehner as they take on President Obama and the Democrats.