Gekko was trying to teach Bud that people make their own fortunes and luck in life and in business, the businessman has become successful through hard work and being the best that he can be while the bum has given up and is reduced to begging other people for money and eating out of garbage cans, some guys make the most of what they have and become a success in life and other guys just fumble and drop the ball and screw things up, the bum had the ball and dropped it and never even tried to pick it back up again while the businessman dropped the ball and picked it up and scored a home run in his life and the bum had given up and relied on outside help to survive.
Bud could either become a success like the businessman and make money and be successful and make his own fortune and luck or he could be a fool and fail and become just another bum in life, never amounting to anything and begging others to help him out all the time, the choice is there and consequences are there too, either become a success and work hard and make your fortune by getting information or you become another bum, lots of bums in the world and more appear every day, very few businessmen and most are successful go getters that make big money and have what they want.
Gekko sees himself in the businessman, while he sees Bud as potentially becoming another bum and screwing things up, Marv was a bum, so was Dan and Lou too, while Gordon and Lynch were businessmen and successful, even Carl Fox was a bum, he worked hard and owed money, he hadnt retired yet despite being old enough to do so, Bud could be like Gordon and not be a failure like the bum and his father were.
Thats the whole point of that scene, Gordon knows best and we know why he does, because he chose to be the best, the bum chose to become a bum, he screwed his life up though, thats why the difference between him and the other guy was more than just chance.
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eddysl12
9 years ago
In the end though both Bud and Gordon end up going to prison for having committed financial crimes. That makes them lower at least temporarily than any bum on the street.
Lots of business people fail and fail badly. I read about a businessman who had become very wealthy who decided to give a lecture on what it took to become a success in business. He told the audience what they didn't really want to hear, that more than likely you would fail at least once before you made it no matter how hard you tried.
The real question isn't how hard are you willing to work but how often are you prepared to fail before you make it?
Ideally you have about as much experience as you can get in a certain business, before you decide to try to make it in that business on your own.
There is also the reality that as your business grows, at some point you will have to bring in professional managers, bureaucrats to run and manage your business for you.
As a book I read on Ross Perot stated, the charismatic ones are the ones who start a successful business, the bureaucrats are the ones who end up running it.
At some point you the creator will most likely either be bought out, pushed aside, or forced out of your own company. Does anyone remember Steve Jobs being fired from Apple?
Ideally you would have a small business that you make good money from, nobody can fire you or tell you that you don't belong there anymore, plus you would have reasonably decent hours as far as work is concerned.
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