Inside the Meltdown

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown/view/

'''INSIDE THE MELTDOWN  '''

PART 1

'''Duration: 10min.23sec.'''

Language input:

Pre-viewing

1) Match the words having similar meanings:

 

 While viewing 

1) Identify the English equivalents for the following:

в считанные дни

главные законодатели

сомнительные ипотеки

повышение цены

им необходимы полномочия на использование

2) Translate from English into Russian:

          stock keeps getting hammered

a Wall Street firm beset by rumors

Alan looks to some people like he`s not on the ball

 3) Match the words to produce the proper collocations:

    

  4) Answer the following questions:

1 What was the situation like before the spring of 2008?

2 What happened to Bear Stearns on March 10?

3 What is the narrator`s attitude towards rumors on Wall Street?

4 What are “toxic assets”?

5 What kind of procedure did one have to follow to get a mortgage 30 years ago?

How different is it from that of 2005?

6 What kind of mentality did accelerating housing prices create?

7 What proves that Bear`s CEO seemed not to be on the ball?

PART 2

'''Duration: from 10min.24sec. to 19min.16sec.'''

Language input:

   

Pre-viewing

1) Match the words having similar meanings:  

While viewing 

1) Identify the English equivalents for the following:

         возобновлять кредит

история получила свое дальнейшее продолжение

2) Translate from English into Russian:

         he is a true Wall Street nuts & bolts guy 

 

3) Match the words to produce the proper collocations:

   

4) Answer the following questions:

1 How is Tim Geithner characterized?

2 What was Tim Geithner`s initial decision in terms of Bear`s fate? Why?

3 Why are credit default swaps called mysterious instruments?

4 Why didn`t the Federal Reserve let Bear go belly up?

5 How is Ben Bernanke characterized?

6 The Federal Reserve was prohibited from direct lending cash to Bear. How did they

bypass this rule?

7 Why did Bernanke`s plan to bail out Bear backfire?

                    PART 3

Language input:

 

Pre-viewing

1) Match the words having similar meanings:

 

While viewing 

1)     Identify the English equivalents for the following:

 

инвесторы выбрасывали акции в большом количестве

оглядываясь назад

2) Translate from English into Russian:

the toxic mortgage contagion was loose again

D. Fuld was a fixture on Wall Street

They had drunk their own Kool-Aid.

Fuld had been with Lehman for so long that a certain type of arrogance had crept into how

Lehman did business.

a central precept of the catechism of the free market

3) Match the words to produce the proper collocations:

 

4) Answer the following questions:

     1 What pieces of evidence prove that the toxic mortgages proceeded to eat away at every

major Wall Street firm?

2 Why is Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac`s failure equal to the very definition of systemic risk?

3 How did Paulson & Bernanke manage to prevent the possible major financial catastrophe

in September 2008? Was it the right decision?

4 How is Dick Fuld characterized?

5 Will you comment on the following: “ …in hindsight, it`s easy to see there was a bubble.

But you know, when you are at a party having a good time, sometimes it`s hard to stop

and leave the party”.