FRONTLINE will broadcast a two-part mini-series on WPBT2 April 24 and May 1 at 9 pm. Since 2008, Wall Street and Washington have fought against the tide of the fiercest financial crisis since the Great Depression. What have they wrought? In a special 4-hour investigation, FRONTLINE tells the inside story of the struggles to rescue and repair a shattered economy, exploring key decisions, missed opportunities, and the unprecedented and uneasy partnership between government leaders and titans of finance that affects the fortunes of millions of people around the world.
In Part 1 , April 24 on WPBT2, FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk investigates how two U.S. administrations have confronted the crisis – while dealing with sharp internal divisions and a relationship with Wall Street marked by mistrust and dependence, mutual interests, and competing goals. The investigation charts the largest government bailout in U.S. history, a series of decisions that rewrote the rules of government and fueled a debate that would alter the country’s political landscape. Focusing on the Obama administration, FRONTLINE tells the story of a newly elected president with a mandate for change grappling with the multi-headed menace of economic instability, and with fundamental choices about winners and losers and the direction of his presidency.
In Part 2, on May 1 on WPBT2, FRONTLINE producer Martin Smith pivots the investigation to the inner workings of global high finance, which four years after the crisis exploded remains largely shrouded in secrecy and laden with risk. While popular anger at bankers and the effects of reckless lending and borrowing has spread across much of the globe, effective regulatory reform remains elusive. Looking to Europe as well as America, FRONTLINE interviews leading bankers and officials to probe deeply into story of the big banks, how they developed, how