I took my wife to see "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" this weekend (yes, this is payback for that whole Twilight thing!). The original Wall Street movie is a cult classic and a favorite of mine, even though it represents everything I despise about this industry. I was excited to see the movie and can say that I did enjoy it. It was entertaining and had a message - mainly that Wall Street doesn't have your back (though it is likely stabbing you in it).
Shia LeBeouf was okay, but he was no Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox). It was pretty cool though when old Bud made an appearance in the movie....just like old times! Did somebody say "Blue Horse Shoe Loves Anacott Steel"?
What resonated most with me was "It's a victimless crime, nobody gets hurt." This uttered by the Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs, AIG, LTCM amalgamation that was played by Josh Brolin. This is the phrase that I hear all that time in the retirement industry. So the guy got paid a commission, so he got a free trip....what's the problem? Its a victimless crime. I don't buy it. Those victimless crimes are in fact robbing our citizens of the dignity they deserve in retirement.
Wall Street exists to transfer your money into their pockets and in case something goes wrong.....for you to pay the consequences and to like it...."Thank you ma'am, may I have another."
I enjoyed the lingo, the Wall Street speak and trying to figure out who was suppose to represent who, but you don't need to know any of the lingo to enjoy the movie - the message was loud and clear - Greed never went away and because of the bail outs we have created a monster even worse than in 2008.
While it is hard to beat the original, this movie doesn't intend to - its intent is to stand on its own and it does. I'm not much of an Oliver Stone fan, but this was a good movie.
Scott Dauenhauer CFP, MSFP, AIF
