Cash Rules Everything Around Me

“It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson

A number of weeks ago, I went to the movies with my family. We went to see “The Wolf of Wall Street”, Martin Scorsese’s silver screen adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s best-selling memoir by the same name. Mr. Belfort, once a colleague of my father’s before embarking on business ventures of far less legal and moral varieties, accumulated a fortune into the hundreds of millions in the 1990s through manipulative microcap investing techniques, pump and dump schemes, and large-scale insider trading practices. Leonardo DiCaprio, as Belfort in the film adaptation, brings to life a lucrative and savvy businessman in a far brighter light than shone his real-life counterpart, a white-collar swindler and thief. The film fails to hint at the numerous suicides of Belfort’s victims who were cheated out of their modest life savings, or even to thoroughly provide details as to what exactly he was doing wrong. It fails in this sense to such a degree, in fact, that the young man a row in front of us in the theater stood up and proclaimed to his group of friends during the ending credits that he “needs to get into insider trading”.

A number of weeks ago, I went to the movies with my family. We went to see “The Wolf of Wall Street”, Martin Scorsese’s silver screen adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s best-selling memoir by the same name. Mr. Belfort, once a colleague of my father’s before embarking on business ventures of far less legal and moral varieties, accumulated a fortune into the hundreds of millions in the 1990s through manipulative microcap investing techniques, pump and dump schemes, and large-scale insider trading practices. Leonardo DiCaprio, as Belfort in the film adaptation, brings to life a lucrative and savvy businessman in a far brighter light than shone his real-life counterpart, a white-collar swindler and thief. The film fails to hint at the numerous suicides of Belfort’s victims who were cheated out of their modest life savings, or even to thoroughly provide details as to what exactly he was doing wrong. It fails in this sense to such a degree, in fact, that the young man a row in front of us in the theater stood up and proclaimed to his group of friends during the ending credits that he “needs to get into insider trading”.

This is not a movie review, but rather an expression of concern. It seems as though at some point in the United States’ defense of economic freedom and free-market capitalism, wealth has implanted itself in the masses as synonymous with success and as the paramount of value and desire. From impressionable young people to those enslaved by careers with minds only towards the figures on their paycheck, the love of money has swept millions off their feet. This has skewed our capitalist system in ways which have not yet been taken into account by those who tout it as the best and only means to economic freedom. It is at the core principle of capitalism that society benefits from individuals drawing motivation from self-interest, however there is a very slight and very important difference between self-interest and the greed and love of money which we see dominating our economic system today.

This concept of self-interest was first introduced by philosopher Adam Smith, whose work contributed largely to the foundation of many principles of economics and government upon which the United States was built. Smith’s work, though, came before the development of large industries, financial institutions, and other market variables which our economic system is comprised of today, and individual understanding of his concepts of self-interest and laissez-faire policy has withered. Nearly 200 years after Adam Smith’s theories, an American mathematician by the name of John Nash (portrayed by Russell Crowe in “A Beautiful Mind”) made a revolutionary clarification to Smith’s work. Nash acknowledged that, in addition to self-interest, society benefits most from individuals behaving based on their knowledge of the self-interest of others and of the entire group, a concept which is not present in the motivation of the likes of Jordan Belfort, nor, unfortunately, in the minds of millions of Americans.

It is this lapse in understanding that has led to the circumstance we see today, a free for all. In a system where motivation is derived solely from the desire of the individual to accumulate wealth, society does not benefit. Capitalism and laissez-faire economics are most conducive to freedom and to the betterment of society, but today our financial system is dictated by Wall Street, not Main Street, and as a result we see what looks more like an aristocracy than the type of free market which Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson conceptualized. The haves exploit the have-nots, generating astronomical profits for the richest Americans, and not leaving any room for the self-interest of the entire group, nor for society to benefit.

In order to protect one of the most closely held values of our Nation, we must realize that the love of money is the paralyzing feature of our economy and of our society. Self-interest means more than monetary gain. Happiness is attained through the betterment of oneself and of those around him or her. As for “The Wolf of Wall Street”, audiences must understand that men of fabulous wealth, particularly gained through means akin to the work of Jordan Belfort, are not to be admired. Envy and greed are not righteous convictions. Those who gain their fame and fortune at the expense of others are not living the American Dream, but are destroying it. We must admire, instead, those who further the true principles of capitalism and freedom; those who improve society in ways that benefit themselves as well as empowering and enabling the success of those around them. Former President Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 and told his audience that “we’re all in this together is a better philosophy than you’re on your own”. While there were much broader terms at stake in Clinton’s speech, his words are as true as any in the discussion of economic freedom. The government is not the enemy of the free market. Our economic freedom is threatened by those, an unfortunately large group, who have forgotten that money is not synonymous with success, and fortune it not synonymous with happiness.