4 ms·

There's another great scene in that movie which also captures this really well, when Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) explains to Jamie Shipley and Danny Moses what it m

by vosper 6y ago

There's another great scene in that movie which also captures this really well, when Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) explains to Jamie Shipley and Danny Moses what it means for normal people if the group's big bet against the economy pays out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5aVLi_yhM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5aVLi_yhM

emmanueloga_ 6y ago
So Ben Rickert is kind of a killer with a conscience, something like that?
- michaelscott 6y ago
  The MBS system would collapse regardless of whether the cast decide to bet against it or not. Retirement savings and livelihoods would be wiped out regardless of their involvement, so no Ben Rickert is not a "killer" in any sense. The MBS products were already dead, he was just one of the few who had bothered to check their pulse. All he's pointing out in the scene from the movie is that just because you've called it right (and you'll become wealthy yourself as a result) doesn't mean that it's necessarily a good thing for society as a whole, especially in this case where they did not know there would be bailouts and fully believed they would be entering complete economic apocalypse.
  - emmanueloga_ 6y ago
    It just feels a bit hypocritical of the character to have such reaction. Would be like saying "I despise War, but War is inevitable, and so I'm gonna become the greatest General in history to overwhelm the enemy and end Wars the quickest way possible". I feel like if he has enough knowledge to exploit the system and become rich in the process, he could instead use it to lobby for change.
    - vosper 6y ago
      In the context of the movie, Rickert had already retired from finance to own an orchard, and was dragged back into it by the two other characters in the clip. I can't remember how they know each other. He's a fairly reluctant player the whole time, but he does help them out.
    - ant6n 6y ago
      Isn’t putting a bunch of money towards a theory the best way to show that you really believe in it? There’s some stock-people expression about having „skin in the game“
forgingahead 6y ago
While the Big Short is a good movie, this scene reeks a little bit of the same type of "eureka-insights" that permeate Hollywood fiction like the West Wing and pop-not-science books like those written by Malcolm Gladwell. Obviously unemployment is bad for people, and it had adverse effects on people leading to depression and suicide. But the 1%-unemployment-40k-deaths stat seems too neat to use as a statistic, because there are so many variables that affect health & suicide in a community to make drawing a specific numbered correlation like this accurate.
- ggm 6y ago
  It's a film, not a documentary.
- sremani 6y ago
  There are two types of truths one is directional and the other is factual/accurate. The 1% unemployment 40k deaths is of the first kind, it gives a sense of direction. Most linear regressions in real life are directional not factual.

by vosper 6y ago

emmanueloga_ 6y ago

So Ben Rickert is kind of a killer with a conscience, something like that?

michaelscott 6y ago
The MBS system would collapse regardless of whether the cast decide to bet against it or not. Retirement savings and livelihoods would be wiped out regardless of their involvement, so no Ben Rickert is not a "killer" in any sense. The MBS products were already dead, he was just one of the few who had bothered to check their pulse. All he's pointing out in the scene from the movie is that just because you've called it right (and you'll become wealthy yourself as a result) doesn't mean that it's necessarily a good thing for society as a whole, especially in this case where they did not know there would be bailouts and fully believed they would be entering complete economic apocalypse.
- emmanueloga_ 6y ago
  It just feels a bit hypocritical of the character to have such reaction. Would be like saying "I despise War, but War is inevitable, and so I'm gonna become the greatest General in history to overwhelm the enemy and end Wars the quickest way possible". I feel like if he has enough knowledge to exploit the system and become rich in the process, he could instead use it to lobby for change.
  - vosper 6y ago
    In the context of the movie, Rickert had already retired from finance to own an orchard, and was dragged back into it by the two other characters in the clip. I can't remember how they know each other. He's a fairly reluctant player the whole time, but he does help them out.
  - ant6n 6y ago
    Isn’t putting a bunch of money towards a theory the best way to show that you really believe in it? There’s some stock-people expression about having „skin in the game“

forgingahead 6y ago

While the Big Short is a good movie, this scene reeks a little bit of the same type of "eureka-insights" that permeate Hollywood fiction like the West Wing and pop-not-science books like those written by Malcolm Gladwell. Obviously unemployment is bad for people, and it had adverse effects on people leading to depression and suicide. But the 1%-unemployment-40k-deaths stat seems too neat to use as a statistic, because there are so many variables that affect health & suicide in a community to make drawing a specific numbered correlation like this accurate.

ggm 6y ago
It's a film, not a documentary.
sremani 6y ago
There are two types of truths one is directional and the other is factual/accurate. The 1% unemployment 40k deaths is of the first kind, it gives a sense of direction. Most linear regressions in real life are directional not factual.