#136 - The Three Maxims of Capitalism
Been thinking about the scene in the 2011 film Margin Call where Jeremy Irons’ character perfectly distills the three maxims of modern capitalism:
If you don’t want to watch the whole clip skip ahead to 6:30
“there are three ways to make a living in this business. Be first, be smarter, or cheat. Now I don’t cheat, and though I like to think there are a lot of smart people in this building, it sure is a hell of a lot easier to just be first.”
The CEO humbles himself before the board only to indicate that his job can simply be distilled into figuring out which of these three routes he has to take on behalf of the firm. While being a gross oversimplification, it also doesn’t necessarily feel wrong. We can sit around and discuss various strategies and analyses of markets and the flow of money, but all of that is in service of one of those three maxims.
If you haven’t seen the film, I highly recommend it. It’s an ensemble cast and holds up as the definitive movie of the 2008 financial crisis. I’m not quite sure why I’ve been thinking about this scene. I guess I think it’s funny that two of my favorite performances from Jeremy Irons are ones where he is plundering Wall Street.1
As always, thank you for reading. I may be doing some more movie posting as we rotate into fall. we have a rainy weekend ahead of us in New York and many of you have recommended some classic films that I would very much like to catch up on.
If you have any thoughts or suggestions for topics you would like me to cover in upcoming letters, please reach out. Inbox is open as always.
This film and Die Hard with a Vengeance