How do you steal $196 trillion dollars and get away with it? In Plunder, The Crime of Our Time, journalist Danny Schechter dissects the crime scene, Wall Street.

Schechter goes for the meat of the matter in the mortgage crisis and economic meltdown, starting with pyramid Midas Bernie Madoff’s trial then interviewing those in the know, from economist Paul Krugman to convicted white collar criminal Sam Antar who reveals the intentionally dishonest practices that have resulted in over 10 million mortgage foreclosures.

From the collapse of Bear Stearns to government bailouts, lost homes and Paris, France, as the crisis spreads globally, Schechter explains with humor, insight and outrage the underhanded deals and shady events that led up to the collapse which affected the lives of potentially billions of people.

Plunder is based on Schechter’s book of the same name and is a follow up to his earlier film In Debt We Trust. While at the time of these books’ publishing, Schechter may have been viewed as Chicken Little, the sky did fall, knocking out the economic floorboards around the world. Where were journalists?

And thus the media isn’t spared Schechter’s unflinching gaze. He takes them to task for being lapdogs, rather than watchdogs, of the financial institutions.

This is a film that makes the financial crisis. . . well, “fun” isn’t exactly the right word, but it takes the viewer on a roller coaster of information and entertainment, pulling no punches. And Schecter also draws some interesting and provocative analogies between Wall Street warriors’ sex drives and their business practices. . . .