Credit Crisis short flick --

I e-mailed the video link to students and received several appreciative
responses, indicating that they better understood the current
financial/real estate crisis.  It has also generated interesting
feedback from my finance colleagues, including the following one:

The video is cleverly done and relatively accurate as far as it goes.
But several key issues were left out.  Namely, (1) the high level of
fraud that was working up and down the pipeline for years, (2) the
extreme level of outright gambling involved with the various forms of
mortgage-backed swaps, options, and derivatives that were promoted by
Wall Street bankers (who were largely clueless regarding the associated
risks), and (3) the backstop role played by our federal government
through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that made the whole thing possible.

Carol Miller

-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Highsmith
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 4:51 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: EVEN MORE Food for Thought and Class Discussion

This is a very interesting proposal given that my students just had to
write on the topic of independent courts for last Thursday's problem
assignment. YOU MIGHT WANT TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING AVAILABLE TO YOUR
STUDENTS.  IT IS A CARTOON EXPLANATION OF THE CREDIT CRISIS. THE MESSAGE
I SENT FOLLOWS.

Law Scholars, Take 11 minutes out of you day to watch this video before
tomorrow's class. It is called The Crisis of Credit.......

http://vimeo.com/3261363

James Highsmith


----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard L. Coffinberger" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, February 23, 2009 7:53 am
Subject: Food for Thought and Class Discussion
To: [log in to unmask]

> Colleagues: See the attached from today's Washington Post.  Do you 
> favor any of these proposals for reform of the Supreme Court?
> Rick
>