Analysis Of A White-Collar Crime

Brooksley Born, Chairperson of the Commodity 

Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), 1996-99

From Frontline's The Warning, written and directed by Michael Kirk - original air date October 20, 2009:

"In Washington, they say the financial sector has five lobbyists for every congressman."

> Congressional committee question, Summer 1998: "My question again is what are you trying to protect?"

> Brooksley Born: "We're trying to protect the money of the American public, which is at risk in these markets."

In The Warning, learn about Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve (and a disciple of Ayn Rand), and his complete faith in business, anti-regulation and the free market. As well, learn more about Brooksley Born, "who speaks for the first time on television about her failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multitrillion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008."

Please follow this link to watch the full program of this very important episode of PBS's Frontline.

On October 23, 2008, Greenspan answered the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief."