Hollywood Minimum Wage Revolt

The WSJ reports that LA actors are suing their labor union to prevent it from forcing small theaters with fewer than 100 seats to pay union members at least $9 per hour.

The rebels, who seem to have a better grasp of economics than the union leadership, warn in their lawsuit that forcing the rules on theaters that used to be exempt will force many to “close altogether.” They add that “all will have greater difficulty producing original works.”

As the WSJ concludes, “Bravo to the dissident actors.”

(via Mark Perry)

Three Wall Street Movies to Hit the Big Screen This Year

Three Wall Street movies out in the same year is not good. NyPo reports:

For this year, three different Wall Street films are set for release: "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," the sequel to the 1987 Academy Award-winning film; "Minkow," the true story of con artist-turned-FBI informant-turned fraud-buster Barry Minkow; and "Crashing Wall Street," about the 1929 crash...And Brad Pitt this month jumped at the chance to buy the rights to Michael Lewis' new book on the collapse of the housing market, according to industry sources and news reports. So eager was Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, for the rights to "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine," that it pounced on the rights to the book a good month before its scheduled release.

There is an indicator of something here, my guess is that it is a curiosity about Wall Street and an anti-Wall Street feeling amongst the masses.

Get a load of this plot for the 1929 crash movie:

When JOHN ANDERSON, a handsome, cocky 24 year old from New Jersey in the late 1920s, wins some old stocks at poker, he‘s convinced they're his ticket to riches. ANDERSON studies the Wall Street journal to ferret out its mysteries and notes that its wealthiest investor is New Yorker, TEDDY CAMDEN, 40s.

Determined, ANDERSON leaves his mother, his home and his job and heads to New York to find CAMDEN. ANDERSON plans to persuade CAMDEN to teach him how to turn his stocks into riches. He uses his wits to track CAMDEN’S hangouts and talk him into giving him a job as a chauffeur, so that he can learn directly from the pro whilst admiring his beautiful mistress CLARYSSA DICKENS (from his rear view mirror).

But, CAMDEN drops a bombshell - the lie that ANDERSON’S stocks, although actually worth a fortune as founding shares of General Electric, are worthless and bribes CLARYSSA to set ANDERSON up to gamble away some of CAMDEN’S money. As Claryssa entices ANDERSON with wagering, booze and her closeness, he falls in love.

When CAMDEN confronts ANDERSON about the “theft”, he has to repay CAMDEN by handing over all his worldly goods, namely the stocks. Fortunately, ANDERSON has the smarts to only give him half of them. Camden then fires ANDERSON and kicks him from his mansion.

Later a devastated ANDERSON realizes CAMDEN’S swindle and confronts CLARYSSA, who is unaware of the stock’s value and is remorseful at hurting him. With renewed determination ANDERSON plots to ruin CAMDEN and win CLARYSSA‘S heart. He enlists the help of her father, top broker EZRA DICKENS a past victim of CAMDEN’S devious scheming. DICKENS hates CAMDEN for cheating him and stealing his daughter. Together they hatch a plan so they can scam CAMDEN by using ANDERSON’S self taught knack of spotting market trends.

Meanwhile CAMDEN exploits his half of the stocks to vie for a powerful position on the General Electric Board of Directors, but fails to sway enough shareholders to back him leaving him open to attack as ANDERSON uses his last stocks as bait for CAMDEN’S aspirations and to win back CLARYSSA.

They get their payback on CAMDEN and ruin him just at the rising menace of the 1929 stock market crash. Now John’s dream has become everyone’s nightmare.

Clearly, this movie is all about Wall Street being a bunch of bad guys and, my guess is that there will be no explanation anywhere about how the government created the 1929 crisis via the money printing of the Fed. Further, there will likely be no explanation of the important money raising function that Wall Street plays. It will probably be the same with the other movies.

It will all be about swashbuckling bad guys that will create real life swashbuckling bad guys in the future, and a more ingrained attitude amongst the masses that Wall Street is bad and that more government intervention is needed. Of course, it is the government that creates and props up the lopsided financial structures that would never exist in a real free market.

These three movies will most likely be further nudges of  the masses towards the left-wing proposals of the Obama Administration, which means to me that it's another reason to short Treasury securities.

Abu Dhabi To Invest $1 Billion In Hollywood

The funding, provided by Abu Dhabi’s government, will allow the Gulf state to back up to eight films a year over the next five years, Edward Borgerding, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Media Company told FT.

ADMC has set up a company, called imagenation abu dhabi, to manage its film investments.


“Our target output of eight films every year will make imagenation abu dhabi one of the world’s top producers of feature films and establish Abu Dhabi as a leading centre for content creation,” ADMC said in a statement.