The "American Dream"
The movie Other People’s Money focuses on the greed and actuality of corporate takeovers in a democracy. Lawrence Garfield, a big-time stockholder, has a record of taking over companies to leech off money for the other stockholders. This is where he gets his name, “Larry the liquidator.” The movie begins when Garfield buys a large proportion of shares equaling out to own 12% of the company. He shows up to Andrew Jorgenson and tries to pitch to him ideas to benefit the stockholders, but he’s trying to take over the company. Jorgenson was faced with the harsh reality of a corporate takeover and the risk of losing it all. He stays faithful to the initial ways of the company. His wife’s daughter, Kate Sullivan, is a lawyer who tries to play both sides. Jorgenson tries to get her to attempt multiple propositions to Garfield so he won’t take over the company. In the end, Garfield wins the vote of the stockholders by owning the division, New England Wire Cable.
The movie is very interesting as it displays the greed in our country. Garfield is a representation of the typical rich and greedy citizen in America. In our economy, this is a fear for any entrepreneur, as the result could be to lose all that you built. One part which stood out to me was when Garfield explained that his ideology of the “American Dream” is just who dies the richest. This proves the point stated in The Seen, the Unseen, and the Unrealized, in which it talks about how there is no perfect economy. The book explains how in a democracy with specialization, there is more room for productivity and success. Regardless of any economy, there are always going to be people who try to steal from others. This is just part of the game which entrepreneurs have to play to win success.
They persuasively intended the principal theme of this movie to provide knowledge of the greed in this economy. Entrepreneurs are always at risk. We see this in the movie whenever Garfield tried to take over the New England Wiring Cable. In this movie, Garfield’s character Represents the economy’s potential risk to entrepreneurs. f the risky economy. Garfield explains that the world is based upon the survival of the fittest. In this sense, everyone is out to do something for themselves without caring about how it will affect others. We see this quite often in the economy as people are always trying to make the most money regardless of what impact it will make. However, will entrepreneurs try to benefit the economy? Chapter 4 of the book, The Seen, the Unseen, and the Unrealized, talks about specialization and how the economy benefits when every person has a specific role they play in the economy. Whenever an entrepreneur does their part to benefit the New England Wiring Cable, the other specializations in the economy will benefit the entrepreneur. Although Garfield did not start the company, this movie is entrepreneurial because one business owner is trying to protect their own company. Garfield represents as the economy is trying to take it over. Jorgensen at first feels as if he is just trying to take over the company. However, in the end, Garfield feels that he is trying to benefit the stockholders while helping out a dying company. He then received the division that he considered “financial cancer”. This is why he decided to rehire the initial employees of New England Wiring Cable and have them manufacture airbags instead.
