Actor Kal Penn hosts this docuseries from Oscar winner Adam McKay that takes a look at the global economy. Penn, a former White House associate during the Obama administration, takes viewers around the world to meet key players behind some of the more serious and bizarre movements in today’s economy.
Each episode focuses on a central question about the global economy — such as how to launder a bag of dirty cash — as the show looks to discover surprising ways the economy interconnects and impacts the lives of people worldwide. The series features in-depth access to unique specialists, including extreme preparedness experts, and has cameos by such celebrities as Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis, Joel McHale, Ed O’Neill, Rob Riggle and Meghan Trainor.
Money Laundering: A How To Guide Episode 1
Kal Penn travels across the globe to discover how to turn a suitcase full of dirty money into cash that can actually be spent; he learns from former cops and criminals about how to gain access to a worldwide underground money-laundering system.
Notable Mentions
- Panama Papers – 2.6 Terabyte of Data and 11.5 million financial & Legal Records
A giant leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records exposes a system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies.
- Financial Crimes Enforcement Network – FINCEN
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.
Places – Money Laundering Friendly
- Cyprus
- Miami, Florida
- Delaware
People
- Panicos Demetriade – Former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus
- Felix Sater – Russian-American mobster, convicted felon, real estate developer
- Wilbur Ross – 39th United States secretary of commerce
Episode 2: Are Rich People Dicks or Do Dicks Get Rich
Exploring if there is a correlation between wealth and a snobby attitude, Kal meets with unapologetic one-percenters and travels to a country that has rigged the financial game in favour of its citizens.
Episode 3: The Rubber Episode
Without rubber, the economy as it is currently known ceases to exist; Kal traces the path of rubber — from trees to tires and the tip of his pencil, and he uncovers a fundamental blind spot in the free market economy that’s putting people at risk.
Episode 4: A.I. Is the Future. Will it Keep Us Around to Enjoy it?
Kal meets artificial intelligence face-to-interface and gets a glimpse of how A.I. is learning — on its own — how to self-drive the global economy straight into the next industrial revolution.
Episode 5: Counterfeiting Kills Economies (And Helps Them Too)
A counterfeit $100 bill might ruin one’s weekend, but it could also disrupt a nation’s economy; Kal meets the folks in the fight against fakes, trying to save industries from the threat of bogus goods and terrorism.
Episode 6: The Death Episode
Death is everyone’s final destination — and a real moneymaker; Kal takes a deep dive into the death economy to learn the true value of a human life; hit men and judges, funeral directors and football fans all help him lay his questions to rest.
Episode 7: Is Money Bulls…?
Kal navigates a modern return to the barter system, the political highs and lows of the gold standard and the `because I said so’ logic of flat currency. Kal also untangles the complexities of cryptocurrency and learns how to survive an economic apocalypse without getting eaten.
Episode 8: A Global Corruption Tour
Kal uncovers the hidden world of bribery, extortion, nepotism and embezzlement; he meets brave people who have risked everything to stop corruption and learns how a country’s attempts to appear corruption-free are tied to mandatory toilet flushing.
This Giant Beast That Is The Global Economy docuseries is very informative and funny.
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