Frontline

Money, Power And Wall Street, Hour 1 & 2

In a special four-hour investigation, FRONTLINE tells the inside story of the origins of the financial meltdown and the battle to save the global economy. Over two consecutive weeks, the films explore key decisions, missed opportunities and the unprecedented moves by the government and banking leaders that have affected the fortunes of millions of people. In Hour 1, FRONTLINE tells the epic story of the rise of modern finance. A revolution in banking begins at a luxury hotel in Boca Raton, FL, where a rowdy team from J. P. Morgan invents a new marketplace for trading risk. Correspondent Martin Smith (College, Inc., The Madoff Affair) interviews leading bankers, officials and journalists to explain how financial engineering on Wall Street brought the global economy to its knees - and the reverberations are still being felt along Main Street. Immediately following, in Hour 2, FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk (Inside the Meldown, The Warning) investigates how the country's leaders failed to prevent an oncoming crisis and ended up initiating the largest government bailout in history. Told by participants from Washington and Wall Street, the story includes inside accounts from the campaign of presidential candidate Barack Obama. By the time of his election Obama is thoroughly up to speed on the disaster, but the question remains - what can he do once he takes office?