CNBC’s David Faber has probably won himself another Emmy with his latest production House of Cards. [see video below]

It’s a 90 minute documentary that covers all sectors of economy from the ground up which originated from the real estate bubble.  A brief outline of what you’ll find:

1. The individual homeowner.  What it’s like to face eviction and it’s impact upon families.  What they were thinking when they signed liar loans or mortgaged their home to pay for credit cards.
2. Alan Greenspan, former Head of The Federal Reserve.  Explaining how he underestimated Wall Street’s ability to cannibalize itself.  Why he didn’t stand up to Congress and raise interest rates to stop the real estate bubble from forming!
3. A deputy sheriff.  What it’s like to evict a homeowner every 20 minute.
4. A mortgage broker.  What it’s like to hire pizza delivery boys and turn them into call center mortgage brokers making $20,000 per month.
5. Wall Street Investment Bankers.  What it’s like to buy $4 billion in mortgages to package into mortgage backed securities, CDOs, etc., and sell them to overseas investors while knowing they were becoming a shady investment.
6. Hedge Fund Manager.  What was it like to call the real estate bubble correctly, take out insurance policies against CDOs when they failed, and make a few billion dollars from some excellent research.

Pretty intense stuff to say the least!

The greatest thing about this video, for me at least, is the psychological aspects of what the people on the ground were thinking, and how their greed or fear of being fired for speaking out influenced their decision making.  Many investment bankers felt they would have been terminated on the spot for asking questions which might cause the Golden Goose to stop laying those gold eggs.

My favorite segments would have to be the interviewers from mortgage brokers and investment bankers who objected to funding the so called “liar loans”, and warned of the potential fallout when the house of cards came tumbling down.