Screwball Economics (with Preston Sturges)

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Everything I know about economics I learned from the movies. (Collected knowledge after the jump.) So when times get tough, I consult Preston Sturges. Here, I have condensed the financial wisdom of a lifetime into less than five minutes -- all of it distilled from 1937's "Easy Living," written by Sturges, directed by Mitchell Leisen, and starring Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, Ray Milland, Mary Nash, Franklin Pangborn, Luis Alberni and Andrew Tombes, among many others.

Sturges himself puts in an appearance to explain the key principle behind all successful investment strategies.

And in his movie, there's a happy ending.

What I know about capitalism from the movies:

1) Wall Street is a casino.

2) Perception is reality.

3) Or, if it isn't, it might as well be.

4) It's only money.

5) Don't panic.

6) Making money is easy; comedy is hard.

7) If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee -- it's the bunk!