The Three Rules of Wall Street: (1) Never Play By the Rules; (2) Never Tell the Truth; and (3) Never Pay in Cash--They Earn Their Money the Old Fashioned Way, They Steal It!
This morning was Friday morning at the movies, the ones YouTube or I recommended to myself, based on the blogs and topics I have been writing, love it. The first one that caught my eye, was The Deal, with Christian Slatter, an art major, who gets recruited to Wall Street, and hooks up with an environmentally concerned, Harvard business grad, and how they play the game different from the rest of the guys and gals, with spies, murders, Russian mafia, oil and gas deals, securities and commodities, world affairs, FBI, government investigations and clashing with integrity, a commodity far too scarce on the Street, and elsewhere for that matter. I am not sure when this movie was filmed, but it is well done, and Slatter does a great job, almost rivals my other favorite of his, Cuffs, which is hilarious, especially due to the fact that I know cops, their personalities, quirks, and idiosyncrasies, which makes it even more entertaining. LOL!
The truth, unbelievable as it is . . . story of the buyout of Nabisco! Actor, James Garner, who I believe just died, played a small town boy, and natural salesman well, in the movie, Barbarians at the Gate, he has some really down home, folksy quotes, that make the movie fun, entertaining, and show that he is not up to dealing with the sharks and baracudas he is dealing with, nor his own company man, who spies for his opponents, leading to his own board turning on him, with little understanding of who the man is, taking a lower bid for Nabisco, the the owner's higher bid, stating that they thought the best thing for the company was to go with the lower bidder, who was a known snake, cut throat, who makes big profits for share holders, but fires many long time employees, which Garner is not willing to do, and wants to control what happens to the company, not have the vampires he borrows money from to do the merger, suck him and the company dries. In trying to free himself from the vultures, he actually sets himself up for the fall. In his severance package, he gets a measly $23 million, after taxes. After the take over, the company grossed an increase of like 150%, making a ton of money.
The Crooked E--The Unshredded Truth About Enron, is about a young knight seduced to the dark side, but was lucky enough to get seduced back by his fiance, who is a down to earth, ranchers daughter in Texas, who is shocked by her boyfriends, change after landing a job at Enron, disgusted, alarmed, and afraid, she tells him she doesn't want to see him for a while, her daddy, doesn't think he is treating her well, either, in a classic, Texan dad kind of way. The story of Enron, from an insider's perspective is priceless, and a lesson every young, ambitious, college grad ought to watch, the movie, Paranoia, that just came out either this year or last has a similar message, all the glitz and glamour, or allegedly that way, is merely based on image and perception, as it was at Enron, while they cooked the books, pumped the prices of electricity, and paid the bonuses on time. Through it all the guy, once he came to his senses, sees through the bull shit, and does the right thing to a client, in the biggest deal he had ever made, by ripping up the contract, telling the client, he had failed to sign the final signature on the contract, making one less victim of Enron!
The truth, unbelievable as it is . . . story of the buyout of Nabisco! Actor, James Garner, who I believe just died, played a small town boy, and natural salesman well, in the movie, Barbarians at the Gate, he has some really down home, folksy quotes, that make the movie fun, entertaining, and show that he is not up to dealing with the sharks and baracudas he is dealing with, nor his own company man, who spies for his opponents, leading to his own board turning on him, with little understanding of who the man is, taking a lower bid for Nabisco, the the owner's higher bid, stating that they thought the best thing for the company was to go with the lower bidder, who was a known snake, cut throat, who makes big profits for share holders, but fires many long time employees, which Garner is not willing to do, and wants to control what happens to the company, not have the vampires he borrows money from to do the merger, suck him and the company dries. In trying to free himself from the vultures, he actually sets himself up for the fall. In his severance package, he gets a measly $23 million, after taxes. After the take over, the company grossed an increase of like 150%, making a ton of money.
The Crooked E--The Unshredded Truth About Enron, is about a young knight seduced to the dark side, but was lucky enough to get seduced back by his fiance, who is a down to earth, ranchers daughter in Texas, who is shocked by her boyfriends, change after landing a job at Enron, disgusted, alarmed, and afraid, she tells him she doesn't want to see him for a while, her daddy, doesn't think he is treating her well, either, in a classic, Texan dad kind of way. The story of Enron, from an insider's perspective is priceless, and a lesson every young, ambitious, college grad ought to watch, the movie, Paranoia, that just came out either this year or last has a similar message, all the glitz and glamour, or allegedly that way, is merely based on image and perception, as it was at Enron, while they cooked the books, pumped the prices of electricity, and paid the bonuses on time. Through it all the guy, once he came to his senses, sees through the bull shit, and does the right thing to a client, in the biggest deal he had ever made, by ripping up the contract, telling the client, he had failed to sign the final signature on the contract, making one less victim of Enron!
Classic Statements In Each Movie
THE DEAL
- it is the winner's version that goes in the history books
- one of the songs from the movie, I really liked, was the one in the title, Create a new kind of cool, Wall Street can be just as much of a challenge and a power trip, doing it right, limiting bonuses, protecting the client, investor, while being honest, and just doing a great job . . . perhaps not the exorbitant profit margins, but the satisfaction of doing it right, should count for more, and most solid businesses, made their foundations, this way, not the crooked way, or at least I hope!
- corporate malfeasance has made it necessary to restore trust in ourselves, and invest in the future
- an oil patch costs $3 in the ground, retail is 10Xs that
- I am an art major, but I am good at it, the Wall Street thing, and I enjoy it . . .
- pay attention to details
BARBARIANS AT THE GATE
- all I care about lawyers, is they are back in their coffins by morning
- in response to his competitor's statements, about firing people in the company, and still getting their own over-sized bonuses, I don't shave your face in the morning, a different way of saying I have to look myself in the mirror, after doing such horrible things
- the three rules of Wall Street, in the subtitle, comes from this movie, the final statement about the rules, they get their money the old fashioned way, they steal it . . . I was dealing with two financial planners, a sister and father who watched the stock market, worked in the area of securities, and a financial firm, family and church, who were only concerned with image and perception!
- when talking to his wife, anyone in this crowd who is not worth at least $9 million, they think your on food stamps . . . Mitt Romney, anyone, anyone, Romney, anyone?
- referring to the wars on Wall Street, as a bunch of macho bull shit that has everyone slamming their dicks on the table
- in the war over the buyout of Nabisco, and the bidding war, for what the stock is going for, and a husband, not the owner of the company, but the guy, trying to buy that particular company, his wife, seeing him stressing out over the deal, the offers, the fight, and she asked him, if there wasn't another company, that he might want to buy . . . he responded, it is not the company, it is the credibility! This guy who had gained a reputation for being a dirty players, wanted the clean reputation for fairness, good faith with employees and shareholders, he wanted the credibility, or the easy virtue the owners and CEO, employees had garnered over the years! Sounds familiar!
- when the New York times came out an trashed the owner of Nabisco, who was venturing into the cigarette market, and had shelled out $350 million, trying to produce a good smoke, but had failed, Garner, says, after all his success, that you lose a few bucks for the company, and they start looking at you like a virgin at an Aztec sacrifice!
- this town worships success, but it cheers for your failures, seems to be true everywhere!
- I'm standing on a shit storm, and nobody in this team has a god-damn umbrella! The movie kind of reminds me of the movie, No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones, dealing with a super bad guy, and being an old time sheriff, who doesn't have the technological skills and training to deal with an evil of this level. There was so much in all of these shows that I could relate to, in the bad guys I have been trying to protect not only myself from, but my son's bands, Parallax, God's Revolver & Maraloka!
THE CROOKED E--THE UNSHREDDED TRUTH ABOUT ENRON
- there was $25 billion lost to investors, retirement plans, shareholders, employees in stock options, unless you were in the few who absconded with up to $70 million in bonuses, leaving many without their pensions and homes.
- America was not settled, it was conquered; they wanted it, so they took it! If you see something worth taking, you just take it.
- there is only one rule now days, that there are not rules . . . the latest in Enron's attempt to take over the world.
- at Enron, perception is everything! Enron is the wild wild west, there is no limit, it is just how far you are willing to go that counts . . . Eat, drink and breath Enron.
- there goes Ms. August, fantasy women at Enron, hires women based on looks exclusively, this is the real Silicon Valley, one woman started as a receptionist, and was now a corporate secretary, making $600,000 per year . . . My flight attendant sister, Rachel, silicon, size 44 ddd, didn't even have the computer skills to be hired as Hank Brock's receptionist, yet she does have the skills to be an attorney, who wrote briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court? Fact is stranger than fiction, but like I said, these movies, were far to familiar to me, same old, T&A benefits, that old, CIA Make a Wish Foundation!
- They eat risk for breakfast--there no limits except the ones you put on yourself. This reminds me so much of the fascist ideas of the Bush administration, and his Bushittes that I was dealing with: do whatever it takes, with no limits and no exceptions! Bush was allowed to borrow the private jets of the brass at Enron, after deregulating energy.
- a great quote from President Abraham Lincoln, Nearly all men can deal with adversity, but the real test of character, is to give him power.
- at the first of the movie, the founder, talking to employees, said the basics of the company were R.I.C.E., respect, integrity, competence and excellence, by the end of the movie, the staff had changed the ticker tape to read, Enron is greedy, Enron is deceptive, and Enron is on crack! In the theft of music, cases, blogs, court appearances, the thieves had a motto, Pride in Performance, they say it, they took it, and then claimed to improve it, by performing it themselves and taking the credit, the money, the fame, and the acclaim!
- by the end of the movie, one of the corporate giants, who had introduced the naive son of a friend, to Enron, at the end, said, WE WERE THE BAD GUYS, WE WERE THE CRIMINALS! The young man said, why are you telling me this, and he said, because it was the truth, and he wanted the kid to learn from his mistakes, and he was actually looking forward to prison! How is that for corporate pride, or Pride in Performance . . . NOT OKAY!
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