FRONTLINE | Sneak Peek 1: Breaking the Bank | PBS

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/breakingthebank/ In this clip from "Breaking the Bank, FRONTLINE examines Bank of America's rapid growth and the assent to power of CEO Ken Lewis, including interviews with Lewis and his predecessor Hugh McColl. "Breaking the Bank" airs Tuesday, June 16, on PBS (check local listings).

The bets were huge and risky—billions of dollars on the housing market. The upside was undeniable—superbanks reaped billions of dollars, dominated the landscape, and gobbled up competitors. Then the bottom dropped out—the massive losses on Wall Street nearly broke the banks. In the worst crisis in decades, brand name banks are on the brink. Now as the federal government implements an unprecedented intervention in the industry, FRONTLINE goes behind closed doors to tell the inside story of how things went so wrong so fast and to document efforts to stabilize Wall Street. Veteran FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk (Inside the Meltdown) untangles the complicated financial and political web threatening one particular superbank—Bank of America.

Watch "Breaking the Bank" on air and online beginning Tuesday, June 16 on PBS (check local listings) and at http://www.pbs.org/frontline/breakingthebank/ .

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• pbs
• frontline
• documentary
• economy
• bank
• of
• america
• merrill
• lynch
• ken
• lewis
• john
• thain
• fed
• nationalization

[tanio12]

Damn Frontline is killing the game with these magnificent documentaries.

[Jackstowne]

Why is anyone taking Andrew Ross Sorkin seriously? Hack.

[BatusaiJack]

this is good stuff

[tudorart]

Ken Lewis is just a pion!

[beancube2008]

Why do we need banks to do investment while we all know they can shift away from all our horizon legally and illegally. Using money to count our resources are outdated and they don't guarantee any existence of morality or professionalism. We need to build a new infrastructure of trust for resources and development effort. Capital narrows effort for development. No enough money really count all our resources. When capitalists shift, they take away everybody's effort, technologies, ownership.

[pig5689]

Ken Lewis practiced smiling? I'm sorry, but he never looks like he's smiling; he looks like he's got a smart ass arrogant smirk on his puss. What does matter is Ken Lewis & his executive crooks decided to worship greed & lust for cash while shamelessly destroying the incomes & life savings of millions of innocent hard-working families. After Ken & the boys sucked em' dry they used the stolen cash for fattening their slut-salaries & whore-bonuses. So I must say Ken Lewis is a greedy, liar, thief.

[garyowen4ever]

where are the PERP WALKS.....AINT ANY......its one big whorehouse,,,,

[MeansDarling]

I'm worried now after watching this and reading the comments.  Gah. Well, at least my bank is ruthless.

[SuperGuyincognito]

One of the main sources of revenue for the Italian mafia is interest on loans they make. Banks--whether legal or illegal--are unproductive parasites.

[MrMoonshiner]

Ehhhhh.

You need two thumbs up, and FAST!