Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve

Jim Bruce's documentary offers both a brief history of the Federal Reserve System and a critical but fair-minded view of its policies—particularly in response to the economic collapse of 2008. With archival material and graphs complementing Liev Schreiber's narration, Money for Nothing describes the Fed's creation in 1913—in response to frequent 19th-century financial panics—explaining how it was set up as a decentralized version of a national bank to deflect complaints of Washington overreach. Bruce's main focus, however, is on Fed policy, which many interviewees—including historians, past Fed chairman Paul Volcker, erstwhile members of its Governing Board, and former heads of the system's 12 regional entities—contend has become politicized despite its theoretical separation from electoral concerns. Although this problem is traced back to the 1950s and '60s, the central argument here is that Alan Greenspan—chairman of the Fed from 1987-2006—manipulated monetary policy in ways that helped promote the financial bubble that would ultimately burst to global catastrophic effect in 2008 (and, the film suggests, things have not improved much since). The film livens up the talking head exposition with clips from movies (Buster Keaton slapstick chases and It's a Wonderful Life) and TV (The Daily Show), as well as news footage and periodic shots of wooden blocks being stacked until they collapse. More of a solid introductory illustrated lecture than a thorough investigation, this informative documentary is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)