Wall Street (USA, 1987)

Aichi Insurance Physicians’ Newspaper

Bud, a young stockbroker, is driven by ambition to one day surpass Gekko, a man who rose from poverty to immense wealth. One day, Bud visits Gekko’s office and succeeds in winning his favor by providing insider information about an airline, in exchange for receiving stock trading orders.

Their relationship grows closer, evolving from that of salesperson and client to something resembling family. Later, Bud and Gekko plan to acquire the airline by aggressively purchasing its stock. However,

Bud’s father strongly opposes the hostile takeover for profit, calling it worse than bestial. Gekko’s true aim is to dissolve the airline and profit from its aircraft and employees’ pension funds.

Seeing his father live an honest life with pride in his labor, Bud awakens to his own moral corruption. He exposes Gekko’s scheme to take over the airline. The market reacts swiftly, and the airline’s stock price surges by about 50% in a single day. Bud succeeds in exacting revenge by enabling a major investor to purchase the airline and ensure its survival.

While the film skillfully portrays the greed, ruthlessness, and deceit of institutional investors who seek wealth through financial games, its depiction of corporate rescue within the framework of capitalism is overly lenient.

Amid the current crisis reminiscent of the Great Depression, legal regulations are needed to prevent casino capitalism from impacting the real economy. As Engels wrote more than 150 years ago, “Workers become the victims of economic crises, losing their jobs and even the small allowances they were previously granted. In such a state, how can the poor remain healthy?” It is clear from this that even physicians are forced down a thorny path.