Inside Job Page #22

FRANK PARTNOY:
AAA-rated instruments mushroomed from just a handful to

thousands and thousands.

01:
56:09.09

JEROME FONS:
Hundreds of billions of dollars, uh, were being rated. You know – and

–

CHARLES FERGUSON: Per year.

JEROME FONS:
Per year; oh, yeah.

01:
56:16.05

FRANK PARTNOY:
I’ve now testified before both houses of Congress on the credit

rating agency issue. And both times, they trot out very prominent First Amendment

lawyers, and argue that when we say something is rated AAA, that is merely our opinion;

you shouldn't rely on it.

01:
56:35.17

DEVEN SHARMA:
S&P's ratings express our opinion.

STEPHEN JOYNT:
Our ratings are, uh, are our opinions. But they're opinions.

RAYMOND McDANIEL: Opinions, and those are, they are just opinions.

STEPHEN JOYNT:
I think we are emphasizing the fact that our ratings are, uh, uh, are

opinions.

Inside Job transcript – Sony Pictures – September 2010

43

{THEY DIDN'T SHARE THEIR OPINIONS WITH US.

THEY ALL DECLINED TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS FILM.}

01:
56:54.18

DEVEN SHARMA:
They do not speak to the market value of a security, the volatility of

its price, or its suitability as an investment.

01:
57:02.25 {PART III: THE CRISIS}

01:
57:20.16

{JULY, 2005}

NEWSWOMAN:
We have so many economists coming on our air, and saying, oh, this is

a bubble, and it's going to burst, and this is going to be a real issue for the economy.

Some say it could even cause a recession at some point.

What is the worst-case scenario, if in fact we were to see prices come down

substantially across the country?

01:
57:38.03

BEN BERNANKE:
Well, I, I guess I don't buy your premise. It's a pretty unlikely

possibility. We've never had a decline in house prices on a nationra-, ba-, a nationwide

basis.

NARRATOR:
Ben Bernanke became chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in

February 2006, the top year for subprime lending. But despite numerous warnings,

Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Board did nothing.

{BEN BERNANKE DECLINED

TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS FILM.}

01:
58:03.28

NARRATOR:
Robert Gnaizda met with Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Board

three times after Bernanke became chairman.

ROBERT GNAIZDA:
Only at the last meeting did he suggest that there was a problem,

and that the government ought to look into it.

Inside Job transcript – Sony Pictures – September 2010

44

CHARLES FERGUSON: When? When was that? What year?

ROBERT GNAIZDA:
It's 2009; March 11th, in D.C.

CHARLES FERGUSON: This year.

ROBERT GNAIZDA:
This year we met, yes.

CHARLES FERGUSON: And so for the two previous years you met him; even in 2008?

ROBERT GNAIZDA:
Yes.

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