The Catapult To Wealth: Selling Bonds And Moral

The Catapult to Wealth: Selling Bonds and Morals
Capitalism relies on society’s deepest desires and breeds hypocrisy, fraud and moral corruption as a consequence. This concept is explored in the film The Big Short through the nuances of Wall Street and trading. The characters struggle to maintain their morals in an industry that values money more than people. Often trading and banking are glamorized as jobs that provide shiny suits, luxury cars and large pay cheques. However, the film depicts trading as something that is morally corruptive to everyone who takes part. For example, when Baum and Vinnie confront an S&P employee about the fraudulent AAA-ratings, the scene illustrates how a fraudulent system and trading itself, comprises one’s

After successfully purchasing more swap bonds, Charlie and Jamie are celebrating their imminent wealth, when Ben asks them if they understand ramifications. The scene occurs in a casino, and Ben reminds them that they “just bet against the American economy”, as if it was a game of roulette. They bet that the American economy would fail - willed it even, so they could ‘win big’. However, the consequences of their victory are unprecedented increases in unemployment, homelessness and poverty in the US. An integral aspect of trading “reduces people to numbers”, which is an ethical issue as traders bet against people and their livelihoods. This raises the question of how responsible a corporation is for the demise of the economy and well-being of people. Ben is a retired banker, who left the industry becauses selling stocks involved him selling his morals as well. Throughout the film he represents an alternative perspective of someone who's seen the dazzling opulence that trading has to offer, and chosen his morals instead. Particularly, in this scene, this perspective highlights the corruptive nature of trading as Jamie and Charlie are so consumed with the idea of being rich, that they fail to examine the implications of that