Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a documentary film about a family-owned bank in China Town in New York City; the only US bank that had to face criminal charges after the economic crisis of 2008.

The large financial institutions are often described as “too big to fail.” Abacus Federal Savings Bank was small enough to be targeted: it was “small enough to jail.” 

 

Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival:

** Director: Steve James

** Shown on US television (PBS – Frontline) in 2017

** Available via Amazon Prime Video (2018)

** Run time: 90 minutes

Several persons are interviewed in the film. I will not mention all names, because the complete list is too long. Here are the most important names:

# 1. The family

** Thomas Sung – father – founded Abacus Bank in 1984

** Hwei Lin Sung - mother

** Chantarelle Sung – daughter

** Heather Sung – daughter

** Jill Sung – daughter

** Vera Sung – daughter

# 2. Reporters

** David Lindorf – an investigative reporter

** Jiayang Fan – a reporter (The New Yorker)

** Matt Taibbi – a reporter (Rolling Stone)

# 3. Attorneys

** Kevin Puvalowski – attorney for Abacus Bank

** Sanford “Sam” Talkin – attorney for Abacus Bank

** John “Rusty” Wing – attorney for Abacus Bank

# 4. The prosecution

 ** Neil Barofsky – attorney – US Treasury Department Inspector General 2008-2011

** Cyrus Vance, Jr. – District Attorney, NY

** Polly Greenberg – Major Economic Crimes Bureau, the District Attorney’s office, NY

Shortly after the economic crisis of 2008, the Sung family realised that something was wrong in their bank. Some members of staff were breaking the rules. The most important offender - Ken Yu – was forging bank documents and stealing money from the bank.

The Sung family fired those who were responsible for the violations. They reported the case to the authorities (the DA’s office). And they handed over several folders with bank documents in order to help the DA’s office study the case.

However, the DA’s office did not wish to prosecute the individuals who had broken the rules. Instead the DA’s office went after the bank itself. And Ken Yu - the man who had forged bank documents, who had stolen money from the bank, and who had been fired by the bank - became the prosecution’s star witness when the case went to trial.

The DA’s office began building a case in 2009 and 2010. An official indictment was announced in 2012. The case was tried in a court of law in 2015. After a trial, which lasted several weeks, the jury found the bank not guilty of all charges.

In this film, we follow the case, step by step. We also learn about the role that the bank has played (and still plays) in the local community.

What do reviewers say about this film? 

 

Here are some results:

** 72 per cent = IMDb

** 73 per cent = Meta

** 86 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 94 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

The reviews are quite good, as you can see. But if you ask me, they are not good enough. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

PS # 1. Matt Zoller Seitz offers a rating of 100 per cent (4 of 4 stars) on the Roger Ebert website.

PS # 2. Steve James (born 1955) is the director of several documentary films, including the following:

 

** Hoop Dreams (1994) 

 

** Life Itself (2014)

 

** A Compassionate Spy (2022)

PS # 3. Matt Taibbi writes about the Abacus Bank in his book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap (2014)

 

*****

 

 

 

Money for Nothing (2013)

Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve is a documentary film which premiered in 2013. The topic is the economic crisis and collapse of 2008. Here is some basic information about this film:

** Writer and director: Jim Bruce

** Narrator: Liev Schreiber

** Run time: 104 minutes

Many persons are interviewed in this film. I will not mention all names, because the complete list is too long. Here are some of the names (in alphabetical order):

** Peter Atwater – former head of Asset Finance, J. P. Morgan

** Alan Blinder – vice chair of the Fed 1994-1996

** Michael Bordo – professor of economics, Rutgers University

** Dave Colander – professor of economics, Middlebury College

** Paul Volcker – chair of the Fed 1979-1987

** Janet Yellen – vice chair of the Fed 2010-2014 and chair of the Fed 2014-2018

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to illustrate historical events and to show us old clips and old interviews with public figures.

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

** 57 per cent = Meta

** 62 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

** 82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 74 per cent = IMDb

On the US version of Amazon there are at the moment 50 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.1 stars.

As you can see, the ratings are good, but not great. They hover somewhere between three and four stars on Amazon. When you look at Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that there is a significant difference between the professional critics and the general audience. The critics offer only three stars, while the audience offers four stars.

If you ask me, all these average ratings are too high. Why do I say this? Because this film has some flaws. Serious flaws. Let me explain:

What we have here is a bunch of people talking about the Fed. What the Fed did in the past and what it has done recently. Many of the talking heads used to work for the Fed. It is not surprising that they are positive when they talk about their old place of work. There are a few critical voices as well, but they are few and not very critical.

On IMDb there are some very critical comments. One reviewer says this film is pure propaganda for the Fed. Former employees of the Fed admit they made some mistakes; but they are sorry for that; and promise they will do better in the future. Is this OK? Can they still be in charge of the economic system? No, says the reviewer. This is not OK!

A second reviewer says it seems the Fed made a film about the Fed. The name of the institution is highly misleading. It is not federal and it has no reserves. It simply prints money. As much as it wants.

A third reviewer has a question for the director: How can you make a film about the Fed and not mention Ron Paul’s book End the Fed that was published in 2009?

Whether you agree with what is in this book or not, it is wrong to pass it over in silence. The book should be mentioned, even if you want to condemn it, but it should not be ignored.

According to Ron Paul, a former member of Congress, the Fed is not an indispensable institution. It should be abolished, because it is corrupt and unconstitutional.

The Fed was established in 1913. The origin of the Fed can be traced back to a secret meeting that took place in 1910 on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. During this meeting the participants prepared legal documents that would lead to the establishment of the Fed three years later. The film was released in 2013 in order to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Fed.

I understand the critical comments posted on IMDb. And I agree with them. This film is far too positive and far too sympathetic towards the Fed. It is not convincing. It is not credible.

This is why I have to go against the general trend. This film is fatally flawed. And therefore it cannot get more than two stars.

PS # 1. For more information, see the following books:

** The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin (first published 1994, fifth edition published 2010)

** Collusion: How the Central Bankers Rigged the World by Nomi Prins (2018)

PS # 2. For more information, see the following items:

** Inside Job (2010)

** The Flaw (2011)

** Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? (2011)

** Too Big to Fail (2011)

** Hank: Five years from the Brink (2013)

** Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

** Inside Lehman Brothers (2018)

PS # 3. Meltdown: The Secret History of the Global Financial Collapse is a four-part documentary film produced by Canadian television (CBC), which premiered in 2010. Each episode runs for ca 45 minutes. All four episodes are available online.

PS # 4. The title of this film Money for Nothing is borrowed from a famous song by the British rock band Dire Straits, which was released in 1985.

*****