Dirty Money

On Sunday nights my wife and I have a ritual.

We turn on the telly and begin searching for something we both want to watch.

Problem.

My wife refuses to watch anything that’s violent, or sad, or scary … or too ‘finance-y’.

I refuse to watch romantic comedies.

So, even though there are a thousand shows to watch, I inevitably end up reading a book while my wife scrolls Instagram.

Yet in a fantasy world, far far away, where I rule the remote, here’s what I’d click on:

Money For Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve (YouTube)

This is the story of some of the most powerful people in the world.

If ordinary Americans understood the mistakes the US Federal Reserve has made, they’d be outraged: by keeping interest rates at zero, and printing money, they’ve driven record wealth inequality in the US … and around the world.

This documentary is now 10 years old … but it hasn’t dated one bit. It paints a picture of a Federal Reserve that is arrogant, out of touch, and enslaved to Wall Street interests. And, a decade on, things are even worse. Rates are still at basically zero, and when Covid hit the Fed printed 300 years’ worth of money in just a few months. You’re going to hear a lot about the Federal Reserve in the next few years. This doco is a good primer.

Dirty Money: Payday (Netflix)

Okay, so there’s a theme here: most good finance shows involve greed and stupidity (or both) … like a thinking person’s MAFS.

I love the Dirty Money series on Netflix, and my favourite episode is ‘Payday’, which tells the story of Scott Tucker, an amateur race car driver turned loan shark. He was a financial predator who created payday loans that charged huge interest rates and big fees (with deliberately confusing terms that skirted legislation), trapping millions of Americans. And if you think this isn’t happening in Australia, you’re wrong.

Principles for Dealing with the New World Order (YouTube)

This is an animated presentation by Ray Dalio, who runs the biggest hedge fund in the world. His basic theme is that we are on the cusp of a ‘changing of the new world order’, with the decline of the US as a superpower and the rise of China to top spot. Personally, I’m not sure the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can continue its reign over the long term. Still, Dalio is a smart guy who has gone back over 500 years of history to study the big economic cycles … and he explains it pretty succinctly in 20 minutes or so.

In truth, Liz is never going to watch any of these.

However, there are a couple of saucy finance series coming out that I might just be able to tempt her with: On Disney+ there’s The Dropout, which details Elizabeth Holmes’s fraud at Theranos. And on Apple TV there’s WeCrashed, which looks at how the co-working space dropped $US40 billion in less than a year.

And if all that fails, the third season of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso is soon to arrive to save our Sundays.

Tread Your Own Path!