THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University will show a documentary on the cause of the financial crisis at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, in Lundring Events Center.

The screening of “The Flaw” will be followed by a panel discussion featuring CLU faculty members. Jamshid Damooei, chairman of the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, will be joined by others from the School of Management.

In October 2008, a humbled Alan Greenspan told the U.S. Congress that he had been mistaken to put so much faith in the self-correcting power of free mar­kets and had failed to anticipate the self-destructive nature of wanton mortgage lending. Taking for its title Greenspan’s admission that he had found a flaw in his model of how the world worked, the film attempts to explain the underlying causes of the crisis in more depth than any documentary to date.

Made by international award-winning documentary maker David Sington, “The Flaw” tells the story of the credit bubble that caused the financial crash. Through interviews with some of the world’s leading economists, Wall Street insiders and victims of the crash, the film presents an original and compelling account of the toxic combination of forces that nearly destroyed the world economy. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, housing expert Robert Shiller, economic historian Louis Hyman are among the experts featured. Victims of the crash interviewed in the film include Ed Andrews, a former economics correspondent for The New York Times who found himself facing foreclosure and former Deutsche Bank bond trader Andrew Luan who now runs a Wall Street tour guide business.

The film shows how excessive income inequality in society leads to economic instability. At a time when economic theory and public policy are being re-examined, this film reminds us that the system may collapse again and next time it may not be possible for governments to rescue it.

The film is part of CLU's Reel Justice Film Series, which examines the themes of equality and social justice. CLU’s Center for Equality and Justice and Center for Leader­ship and Values are sponsoring the free event.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is north of Olsen Road near between Campus Drive and Mountclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus.

For more information, contact Sam Thomas at sthomas@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3693.