VICE SPECIAL REPORT: PANIC centers on the most fraught days of the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on efforts of then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who maneuvered to save the country from a depression many believe could have been significantly worse than the Great Depression.
In this feature-length documentary, VICE looks at factors that led to the crisis, and how these three key players united a deeply divided Congress to negotiate the historic, $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) legislation that sought to re-capitalize banks. Eventually, the economy bounced back and an economic depression was averted. But there were huge economic and political costs: President Barack Obama inherited the lingering economic crisis, a recession ensued, and taxpayers angered by bailouts for banks and bankers’ bonuses helped usher in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement on the left and, on the right, the Tea Party – a group many believe led to populist resentment that helped elect Donald Trump.
Ten years on, this VICE SPECIAL REPORT asks, with the country more divided than ever: Would Congress come together to find a solution if another crisis were to happen today?
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