[image source: https://dlisted.com/2021/01/15/open-post-hosted-by-a-man-blowing-783-bubbles-inside-a-bigger-bubble-for-a-world-record/]
This week we got to watch Jimmy Morrison's The Bigger Bubble about the future of the market and the creation of an even bigger bubble than the 2008 financial crisis that could be bursting soon. This was an unexpected sequel that I found fairly interesting. I wasn't able to watch it on Monday so I got to see the unfinished cut of it which, in my opinion, really added to the experience. I had found the first film about 2008 to be really cool because I had other information to compare it with, everybody talks about it, I lived through it, it was a whole thing. This one also talks about something that people are only beginning to talk about and something that will happen.
Something the movie establishes on pretty early is that the idea that the government has to step in and rescue failing businesses with bailouts in order to prevent a crash is misleading and not completely accurate. It argues that, honestly, it would probably be better to just let businesses save themselves (or sink if they can't) to prevent a dependency on the government. If all these businesses and people become dependent on handouts then the government will have to continue to support them, which will probably lead them to do illogical things like print more money. The philosophy of providing handouts did not work out to well back in '08 so there is some credence to this, and I agree that handouts to big businesses are a terrible idea. There are so many better places we can put that money then just giving it to terrible business people.
The idea of giving people money to spend to help support the economy is a very short term goal that doesn't deal with long term consequences and problems. For sure, the economy will get a little boost with people spending that money, but what happens when that money runs out? There's no reason to not believe that it would still crash, just later. It's prolonging an issue instead of resolving it and that is not good governmental work. The better way to help the market is to encourage it to fix itself, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to shine and generate income and wealth within the system.
This movie did a really good job of showing how mishandled the recession in 2008 was and how continued attitudes similar will lead to more problems in the future. I really liked the footage they pulled of people testifying and offering reassurances, only to contrast that with the truth and what is actually happening. It's one of my favorite movies tropes but seeing it in real life (especially with this topic) is more sad than anything. That's what is so unfortunate about having the economy so closely tied with the government, especially when looking at the United States that has negatives in both categories which leads to more negatives.
Overall, I really did enjoy the film, I found it pretty funny for the most part. We're at the precipice of a huge economic event, between workers beginning to fight for decent pay, the pandemic still impacting things (like the whole shipping thing that's happening for Christmas), and with all the dramatics happening in politics right now. It'll be pretty interesting to see what happens in the future and to keep track of how everything plays out. I might have been a little too young to truly grasp what happened in 2008, but this time I will truly experience everything that's about to happen. Interesting times we live in indeed.
