wall st. movies ft. _margin call_: thin layer of humanity covers callous pro-establishment screed

Must see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDpsFPM2NF4

ok i think margin call was a much harsher movie than that. remember the buyers were in the film's narrative other large financial firms.

margin call more than anything else was _accurate_, and even the places it was inaccurate it was accurate in the larger sweep and compressing details for the sake of narrative.

it wasn't lampooning the execs about their salaries so much as i thought just leaving the idea on the table of how empty the whole thing was.

my fav scene stil the guy who asks everyone's salary crying in the bathroom, saying 'this is the only thing i ever wanted to do with my life'

and you think 'wow, why would that possibly be the case?'

> wait why wouldn't you invest in stocks? you investing in gold or something?

Investing in bonds and property is underrated. While on paper the returns on these investments can seem paltry compared to stocks, stockholders are bombarded by prophets of financial doom and often sabotage themselves by panicking and cashing out.

I'm not against buying stock, it just isn't something I'll do myself, because I know I don't have the right personality to succeed in that game. Someone like Warren Buffett succeeds as much through iron will and perserverance than anything - he has the will to hold on to his portfolio and not cash out when the sky is falling around him. If everyone could do that we'd have a lot more billionaires. What stockbrokers don't tell people is that most people just don't have the nerve to do what Buffett does. I know I don't so I stay out of the game.

Add to that that the structural weaknesses in China (corruption, weak contracts, surprisingly widespread albeit localized unrest) really do warrant a certain level of worry. I'm no prophet of doom, but Chinese governance is so arbitrary and ad hoc - it really does seem like a shaky foundation for the West's financial future. To say nothing of the exploitation and violence towards ordinary Chinese people that keeps our pockets lined.