Breaking the Bank (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 01:15:52 +0000

The bets were huge and risky: billions of dollars on the housing market. The upside was undeniable: superbanks reaped billions of dollars, dominated the landscape and gobbled up competitors. Then the bottom dropped out. (Aired 2009)

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Starting in 2008, in the worst economic crisis in decades, brand-name banks were on the brink. As the federal government implemented a massive intervention in the financial industry, FRONTLINE went behind closed doors to tell the story of how things went so wrong so fast and to document efforts to stabilize Wall Street. Veteran FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk untangled the complicated financial and political web surrounding one particular superbank — Bank of America.

Explore additional reporting in connection with "Breaking the Bank" on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/front....line/documentary/bre

#Documentary #Banks #Financial

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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.

CHAPTERS:
Prologue - 0:00
Wall Street Bankers and the NY Federal Reserve When the Housing Bubble Burst in 2008 - 2:05
A Deal to Save Merrill Lynch: A Merger with Bank of America - 10:17
Lehman Brothers’ Bankruptcy and the 2008 Financial Crisis - 22:50
The U.S. Government’s Role in the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Merger - 33:20
The Obama Administration, Congress and the Bankers - 45:52
Credits - 52:19