The Art of the Deal

Posted by godong car on Saturday, 3 December 2011

As artists, there are times, often many times, when we struggle (is that the correct word?) to put an idea or thought down...on paper, canvas, metal, clay and often anything else we might find that is handy. However, after reading Michael Lewis' book THE BIG SHORT I realized that arcane art is truly all around us.

Lewis describes in the clearest prose yet exactly what happened to cause the "Great Recession." As greedy and narrow minded, even completely deluded in their perceived wisdom and power, these men and women certainly were artists who had made a pact with the devil. To be able to create and sell what many knew was worthless paper takes a kind of artistic skill, a way to view the world that is not all that much different from an artist.

As an artist tries to express his feelings about the world around or in him with something tangible; money people also were creating a kind of vision out of thin air and while the goals are often different, the creative process is certainly at work for both! The goal in effect is to create success. The only difference, as most artists know, is that they most likely will never have the riches the sellers on Wall Street had and as Lewis pointed out, were often able to keep despite their trickery. The other big difference for most artists is that they hope to be remembered for creating something meaningful and not be remembered as say Bernie Madoff for his "art of the deal."


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