Given that large financial corporations are currently doling out bonuses to their exec.'s for 2011, the movie, "Margin Call's" examination of greed and corporate pay is extremely relevant. As the quote above references, much of Wall Street is a dog eat dog world, the goal being to get ahead no matter what. As movements like 'Occupy Wall Street' continue to protest "Too Much Pig," the film accurately presents the origins of the financial crisis and how individual avarice is well documented at it's roots. The overarching question that emerges as a result asks, "In the face of financial calamity, do financial gains justify the means through which they are achieved?"
There is obviously nothing wrong with the first two tenets of actor Jeremy Irons’s quote. Triage through better information is how money gets made in a capitalistic economy. While many debate the veracity with which the firm handles the worthless securities on their books, especially how they manipulate their business peers to do so, I can think of no alternative the firm could have come up with in their own best interests. I do believe that the bonuses they offer their employees for colluding with the firm are where the plot turns sour. Rewarding a few traders with millions to cheat their peers, who will lose heavily on the transactions, is unethical and should not be tolerated as the movie suggests, those employees will most likely be unemployed in the highly contentious job market that would emerge through the crisis.
-Bryan Kloster
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