Jim Cramer meet Lee Gates.
Mad Money meet Money Monster.
And while director Jodie Foster denies that Lee is based on Jim, no one in the known universe takes that seriously. Unless of course it’s actually true.
So the first thing you find yourself wondering is whether or not something like this could actually happen. After all, money [either mad or monstrous] can bring out the very worst in us. Even among those who imagine that it is bringing out the very best instead.
There’s the politics of money, sure, but there is also the manner in which each of us as individuals will construct very own personal narrative, our very own personal agenda with respect to either earning it or using it.
Or [of course] losing it.
As a consequence, some [inevitably] will go off the deep end. For example, Kyle Budwell, who as “an irate investor who has lost everything forcefully takes over their studio.” Only Kyle is no Marxist revolutionary. He’s not here to Occupy Wall Street. He’s just pissed off because he made a shitty investment. He lost 60 grand on Walt and Ibis.
Lots of us no doubt have fantasized about doing something like this. Taking over one or another media component of “the system” and letting everyone know what is really going on in the world. In particular, how the “little guy” is always being fucked over but how now at least the “little guy” is fighting back. But the bottom line here is that it’s not really about “the system”. It’s not crony capitalism or political economy so much as the Bernie Madoff rotten apples.
Then there’s the reality of making money in a world in which the technology [and enormously convoluted algorithm contraptions] used to create and then to facilitate the transactions can create complexities that are far, far, far beyond the comprehension of your average citizen. Not to mention your average facilitator in Washington.
Finally, this is one of those film where we can pin down the precise moment when it jumps the shark.
Right, Mr. Wonderful?
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_Monster
trailer: youtu.be/qr_nGAbFkmk
MONEY MONSTER [2016]
Directed by Jodie Foster
Lee [on TV]: Okay, here we go. Are you listening? Are you paying attention out there? Good. Because it’s about to get complicated, so I’m gonna start out slow and make it nice and simple for you. You don’t have a clue where your money is. See, once upon a time, you could walk into your bank, and they’d open a vault and point to a gold brick. Not anymore. Your money - that thing that you bust your ass for - it’s nothing more than a few photons of energy traveling through a massive network of fiber optic cables. Why’d we do it? We did it to make it go faster. Because your money better be fast - faster than the other guy’s. But if you want faster markets with faster trades, faster profits, faster everything, sometimes you’re gonna blow a tire. And that is exactly what happened yesterday at 1:07 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.
Cue Wolf Bilzter with another “fake news” story: Walt Camby and IBIS Clear Capital
[b]Diane: Lee has read the talking points, right? Because I’m in a tough position here, and I just want to make sure that he sticks to the script.
Patty: He will. You know us, Diane. We don’t do “gotcha” journalism here. Hell, we don’t do journalism, period.
…
Lee: The name is Lee Gates. The show is Money Monster, the day is Friday, and the Dow has dropped a seismic seven points this morning. So what does that mean for the market…Should you…or should you? And the answer is, who cares about the Dow? It’s a measly 30 companies. So why do you people keep paying attention to it? Well, probably because our network insists on tracking it. Right here at the bottom of the screen in large font all day. And why do they do that? Because you people keep paying so much attention to it.
…
Lee [on the air]: The name is Lee Gates, the show is Money Monster. Without risk, there is no reward. Should I sell? Should I unload? GET SOME BALLS!
…
Lee [taking a vest packed with explosives out of a box]: How do I know it won’t blow up?
Kyle: 'Cause I have the detonator. All right? If my thumb comes off this trigger, then we all explode.
Lee: What if your thumb gets tired?
Kyle: You better hope it don’t.
…
Patty [to the crew]: Okay, listen up, everybody. If you’re not manning a camera or a boom, get out right now. Stop what you’re doing. If you’re not core-one control room, get going. Don’t look up. Just go. Right now.
…
Kyle [to the camera]: All right. I want everyone to know something. I might be the one with the gun here, but I’m not the real criminal. It’s people like these guys! They’re stealing everything from us and they’re getting away with it, too. Nobody’s asking how. Nobody’s asking why…You got to open your eyes out there. It’s not like the government’s no help. How they just look the other way, since after they’re done stealing our money, they barely even have to pay any taxes on it! I’m telling you, it’s rigged. The whole goddamn thing. They’re stealing the country out from under us. Not the Muslims. Not the Chinese. Them. It’s all fixed. They like how the math adds up, so they got to keep rewriting the equation. Which means, the one time you finally get a little extra money, you try and be smart about it, you turn on the TV. Boom. That’s how they fucking take it. They take it so fast they don’t even have to explain it! They literally own the airwaves. They literally control the information. But not today.
…
Kyle: You must think I’m so stupid. Trying to fucking buy me off. I’m not stupid, Lee. I walked in here knowing there was only one way this show was gonna end. I came in here knowing I’m not walking out.
…
Lee: It was a computer glitch.
Kyle: A glitch! A glitch! It was a fucking glitch! A glitch! Shut up about the glitch! All right? What the hell does that even mean? You see, you don’t even know. I’m not stupid, Lee. I told you. People just at home accepting this shit, they’re the stupid ones, because somehow these clowns lost $800 million overnight. Overnight. And nobody’s even actually explained how. How is something like that even possible, huh? How is that even fair? How’s that fair? It’s not a rhetorical question. I want a fucking answer.
…
Kyle: Two people I came here to talk to. Him and Walt fucking Camby.
Patty [in the control booth]: All right, well, then let’s get him Walt fucking Camby already.
Lee: All right, so let’s get him Walt fucking Camby already.
Patty: Right. Exactly. Throw him under the bus.
Lee: Look, he was supposed to be here today. He didn’t show up. It’s his company. It’s his crash. So let’s see what he has to say.
…
Captain Powell: Are you proposing we shoot the star of a TV show live, on air, in front of millions of people?
Detective: Yeah.
…
Lee: Where are your quants, Diane? Where are your quants?
Patty [from the control booth]: That’s good. Go with that. Get an answer.
Lee: The quants you used. The guy who actually designed the algorithm that crashed. Where is he? Is he in that building right there behind you? 'Cause I think I’d like to ask him a few questions.
…
Diane [from Ibis headquarters]: What happened?
Patty: He just shot out your monitor on the stage because you’re giving him the same corporate bullshit!
…
Kyle: You really gonna stand there in your $1,000 suit and compare scores with me? Huh? My honest job pays me $14 an hour, you cocksucker. So let’s start there. You know how far $14 an hour gets you here in New York? Huh? You know how much of that is left after I pay my rent and all my fucking bills? I keep paddling as hard as I can just to stay above water. It takes everything I got! And that’s before the kid gets here. How the hell am I gonna supposed to support him, huh? How am I gonna take care of him?
…
Won Joon [on phone]: Listen, lady, I’m not getting mixed up in all this. I was hired to design a program. My job was about data. It was about math. It was about theoreticals. That’s it.
Diane: Yes, but this glitch was still a result of a program you designed.
Won Joon: Wrong. It’s user error. They’re only calling it a glitch because nobody understands how the algo works. And if nobody can understand the math, then nobody has to explain the money.
Diane: Well, that’s why I’m calling you. I want to understand.
Won Joon: Fine. Algorithms make patterns, they don’t break them. And this algo was designed to move in and out of hundreds of positions in fractions of seconds.
Diane: Right.
Won Joon: What it wasn’t designed to do is consume large amounts of capital, accumulate leveraged positions or hold a portfolio for any extended period of time.
Diane: Wait. What does that mean?
Won Joon: It means there is no way that this algorithm could lose $800 million in one afternoon. It is literally a mathematical impossibility. So whatever went wrong, whatever investment went haywire, it’s not the computer’s fault. There’s human fingerprints all over this.
Diane: Whose fingerprints?
Won Joon: Like I said, I don’t want to get involved in this.
Diane: Is there anything you can give me?
Won Joon: Do the math. You can’t find your boss, and he can’t find $800 million.
…
Captain: If we take out the receiver on Gates’ chest, what’s his chance of survival?
Swat team member: 80% that he makes it.
Captain: Okay. What’s the chance the bullet’s on target?
Swat team member: If it’s a clean shot, 100%.
Swat team member: 100%. Come on, let’s be realistic here.
Swat team member: I am being. Listen, 80% sounds about right to us, to an officer.
Captain: 80%. So we got an 80% chance of an 80% chance.
…
Patty [in control room]: Lee, Walt Camby has landed. He’s on his way to Federal Hall. He’ll be there in less than 20 minutes. And get this. He wasn’t in Geneva yesterday. He was in South Africa. So he lied to you. He lied to us. He’s been lying this whole time. That means you’ve been lying, too, Lee. To everybody that’s been watching. To Kyle.
Lee: Oh, my God.
…
Ron [on phone]: Patty! I just left the SEC. I’ve been trying to call you.
Patty: Yeah, Ron, listen.
Ron: Yeah, they got nothing over here.
Patty: What?
Ron: Ibis’s algorithm trades in dark pools, so all their transactions are concealed. The one thing I was able to find out was, on the day of the crash, Ibis’s transaction volume dropped by nearly 90%.
Patty: What does that mean?
Ron: I don’t know.
…
Patty [into Lee’s earpiece]: Ibis is a pig in a prom dress, Lee.
…
Lee: You tried to convince us it’s all too complicated for us to understand. But it’s not that complicated at all, is it? It’s actually the oldest story in the book. Fraud. You took money out of your fund and you invested it here.
Patty: Go.
Lee: Right here in platinum mines in South Africa. Does that sound familiar?
Walt: I don’t have our portfolio in front of me. I can’t exactly…
Lee: You really need your portfolio to know where you put $800 million?
Walt: I don’t put that much money anywhere. The algorithms control our day-to-day…
Lee: But that’s not how high-frequency trading is supposed to work, is it? They don’t just put that much money in one place and just leave it there, do they? It wasn’t the algos pullin’ the strings, it was you.
…
Kyle: You’re a thief, Walt. And a crook. And I want to hear you admit it.
Walt: I didn’t steal a dime and we didn’t do anything illegal.
Kyle: Bullshit! You manipulated stock prices. You bribed people. You broke the law.
Wat: What law? Name one law you can prove I broke. No, don’t look at Lee. He can’t prove it, either. This is just business. And this is how business is done.
Kyle: That doesn’t make it right.
Walt: Oh, please. Tell that to the Chinese. Tell that to the Russians. 'Cause if it’s not us, it’s gonna be them. Hell, it already is. You see, that’s the irony about all this. You only came after me ‘cause I lost you money. Nobody was asking questions when everybody was makin’ a profit. You just gobbled up every dollar of stock you could afford. As long as we kept paying you 18% ROI every year, then you could keep bragging to your friends about what a genius you are. But, hey, you’re not a genius, you’re a stockholder.
…
Kyle [waving the gun]: I told you what I want.
Walt: Yeah, I get it. You want a profit. That’s what everybody wants.
Kyle: No, that’s not what I want…I want to hear you admit it, you son of a bitch!
Lee: I think he just did.
Kyle: No, I want to hear him say that he lied, that what he did was wrong.
Walt: Wrong? What does that even mean, wrong?
Kyle: You got three seconds till I blow your ass outta this goddamn building.
Kyle: Three.
Walt: What’s wrong with makin’ a profit? What’s wrong with being faster…
Kyle: Two!
Walt: What’s wrong with betting big? Winning isn’t wrong…
Kyle: One!
Walt: Fine! It was wrong. It was wrong. It was wrong. It was wrong.
Kyle: That’s all I wanted to hear, man.[/b]