One silk handkerchief.
One necktie.
One watch.
One ring.
One gold money clip with no money in it.
And one mobile phone.
Fifty cents a day, minus what you spent inside,
and a train ticket to the Big Apple.
Good luck, Gekko, and don't come back.
You want to know what the mother of all bubbles was?
lt came out of nowhere. By chance.
-How many you got, Mac? -Five.
They called it the Cambrian Explosion.
lt happened around 530 million years ago.
Open the gate!
And over the next 70, 80 million years, the rate of evolution accelerated so fast
that we came along.
The human race.
They still can't explain how that happened, except that it happened.
Here he is!
Daddy!
Some people say it was by chance,
others, design.
But who really knows?
Stop sleeping.
You mean "wake up."
"Wake up" is positive. "Stop sleeping" is a negative.
Either way, it's not my favorite part of the day.
It's the best part of the day.
I feel bad for anybody who feels that way. It means their day can't get any better.
You go to bed too late. You don't sleep enough.
What's going on with you today?
Did I tell you, or did you forget?
I'm going to Washington for the week.
Yeah. New site, right?
We're launching in 10 days,
so the whole site's down starting tomorrow.
What are all those angry liberals going to do without their daily fix, baby?
You're just as liberal as they are, Mr. Green Energy.
No, no, no. The only green is money, honey.
You're so Wall Street, it makes me sick.
-Baby, come here. -No. What did I ever see in you?
-Come here. -No.
My next guest, Gordon Gekko,
was one of the biggest names on Wall Street in the '80s
before he went to prison for insider trading and securities fraud.
He's out with a new book, and it is a shocker, believe me.
lt is called Is Greed Good?
The man himself is here with us. Gordon, good to have you on the program.
Thank you, Maria. lt's nice to be out.
-Turn it off. -One sec.
And l must tell you, your show is a big, big hit in the can.
You watched it in prison?
Your show?
Me and a whole lot of others.
You wrote the book in prison?
l did. l outlined my drafts...
I'm taking a shower.
See you next week.
Good luck in Washington.
-Hello? -Jacob.
Dr. Masters.
Good morning, sir. Don't you get any sleep?
Jacob, it happened. As close as we've come to burn yet.
Really? How many lasers?
We fired 72 this morning, and we're going to go for 96 next week.
That's fantastic. That's a game changer, Doc.
So let me guess, it means we're pushing the pace, right? You need more money?
Well, it'd be good if we could get another $100 million.
We could pick up maybe six months on our schedule.
A hundred million dollars?
As long as the price of oil stays high, we'll get the money.
That would be nice. That would be nice.
Because The Foundation says that they're having some problems in the markets...
You don't worry about that, though, okay, Doc?
You just keep building that baby star, okay?
Okay. Thank you, Jacob. Thank you.
All right, I'll talk to you soon.
Hydra Offshore.
Let me repeat this again.
A huge deep-sea exploration play off the coast of Equatorial Guinea.
That's an oil field that's barely been touched.
Remember, the stock's trading roughly 31 % off the 52-week high
and it's part owned and funded by none other than, guess who.
Churchill Schwartz.
So we know they won't let anything too bad happen here.
My suggestion is that we get aggressive.
-Agreed? -Yeah.
We all agree?
Ed, what do you think?
I don't agree. Maybe it's just me.
Equatorial Guinea's a pretty tough dictatorship.
This guy's already nationalized the gold and diamond mines.
So what's your point?
I just don't think it's a risk our desk
should be taking right now, that's all. I'd wait.
-Wait? Wait for what? -Yeah.
Your "Beam me up, Scottie" hydrogen fusion deal?
Now you're talking about something else. It's United Fusion Corporation, Stan.
Come on. It's apples and oranges.
-Really? -Yeah.
You mean the deal that we already sank $50 million into, Mr. Brainiac?
Alternative energy is what biotech was 15 years ago, Stan.
Come on. You were young once. You know that.
Profits aren't quarterly. The runs could be huge.
We'll all be dead by the time your nutty professor makes us any money.
Right, this coming from the guy who said Google was a bubble.
Anyway. Hydra Offshore.
It's priced right for us to make three to five times on our money.
And better yet, what we all love the most.
Big year-end bonuses.
Let's go! Let's go! Let's make some dough!
What's up? You good?
I can't! It's not up to me.
Maybe I can do it, maybe I can't do it. People are telling me something.
Jesus! Harry, you gave me your word.
You know I know!
You okay, Lou?
Good day, I'm okay. Bad day, I'm okay. What's the difference?
Do me a favor. Don't ask me dumb questions.
You wanted to see me?
Steve, stay on top of Harry, okay?
-He's driving me crazy. -You got it, boss.
Follow me.
Why?
That's some "Thank you." What do you want, a kiss, too?
I thought maybe the news out of London would've wrecked the mood.
London? Don't tell me London.
I take a look at their sheets. They tell me they got a $125 million profit, right?
I look at the same lousy spread,
to me it looks like a buck and a quarter loss.
Then they tell me, "Don't worry about it. We're making money on the losses."
How do you make money on losses? You tell me.
I'm just an old dinosaur.
Lou, I believe in Keller Zabel. We're fine.
And you're not a dinosaur. Come on.
It's no fun anymore, Jacob.
I'm talking to some guy in Mumbai, Dumbai.
I don't know what he's talking about.
I don't know what he's selling, I don't know who he is,
I don't know how much I'm putting up.
And my partners, they're in their graves. They're laughing at me.
It's just a bunch of machines now, telling us what to do.
That's why you got people like me here, Lou, to lighten the load.
Getting old is not for sissies, kid.
Take that money, huh?
You spend it on that pretty girl. You deserve it.
I remember when the pro sent me you.
This skinny kid with crazy hair.
I said, "Jimmy, what are you doing to me? Give me a real caddy."
I was having a bad day, and you wouldn't shut up.
Twelve years old, you're talking to me about
companies and sectors and earnings.
You had the hunger, Jake. I could smell it then. You still got it.
I've just never had a check like this in my hands before.
You spend it. Somebody has to keep our economy going.
Well, get out of my office.
Thank you.
Princess cut.
Platinum-banded, one and a half carat.
There's nothing quite like a ring...
Can you take me to the money room?
You mean the private client foyer?
That's it.
Olga from Russia, with love.
How are you?
Shots or champagne, guys?
She was scoping you for the kill, bro. Perfect. An 1 1, man. Gisele time.
No. This is...
Wow. You're serious.
Yeah.
So young, and already pricing yourself off the market.
-'Tron? -Shots.
So when are you gonna ask her?
She's not that crazy about marriage, you know.
I mean, look at her parents.
A girl's got to get it straight with her pop, don't you think?
-What if you have kids? -Yeah, it's going be tough.
Did you hear what he said on TV the other night?
"Home loan defaults are just the first raindrop in the mother of all storms."
Christ. Sour grapes, this man.
The guy is a legend. Gordon the Gekko.
He's speaking next week up at your old alma mater, Fordham.
Watch yourself.
-Hey buddy, get a cane. -Come on, come on.
A few of us are going up after work to check him out. Come along.
I can't. Winnie, you know.
The only God you worship is Zabel.
I don't worship the man. He got me a seat at the table.
The word is he's stuck with a ton of toxic sub-prime debt off the balance sheet.
Billions. Can't find a bid for it.
Yeah, so what?
So, buddy, it don't matter if the rumors are true or not.
Because in this climate, it's what buyers believe.
And where there's smoke, there's fire.
-I'll make you a bet right now. -Go.
I got a million dollars left of my bonus, okay?
It's yours tomorrow a.m.
You put it in KZI shares. You leverage that to the max.
That's how much I believe in this company.
Did you not hear me?
Listen, as your only friend left
from a place in Long Island no one can remember, let alone pronounce,
I'm telling you, you're acting like your mama.
Don't do that. Leave her out of this.
Plus, why would he spot-bonus me right now if we were in trouble, huh?
It makes no sense.
Look, you don't want to make any money on this, fine.
-I'm sure Harry Shapiro would love to. -Okay, okay.
I'm a hooker, too. Send it to me.
You're still young enough to recover.
I'll ream you on the commission.
I'm gonna love the look on your face when I make so much money off this.
I'll have no choice but to walk away.
Guys, we're looking at an unprecedented meltdown here.
I've never seen anything like it...
Keller Zabel's loss today was the worst in over a year.
And this big drop may be just the beginning
of a much deeper correction.
lt is an amazing story. Keller Zabel stock is getting hammered.
How is it you've never been more wrong in your life than right now?
You're losing all your money right now. l see it, it's going down.
Somebody is betting big money that Zabel's stock is about to collapse.
You wanna owe?
This stock's about to lose its bar mitzvah, Jake.
Take the haircut and sell. You're on a 50% margin, buddy.
I can still get you out now at a total loss, but at least you won't owe.
...threatening the firm's liquidity.
In one incredible week, shares of KZl are down 52%.
I know where the stock is. I have it in front of me.
What you got to do right now is relax, take a deep breath.
Tell your banks not to sell the stock.
The stock is overreacting right now and...
Hey, what financial stock isn't, right?
Listen, three months from now we're going to look back on this and laugh.
You're angry? I'm angry.
Okay! We're okay.
-Relax. -Relax.
Jesus Christ.
I've known you your whole life, Jake.
And I know when you're lying to yourself.
Robby, listen to me. Keller Zabel's been around a long time.
All right? It's one of the great names in investment banking.
A month, a year, it doesn't matter. We'll be back to 65/70, and I'll be fine.
You just gotta hold it, okay?
You're gonna owe, you know.
Not just the buck, but the margin, too. We're talking another...
Tell me.
You don't want to hear this today.
Robby.
How much?
At least another half a buck.
Give me the okay to sell, buddy.
Right now.
Sell. Sell!
Robby, I got to call you later.
Have you seen Zabel?
Annica, where's Lou?
Not in. Not answering.
Not happy.
Hey.
Lou.
Hey, Lou. How's your day going?
I told you. Good day, I'm okay. Bad day, I'm okay.
Stop bugging me on my feelings. They're irrelevant.
I wanted to come see you face to face and talk about these rumors, you know.
Because it's getting crazy. It's out of control now.
I'm hearing it from all ends.
Our world is all bullshit.
Some TV bubblehead, he gets up there like he knows something.
He sells fear, panic.
And morons, they love it.
They want it to end because it sells.
There's no limits anymore.
Muriel knows how to walk this thing. It's her damn dog.
Lou, I can help. I can get to the bottom of these derivatives.
You just got to tell me.
There's so much you don't know, Jacob.
What? What about the bonus thing? Why now?
Because I know you. You're holding out for something better.
Well, don't. Spend it. Use the money.
Because one day, you're gonna wake up and you're gonna be dead.
Lou, you got to get yourself together, all right?
We're gonna be fine.
No matter how bad this thing gets, we have real equity in this company.
We're gonna get through this.
Marry Gekko's daughter.
Make some kids with her.
And you spend as much time as you can with those kids when they're young
because everything changes. Everything.
I cannot help you if I don't understand what you are talking about.
There's 15,000 jobs on the line right now.
Somebody's after us, right? Somebody's trying to hurt us.
There's a reason this is happening. I need to know how and why.
You know that dream you got about that little energy company in California?
You may not get there, but you hold on to that.
Because everything else is just noise.
It's not just noise. There's 15,000 jobs on the line.
Fifteen thousand people here. That's not noise.
-Are we going under? -I never liked this damn dog.
Louis, are we going under?
You're asking the wrong question, Jacob.
What's the right question?
Who isn't?
China's out.
You said...
I know what I said, Bill.
Two months we negotiated with these pikers.
They pulled out at 7:00 p.m.
So what's new? They're Chinese.
And while they were negotiating, we lost the Koreans.
So you're saying you don't have an out.
No, I'm saying, just give me one week.
We're still talking to the British. And the Arabs are back in,
and this time it's for real.
Lou, we've heard this before.
Jesus. Paul, we lost billions this week.
If the markets don't roll over our paper Sunday night, before Asia opens,
Keller Zabel cannot do business on Monday.
Tuesday, 15,000 people are gonna be out of a job, worldwide!
Lou, you understated the scale of your bad loans.
Your valuations are no longer believable.
After all these years,
you say this to me?
Me?
Three-quarters of the banking houses at this table
are holding the same paper, and you're gonna let Keller Zabel fail?
You're all committing suicide.
What do you say, Harry? Will you come in on this?
Look, if you want us to bail out Keller Zabel,
all of us will have to participate.
Like Long-Term Capital, '98.
And we will need substantial guarantees from the US Treasury.
Bill, I think we should talk privately.
l think that's a good idea, Bill.
Gentlemen, give us a minute.
What about moral hazard, Jack?
We bail out Keller Zabel, who's to say it's not gonna happen again and again?
You vindictive bastard.
Who are you to talk about moral hazard?
I'm sorry, Lou.
The Street needs to make a statement here to the world.
It was eight years ago!
You just can't let it go, can you, Bretton?
All right, Lou, knock it off.
I'd like to speak with you, Bill. Jack.
And Lou.
Separately.
Thirty of our people
have been through the Keller Zabel books for the last three days.
And they still say it's impossible to get to the bottom of this.
This could be a 10-billion dollar hole for us.
Or it could be a 200-billion dollar hole and there's no way we can risk that money
without a backstop from Treasury or the Fed.
You started this, didn't you, Bretton?
I said knock it off, Lou. Or this meeting is over, you hear me?
You're asking us to take a large risk here, Bretton.
What are you offering?
Under these conditions, and assuming
you refine your guarantee,
Jack, Julie and I, and our partners who have been consulted,
are prepared to risk $2 a share.
Two bucks?
Jesus. You're out of your mind.
The stock was trading at 79 a month ago!
Our building alone is worth more than two bucks a share.
Julie.
If only we had more time, Lou.
My board will never accept this.
There is no way I'm gonna sell for two bucks a share.
The government, if we guarantee this deal,
could never justify a high price for your company.
And if you don't sell, Lou, you're in bankruptcy.
This is a public spectacle now.
No, it's a public execution, and you'll be leading it, Bill.
I built this company.
And your exit will help restore faith in it.
Who the hell are you to tell me to get out?
You're out, Lou! One way or the other, you're out.
Then the hell with you!
I'll take my chances in bankruptcy court before I sell to that barracuda.
Then we have nothing more to talk about.
Six.
Three, and that's it. If I can sell it to the board.
Five.
-Three. -All right.
We'll call it an even four, so it don't look so goddamn pathetic.
Three.
And not a dime more.
We have breaking news right now.
Earlier this morning in a New York City subway,
Keller Zabel managing partner
and head of one of the biggest investment firms on Wall Street,
Louis Zabel, 75,
apparently jumped in front of an oncoming train
in front of hundreds of bystanders.
The stock is currently halted, pending news...
Churchill Schwartz is making out like a bandit right now
with government funding.
But Keller Zabel as an independent investment bank is essentially finished.
Tom, this news about Louis Zabel today
comes as a shock to everyone. But how are you holding up there?
The guy was an icon on Wall Street.
l always thought of him as sort of a mentor to me.
So to see this happen under the circumstances that it did happen,
it's devastating.
What's it mean to the employees at Keller Zabel?
l think they've lost their leader. They're going to be...
Frankly, financially, a lot of them are gonna be badly hurt.
This is gonna hurt on so many fronts.
l know it's still difficult to think about it with this news just coming out about Louis
but you have to wonder what this means for the future of Wall Street.
Another firm gone, it leaves very few players left on the Street.
One thing l know for sure is
more competition is better than less competition.
I just heard. I'm so sorry.
Will you marry me, Winnie?
Will you marry me?
What's wrong?
It's just something Lou said about not waiting, you know?
And I love you.
Yes.
Yes?
You know, I should tell you due diligence. There's some...
I'm out of a job and probably on the other side of broke, you know.
Awesome.
In one of the harshest sentences ever given
to a white collar criminal at that time, in 1993,
he was sent off to Otis Federal Prison for almost eight years.
And so, here in person, l welcome the man himself, Mr. insider,
Gordon Gekko.
Thank you.
You're all pretty much fucked.
You don't know it yet,
but you're the NINJA generation.
No income.
No job.
No assets.
You got a lot to look forward to.
Blood, buddy. He's gonna be your blood.
Someone reminded me the other evening
that l once said, "Greed is good. "
Now it seems it's legal.
But, folks,
it's greed that makes my bartender buy three houses he can't afford
with no money down.
And it's greed that makes your parents refinance their $200,000 house for 250.
And then they take that extra 50 and they go down to the mall.
And they buy a plasma TV, cell phones,
computers, an SUV. And hey,
why not a second home while we're at it? Because, gee whiz,
we all know that prices of houses in America always go up, right?
lt's greed that makes the government in this country
cut the interest rates to one-percent, after 9/ 1 1.
So we could all go shopping again.
They got all these fancy names for trillions of dollars of credit.
CMOs, CDOs, SlVs, ABSs.
l honestly think there's may be only 75 people in the world
who know what they are.
But I'll tell you what they are.
They're WMDs. Weapons of Mass Destruction. That's what they are.
When l was away, it seemed like greed got greedier
with a little bit of envy mixed in.
Hedge funders were walking home with 50, 100 million bucks a year.
So Mr. Banker, he's looks around, and he says, "My life looks pretty boring. "
So he starts leveraging his interests up to 40, 50 to one
with your money.
Not his, yours.
Because he could.
You're supposed to be borrowing, not them.
And the beauty of the deal,
no one is responsible.
Because everybody's drinking the same Kool-Aid.
Last year, ladies and gentlemen,
forty percent of all American corporate profits
came from financial services.
Not production,
not anything remotely to do with the needs of the American public.
The truth is, we're all part of it now.
Banks, consumers, we're moving money around in circles.
We take a buck,
we shoot it full of steroids, and we call it "leverage. "
l call it "steroid banking. "
I've been considered a pretty smart guy when it comes to finance.
That was fantastic, man.
And maybe l was in prison too long.
But sometimes it's the only place to stay sane
and look out through those bars and say,
"Hey! ls everybody out there nuts?"
lt's clear as a bell to those that pay attention.
The mother of all evil is speculation.
Leveraged debt.
Bottom line.
lt's borrowing to the hilt.
And l hate to tell you this,
but it's a bankrupt business model. lt won't work.
lt's systemic, malignant, and it's global.
Like cancer.
lt's a disease, and we got to fight back.
How are we gonna do that?
How are we gonna leverage that disease back in our favor?
Well, I'll tell you.
Three words.
Buy my book.
Prices and profits work.
This is the kind of energy we need out there. You just keep it up.
Mr. Gekko!
-Excuse me for a moment, sir. -Q and A's over, all right?
Buy the book. There's no more free advice.
My name is Jacob Moore. I'm gonna marry your daughter.
Does she know that?
She pretended to.
All right, I'll give you 10 minutes.
I'm a prop trader at Keller Zabel. I specialize in energy with a focus on...
Sorry about Lou.
One of the toughest guys that ever wore shoes.
But when those rumors start...
Yeah. I wish I knew who started this.
I loved him very much.
Like a father.
He got me a scholarship here at Fordham and hired me right out of business school.
Well, no one else in this market's had the balls to commit suicide.
It's an honorable thing to do.
Mr. Gekko, I'm in love with your daughter.
And I'd be honored...
Why is that funny?
My daughter hasn't spoken to me in years, and you know it.
She blames me for her brother's overdose
and just about every other disaster that's hit this world
since Nintendo.
You don't think it's strange that she's dating somebody from Wall Street?
-Why? -Because she hates it.
You don't think it's funny that she'd fall in love with you?
I bet you don't have one of these.
No. Can I see that?
Yeah.
It's when she was eight.
Can I have a copy of it? She doesn't keep pictures from her childhood.
I don't even know you, you already want something from me, huh?
So what do I get in return?
Don't you want to make a trade?
Yeah, okay. All right.
I'll give you this and you give me another picture of Winnie.
Recent, without you in it.
I don't have one on me.
I guess this is on margin, huh?
It's always been energy.
I've been specializing more and more in clean tech.
It's sort of a passion now.
That's smart. That's the next bubble.
What are you, some kind of energy freedom-fighter?
No, Mr. Gekko. I'm in this game to make money like anybody else.
So what about money, Jake?
You like her?
Do I like...
I've never thought about money as a "she."
She lies there in bed at night with you,
looking at you, one eye open.
Money's a bitch that never sleeps.
And she's jealous.
And if you don't pay close attention,
you wake up in the morning, and she might be gone forever.
Respectfully,
Mr. Gekko, I don't want to end up where you are because of money.
Oh, yeah. So marry it instead, right?
What do you mean?
Winnie doesn't have any money.
Right.
Here I thought you were a gold-digger.
Does Winnie know you came to see me?
No.
Well, not exactly. I was gonna tell her.
I don't think that's a good idea, pal.
See, I got a feeling you may want to be seeing me again
and if she knew we had this little pow-wow,
she's not gonna let it happen.
You know what? You're a smart kid.
You should just walk away. You never met me.
I don't understand.
I think...
The man that you loved like a father who threw himself under a subway?
I think you're angrier than you think you are.
And I think you wanna be in the family business.
Which is what?
Payback.
Except I'm not in that business anymore.
Because the one thing I learned in jail
is that money is not the prime asset in life.
Time is.
And your time is just about up.
Winnie needs to get past the pain you caused her.
I caused her?
Look, she wants you back in her life.
She just can't handle it right now.
Okay? Maybe I can help.
Maybe you can, maybe you can. That's what makes the market, Jake.
This is my station.
That is my email address.
By the way, the rumors on Zabel?
Yeah?
It had to be someone with enough clout to be believed,
somebody who made a fortune shorting the stock.
An axe to grind.
Word has it that Bretton James gutted Zabel at the Fed.
Just stuck that knife right into his stomach.
Check out 2000.
The Internet bubble.
Churchill Schwartz, they got hosed.
You know there's fortunes to be made.
Hundreds of millions of dollars betting against this bubble.
Just wish I had a million.
It checks out, baby.
Thirteen banks were approached in 2000 to rescue Churchill Schwartz.
Bretton James' division was over-invested in the Internet bubble collapse.
Each bank was going to put up 100 million, but Zabel said no.
Churchill Schwartz almost went down
but was backstopped by a conglomerate of nine banks.
Okay, so not only did they survive this,
but they came back and ate our fricking lunch.
Moral hazard.
-Unbelievable. -The man's a hypocrite.
Jacob Moore.
-Hey, Jake. -Hey, Doc.
I don't know, Jake. We're on hold here. Now they're telling me...
Hold on just a second. Hold on just a second.
-I'll see you. We'll have drinks. -Okay.
-It's not over. All right, Olaf? -Thank you.
Go ahead, Doc.
They're telling me we have to cut staff.
We went back to Third Boston, and they turned us down.
And since your firm...
Listen, I totally understand, okay?
But I think I can keep this thing going with minimal cutbacks.
Look, Jake.
I think we have to have a face-to-face talk with my people, because...
I totally agree, Doc.
It's just that I'm walking into a critical meeting right now. Okay?
But I'll definitely have it on your desk tomorrow a.m., okay?
-Okay. -Okay.
Robby, what do you got?
We got movement definitely on Tuesday of that week.
There was some large shorts from money out of the Cayman Islands.
Something called Locust Fund.
Locust Fund.
What else?
Wednesday, they traded another 500,000 shares.
Monday, two million.
Tuesday, one million more. Total of 3.5 million shares.
These guys made some serious money.
Who is that, though? Who is the Locust Fund?
I don't know. And I don't want to find out. It could be my ass.
It'll be your ass if I tell your girlfriend about the pumps and heels.
Which girlfriend?
Just find out, all right? I got a hunch.
l hope it's better than your last one.
Do I hear revenge here?
It's a dish you stick to cold, pal.
I'm about to serve it up hot, Robby.
I told you. Guinea's pulling the plug.
This dictator, Ojukwa, he says Western bankers are greedy.
-What else is new? -Listen. Okay?
You will not lose on this. Not on this.
Look, if there's one thing I know, it's energy,
and that the Church is gonna get hit on this.
Is this true?
Oh, yeah. I'm telling you, it's gonna happen.
He's definitely gonna nationalize the oil. I promise you.
Are you behind it?
No. Churchill Schwartz is. They got a huge stake.
Can't get behind that size, but you and your boys can.
You should.
All I'm asking
is you rent me this beautiful thing for the weekend, and we're good.
Deal?
Deal. Super deal.
Can he just take over the oil like that?
The guy's out of his mind. He's talking to witch doctors.
He's gonna murder the stock.
I know. That's why you gotta get in.
Jake, that company, Offshore African Oil...
Yeah. Hydra Offshore.
And you're saying Churchill Schwartz is a part of it?
Over here is gonna be the most expensive item by tomorrow.
It's Alice, in Wonderland.
Churchill Schwartz has a huge position in this thing.
I want to get short that stock.
Churchill Schwartz is behind that?
It's just a rumor. It might take a hit.
Hear about that African deal?
Yeah, I heard they're gonna nationalize.
Churchill Schwartz! Off the floor!
They're creating rumors around the Hydra position.
None of it's true. They're just trying to kill the stock.
Doesn't make any difference what's going on.
Then start another goddamn rumor is what you do.
...short quickly and quietly without everyone figuring out...
I'm convinced what they're after is Churchill,
which has a big position in this stock
because Churchill got the sweetheart deal on Keller Zabel.
Churchill Schwartz has a five-percent position in it.
Who knows? Who's got the inside line on some tin-pot dictator in Africa?
House of pain.
The house of pain!
Hydra Offshore got taken to the woodshed today.
This one's getting beaten like a redhead stepchild.
Down a quick 19% on rumors of oil nationalization...
No, no!
...in Equatorial Guinea. There's a country for you.
Get them.
The shockwave from this one
extended all the way to investment bank Churchill Schwartz.
Churchill Schwartz down eight percent in pre-market trading.
Home builder confidence falls to a record low in July.
The monthly indicator from the National Association of Homebuilders
dropped for a third consecutive month...
You got your high ceilings.
Bonus playroom upstairs, not that I'm rushing you.
Here.
This is going to be the sun room. Perfect for reading.
It'll get great light.
And there's plenty of room for a pool
or a tennis court. See?
What's going on with Rainwater Road, Ma?
I'm showing it tomorrow.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
Sylvia, I think it's lovely.
Long Island always goes up.
Great schools, great shopping, lots of doctors.
Everybody loves it here.
You ought to buy it.
There are quite a few choices on this block.
That's what I love about you, dear. You call it like you see it.
I'd rather have this down payment any day.
Ma, you got three properties.
Two of the loans are resetting in a few months.
You got to sell at least one.
Don't tell me my job, Jacob. There are no buyers out there right now.
The market's soft. Everybody reads the same news.
I just gotta wait it out.
It's like the two Florida properties five years ago.
I didn't get spooked, and I flipped 190 grand from them.
What does Henry say?
Oh, Henry. Forget about him. He's a wimp.
That's done?
If I listened to Henry, I would have sold every house way too soon.
He's just like your father was.
No. Dad had bad luck.
He took a shot and he failed. But he took a shot, Ma.
Yeah, and then Jack Daniels took his shot, and he succeeded.
Can we not have an argument about my father every time I come to see you?
So sensitive. Forget I said anything.
God. Defending your father is like defending smallpox.
Look.
The developers are on my ass, okay? I just need you to bridge me.
What about the money from Sagamir Road?
What do you think? I put it into the new properties.
What did you think, it was just gonna shoot up in perpetuity?
Don't patronize your mother, Jacob Lawrence.
Of course I know the risks involved.
Hey, you're buying diamonds. You got the bonus, right?
I remember visiting you when I was young at the hospital after school, thinking,
"How cool is this? My mother is saving lives."
-Don't change the subject. -I'm not changing the subject.
I never saved any lives.
Yeah, but you did something, and that's the point, Mom.
I make more in a month now than I did in my best year as a nurse.
You made a difference.
Listen to the broker preaching making a difference.
That's ironic.
How much?
Two hundred, tops.
You're killing me, Ma!
I'll wire it to you.
Can you stop, please?
You're not doing her any favors.
I know.
And you're not preventing it from happening again.
I'll shut up.
-Yeah? -Guess what?
Your boy, Bretton James?
His assistant just called me and asked if you can see him today.
You're kidding me.
Jake, you have an hour. I told him you were on the island.
Yeah, but I'm in the middle of Friday afternoon traffic.
But he said after hours is okay, because he left his home address.
East 65th Street and Park Avenue, honey. Up to 8 p.m.
Did he sound upset?
Screw him, he destroyed this company.
You waltz in there like Russell Crowe in Gladiator.
Thanks, babe.
Sounds like you're getting your walking papers.
Jake, look, I don't need this ring now.
Just give me one out of a Cracker Jack box instead...
What are you talking about?
Are you crazy? Everything's gonna be fine.
Jake, I grew up with a father who only talked about money.
If you think I want to be with the kind of guy
with his ego invested in his bank account,
you really don't get me.
"I love it, " was what I was expecting.
Return it. It makes me uncomfortable.
Okay, Winnie. I'll return it.
Jacob Moore to see Mr. James.
He's expecting you.
Saturno Devorando A Su Hijo.
Goya painted 15 Black Paintings late in his life.
Fourteen of them are on view in the Prado.
That's the missing 15th.
An early sketch for Saturn devouring his son.
Do you collect?
No.
Only the obsessive-compulsive and the insecurely egotistical
feel the need to collect things.
Do you ride?
It's an avocation, yes.
You know the photograph.
Rollie Free, 1948.
He set the world record at 150.
And wanted it so bad he rode naked.
Why, you ride, Mr. Moore?
I'll put it to you this way.
If you rode the rest of your life, right,
and really became the best that you could be,
you would never ride like I ride.
Well, then I look forward to us riding together.
You a bee, Mr. Moore?
A what?
Do you like to sting people?
You cost Churchill Schwartz $120 million last week.
That's not a great deal of money.
But people know Hydra Offshore is ours.
I had dinner with the good Commander Ojukwa in Paris last week.
He has no actual plans of nationalizing any oil fields.
But I guess that doesn't really matter to you.
No, it doesn't.
I checked you out with the desks in town.
You didn't make any money off it.
No, I didn't.
Then why?
Because you destroyed my firm.
Your firm destroyed itself.
You killed Louis Zabel.
Louis Zabel killed himself.
But you set the rumors.
The rumors were true.
You made them true.
No, Mr. Moore.
Putting 50% leverage on toxic debt made them true.
Look, Zabel once knew how to run money.
Dying because of it was his choice.
As far as I'm concerned, it's just money.
But when you don't know what you're doing,
it's fatal, Mr. Moore.
Not knowing what you're doing.
Come work for me.
What?
We fund most of the world's integrated oil companies,
drillers, coal producers, natural gas line providers...
I know who you are.
But where we're a little light
is in alternative energy.
Why me?
Because your loyalty demanded revenge.
Your balls actually attempted it, and your skill pulled it off.
And frankly,
because I'd love to beat the crap out of you on a bike.
Fair enough?
You got my attention, Mr. Moore. That's pretty rare.
If I were you, I'd think seriously about it.
Because you'll have a hard time elsewhere, now that you've captured our attention.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm having a little fundraiser.
I got to get back to shaking my tin cup.
What's your number?
I'm sorry?
We'd start you at 300, like everybody else.
I mean, as a partner, I only pull in 600. And the bonuses...
No, no, no.
Your number.
The amount of money you would need to just walk away from it and live.
See, I find that everybody has a number, and it's usually an exact number.
So what is yours?
More.
How did you know it was Bretton James?
Good morning to you, too. Come in.
-Good morning. -You hungry?
No. I'm okay, thanks.
Brett, as I called him in the old days, used to run trades through me.
We used to piggyback off each other's ideas.
Then we had a little discrepancy. I won't bother you with the details.
Just to tell you that it cost me 200,000 bucks,
which was a lot of money back then.
So when I got hot in the '80s, and I started giving tastes to my friends,
I didn't invite James in, and he didn't like that very much.
So?
So it's no big deal.
But when you're in prison, you got a lot of time to think.
In fact, the best memory that I know is hurt.
I did eight years, pal. Five years before that in court.
Nobody does eight years. They give murderers five.
I thought it was the kid with the airline that gave you up.
Blue Star? Stock Watch? What was it?
-Who, Bud Fox? -Bud Fox.
No, no, no. He got a wire on him. He got me for insider trading.
But that's 12, 13 months, max.
After the first charges, it was one of my co-conspirators who tipped off the Feds.
And that pious piranha, Bretton James,
he had just enough information to sink me.
You know, of course, I'm never going to know it for sure.
He offered me a job.
Well, you just rocketed into the center of the universe, pal.
I think my daughter's future is looking a hell of a lot better.
I never made any money shorting Hydra.
You're kidding me. You didn't trade it?
That would've been insider trading, Mr. Gekko.
Remember, your daughter and I are engaged.
You wouldn't want to soil her name, right?
Well, you may not have traded,
but you try telling the Feds you didn't commit a felony.
-What do you mean? -You know exactly what I mean.
You induced others to trade on information that you knew to be false.
Hard to prove that.
A fisherman always sees another fisherman from afar.
I think you ought to start calling me Gordon.
Well, I promised you this,
Gordon.
Makes us even.
There she is.
But keep this between us, though.
How is that lefty website of hers doing?
-Frozen Truth? -Yeah.
It's doing well, actually. They get about 50,000 hits a day.
It's building.
She was such a pisser.
Relationships, they're like bubbles.
They're fragile. It's like these tulips.
This is the greatest bubble story of all time.
Back in the 1600s, the Dutch, they get speculation fever
to the point that you could buy a beautiful house on a canal in Amsterdam,
for the price of one bulb.
They called it "Tulip Mania."
Then it collapsed.
You could buy 10 bulbs for $2.
People got wiped out, but, you know, who remembers?
What would you do with your money?
Me? Switzerland. Still the best.
Got a healthy distrust for a big government.
Is that where you keep it?
Yes, I did. Now I don't got that kind of cash anymore.
But you do have money.
This is a rental.
I'm pretty sure James has invested in an offshore fund in the Caymans.
Your time, you ever do anything with some company called Locust Fund?
Locust Fund. I never heard of it, but it's possible. Yeah.
James wants to build his alternative energy sector.
Sounds serious.
I think I can get him to put real capital behind this company I told you about.
United Fusion.
James would probably want to polish his resume a little green.
He's in pole position to be top dog when Julie Steinhardt kicks the bucket,
which, I hear, could be any day now.
This company could change not just the energy market, Gordon, but the world.
Idealism. Idealism, pal, it kills every deal.
The thing you got to know about James is, he's a gambler. You know, like me.
He's got an ego the size of Antarctica. Like me.
So now you got his attention.
How are you going to shine sitting on his sun?
Make him money and melt his ass.
Just like the old days. We slaughtered men for payback.
Maybe it's time for us to do our second trade?
All right. I'll dig around on James and this Locust Fund,
and you see what you can do about
getting Winnie and me back together again.
Well, I never guaranteed she'd forgive you, Gordon.
Why don't we just start with her agreeing to have dinner with you first?
Well, at my age, I'll take anything I can get.
I had two beautiful children.
And then I went away, and I didn't see them much.
My ex made sure of that.
And then when we lost Rudy,
Winnie just shut down on me.
Except for the exceedingly precious
and depreciating asset of time.
Winnie's all I got left. You understand that?
I'll try, Gordon.
Well, try harder. Then you both can have a father.
-He chose this place? -Yeah.
Yeah, we used to come here every Sunday night.
You're going to be fine.
You do know I'm never having sex with you again.
Then what my friends say about marriage is actually true. Five back.
I'm only doing this for you.
No, baby. You're doing this for you. Come on.
Taxi!
Hi.
Hey.
Mr. Gekko.
Jacob Moore. We spoke on the phone.
Yeah.
Okay.
Drinks?
No.
What about you? Heineken?
Yeah, sure.
Let me guess. The ginger-garlic lobster.
I used to order that every time.
I guess so.
I checked out that website.
Frozen Truth. It's impressive.
Thanks. We work hard at it.
Although, there was a bullshit blog
blaming the current administration for the entire mess that we're in.
I don't think that's the truth.
I agree with you.
You do?
Yeah. Jack Salmon wrote it...
Graydy.
Congratulations. Great to see you. You're doing great work down there.
-Thank you. Thank you so much. -Gordon. Gordon Gekko.
Nice to see you. Thanks so much.
I'm sorry. I can't do this.
Winnie!
Why did you make me do that, Jake?
You don't understand. This is none of your business.
It is my business. Stop for a second. Look at the real man in there.
He's hurting. He's desperate to get you back in his life.
He's not who you think he is, Jake!
People change. It was a long time ago. Winnie.
He'll hurt us.
Don't go back in there.
Are we really going to lead with this Babaco Solar?
It's a hustle, Bretton. I passed on it twice within the last two years.
They spin a sexy story
with these super-thin cadmium telluride semiconductors,
but the truth is, the technology is not proprietary...
We've been over this, Bretton. You are unbelievable, Moore.
Babaco is a cow. It's dead in the water.
The Chinese aren't stupid. They're not going to go for it.
Yeah, a cash cow maybe.
They've been saying fusion is five years away for the last 40 years.
It is. Laser fusion is the future.
Can you prove that, boy genius?
Can you prove evolution, girl genius? That seems to work, though, right?
Look, knock it off. Both of you.
These guys are parking 15 billion across the board in energy sectors
and I want them here, okay?
Carol's taking the lead on this. Our recommend is Babaco. That's final.
Go ahead. I'll take you to dinner some other time.
Eat me, Moore.
Babaco is at the forefront of developing thin film technology
to incorporate solar cells into pliable plastic sheets.
We believe that within the next few years we can approach the 20% level
making it a perfect match for the explosion of growth and energy needs,
which, as you know, is growing at 40%.
Thin film technology is the breakthrough here.
And in 2010,
thin film is going to surpass crystalline silicon.
And that's about it.
-Go ahead. -So, with the world energy demand
growing 40% in the next 20 years,
we at Church believe, Mr. Xu,
that Babaco Solar is a cutting-edge no-brainer.
Good for a 20% return in the next two years
with a 30 to 40% upside in the next five years.
Thank you, Miss Carol.
Solar will make an important part of our portfolio.
But truthfully, we have seen similar technology from another firm.
As you know, China's demand
will more than double before my daughter turns 21.
So we are looking for the next 100 years.
Where even my grandson can spend money.
Do you have anything else to present to us today?
We've come a long way.
Listen, Wang,
now, we got a great new line on this shale oil technology.
Let's just dig a lot deeper for a price that we think is a good one.
We'll have a complete workup for you by the end of the month.
All right, Bretton. That sounds promising.
What about fusion?
We happen to be working with a company right now.
It's got all the hardware in place. Started by the Department of Energy.
They share R&D facilities with the University of California.
It's got a market cap right now of about a billion. No earnings.
Fusion has been around a long time.
"Good things take time."
The simple of it is,
it's using the intense energy of some 200 laser beams
focused on a single target the size of a few grains of rice
filled with hydrogen fuel.
So the idea being that when that target combusts
it produces more energy than it took in.
All the tests they've done indicate that they can use this ignition process
to turn simple seawater into energy.
lt's called Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
using the reaction between hot water on the surface
and cold water beneath to power the lasers.
So what you wind up with is unlimited clean energy.
How do you contain the explosion?
That's a secret I can't really share with you right now.
Not to be secretive, but I could probably get you in there for a peek.
Maybe next week, on your way back to Beijing from DC?
Mr. Wang, I got you something.
This is American baijiu.
"Johnnie Walker Blue Label."
Thank you.
-Miss Chung, this is for you. -Thank you.
I used to go with Zabel to China.
Their culture's as much about manners as it is about business.
They're on the hook, Jake. That's all I care about.
Good.
I'll send him some bamboo flowers
symbolizing continued growth and prosperity.
You don't always listen so good, Jake, but you got fight in you.
I like that.
I think you might just have something on James.
My friend in Switzerland, he confirmed that this Locust Fund, it exists and it's big.
A billion dollars.
It just might be our friend Bretton
was trading through his own account, outside of Churchill Schwartz.
Can we get that on the record?
That's the hard part, isn't it?
So what are we going to do about my daughter, Jake?
I told you, I'm sorry about the other night. Gordon, I can't control her, you know?
Yeah.
You know, they say parents are the bones on which children sharpen their teeth.
Find another way for me to get with her. You know, there's got to be...
That dinner that's coming up, all the Street guys are going?
-The Alzheimer's thing at the Met. -Yeah. I'm taking her.
I wish I had 10K for a seat.
A writer's got to sell a lot of books for that.
And we both know how Winnie would react to the fact
that you've been bonding with your future father-in-law.
Is that a threat?
Absolutely.
Well, consider it done.
I just got to put you at another table. It's got to look like an accident.
I like trading with you, Jake.
See you around campus.
Hey.
Get her a ring, for Christ's sake!
How are you, Bill?
Julie, how nice to see you.
Well, it's a pleasure to see you, William.
So nice to see you.
Have you spoken to J.P. about the conservancy?
-Hi, nice to meet you. -Hi.
Congratulations. Looks like you won this one.
-Hi. -It's not over yet.
-Have you met Jake? -Good to see you. How's your husband?
Very well.
I gotta tell you, Mr. Gekko,
seeing you speak was inspirational on so many levels.
Because, I'll tell you, I'm on the outside.
I'm looking at all my buddies making all this money
and I'm thinking, "Fellas,
"there's no there, there." You know?
But listen, I'm at your table. We can talk about this all night.
That's great, Robby. I'll see you later then, all right?
Hey, Gordon.
Looking good.
My God.
Bud Fox, huh? I haven't seen you in years.
This is Erin and Christina.
-Hi. -Hello. Hi.
What was that airline called? Blue Star, that's right.
That must be keeping you pretty busy now, huh?
Excuse me.
Well, after a little time away, I actually turned it into
one of the largest private jet brokerages in the world and sold it. Made millions.
That's great, pal. That's really great. So what's up next?
You're looking at it. Golf,
winters in St. Barts, philanthropy.
And how about you, Gordon?
Does Blue Horseshoe still love Anacott Steel?
You know it.
Well, I'll see you around sometime, Gordon.
Stay out of trouble.
And the website's called Frozen Truth.
-Frozen Truth? -Yeah.
That's catchy. I like that.
What we really need is some game-changing news.
And now you can come out of nowhere with one big story.
Since "Mission Accomplished" broke the Senator's affair,
they've gotten 200,000 hits a day.
Is it expensive to run?
Not really. It's a shoestring budget.
Maybe Jake can find ways to raise you some money
flip it to the public?
We don't really want to go public. It would affect our credibility.
We want to stay non-profit.
Non-profit? What is that? I don't know what that is.
-I've heard the term before, "non-profit." -That's very funny.
You know what it is? Isn't that when you came out of school
and you had to do something for the government, like it was mandatory?
-Very funny. -It was called the draft.
-It's called the draft.
So one day, Brett, Churchill Schwartz
is going to buy every table at this jackal's ball.
They're going to call it "a religious revival."
Winn, you don't have to leave on my behalf.
I'm only going to be here a couple of seconds.
No. Stay. I'm just going to get some air.
If somebody took this place out tonight, there'd be nobody left to rule the world.
But, Brett, congratulations. I know how hard you worked for all of this.
I go by "Bretton" these days.
It's a beneficiary of a few bull markets. That's all it takes.
So easy, even a caveman can do it, right?
That's right.
You make modesty a virtue, Bretton.
The truth is, nobody needs inside information anymore to get rich.
All you have to do is stay out of jail.
-Glad to be here, Bretton. -Herb.
Actually, jail was the best thing that ever happened to me.
-Oh, yeah? -Got me to think.
It centers a man.
I probably should thank whoever put me in there.
You know, I saw you on television the other night.
You are quite the bear.
You be careful, you know.
Your daughter's financial health is now in our hands.
-So it is, so it is. -Yeah, it is.
But your firm knows sub-primes are crap.
The way you keep buying Bernie's insurance swaps lately,
I mean, I gotta worry about my grandchildren's college education.
-We like insurance. -What's not to like?
Easy selling crack to kids in a school playground.
Credit default swap is a good idea. It's the execution that isn't.
Well, you know what they say.
Bulls make money, bears make money, and the pigs, they get slaughtered.
I thought this was a charity event, Gordon.
Why don't you go find some?
Tell you what. I'll make you a deal, Bretton.
You stop telling lies about me, I'll stop telling the truth about you.
That's sad.
-Isn't it? -It's pathetic.
That he can't just take his ball and go home.
He has to piss on the whole game.
-I'm going to go find Winnie. -Oh, look, by the way,
I talked to Wang today.
I think the Chinese are close. Very close.
In any case, I want to talk to you about the future,
about how we're going to bring this over the top.
-Sure. -Okay?
-Tomorrow? -Possibly tomorrow.
-Okay. Okay. -All right.
Hi.
He's a good kid.
He came from nothing.
Hustler, like me.
You think he's the one for you, Winn?
Yep.
Well, just make sure he's worthy of you
because, whether you like it or not, you're still a Gekko.
And whether you like it or not
that name doesn't mean anything anymore.
Why do you say something like that?
We had an agreement.
You remember? Last time you came down to see me?
We were going to take a little trip.
When I got out, you remember that? To Switzerland?
Yeah.
That was before Rudy.
Some of the things that came out after you went away,
things you were recorded saying, the affairs?
That wasn't you. That wasn't my father. It was some sociopath.
-It was nine years ago. -So?
When are you going to stop?
You got no idea what hell I went through in there.
Hell, for you? It was hell for you?
Do you know what you did to Rudy? To all of us? You drove Mom mad.
Winnie,
he was my only son.
I tried everything. I put him in the 12-step deal.
I never told you, I borrowed money from hardcore guys.
Tens of thousands of dollars, which I didn't have.
I gave it to the best therapist I could find.
I even tried to pay off one scumbag dealer not to sell any more to my boy!
But if you'd been there, Dad...
If you hadn't been in prison,
it would've been different.
Winnie, you got no idea
how much I beat myself up,
how many mistakes I made as a father.
Rudy...
He was a victim, you know. Like, he had cancer.
You cannot blame me.
And you gotta stop blaming yourself.
You're all I got left, honey.
Nothing else
matters.
I cannot make it right again, but I can make things better.
I'm your dad.
And whatever you say till the day that I die,
you're my gal.
You're the only one.
You're my baby.
Please.
Winnie, just try to forgive me.
Dad.
It's done, Doc.
Look, you're an older guy, so I don't want you to have a heart attack.
But Bretton James just said we're gonna get $100 million!
-Are you serious, my boy? -Yes!
Bretton says the Chinese are close!
But look, you get some sleep, all right? You deserve it.
-Thank you, Jacob. -I'll talk to you soon.
There is carnage on Wall Street.
The shares of the major financial stocks plummeting.
lt's triggering a major sell-off in the markets.
The damage, widespread.
The NASDAQ's plunging.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is plunging, and oil is plunging.
Literally a 180 points just added to the decline.
You can hear the hollering on the floor.
We're down 260, literally in a split second.
Right now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
is now 500 points on the decline.
The headline of the new housing report is grim
that this is shaping up to be the worst real estate market in a generation.
We are now at the highest point there, 724.
That was the biggest loss we've seen today.
We're now in historic territory.
Investors are getting their heads handed to them
as another US banking institution nears collapse.
The President's Working Group is going into emergency meetings
with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board.
The President's Chief of Staff is calling back in an hour.
He's with the President.
And he's going to want to know what I think we should do.
This isn't Keller Zabel, Bill.
This is too big to fail.
-This is just an insane situation. -This is now.
There's about 70-plus trillion out there in credit default swaps
held by roughly 17 banks.
And we do not know where the bottom is.
How much are you guys thinking?
At least five.
I think six.
Bill, I frankly think Harry and Charlie are low.
I think we're talking seven, eight.
Hundred billion?
Selling this to Congress is the problem.
They're going to want to know where the money's going.
They'll jawbone this to death.
-Scare them. -How?
Tell them the truth.
The government's got to restore confidence.
If we don't stop the bleeding, in three days,
half the banks in this room are out of business.
And in five days, we're all gone.
You men realize what you've done here?
You are asking for the biggest bailout in the history of this country.
You're talking nationalization, Bretton.
Socialism.
I have fought it all my life.
And if we don't get it, Bill,
there won't be any history.
Music stops.
Ball's over.
Julie?
1929.
It'll get worse now, because It'll go faster.
Money markets will dry up around the world by the end of the week.
ATMs will stop spitting bills.
Federal Deposit Insurance will collapse.
Banks will close.
Mobs, panic.
It's going to be the end of the world, Bill.
See?
All right, boys.
You'll hear from us tonight.
What is going to happen here? Does government have to get involved?
Are we potentially at a point where we might actually lose
the financial system as we know it?
If the government doesn't get involved,
there is a risk of a global meltdown of the global financial system.
This is a financial crisis,
and anyone who doesn't admit that is just kidding themselves.
-We've seen something like this. -Polly, l disagree.
You've gotta get the government to say no in a situation like this.
True capitalism is about disaster and correction.
lt's a natural cycle.
Without it, you create all kinds
-of artificial anomalies in the market. -But if we don't fix this now,
you're going to have...
This is something this country hasn't experienced before.
lt's an economic Pearl Harbor.
We got to figure out some way to put the fire out.
And that means government...
Your father predicted this.
When I was little,
I'd hear my dad in the kitchen late at night.
His case was on appeal.
I'd go and sit with him. We'd eat ice cream.
I never knew him as a peaceful person.
It always scared me.
This is scary.
What's going to happen?
It'll be the end.
Well, that's unacceptable.
Why?
Because I'm pregnant, Jake.
-You're pregnant? -Yeah.
That's fantastic.
And we are talking on the S&P 500
a loss of almost eight percent in one day,
surpassing September 1 7th, 2001.
That's the day markets opened after the attacks of 9/ 1 1.
...last night on Wall Street
and swept through Japan, China, India and Europe
after one of the worst days on global stock markets in modern times.
They said your office.
It's too depressing today. This is my other office.
This might be dangerous. Think you can keep up?
World's crashing anyway. We'll see, right?
That's not bad, Jake.
Though I think they might have given you the faster bike.
I'm sure that's what it was.
You know,
I've always believed that a man should have,
at one time or another in his life, both a mentor and a protégé.
Who's yours?
The man who brought me into Churchill Schwartz.
Bill Clark at Treasury. He's been a good friend to us during this crisis.
You got the makings of a leader, Jake.
I just want you to know, there's no hard feelings on this.
No one's going to lose.
With Clark in, I think we're in good shape.
You got a great future.
I don't understand.
Didn't you read this morning's capital breakdown?
No, I came right up to the roof. Why? What happened?
Look, the Chinese money, it's going to Babaco Solar.
-What? -We took another look
and we just don't think United Fusion is ever gonna achieve what they claim.
Babaco needs this money to build these three fabrications...
You might as well just burn the money, Bretton.
You told me, I told Dr. Masters. He's expecting it.
The decision's been made.
Unless you want it to die.
Of course. Seawater is in a lot more supply than crude. Right, Bretton?
-You an idealist or a capitalist, Jacob? -I'm a realist.
You're a real piece of work, Bretton.
You're giving the money to Babaco because it's a hustle.
It's all inside. That's why your oil companies are safe, right?
The mentor-protégé relationship is not emotional over anything.
I thought you might be a good addition to the Churchill Schwartz team.
-Am I mistaken? -Let me tell you something, Bretton.
You are not my mentor. Lou Zabel was. And whether you admit it or not,
your raid destroyed Zabel and forced him to suicide.
So you may talk about moral hazard. You are the moral hazard.
You are the worst kind of toxic debt this system's polluted with.
-Is this a threat? -Absolutely.
This is so disappointing.
I really saw so much in you, Jacob.
You should look in the mirror first. See yourself. It might scare you, Bretton.
Consider the motorcycle part of your severance.
Fuck you, Bretton!
-Here you are. -Thanks a lot.
-Hi. For Elise. -"For Elise."
-And can I ask you a question, Mr. Gekko? -Certainly, Elise.
What exactly is "moral hazard"?
-He screwed me. -Excuse me?
Shocker.
He saw that fusion was actually possible, so he killed it.
Well, that's a little far-fetched.
But then, these days, anything is possible.
Well, I quit, Gordon.
That's really going to help. I'll see you outside in 15 minutes.
Moral hazard, that's when somebody
takes your money and is not responsible for it.
This guy James, he must walk between raindrops.
He's a monkey dancing on a razorblade.
Not only did he start the rumors at Zabel to get your bank for peanuts,
the guy was trading for his own account in this Locust Fund.
-He was? -He was.
And he was betting against the market that he was making.
But the kicker is, so was his firm.
Churchill Schwartz was shorting sub-primes?
Yeah, for the last two years they've been hedging.
Not just sub-primes. Primes, indexes, the whole thing.
But they knew this home loan fantasy was going to collapse the market.
And when they did, they got the Feds
to bail out their bad insurance swaps, a 100 cents on the dollar.
I mean, talk about an evil empire. This puts me to shame.
And I'm small-time compared to these crooks.
The system is insolvent if no one knows what to do next
except repeat the insanity till the next bubble blows.
That'll be the one. The big one.
The tipping point, just like the tulip.
We could still go after James on this. Just bring it all out.
Easy, Trigger.
Media is not going to get in the way of Churchill or the government.
They want their profits just like the rest of us.
It's unethical, but it's not illegal.
When everyone's running for the lifeboats, who's going to care?
Maybe some little leftist website?
Your daughter will run it. It'll get some play.
Look, Bretton is not an enemy a kid like you wants to have for life.
Just get out of this racket.
Settle down with Winnie. Live a happy life somewhere.
-What? -Well, you know, she's got enough money.
-What do you mean? -You're smart.
You'll come up with another way to slice bread.
-What money? -My money.
Stop playing it dumb, will you, Jake? I know you know.
Know what?
Are you telling me that you're not the only one
in this relationship keeping a secret?
Hold on a second. What money, Gordon?
-Switzerland. -How much?
It's close to $100 million by now.
What do you say we split a cab?
I set it up as a Swiss account in the '80s before all the trouble.
Hey, chief.
Look, I'll pay you extra. Just slow down.
Can you... Can you...
When she was 18, I told her she would come into it all when she turned 25.
And she agreed to stake me when I got out.
Then Rudy died, and she reneged.
She never visited me again.
She told me she had a small trust
from you and her mom, but she didn't care anything about it.
She was going to give it to charity when she was 25.
Well, it's easy for her to say. She never earned it.
And now you want it for your fusion delusion.
But it's a trust. I mean, she couldn't break into it before she was 25 anyway.
Are you as dumb as you sound? Anything can be revoked.
They don't got trusts in Switzerland. It's an account, that's all.
I know the bank well. They'll work with me.
But you still need her signature, of course.
When it comes to money, sport, your eyes suddenly shine, just like mine.
Great! Saved another life?
Asshole!
Are you crazy? You want to die?
How do we do this?
She goes with you to Switzerland, she signs the account over to your control
then you give me the money and I'll get it to the States for you.
You mean launder it?
Look, pal, you want the IRS on Winnie?
Because you damn well know she is complicit and seriously liable.
All right? You want the money?
-Hi. How are you? -Hi.
-Can I talk to you for a second? -Yeah. I'll be back in a sec.
Why didn't you tell me about the $100 million?
How did you find... How did you find out in the first place?
Did you talk to my father?
I found out because Churchill Schwartz's international trading desk
handles some of the money, and your name came up,
along with Gordon Gekko.
I never considered it mine. I was 14. I was a minor when he set it up.
Yeah, but you didn't do anything with the money
when you turned into a major, did you?
-I was going to give it to charity. -Really?
What were you gonna do, launder the money yourself, Winnie?
-What was your plan? -I didn't think about it.
-You didn't think about it? -It was my father's money.
-You know how he got it. -No, you're wrong. It's your money.
It's $100 million of your money.
Do you know what that means?
That's five years in jail. You're gonna get busted with him for tax fraud.
This is serious, Winnie.
You could do something good with this money.
This is more than just charity, Winn.
You might want to wipe some of the drool off your face, Jake.
Winnie, if it wasn't important, I'd totally understand, but it is.
You know that fusion just might work.
I know it sounds like Star Wars, love,
but if it weren't for crazy people who thought these crazy things
then where would we be in this world? Nowhere.
Winnie, Dr. Masters is a genius. He's a pioneer.
They might just solve this thing. It could change the world.
Yeah, okay. Is this about changing the world or making money?
Because you come into my office, pitching to me.
You sound like a Wall Street guy.
Hold on for a second! I am a Wall Street guy.
I am and I'm good at this.
And I believe in this. And you know that I do.
What do you wanna do, just report the news for the rest of your life
or do you want to make the news? This is your opportunity.
It's your chance to shine.
To be Captain America.
This is the most charitable you could ever be in your life!
You honestly believe in this?
Let's say I could... Let's say I could get the money now, hypothetically, right?
Not that you care about the money.
But let's say I could take out a loan against it,
minimize your risk as much as possible.
Would you do this for me, Winn?
Would you do this for me?
Very well, Miss Gekko. We will have your father co-sign
and we will see to it that the funds are transferred.
-Thank you. -Danke schön, Miss Gekko.
-Mr. Moore. -Yes?
Mr. Gekko asked that you call him in New York as soon as this meeting is over.
Thank you.
So I'll take care of the rest of this. You go back to the hotel.
-All right. -I just got the confirmation.
We're on the direct flight to New York in the morning.
Great.
-Great news on the loft. -Yeah?
Yeah, I got a buyer. So one less thing in our lives, right?
-I kind of like the feeling. -Yeah, so do I.
-I'll see you over there. -Okay.
Hey, anyone can figure out life when you're looking back on it.
But we got to live it going forward. Right, Jakie?
Besides, four-and-a-half is great in this market.
Yeah, except I owe six to the bank. When do I have to be out of here?
You got three months more.
By the way, I had to throw in the furniture.
What there was of it.
Did you want me to have a yard sale here for you?
Here. Take it. Here's your pen.
-Jake... -Dolores was just leaving.
Hello to you, too, honey. Don't forget. Three months, honey.
-Bastards changed the locks. -You weren't servicing the loans, Ma.
Well, they lied to me. They told me they were going to give me more time.
Well, they're not, okay? They're panicking. Everyone is panicking.
They're gonna throw it in the market and take what they can get for it, Ma.
But it's not even finished yet.
And that's not all. Look.
It's the other properties, Mom.
No, but they said they were gonna give me a little more time.
And all I need is a 1 10 grand,
and then that way, I can keep all three properties in play.
-I know you have it, Jake. -I don't have it, Mom.
-You have it, Jacob. -I don't have it,
and I wouldn't give it to you if I did have it.
-What am I supposed to do? -You know what moral hazard is, Ma?
-You know what that means? -No.
It means that once you get bailed out, what's to stop you
-from taking another shot? -But I...
I'm in trouble, Mom. I am in trouble right now.
I'm taking a huge hit on the loft, I just sold my bike for nothing
and now, again, I'm writing you a check, Mom.
It's ridiculous.
This is $30,000 that I barely have.
-But that's not enough, honey. -Ma, I love you,
but I cannot keep hemorrhaging money for your insanity.
What you need to do is you need to go back to Henry.
You need to get another job, okay?
But this is my job. I have a job. What do you... Oh, my God.
-You mean like a real job with a boss? -Yes, a real job.
-I'm too old to get a... -I'm sorry, Ma,
you got to start at some point.
You got to start now. I can't keep carrying you forever.
You're not the only one who's in trouble, Ma. Please.
-Hello? -Hey, Jake. We have a problem.
Go ahead.
I don't know what happened. My CFO says the money hasn't arrived yet.
Yeah, but it was sent yesterday.
It should have been there before the Fedwire closed at 6:00.
Well, maybe there's been some sort of mistake. It was a large amount.
Okay, just sit tight.
-All right? -Jesus.
A few days? In this city that's nothing.
Mr. Gekko is good tenant.
I appreciate it.
A fisherman always sees another fisherman from afar.
Winnie's all l got left. You understand that?
How much?
Close to $100 million by now.
Don't go back in there, Jake.
This is who he is.
I did tell you, Jake.
I did warn you.
I lied to you, Winnie.
I've been in contact with your father behind your back.
After we saw him at the dinner,
before you gave me the money.
Why?
Because I thought it was the best thing for you, you know. For us.
I just wanted to...
You're like him.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Winnie.
I'll make it up to you. I promise I'll get the money back.
I don't care about the money, Jake! This is not about the money.
This is about you and me, and we are not good anymore.
Winn, we are good. Come on.
We are good.
-Come on, Winn. We're good. -No.
We're supposed to make each other feel safe.
Otherwise, what's the point?
It's gone, Jake.
It's not. Please don't.
Take it.
Come on, Winn.
Please go.
Please.
Go.
I'm sorry.
China, India, Brazil. Silver, oil, copper, I want to own it all.
Buy me Churchill Schwartz,
and get me updates on the other financials.
I'm looking for deals. Only good deals.
Just ride the trends. Just don't try too hard for the turns.
It's just like the old days, Bobby.
What do you feel about California municipals, Gordon?
No way. California has made more mistakes
than Yogi Berra reciting Shakespeare.
Right now, it is ugly times ugly.
And that's when the ugly get going.
You tell them for me, babe, Gordon Gekko is back.
I'm looking for distressed securities. I'm trying to get a hold of them
before the government does. You got that?
Okay.
-Here you are, Mr. Gekko. -Nice, Harry.
Well, then, Alex, you tell the Treasury Department for me
that I'm willing to stand on the other side of their auction.
Not too tight under the arms, Mr. Gekko?
Jesus Christ. I tell you, the government's worse than a wife.
They got all the power, they got half the money.
Now they're working on getting the other half.
Hey, hey, stay positive, pal.
Most people, they lose, they whine and quit.
But you got to be there for the turns.
Everybody's got good luck, everybody's got bad luck.
Don't run when you lose. Don't whine when it hurts.
It's like the first grade, Jerry.
Nobody likes a crybaby.
-Whooshing sound. -I'll take four of these.
Feels good to be back on top, huh?
Hey, champ. What brings you to London?
You, Gordo.
You want to make one last trade?
Well, that depends.
Did you ever really want to reconcile with her?
I'm human.
Then why did you do it?
Well, it's the same answer.
Look, I told you before, Winnie was gonna stake me when I got out.
-You remember, she reneged. -Sure, she did.
It makes you feel better about stealing from your own blood,
doesn't it?
Every thief has some excuse.
Hey, don't you act so superior, kid.
They took 122 thousand hours of my life for a victimless crime.
I ate my bitterness every goddamn day.
And when I got out, who was waiting for me?
Nobody!
Not even my own daughter.
I thought Bretton was slime until I met you.
I just never believed that a man would sell out his own daughter.
You die your way, I'll die mine. Get the hell out of here.
You know, she left me, Gordon.
Yeah?
I'm sorry about that.
Yeah? I bet you are.
You left it all in ruins.
But no matter how much money you make, you'll never be rich.
See, that's what you never got, kid. It's not about the money.
It's about the game. The game between people.
And that's all it is.
Speaking of,
what's the trade?
You give back the principal to Winnie. The $100 million.
And what do I get in return?
Put this in.
That's your grandson.
You said, "The most valuable commodity I know is time."
You're looking at time.
Not money.
This is time, Gordon.
I'm sorry, Jake, but this is simply a trade I cannot make.
You're a sad man, Gordon.
You really want to get this site on the map?
You break this story. It'll take some time, but it'll spread.
It's the single greatest transfer of wealth in American history
from Main Street to Wall Street, and it's all true.
And it will happen again because people like you and me want to be lied to.
We like bedtime stories.
I miss you like crazy, and I love you, baby, and I'm sorry.
Bretton James, the rumor is that he was shorting Keller Zabel stock
before he ended up acquiring it.
Why would he do that? This is the rock star of Wall Street.
Did you hear about Bretton James?
CNBC will say he's hedging, but if you ask me it's a fraud.
It's a tiny website. Who cares?
Gekko's daughter and that smartass kid I fired, Moore.
What is this about the rumor that led to Louis Zabel committing suicide?
Well, shorting his own company, you can't bust him for that.
But they can get him for running false rumors on Zabel, that's serious.
It's gone viral, Bretton.
Bloomberg has a summary out on it. Reuters is playing the story big.
It's become legitimate. Congress is next.
This bank is bigger than you, Bretton.
We know there's nothing illegal here, Jimmy.
Jack?
Julie...
Are you stupid or what?
Trading for your account in your position?
You pigged out, kid. You were making a fortune here.
What the hell is wrong with you?
Come on.
So I double-dipped.
Who hasn't?
Now, in your time, you must have done some things.
You're retiring, Julie.
Why don't you step up in front of this?
You can afford it.
I can still run this place
and make you more money than you ever dreamed.
We both know that's not going to happen, kid.
Julie.
Think about this, please.
You look for the birds.
They're going to help you, those birds. You'll see. Good luck.
I don't wanna sound like a rooster taking credit for the dawn,
but turning $100 million into $1 .1 billion
in this market, takes some brains, right?
My guys are good.
And it's no wonder our new fund is over-subscribed.
But for you, I'm gonna initiate a third fund.
Because, frankly, Julie, I couldn't be more excited about this.
To finally be in business with you and your firm.
And us with you, Gekko.
Yeah.
What is the definition of insanity?
lt's doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
By that standard, most of us are insane.
But not at the same time.
And on that basis we trust.
But can this way of life endure
if more and more people are insane at the same time?
lt becomes, as Gordon said, "Systemic. "
Like cancer.
What happens then?
Like l said,
the mother of all bubbles was the Cambrian Explosion.
And it happened by chance over 500 million years ago.
-Louis Zabel, Bretton? -Tell us about Louis Zabel.
-Come on. Come on. -No!
Scientists will tell you it was unprecedented,
it happened in a flash.
And from it,
suddenly the world had millions of new species.
I'd love a coffee. So be in, like, 10.
-And from that... -Where are you going?
...was born us.
Look at you!
The human race.
Mr. Schwartz, I hear you are leaving us.
No, that won't be soon enough.
Have you thought about a timeshare in Florida?
I could hook you up in Boca.
Sit down, Mr. James.
Now, in that sense, bubbles are evolutionary.
This is only a preliminary proceeding.
But I want you to know you're under investigation
on accusations of tax evasion and stock manipulation
through, among others, an entity called Locust Fund.
Although, I want to first get to the matter of Louis Zabel.
I see here that you cooperated with this office
and with the federal authorities in 1988
when the investigations of one Gordon Gekko began.
They kill excess.
They lean out the herd.
But they never die.
They just come back in different forms.
When they burst,
they give birth to a new day.
Always creating change.
Can I carry that?
You're not sleeping either?
He woke me up last night.
Yeah.
Can I?
Yeah.
There?
Yeah.
I just got off the phone with Dr. Masters.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
Very happy man.
Renewed interests from investors.
Because of your story.
So, thank you.
I miss you, Winnie.
I miss you.
I don't know how to fix this.
Neither do I.
It's different now.
-What can I do? I mean, I... -Nothing.
Nothing.
Thank you.
-Good night. -Good night.
Where are you two going?
What, nobody around here believes in comebacks?
Winn, I owe you something.
I don't want it. I never did.
No, I figured that.
But, you know, when choosing between two evils,
I like to try the one that I haven't tried before.
So I deposited a check of $100 million
made out to United Fusion.
From some offshore fund no one needs to know about.
Wouldn't you say green is the new bubble, Jake?
You two make a nice couple.
You know, Winn, human beings,
we got to give them a break.
We're all mixed bags.
But
my grandson,
and you...
And maybe, you know, you'll let me be a father again.
What's the matter with you guys? Come on, what's the matter?
You guys are like the last two on a ship that is sinking.
That's pretty.
Isn't that a Cracker Jack box ring?