It was a Potter monopoly without regulation. The directors tell George that the Building & Loan will only stay open if he agrees to remain and carry on his father's work. That our banking system is so much more interconnected and, some would say, immensely complex, is a big part of the problem. In 1934, thanks to the Building & Loan, the Martini family move out of 'Potter's Field' to the new 'Bailey Park', a residential development created by George that proves successful enough to seriously threaten Mr. Potter's rental interests. George Bailey is a fictional character and the protagonist in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. George Bailey was one of the most renowned criminals of the 1940s. Without George Bailey, the two would wind up living in run-down rental shacks with nothing to show for their blue-collar work.
Mary, Uncle Billy, and a flood of townspeople arrive with more than enough donations to save George and the Building & Loan. Although this would bring a significant increase in salary George declines. [12], AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, Fox News opinion piece, December 20, 2017, https://theminnesotasun.com/2018/12/25/commentary-the-hero-of-its-a-wonderful-life-isnt-george-bailey/, https://fee.org/articles/old-man-potter-lived-a-wonderful-life/, https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/old-man-potter-real-hero-its-wonderful-life, https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2018/12/14/the_message_of_its_a_wonderful_life_is_anti-prosperity_103539.html#, https://nypost.com/2015/12/24/its-a-wonderful-life-is-atheist-communist-propaganda/, https://nypost.com/2007/11/25/jump-george-jump/, https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/why-hero-its-wonderful-life-isnt-george-bailey, "Showtimes, reviews, trailers, news and more - MSN Movies". Convicted of misappropriation of funds, manipulation, and malfeasance, Mr. Bailey was issued a twenty-year prison sentence in the Pottersville Penitentiary, serving as an example to future executives such … To add to his anger, he finds out his youngest daughter Zuzu has come home with a cold, which George blames on her teacher. I think what’s interesting is that in reality, many places probably didn’t have a George Bailey. Ernie is hopelessly poor, with his family having forsaken him. P.S. Potter talks about this early on when he challenges Bailey: Why would you give Ernie Bishop, the taxi driver, a loan? What's the news?" They really think all their money is sitting there in the safe, but never question how the bank is then able to distribute so much money, such as loans for their homes. [Newspaper headline reads "PRESIDENT DECORATES HARRY BAILEY"] Ernie Bishop : … After George rescues him, the man reveals himself to be George's guardian angel, Clarence Odbody.
Below is a conversation we had after (re-)watching the film about the various questions it raises about mortgages, banking, and financial solvency. While all of this happened, George served as an Air Raid Warden. I think when you watch the movie with a focus on the financial aspects, it’s easy to see plenty of modern-day parallels. White: And the relationship between morality and banking comes up really early, right when we see that the newly wedded Baileys won’t be taking their honeymoon, but will instead be using that money to temporarily bail out the Building and Loan. In the winter of 1919, George (aged 12, played by Bobby Anderson) and his friends Bert, Ernie Bishop, Marty Hatch, Sam Wainwright, and his brother Harry are sledding on a frozen river.
I think the movie explores a lot of the questions we grapple with when it comes to credit, like who should have it and on what terms. While the family is celebrating Harry's return, Ma Bailey mentions to George that Mary Hatch is back from college and he should pay her a visit. He comes to a bridge intending to commit suicide, feeling he is "worth more dead than alive" because of a life insurance policy. A desperate George appeals to Potter for a loan. This is pre-Wall Street, pre-“greed is good.” Potter argues that Bailey is undercutting him by running an inefficient market and charging below-market prices for housing. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. Billy goes back to the Building & Loan and tells George that he has misplaced the money, and doesn't know where it is. But there are also inherent moral judgments about the way a bank should work that come across as too black-and-white. For example, when Potter asks Bailey, “Are you running a business or a charity?” we know it’s not mutually exclusive like that.
George's friend Violet Bick is a taxi-dancer who gets arrested. Billy grabs Mr. Potter's newspaper and says, "Well, well, well, Harry Bailey wins Congressional Medal. After returning to his office, Potter opens the paper, notices the money and keeps it, knowing that misplacement of bank money would result in bankruptcy for the Building & Loan and criminal charges for George. "Best Men: The Top 10 Movie Dads We’d Use To Build the Perfect Father", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Bailey_(It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life)&oldid=984612392, Fictional characters from New York (state), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 October 2020, at 02:24. (A deleted scene exists in which George finds Martini's grave near Harry's, as Martini and his family died in a fire because they couldn't move out of Potter's slums.) Do you think Potter would have let you keep it? In the pile of donated funds, George finds a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer inscribed, "Dear George: Remember no man is a failure who has friends. But the ultimate importance (at least financially) of this film to me is the role of banks in society. That’s why. Harry is dead as a result of George not being there to save him from drowning, and the servicemen he would have saved also died. “Abacus is a bank, not a community-service organization”. We’ve got to have faith in each other. Potter's bank calls their loan, and panicked depositors want their money, threatening to take their business to the bank. This is the first year the award has been shared. Mary and George use the money saved for their honeymoon to keep the Building & Loan solvent.[11]. It’s an important plot point, but I also think it speaks to how much people don’t know about how banks actually work. The initial run on Bailey Building and Loan is at the very beginning of the movie and it sets George on this path of being a banker. Of course, prices have risen and loan products have gotten infinitely more complex (not to mention regulated), but I thought the conversation about foreclosure and housing security was still relevant to our current economy. Their first child is a son, whom they name Pete after George's late father. The position title is Director, Human Resources. He seeks advice from his father, who is president of the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan, but his father is meeting with Henry F. Potter, one of the shareholders. I also couldn’t help but think about payday loans during this movie. Here’s some of the speech that George gives that sets him on that course: If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan, there’ll never be another decent house built in this town … He wants to keep you living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he decides. It’s also worth adding that bank failures these days are more serious than Depression-era failures since so many banks are national entities. The fear of too much leverage—that one big loss could take down an entire bank, an entire system, or wipe out the life savings of many—is still a big issue, especially after the Great Recession. It always made me really angry that he accidentally received that $8,000 that caused the second bank run at Bailey Building and Loan, yet never told anyone he had it, never gave the money back, and never had any intention of doing the right thing. American Bankers Association Ernie was a member of the airborne, and parachuted into France on D-Day. But the issue of who should and shouldn’t get credit is still a conversation our society is grappling with, especially in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. ABA Launches New Data and Analytics School, ABA Data Bank: Customer Satisfaction with Primary Bank Nears 100%, Fed, FinCEN Propose to Lower Reporting Threshold for Funds Transfers, Keeping Your Brand in a Safe Position During the Pandemic, Agencies: No Plans to Recommend Credit-Sensitive Element to SOFR, With Nod to Industry Progress, CFPB Seeks Feedback on Data Access Regs, SEC, CFTC Approve Joint Rule Aligning Margin Levels for Security Futures, Existing-Home Sales Rise 9.4% in September, The Future of Compliance Will Require Clean Data Sets, FDIC Relief Saves on Audit, Internal Control Reporting Costs, Five Reasons Banks Are Now Using Digital SBA Lending Programs, The ACH Contact Registry: Here to Help You and Your Colleagues Nationwide, What COVID-19 Can Teach Community Banks About Resilience During Economic and Social Uncertainty, SAR Writing: Using Purpose and Clarity to Aid Law Enforcement, Podcast: Behind the Scenes with a ‘Bank On’ Product, Podcast: Building Financial Confidence Through Emergency Savings, Podcast: Plotting the Future Path of the CRE Sector, Podcast: Prodding Class Action Attorneys to Deliver More for Consumers.
He’s picking up some bargains. George develops an infection which deafens him in his left ear. During the war years, George and Mary had another two children, a girl, Zuzu, born in 1940, and a son, Tommy, born in 1941. Due to George's deaf ear, he was given a 4-F draft classification and had to stay in Bedford Falls. In the end, the community saves itself. George agrees and looks up to Heaven and says, "Attaboy, Clarence." George returns home to learn that Mary is pregnant. You just can't keep those Baileys down, now, can you, Mr. TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. As they celebrate, the town's sheriff tears the warrant for his arrest and joins in the festivities. Don’t you see what’s happening? George realizes that he truly has a wonderful life. The character is a building and loan banker who sacrifices his dreams in order to help his community of Bedford Falls to the point where he feels life has passed him by. Gower realizes what he has done and tearfully thanks George, who promises that he will keep the incident a secret. Harry breaks through the ice and George jumps into the freezing water to save him.
Presented to a non-CEO banker demonstrating outstanding initiative, effectiveness and inspiration to others, the George Bailey Award is the American Bankers Association’s highest individual honor. He’s the coldhearted capitalist, and in the mid-1940s, I think the mores surrounding financial gains were really different. Potter. Abacus was eventually investigated for mortgage fraud, but found not guilty by a jury. George runs back to the bridge and begs to be allowed to live again. To some extent—though less literal now—whenever there’s a big looming financial crisis, there’s fear of a “bank run,” which now looks more like long lines at ATMs as customers try to pull their money out while they still can. I want an audio file of George Bailey saying “The money’s not there!” as he tries to explain how deposits get rolled into other products, not just stacks of bills tucked away in a vault. Here, Ed. In addition to its holiday cheesiness and religious moralizing, the 1946 classic touches on financial themes that remain painfully relevant.
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