#IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE GIF MOVIE#

banking history.Дuring the first bank run, George was able to convince people not to pull all of their money out and instead take out only what they needed in the short term so the bank could stay afloat. The collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008, triggered by deposit withdrawals, was the largest failure in U.S. ItвЂ™s also worth adding that bank failures these days are more serious than Depression-era failures since so many banks are national entities. Lam: I know that there was a bank examiner in the movie, but I guess there werenвЂ™t capital requirements in Bedford Falls. ItвЂ™s why thereвЂ™s been a big push to make banks hold more cash on hand. The fear of too much leverage-that one big loss could take down an entire bank, an entire system, or wipe out the life savings of many-is still a big issue, especially after the Great Recession. But then the second run, when his uncle misplaces the deposits and the amount is too big for George to cover, kind of hints at a concept thatвЂ™s still up for discussion today: what it means to be over-leveraged. As you might remember, he uses the money for his honeymoon to tide over bank customers to keep them from withdrawing everything.

#IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE GIF MOVIE#

The initial run on Bailey Building and Loan is at the very beginning of the movie and it sets George on this path of being a banker. To some extent-though less literal now-whenever thereвЂ™s a big looming financial crisis, thereвЂ™s fear of a вЂњbank run,вЂќ which now looks more like long lines at ATMs as customers try to pull their money out while they still can. White: LetвЂ™s talk about the bank run(s) because that used to be a real thing, when people would rush to pull money out of failing institutions during the Great Depression. They really think all their money is sitting there in the safe, but never question how the bank is then able to distribute so much money, such as loans for their homes. ItвЂ™s really not clear to the people of Bedford Falls how credit and loans work, to the point that people cause a bank run and George has to use his own money to stop the institution from dissolving. ItвЂ™s an important plot point, but I also think it speaks to how much people donвЂ™t know about how banks actually work.

As a whole, the movie raises some critical questions about the purpose of banks: What are they meant to do and who are they meant to serve?Д«ourree Lam: That scene has always really stuck out to me. But I love that speech for another reason, too: It helps explain, at a pretty simple level, how deeply interwoven AmericaвЂ™s banking structure and finances can be-so when a bank, big or small, fails, lots of people wind up feeling the impact. I want an audio file of George Bailey saying вЂњThe moneyвЂ™s not there!вЂќ as he tries to explain how deposits get rolled into other products, not just stacks of bills tucked away in a vault.

White: I forgot how much commentary there is in this movie about the economics of how banks and loans work. The decisions of the well-intentioned Bailey as he faces an unfortunate deposit-envelope mix-up and tries to fend off an aggressive tycoon make for a clear-cut narrative set piece, but also, whether Capra intended to or not, make the movie financially instructive all these years later.Д«elow is a conversation we had after (re-)watching the film about the various questions it raises about mortgages, banking, and financial solvency. The filmвЂ™s protagonist, George Bailey, gives up his dreams of traveling the world to run Bailey Building and Loan, a small community bank with a mortgage business. But the movieвЂ™s plot also touches on some still-relevant financial topics, including the nature of banking, the philosophical calculus behind issuing loans, and the way American familiesвЂ™ financial fates are intertwined (and, we swear, we arenвЂ™t just saying that because we both happen to report on business and economics at The Atlantic). Seventy years after its release, Frank CapraвЂ™s ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Life remains a holiday classic, with warm and fuzzy messages about the importance of love and family.

It's a wonderful life gif