Watching old movies...that I've seen before!

I often end up watching a movie on cable...which I've seen before and sometimes even a movie I own. My roomie and I were joking about it the other day...and how really bizarre it is. I could watch a movie anytime...because I have the DVD sitting there in my room, but I will still sit there and watch it on cable, edited down and full of commercials. Doesn't make a lot of sense, eh?

Last weekend...I was trying to take a nap and wasn't doing it very successfully. So, I flipped on the tv to see what might be on. I ended up watching the end of Boiler Room. That's another movie I've seen before...many times. I like it. I'll admit it, the first time I watched it...it was only because Affleck was in it and I like him. His part is very small...but overall, I think the movie is good. Much like Wall Street...it's a movie about the stock business and commodity brokers. This one was about this scrappy guy getting a job at a firm and trying to do whatever he could to get a sale and to get money. He sees the brokers before him with huge houses and really nice cars....and of course, he wants that for himself. Unfortunately, to get those things it involves selling a stock about a product that doesn't actually exist yet...and when the research doesn't come through, the bottom falls out and everyone loses their money.

Of course...most people in the business aren't doing illegal things like in the movie, but it got me thinking. You couldn't pay me enough to be a broker. I would be driven nuts working in a field where you can't control the market and therefore, you can't control your job. One type of stock may be going through the roof...and then it crashes. And, I would also hate it because a downturn in the market doesn't just effect my job and income, but it effects those people I helped buy and sell stock. It would feel great when I was helping people make money, but it would feel absolutely horrible when I was in essence helping people lose money. I also could never do it...because honestly, I don't understand it. I am sure if I actually worked in the field...I'd see the crash coming...or would I? The market has been suffering lately...and I am sure brokers aren't loving their jobs right now.