Did anyone else see the lame TV movie Too Big To Fail, which dramatized the Fall 2008 financial crisis? If not, you didn’t miss anything honest. It was based on the book by Andrew Ross Sorkin, the NYT reporter and Wall Street apologist, and pretended to explain how and why the government loaned the banksters more than $700 billion.

It turns out that the Fed, by March 2009, had sneaked $7.7 trillion in loans to the banks. Here’s Ted Rall on what the government’s largesse did to the rest of us:

… Poor and “near poor” Americans comprise the vast majority of the uninsured, un- and underemployed, and foreclosure victims. If Bush-Obama’s 7-7-7 Plan had gone to each one of these 100 million misérables instead of Citigroup and Bank of America, the IRS would have mailed out 100 million checks for $77,700 each.

This would have paid off a lot of credit cards. Kept millions in their homes, protecting neighborhood property values. Allowed millions to see a doctor. Paid for food.

A lot of the money would have been “wasted” on new cars, Xboxes – maybe even a renovation or two. All of which would have created a buttload of consumer demand.

If you’re a “99er” – one of millions who have run out of unemployment benefits – Obama’s plan for you is 0-0-0. If you’re one of the roughly 20 million homeowners who have lost or are about to lose your house to foreclosure – most likely to a bank using fraudulent loan documents – you get 0-0-0.

If you’re a teacher asking for a raise, or a parent caring for a sick child or parent, or just an ordinary worker hobbling to work on an old car that needs to be replaced, all you’ll get is 0-0-0.

There isn’t any money to help you. We don’t have the budget. We’re broke. You can’t get the bank to call you back about refinancing, much less the attention of your Congressman.

But not if you’re a banker. Bankers get their calls returned. They get anything they want.There’s always a budget for them.

They get 7-7-7.

Footnote: I just read that Sorkin graduated from Scarsdale High School, in Westchester County, NY, one of the highest-income counties in the country. Is it any wonder he’s inclined to write from the perspective of the people who rob us?