BTMW ("By The Money Way") – “Die Hard”, “Wall Street” and today’s economy -- 4-28-06

Was watching “Die Hard” on one of the cable TV networks the other day (a movie which, BTW, is 1) a classic, and 2) has been out for 20 years…so, if you haven’t seen it yet, WHAT are you waiting for?!!!!). Anyhow during a commercial break, the network had a preview clip of the movie “Wall Street”. And suddenly, as they say, “Light dawned over marble head”. Mix the personalities and attitudes of the Ellis character in “Die Hard” with the Gordon Gecko character in “Wall Street”, and you get a very good idea of the personality/attitude of much too large a portion of those who ran and/or worked in the mortgage/investment banking industry and on Wall Street over the past decade or so. And, when looked at in that light, it’s not at all surprising that the economy in general, and the credit ‘industry’ in particular, are in the very difficult straits they’re in today.