How Finance Bros Broke Hollywood

Are Wall Street Bros Ruining Culture?
There’s no way to sugar coat it: The world of media and entertainment has been bleak lately. And while it’s easy to blame studios for putting out half-baked superhero movies, we think something way more complicated may be going on and it probably involves the wealthiest people in our society. We’ll explain in this video on How Wall Street Greed Killed Media.
Megan Greenwell's essay, The Adults In The Room
www.megangreenwell.com/the-ad...
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=== Watch More Episodes! ===
Will We All Work Until We Die? ► • Will We All Work Until...
CEO: A Fake Job? ► • CEO: A Fake Job?
How Marvel Got Boring ► • How Marvel Got Boring
Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Benji Dunaief
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#culture #hollywood #corporategreed
© 2024 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[@WisecrackEDU]

If you want to keep us safe from Wall Street, consider joining our Patreon community! It's the best way to support the channel and you get early ad-free videos, exclusive audio and video content, access to our Discord, and more. www.patreon.com/wisecrack

[@AmaanAAAA]

Love the channel, but I was just wondering if a lot of this content wad sourced from a book written recently by Brendan Ballou?

[@edwinchester7092]

So, how is this different than what Blue Ant does?

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

I hope Jonah Hill sees this video particularly, and hears "I don't love Jonah Hill", *a solemn single tear rolls down his cheek.* "... but I love you, Michael... * he subscribes to Wisecracked Patreon, during the video, and now you love him very much* How is that for a pointless almost paradox plot twist? 😂

[@intochill]

I don’t want to support Blackstone! lol

[@gesshoku92]

Glad wisecrack still holding out on getting acquired.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

*Spelling error in title of video* it should be "Corporate greed broke EVERYTHING."

[@WisecrackEDU]

you are not wrong!

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@WisecrackEDU Am I ever? ;) (looks at personal life...) Don't answer that 😓

[@Ford_prefect_42]

True!

[@sagathekawaiikilla]

IF THEY TAKE THE DOM from wise crack I’ll unsub im here cause I like Micheal

[@1313steamroller]

Capitalist parasites ruin every business they touch.

[@andresnyc3767]

Came to shit on Hollywood, left realizing that we are screwed if we don’t regulate the financial sector

[@jonathandewberry289]

Seize the means of production!

[@arcturionblade1077]

​@@jonathandewberry289With what union?

[@privacylock855]

Tax them more.

[@calebsmith4530]

You misspelled “destroy” as regulate.

[@femthingevelyn]

regulation doesnt work when the guys you're trying to regulate pay the guys you want to regulate them, and when they do put regulations in place typically the punishment is a fine, and there are zero situations where the fine is more than they made breaking those rules. regulation in the form we see currently basically is the government saying "hey if you're doin something fucked up I want a cut"

[@DonJorgeRM]

The insanity of making everything about profit is catching up to us.

[@roscojenkins7451]

Enshittification is metastasizing

[@zevin1479]

Incentive drives everything

[@danpavelko8414]

Money is the best reason to make more money at the cost of everything else.

[@roscojenkins7451]

@@danpavelko8414 is it tho?

[@danpavelko8414]

@@roscojenkins7451 no it's terrible

[@TheRealZura]

Not just Hollywood, the gaming industry is being destroyed by the suits currently.

[@FatherTime89]

Been having a lot of fun with indie games. They're way easier to find than indie movies.

[@hurrdurrmurrgurr]

Only triple A, they had it coming.

[@Alaskan-Armadillo]

If we're talking about video games good but if we're talking about table top games then that's bad

[@moritzmehno770]

@@FatherTime89 "Indie-Game" today does not mean the same thing as 5-10 years ago though. Its only a question of time when Indie Games as they are today will die as well.

[@FatherTime89]

@moritzmehno770 I doubt it. Indie games can still be made by just one person or a couple people. Roller coaster Tycoon was only made by 3 people and that was decades ago. Minecraft was originally the work of one person. It's only going to get easier for individuals to make games.

[@elihan9]

Some tips: 1. Support independent artists. 2. Buy physical copies. 3. Subscribe to your local paper. 4. Subscribe to your regional paper 5. Subscribe to independent magazines. 6. Never defund the schools and libraries during local elections. 7. Call in the local radio station and promote an indie band. 8. Destroy FOMO.

[@privacylock855]

My local paper is owned by a right outfit named Mclachy

[@femthingevelyn]

9. straight up pirate that shit, don't give them a dime

[@hyperrealhank]

buy local means support localized edifices of capital. you're not really challenging capitalist structures by buying local.

[@elihan9]

@@hyperrealhank that is a legitimate concern. Any suggestions on alternatives?

[@hes_alive]

Those aren’t serious ways to make anything better. 1. Workers seize the means of production

[@DJTI99]

Also, I HATE the word content when referring to art. It is incredibly telling that the soulless, sociopathic ghouls of Wall St use that term turn everything into a commodity and reduce everything down to how much money it can make them.

[@3dartxsi]

It is an accurate description of what is happening though. It's not art or entertainment, because those words connote a certain level of quality(entertainment needs to be entertaining, after all), this stuff is literally just content. It would be like taking the varied and interesting menu of a restaurant and turning everything into a bland flavorless paste that has only just enough nutritional value to barely be considered food.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

Wow you put into words a feeling that I couldn't define. Thank you!

[@jonathandewberry289]

I agree but that was web developers. not Wall Street.

[@shredderly]

Dude i live in Belgium, everybody here is a sociopathic ghoul, they're just not smart enough to work on wall street.

[@LauraoAirylea]

Watching movies from the 80s and 90s can be so refreshing because they don't all follow a formula. I'm sure the firms that are trading our data will be trading us soon enough if we stop these mad systems.

[@final_catalyst]

A better analogy would be: You buy a few dairy cows, you turn all of them into hamburgers, rather than let them breed and continue to get milk from them for generations. All this because you want to throw a barbbq next month to show how great a dairy farmer you are.

[@haroldparsons9727]

I used to work in a nursing home as a cook. In the 18 months I worked there we got bought out 3 times and every time it was completely new management coming in, denying raises and dealing with increasingly irate nurses. Until they fired a bunch of nurses and suddenly the cooks and kitchen aids were required to assist during meals. I promptly quit. This was also going on during hot labor summer last year.

[@orions221]

There’s a technical term for this in the industry. It’s called enshitification

[@edupunknoob]

Shout out to Cory Doctorow

[@AnonymousAnarchist2]

Enshitification applies far more broadly then just Hollywood

[@ynraider]

*called "Late Stage Capitalism"

[@MicahMicahel]

@@ynraiderthe left is controlled by corporate esg scores. Capitalism is bbetter than the fascist oligarchy leftists are fighting for They are just esg zombies

[@ashram12]

When you were talking about the CEO meddling in things he had no clue about (plastering site with ads etc...), I was reminded of one of my first design job at an ad agency: I'm a graphic designer, and I had to design a mini magazine. One of the clients didn't like that there was so much "blank spaces" in my layouts because they're paying to print this thing and they would get more bang for the buck if the magazine was crammed with text. That's the most frustrating aspect of my job: taking design cues from people with absolutely no aesthetic sense.

[@JonasGoldek]

Been there - really sucks to get overruled even though you got your education and they don't

[@TemporalOnline]

EVERYTHING on Earth that has been touched by corporate greed, has gotten worse. No exceptions.

[@MicahMicahel]

Corporate ESG scores are behind all leftist ideas the left is pure corporatism now

[@MicahMicahel]

the left is controlled by corporate esg scores. every idea they push is for corporate gain. feminism makes twice as many workers. leftism is corporatism

[@coolioso808]

More specifically, capitalism as a system is a massive social, economic and ecological failure of epic proportions. To take a phrase from the US Party for Socialism and Liberation: End Capitalism Before it Ends Us! Start here: "A Viable Society" by Peter Joseph of TZM and Zeitgeist films.

[@evanraasch2203]

@@coolioso808socialism has never created something viable long term

[@coolioso808]

@@evanraasch2203 what do you think socialism is? State capitalism like in the USSR or "Communist" China? I'm a systems thinker, which means I look at how a system actually works, not how it is 'suppose to' work, like Stafford Beer would say, "The purpose of a system is what it does. There is after all, no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do." We know from overwhelming evidence, most of it right in front of our eyes these days, that market capitalism is socially, economically and ecologically unsustainable. A system based on private ownership of the means of production for endless profit growth is like cancer, and cancer is not healthy. That's what philosopher and professor John McMurtry likened capitalism to in his book, "The Cancer Stage of Capitalism." So, we don't need 'socialism' to save us, but I'd be concerned that people who say 'socialism never works' don't actually know what socialism is or was and may not even be able to describe a better system beyond capitalism, either. What do you propose? What would be the structure of a viable society for you? Library-Based Economy? Using The Commons as a key part of ecological and social luxury, community by community? Some sort of Networked Worker Co-Op? A new economic measure, circular economy that focuses on Well-Being, not endless GDP and profit growth? What?

[@2D_Specs]

I'm an animator who's worked in the american studio space for years now, and watching Hollywood cannibalize itself (in just the short time I've been there relative to the people who've worked in it for decades) is nuts. As a whole, the focus is largely about pushing out content as quickly as possible on shoestring budgets, which just harms the industry as a whole. The people working on the content typically are stressed to meet rapid expectations for wages that've steadily decreased over time, and audiences are robbed of the artistry that those workers are leaving out of the content in order to go that quickly and/or to remain inside said shoestring budget. That then breeds disinterest or decrease in "engagement" with that content, which leads to cancelation, which leads to job losses, which leads to accepting lower wages on other rushed projects for personal survival and the whole thing repeats itself. It's a literal race to the bottom on a macro scale, and it's typically terrifying for those who work in these fields.

[@zonzore]

As a aspiring artist, I saw the lack of evolution in cartoons and decided to make my own this for my own personal gratification.

[@2D_Specs]

@zonzore that's fair. It's difficult to get productions with differing styles from the norm greenlit since it's "risky" compared to the established forms, but that's a whole other conversation, albeit due to a related cause.

[@zonzore]

@@2D_Specs that's right. In regards to companies taking risks, I see that in the gaming industry all the time. I personally would never want to work for an animation/cartoon company that only want to make money and not a great or at least decent product.

[@zonzore]

You know, that fact 2d animation animations studios are giving so limit time to produce their work, it's amazing what you guys have done. It's not easy work.

[@2D_Specs]

@zonzore true, but I work primarily in stopmotion (I know, the name is misleading), which can take even longer due to its unique challenges routed in physical objects and physics, but with the same, or similar sized budgets typically.

[@Itachi45481]

I'm getting the feeling of HATRED and this is going to end poorly

[@Tential1]

It's blind hatred that's misplaced. For example, they hate private equity. Private equity exists because of pensions. Financial investors, mainly exist for pensions. So, they hate the very people they create, by funding and expanding pensions. Lol. I personally hate pensions, but, well, if you want to get rich, pension money is very very useful. I'd personally never create a pension system, but for my own personal financial gain? A big pension system creates tons of finance jobs, that allow a path to financial freedom. So I love pensions, for all the wrong reasons 😂😂😂

[@spacechimp6442]

One of the main reasons I’ve decided to leave nursing is the take over by private equity in health care. This last facility I worked for was ran by a private equity company and it was a nightmare. Even though they charged the residents 10,000$ a month to stay in the facility, they were so stingy with the budget that I ended up having to buy vital supplies that management felt were not in the budget. I had to buy thermometers, BP cuffs, pulse oximeters and office supplies like printer ink. I had to buy all this to keep the facility running out of my own pocket, even though I made 22$ an hour. Luckily for me, my girlfriend is really supportive. She encouraged me to quit that job and go back to school while helping to support me while I do so. She is a LPN and is wanting to leave the profession too. I plan on doing for her what she did for me. There is such a sort supply of health care workers in the US right now and thanks to the corporate takeover of health care, qualified healthcare workers are constantly leaving the profession. That’s enough of rant.

[@alibushell6762]

It's not enough of a rant! You're exposing a major systemic failing in the US healthcare system. If current trends continue the sector is going to fall over due to lack of staff when the poor conditions will make it a job no-one wants, despite it being something that everyone needs.

[@ncascadehiker]

A distraught elderly woman told me the same: $10,000/month for her husband at a facility where staff are paid peanuts. We need to hear more rants about health care.

[@NT_Escanor]

I remember when getting my master’s degree about the science of health care delivery and management being heart broken when managing a budget and realizing that regardless of lowering the quaility of all supplies to be cheaper nothing saved money like firing people. It’s crazy how much more I learn about greed and the rich the more poor I feel and more frightened I am to be treated as disposable.

[@roscojenkins7451]

I was naive to the the problems in healthcare. Becoming a CNA gave me a first hand look and I quickly became extremely jaded... Same with the lies of a college degree... First week of being a student I learned in a class how fucked I was

[@NT_Escanor]

@@roscojenkins7451 it’s a very crippling thought thread

[@analyticalmindset]

Same , for my MBA and realized capitalism is evil. I can break it down further but just trust me on this

[@elmosaarelainen9671]

Obviously making something more efficient necessarily means requiring less work for the same effort. Reducing the work required for same return is not inherently bad, what's evil is how the surplus value of efficiency is distributed. If you halve the work required for a job, it would be reasonable to either require half the hours from current workforce, or halve the workforce and double the salaries. But instead you halve the workforce, depress wages due to threat of layoffs and direct all the surplus to the owners.

[@fernandosacchetto5215]

That's the thing... When money gets into anything (media, medicine, science, government, anything else), the thing becomes all about making more money, and its original purpose, whatever it was, becomes instead just an incidental byproduct of the moneymaking, which comes at a distant second to the money in terms of priorities.

[@EddieVillanuevaArt]

I always ride for Ringo. He is the everyman. This is precisely why they made him the main character in A Hard Day's Night, Help, Yellow Submarine, and Magical Mystery Tour. He was the one that convinced the others to play on the roof for fuck'sake!

[@stickynorth]

Same Same!

[@TheBeefCentral]

With a little help from my friends is my favorite Beatles song

[@dayegilharno4988]

:) Ringo. Duh!

[@andrewbenbow9257]

With peace and love, with peace and love... I agree.

[@jasonmorley9217]

The only part of him that I’m not a fan of is the stuff that he has actively attempted and struggled to overcome- the alcoholism, and the various toxicities involved in his marriage.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

There are no more big film companies, big distribution companies, big production companies - There are just Line Go Up companies. If throwing years of work from hundreds of people in the bin makes ten dollars more than releasing it right now, it is mandatory. Any work dumped into archive and deleted for a tax write-off has been paid for by the public, and should this be immediately placed into the public domain.

[@okram2k]

I work for a company that was hoovered up by an investment firm and it went from one of the best companies I ever worked for to one of the worst and it feels like each day it gets worse and worse.

[@Waitwhat469]

It's wild that investors don't seem to understand the concept of putting money down for the promise of future profits. Like it's just betting to them, they don't really invest in anything...

[@irinaiturri]

they are a bunch of parasites

[@roscojenkins7451]

Fun fact. Private equity doesnt only target newspapers or magazines... They target literal hospitals and nursing homes and gut staffing and benefits to make a profit before selling off for a profit... Meanwhile... The elderly and sick and injured ultimately suffer

[@shaun7163]

Yeah, as described in the latter half of this video…

[@davidmassey5448]

​@@shaun7163 Some people don't even read the headlines because they are so busy solo leveling shaun.

[@narutofan08nd12]

I never understood why people comment before finishing a video

[@roscojenkins7451]

@@narutofan08nd12 cuz I'm an asshole who was kicking himself 5 minutes after posting

[@roscojenkins7451]

@@shaun7163 yup already covered how I'm that asshole who commented before finishing the video and is now kicking himself lol

[@vu1641]

So a better sandwich analogy might be… Private Equity goes to a sandwich shop. They see the shop has a sandwich with turkey, salami, and roast beef on it. This sandwich is being sold for 10 dollars. They call up the bank and ask for a loan of 6 dollars to buy the sandwich, but structure the loan such that it isn’t tied to their pocket books but instead tied to the sandwich. They then buy the sandwich, paying 4 of their own dollars and the 6 the bank provided. Once they have the sandwich they remove the roast beef and the salami, keeping those for themselves. They then cut the sandwich up into thirds. They find 3 people to buy these 1/3 size turkey sandwiches, probably at 5 dollars a third. These buyers will later be referred to as suckers. Since the original loan was tied to the sandwich and not to Private Equity, the 6 dollars of debt gets divided evenly to each sucker. So each sucker not only needs to pay the 5 dollars for their third but also needs to pay the 2 dollars debt owed. Since the suckers don’t have as much capital as Private Equity, and not as great a relationship with the bank, the bank significantly increases the interest rate the suckers have to pay on their 2 dollars for the sandwich. In the end, three suckers each own a third of a turkey sandwich that Private equity picked through. Further, these people also owe money to the bank for their turkey sandwich. Private equity made 11 dollars on the sale (15 minus the 4 they spent), along with getting some salami and roast beef. The bank gets to jack up the interest on their loans. Now imagine one of the suckers is actually a second private equity company. They buy the now turkey sandwich for 5 dollars, structuring it so that they pay 2 dollars and take a loan for 3 dollars. They also tie the loan to the sandwich. They then take the turkey from their part of the sandwich, cut the remaining now veggie sandwich into halves, and sell each half of this veggie sandwich that two people picked toppings out of for 3 dollars. The original debt on this sandwich piece was 2 dollars, plus the dollar fifty for being halved, meaning the debt on this 1/6th sandwich is now 3.50. They sell both halves to even greater suckers. Private equity 2 then makes a total of 4 dollars (6 for the selling of each half, minus 2 for what they paid) and the buyer spent 3 dollars and now owes 3.50 in debt to the bank. This can continue until people are just selling slices of bread covered in hand smeared mayo.

[@peterbyrne7348]

You forgot the part where they bring on a "sandwich consultant" who is actually them. That's where all the salami goes. "That's where all the salami goes is my new catchphrase

[@me-myself-i787]

Only problem is, it relies on selling to a bigger fool, which stops working after a while as all the fools either quit the stock market or lose all their money.

[@colonelweird]

It's really too bad the federal government has no power to regulate Wall St. Guess we just have to live with things the way they are now.

[@TimmyTheTinman]

No we don’t if we vote right…

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

​😂 💀 ​@@TimmyTheTinman

[@TimmyTheTinman]

@@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman no laughing matter

[@machinshin2253]

I think we’re all hoping that @colonelwards attempt at subtle sarcasm was just missed and that’s he not actually serious. (And by the way if anyone thinks it’s accuracy; oh gods no. The state, being the ultimate arbiter of violence to its citizens can always win if the threat is serious enough)

[@totallynotthebio-lizard7631]

@@TimmyTheTinman👈😂😂🤣

[@optioningthabears861]

True story. The Intro to Allied Health Care. You know the first book in med school. It says as its thesis statement to open the book "your job as a medical professional is not to help the patient, but to make money for the hospital" i think that says it all

[@AR-ym4zh]

Watched this channel for a long time, since the earliest days. Michael's such a joy to learn from and listen to. The editing, pacing, etc. is consistently top notch. Topics are relevant and there's always tons of depth. You all have taken this channel from strength to strength. Happy to do the patreon sub just don't stop! ❤

[@WisecrackEDU]

Damn this is really nice and really appreciate.

[@Taycatte]

As far as I'm concerned, Walk Hard is the only musical biopic worth watching.

[@ninanando]

Weird Al is pretty good

[@rotopope]

Love and mercy had some thought put into it.

[@6thwilbury2331]

Agree with all of you. Walk Hard and Weird are brilliant because they poke fun at everything that is normally really annoying about music biopics. Then I remember seeing Love And Mercy and thinking the creators deliberately sought to avoid many of the tropes being lampooned in Walk Hard.

[@MartijnPennings]

I like Almost Famous, my parents actually met at a Stillwater concert back in the seventies. Can't wait for their 3rd farewell tour!

[@6thwilbury2331]

@@MartijnPennings But are your parents real Topeka people?

[@miguelmora3629]

My favorite Beatle is John Oliver, I didn't know he was your uncle that's dope.

[@opinionsfromouterspace6740]

This is essentially a video about enshitification. It's a tremendously relevant and important conversation to have. You should do a live stream with more focus on the concept ac ross tech :)

[@StephenLeGresley]

Yep and it also broke pretty much the entire world. Movie theaters are dying because people can't afford movie tickets and concessions anymore. Video games are dying because people can't afford them anymore. More and more stores are closing because people can't afford to shop there. More and more people are becoming homeless because rent is unaffordable by them. Many grocery stores are struggling to sell food thats rotting on the shelves because people can't afford it. Dollar Stores are becoming most people's primary shopping locations. Debt is rising and people are becoming more and more desperate and angry which is tearing society apart and causing a rise in crime. Corporations and the rich have hoarded everything and we suffer more and more just to inflate their bank accounts. If it doesn't stop it will destroy us.

[@HylianFox3]

Even dollar stores are shutting their doors, it's gotten that bad.

[@StephenLeGresley]

@@HylianFox3 A lot of them are under staffed and in many cases only have one person in the whole store so everyone just steals from them because they're poor and desperate and it runs them out of business. The whole system is slowly collapsing.

[@edwardzignot2681]

Well said! Completely agree.

[@Riddickisawesome101]

Correction: if we don’t stop it, it will destroy us

[@StephenLeGresley]

@@Riddickisawesome101 very very true

[@jessicaseitelman5875]

This is why I support the theory that Lana made Matrix 4 awful on purpose. She wanted to prove this point to an extent.

[@profbbfab6211]

I see what you mean. After the corporate meeting scene I was expenting a twist that the whole thing was a dramatisation/parody of the original movie

[@DogratDavis]

I'm not memeing when I say that this is the biggest cope I've ever seen.

[@evilsheepmaster1744]

Thank you! That's how I feel about the movie! You wanted to see Neo in a new adventure? Too bad, Trinity is the hero now. Wanted to see Neo do more sweet Kung fu? Too bad, he's just gonna use psychic blasts the whole time. Liked Hugo Weaving's cool, stoic Agent Smith? Too bad, you get dude-bro Agent Smith now. Every decision feels specifically chosen to pervert everything that Matrix fans wanted to see. It's good enough for executives to sign off on distributing it, but intentionally terrible enough that they won't ask for another one.

[@danielmennel4565]

The only problem with this theory is that Matrix 4 was better then Matrix 3, but that's because Matrix 3 was terrible. Honestly they should have just stopped at the 1st one. None of the sequels live up to the first movie.

[@ak-ub1ym]

Tbh , ask the question : were any of the actual ppl who watched the trilogy actually asking for a 4th movie in the first place , when the 3rd movie felt so definitive and conclusive? Despite how badly 3 was received.

[@EnigmaticGentleman]

There has been a movement lately to make most animation independent after how badly its been treated by the suits, and if you look at the views some of them are racking up its working (one even got 100 million in a month, thats surpassing even blockbuster movie levels), I'm willing to bet that this spreads to other mediums soon, and before the suits know it all the really talented people will be doing their own thing.

[@jessikat_17]

Because the talent should be allowed to actually do their job. I wanted to be an animator but seeing how the industry had been going the love kind of started to die for me. I still love creating, but I don't want to have my arm twisted to do work I know is subpar or adjust a story because some suit thinks it's better for profit even if it starts to hurt the art.

[@irinaiturri]

The problem will be when the suits buy these new studios and animators. We need protection against these

[@me-myself-i787]

​@@irinaiturriThat can only happen if the artists choose to sell.

[@_somerandomguyontheinternet_]

The terrifying thing is that I couldn’t be certain that Wisecrack being bought twice during the production of the video was a joke.

[@dabluflcn]

Private equity needs to be barred from owning single family homes, apartments, hospitals, well anything that is a necessity really.

[@homemademarmalade]

"Growth for the sake of growth is the same idealology as a cancer cell" - Edward Abbey

[@markvetter4711]

In fairness to Tampa, all of Florida is extremely weird.

[@DJVesperX]

Yup. Snowpiercer, Westworld, The Nevers, & Raised By Wolf's.. 4 of the 5 shows I was deeply invested into and they all were cancled due to the greedy BS... Makes no sense.

[@DJTI99]

Dung is my favorite beetle.

[@unconventionalideas5683]

I think it is a very positive development that high interest rates have killed the finance industry’s model of “buy something with borrowed money, pin it on the company, make unsustainable cuts and sell it again.” That died with the spike in interest rates and looks set to collapse large parts of private equity and drive a serious consolidation of the finance industry.

[@hes_alive]

Marx said capitalism will become too perfected and collapse on itself. I think we’re seeing it happen now.

[@shubhamer2000]

Dude whole western society is based in CAPITALISM best thing about CAPITALISM is it allow competition and let the best person wins the race if you go COMMUNISM then it doesnt matter how much you do hard work and sharp ur equlas ur extra income wud be distributed to less worthy ones so in longer no one wud want to do extra effort and society wud initially collapse as wages wud remain the same price of goods wud increase It is just we have to go back to GOLD STANDARD to fix this mess

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

That it did. It broke all the passion and genuine intent of creative minds. For example look at whatvit did to Dragon Ball evolution! Twisted a beloved franchiE beyond recognition to dull out the MOST hated anime adaptation of all time. Toriyama even come out of retirement to dull out battle of Gods to show people how Dragon Ball is done!

[@Rhomega]

'HBO named their streaming service after your childhood dog." I feel seen. She was a St. Bernard. "What would you do for $4.4 billion?" Um, eat a Klondike Bar?

[@zacrl1230]

Eat the rich, I hear they pair well with red wine.

[@Lawthefilmmaker]

Greed is the biggest threat to civilization, not laziness.

[@TheSteveTheDragon]

>Looking for morse code in eyeblinks during the blackstone plug.

[@jamesburrows3602]

Do a philosophy of George Carlin video pleeeeeeaaaaaassseee! Also thanks for the great content!!!

[@NarpytheCrimeDog]

I'm really glad the new generations are discovering George Carlin. I was introduced to George Carlin by the boomers and never understood how they loved him so much when he clearly stood against everything the loved. George Carlin was not just ahead of his time; he revolutionized comedy to be more introspective.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@NarpytheCrimeDog A lack of awareness for both themselves and the world around them is the defining characteristic of their generation.

[@6thwilbury2331]

@@NarpytheCrimeDog AMEN ❤

[@MrGameFreak777]

My Indie movie suggestion: Sting. It's a really fun creature feature about a monstrous spider that terrorizes an NYC high rise apartment

[@sebastianconrad6823]

I almost can't watch this, entertaining and informative as it is, because financialisation JUST MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL

[@AnonymousAnarchist2]

Private Equity is just a fancy term for "Protrction raket made legal for reasons"

[@me-myself-i787]

It's nothing like a protection racket. Protection racket: Pay us money or we'll beat you up and rob you Private equity: We'll give you money in exchange for your company and, if you choose to sell, we will then make improvements to the company (perhaps through increased efficiency, better marketing or improved customer experience) before either keeping it for income or selling it to someone else for a higher price. Obviously, private equity doesn't always succeed in its goals, and when it fails, it loses money. Some private equity companies buy a company, butcher it, and lose money as a result. But the ones which survive for long periods of time are the ones which usually don't lose money.

[@kevynspeed]

still nuts to think, corporations made $Billions in profits but only short by "investor expectations" because its short another $1Billion is considered a "lost" and workers get laid off

[@PessimistPirate]

I wonder how much suffering will happen until humanity itself finally gets fed up with greed. Probably a lot.

[@too1leasy]

First day on Earth?

[@SocialRebellion]

I become slightly more radicalized every time I watch a wisecrack video. Just slightly, without the means to do anything radical.

[@kylea8795]

Remember that one line “it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”, but what if capitalism is the root cause of how the world ends.🤔

[@user-xq7jc8yn2p]

Most likely

[@rodylermglez]

My favorite Beatle is John. Also, I fucking hate the greed of streaming platforms with a passion.

[@BGK-Boardgamekids]

Financial Planner here. The hedge funds usually CHARGE their clients 2% of the money they manage every year and 20% of the profits every year.

[@mybrotherjames8579]

As a drummer I ride with Ringo. Jack black would be a better Jerry Garcia!

[@tthien93]

Really digging the new host and color palette of last week tonight

[@WisecrackEDU]

it was hard to lose the English accent

[@moonlitmortician6694]

This week on No Shit.

[@kaintshine]

Great video as always! Thanks for the knowledge Michael and the Wisecrack team ❤

[@Michi85387]

Newsflash corporate world. The reason you're in finance is because you're greedy. The reasons I make films is the opposite of your existence.

[@gueditoguey]

“I don’t understand money.” Yeah we already knew that when you chose to major in Philosophy.

[@slartibartfast426]

George Harrison was my individual favorite but their magic all came down to the emergence of group cohesion that led to the greatest music ever made

[@TheCassandraKing]

The Beatles movie "Help!" Is criminally underrated and side splittingly hilarious.

[@chrisr6794]

In 20 years, private equity firms are going to own literally everything. The land, the seas, the skies, the trees, your house, your road, your car, your dog, your cat - heck, your wallet. Where do we go then?

[@bassxchill]

Late stage capitalism babyyyy. Where everything sucks. That's it. Everything sucks now.

[@EricGranata]

Hooray new video!

[@udbhavseth799]

Your work is so crucial and well-done! Thank you.

[@tofu_golem]

I believe the term you're looking for is "enshitification," and it's affecting a lot of industries right now.

[@Sheepy19801]

I like the sandwich analogy for PE. But it would be like if you went to Subway, bought a Turkey / Swiss Cheese/ All veggie option footlong then you took all the veggies and meat out. Sold that separately, Then put the sandwich back together and sold that sandwich as a Turkey Veggie Swiss cough Toys R Us cough for that same amount to some other passer by. Then watched as they choked and died on that sandwich.

[@rosslytle5700]

They aren't just watching us choke on the sandwich; they're selling tickets to "the choke show" at a premium.

[@500KLA]

Oh yeah Blackstone acquired. That’s all I needed to hear

[@AustinWestbro]

It needs to be federally illegal for private equity firms to buy or own houses

[@mrnobody4125]

Such a vague term, "corporate greed". I remember when profits and creativity were high because greed was down 10%. But then greed went up, and as a result profit and quality went down. Ah yes. It's all so clear. There definitely aren't any other complex factors involved. If only we could return to the great days of the 80s and 90s, when greed was at an all time low and we got all those amazing franchises. And companies in no way benefit from having the companies they make investments in be successful or make good products. That explains why quality has declined. It's all so simple. Corporate greed.

[@justmikoto9880]

“Get in line and learn from them” truer words have never been spoken until now.

[@candified3851]

My favourite Beatle is the rhinoceros beetle. I admire their problem solving strategy, which is yeeting any given problem off into the sunset.

[@SpoopySquid]

Inspirational

[@TheEmS3000]

Indie movie shout-out: The Stylist It's a really impressive, female driven, horror film about a hair stylist who develops an unhealthy attachment to one of her clients.

[@mjgrose]

i appreciate wisecrack for how well you help me articulate complex thoughts and feelings. you help me feel less alone in my observations. thank you for your critical analysis. you do important work, and you do it well.

[@SpottedRic]

My favorite beetle is the green ones that bump into stuff.

[@TheAlmightyBracket]

My favorite Beetle is Josephine McCormick aka "The Red Striker"

[@arottenmango8505]

tiger beetle is my favorite , being the fastest proportionally moving animals (size-speed ratio)

[@bensley56]

Love to see Ed Zitron's blog being featured. Discovered him recently and been binge reading his stuff over the past few days. Essential writing

[@05Matz]

Thank you for a hard-hitting, important video that manages to remain... maybe not exactly _funny,_ but affable and gently snarky despite the frustrating subject matter. I live in a place where the party that makes up the more-or-less-unchallenged government is pushing the province into a nosedive of service sabotage and privatization with no end in sight, in imitation of the American model. They're working on dismantling the public healthcare right now, then presumably they'll sell off something else. The spiral of greed and financialization needs to stop. There's a lot more than 'the ability to make good movies' on the line, and I think this video is good for easing folks into that conversation without triggering the programmed reactions instilled in many to dismiss any source of criticism of the system.

[@ElleKelsheimer]

Portrait of a Lady on Fire was really good.

[@isaac1670]

Great video as always, Wisecrack! One thing I think we should do going forward in this discussion is that instead of saying "private equity," we should just name the specific firms involved. I also think we should refer to these investors as what they are, a cancer.

[@LonkinPork]

It's endlessly funny that a bunch of people in the late 70s and early 80s saw how well the working class was doing in the post-Dub Dub Dos era, thanks in large part to the regulations that helped end the Great Depression, and then managed to be convinced by the Powers That Be, "what if we just like, got rid of all those regulations? surely it would get even better right? when you bust a hole in a dam, the reservoir of water that it's holding back just gets bigger, right?"

[@MomirsLabTech]

Corporate Greed Broke *Everything

[@jamesburrows3602]

It's destroyed civilization and society and we get to live in the dystopian aftermath. A world that's but a mere shell of its former self.

[@jchampagne2]

Replace 'Hollywood' with 'Everything'... yeah.

[@matocajsa9096]

Video should be called: Corporate Greed Breaks Everything

[@elvikingo]

The enshittification of everything, all at once

[@LonkinPork]

I was a major John guy as a teenager, but these days I'm a George man. His vibes were just immaculate, y'know?

[@MooreThanCosplay]

Me watching this in the UK! Thank goodness we have the NHS. For real though, my bigger question in this situation is how do we fix these issues?

[@shortdrink873]

You say that as if the NHS hasn’t been deliberately broken by politicians who want to privatise it lol. (I’m very pro NHS, but it is fully broken now. My ailing grandparents have had multiple medical emergencies where ambulances just straight up didnt come. Ironically they’ve repeatedly voted for the people who did this to them, and likely will again)

[@Fenrisson]

15:25 - I watched a fan version of The Crow here in youtube, and it was awesome. Hope it's still around.

[@jimbubbatube]

I couldn’t picture anyone playing Jerry Garcia except Jack Black.

[@2xxAlleyoopxx2]

I used to work in 2 ERs as a scribe for a couple years, was headed towards medical school and saw first hand how burnt out all the staff was. We were chronically understaffed (on all levels) and low to completely out of a number of medications basically at all times. I was already disillusioned with the medical system but still somewhat hopeful and wanting to join. Realized it wasn't worth it after speaking with the providers and seeing the effects of rampant budget cuts. What the actual fuck makes private equity investors think they should be in charge of medical institutions? This is not a game.

[@GolemRising]

I prefer the term "Enshittification" for this process. Much less boring and more accurate.

[@LRA10Gaming]

this is the best Wisecrack video i’ve ever seen

[@jthompson1327]

Do you plan to bring back Philosphy of *insert anime/show*. Those were your most popular videos and are sorely missed

[@WisecrackEDU]

We're working on launching a second channel later this year where all the videos will be about movies, shows, games, etc.

[@intellectually_lazy]

obviously, yoko is the best beattle

[@WisecrackEDU]

bold but I love it.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@WisecrackEDUlove your content guys ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@nuerdeng4855]

Just subscribed to the Patreon before watching this video so thanks Micheal 😊

[@a_e_hilton]

Showed this video to my gf and she got a bit confused at the general stats ("40% of hospitals are owned by private equity", etc). Might be useful to add "in America" to stats like this? Love your work!!!

[@WisecrackEDU]

Good call! Thanks for the note.

[@Elephantnegotiationsociety]

Yoko is my favorite Beatle