I recently rented the movie, “Margin Call.” The storyline, simply put, is about one investment firm’s decisions in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
This is definitely one of those movies that kept me thinking long after it was over.
The how and why of what happened doesn’t seem to be as much about understanding the technical or financial details of the crisis as about understanding the motivations, circumstances, lifestyles, personalities, aspirations, and situations that the players found themselves in.
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Just as there are two main political parties in the U.S., so, too, does there seem to be two main income-earning paths that people pursue: (1) be an employee, or (2) be an entrepreneur.
Of course, there are the Switchers, those who leave the “safety” of employment for the “risk” of self-employment. The Switchers have been more of the minority to date. But, what if that tide is turning? Will our current economic crisis create a larger percentage of employees or entrepreneurs?
I hear more and more how “the Depression Era created more millionaires than any other time”, that “this financial crisis is our biggest break“. Now is also a time of much rightly placed mistrust and suspicion. And, we are again and again reminded that what appears ”too good to be true” probably is. What are we to make of all this well-meaning advice?
Isn’t pursuing our dreams ”risky”? If people don’t pursue their “dreams” because they don’t know how (or are afraid they won’t be able) to make a profitable living at it, is that really an unwise decision? Living the life of the stereotypical “starving artist” doesn’t make society a better place for anyone, right? Read more »
Writing a Book Review of sorts can be intimidating. I’m sure it’s common to feel hesitant about being able to adequately come anywhere close to doing justice to the many inter-related ideas an author has expressed in his work. At the same time, there is an eagerness to share the insights gleaned from their work as well. The latter is what I will attempt to do here.
The book I’ll be referring to in this post is George Soros’ “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008″. I am by no means any kind of a financial expert. While I’m sure that different people will focus on different aspects of this book, my aim is to simply express the main point that stood out for me. That happens to be the human element of the equation.
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