So now you know what MF stands for.
Reaction to this ongoing and consistently galling behavior expresses itself as Occupy Wall Street, or the successful online backlash against BofA's $5 fee, or tomorrow's Bank Transfer Day, when Consumers Union/Consumer Reports advises people to move money out of too-big-to-fail banks and into credit unions and community banks.
Hollywood, curiously, has been slow to react to this populist surge. It's taken them years, for instance, to reference the Madoff scandal with "Tower Heist."
But there are exceptions. Here is our informal list of noteworthy meltdown movies:
"THE OTHER GUYS." (2010)
The best meltdown drama to date, believe it or not. This goofball Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy turns out to be about corruption related to a police pension fund that invested in crappy mortgage-backed securities. Looking back at the movie today, you see it's really a clever satire of the outlandish risk-taking that brought our financial system to its knees.
The movie has also become weirdly timely, since cops policing Occupy Wall Street protesters in Manhattan are, through their union, threatening to sue the protesters for potential injuries. Occupy Wall Street has responded by pointing out that the same union has had its pension fund debased by investments in mortgage securities, and has already sued BofA to recover $600 million.
Stay tuned through the final "Other Guys" credits, when director Adam McKay lays out how the mortgage-backed-security scam worked.
"INSIDE JOB." (2010)
The Jeff and Christina Lurie-produced documentary is still the Cadillac of meltdown movies. Every time you see BofA imposing a $5 fee, or reports of J.P. Morgan illegally foreclosing on the home of a combat soldier, you recall director Charles Ferguson's signature line: "You can't be serious."
