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By
Bruce Bressack
03/05/2003
Boomers
Well, if you’re one of those conspiracy theorists, you might conclude that there are “powerful people” out there who are saying things like that just to drive the stock market down. Why, you may ask? For the answer, you might have to ask Mr. Potter.
Mr. Potter is a fictional character from the 1946 movie, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. He lived in the small town of Bedford Falls, where life was simpler, kinder, gentler, and where neighbors and friends took care of each other.
Let there be no mistake about it, Potter had none of those qualities (and he owned everything worth owning in town - except George Bailey, and the ‘Bailey Building and Loan’).
In an emotional scene from the movie, financial panic was spreading throughout the town. There was a run-on-the-bank, and people were lined up in front of the Building and Loan demanding their money.
George tried to explain that their money wasn't in the Building and Loan; it was invested in each other’s homes and backed by shares in his company.
George didn’t have the money on-hand. But Potter did......and he was prepared to make an “offer”!
Word was that Potter would give people 50 cents on the dollar for each of their shares. George knew exactly what Potter was up to; Potter wanted to gain control over the Building and Loan and expand his dominance over the town of Bedford Falls.
In a spirited and passionate voice, George begged his friends not to sell their shares to Potter --- “Can’t you understand what’s happening here? Don’t you see what’s happening? Potter isn’t selling. Potter’s buying. And why, because we’re panicky and he’s not! He’s picking up some bargains. Now we can get through this thing all right. We’ve got to stick together though; we’ve got to have faith in each other”.
Although the movie is “fictional”, the sentiment is very real. The Potter’s of the world are out there lurking in the Bush’s [pun intended].
In good times and bad times, the Potter's win. They have “Unsaintly Patience”. They wait for the stock market to go down (or "intentionally" drive it down) and then they buy, buy, buy. They always get richer....
The “joke” circulating today is that our 401K’s are now 201K’s because they’re worth half what they used to be. George would tell us that we can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together; we've got to have faith in each other.
And, he'd tell us to remember that "Potter isn't selling, he's buying" [at 50 cents on the dollar].
Bruce Bressack is a singer-songwriter, producer and freelance writer currently living in New England. He’s a 52 year old baby-boomer, ex-Yuppie, ex-New Yorker, guitar-slingin’, piano-slappin’, finally ‘retired’, television tube lover...
Bruce Bressack can be reached at bbressack@hippopress.com