Gatsby sacrificed his entire life and all of his time toward pursuing Daisy, someone who didn’t truly love him for who he was as a person. When Gatsby realized that he couldn’t really have Daisy, the girl who married Tom for his wealth and availability and the girl that lived differently from him, he found that his who life was spent “watching over nothing” (Fitzgerald 7). He constantly tried to pursue the hope that came from the green light in front of Daisy’s house with no return. He even lived a lonely life in his grand house, hosting parties filled with people that he didn’t know, so that he could try to impress Daisy. 

In Inside Job, people who worked for AIG for a good portion of their lives were devastated when AIG didn’t have enough money to pay credit holders. AIG was then taken over by the government and layoffs and unemployment quickly ensued.Those that were affected the most were those who had been investing so much of their lives and time in the company. 

The article “Lest we forget: Why we had a financial crisis” is another example of people contributing so much time to something that ultimately failed. Sir Andrew Large attempted to warn the public about heavy borrowing, but no one would listen. After spending all of their efforts borrowing and participating in the finance sector, these people found that the majority of their borrowings were lost. 

All three of these examples contribute to the idea of devoting too much time of one’s life toward something that ultimately failed. Gatsby, like the workers for AIG and the borrowers, constantly pursued wealth or happiness but ended with less than they began with. Gatsby was left with his own loneliness and death, and the AIG workers/borrowers were left with devastation and poorness.

 

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In Inside Job, Richard Fuld was described. As the chief executive officer of the Lehman Brothers, he was very wealthy. However, as described in the documentary, his wealth made him very secluded from everyone else. Although he was very wealthy with the profits he made with the Lehman Brothers, he most likely was not happy on the inside. 

In the “Creating the Good Society” article, individualism and the Lockean political culture was described. In this ideology, there is a supposed sense of freedom from others and independence. However, with independence, as seen with individuals like Gatsby and Fuld, comes a strong responsibility and sometimes an overall loss of happiness. 

As seen in all three of these examples, the cost of pursuing a dream was much greater than imagined. Gatsby and Richard Fuld both became very isolated and secluded people, maintaining great wealth but not feeling the general sense of happiness that comes from a gathered community. Similarly, while the Lockean political culture ideal does promote independence, it does not necessarily guarantee happiness. 

In Inside Job, the people who worked for large businesses on Wall Street acted in ways that were both sad and disappointing. They were constantly attempting to prove or demonstrate their wealth in whatever way was possible. Kristin Davis described the prostitution area that she ran, which was very close to Wall Street. This prostitution area was spending corporate money, and this was completely allowed and supported. In fact, there were strip clubs and drugs that were used by business people working in the investment banks there. By supporting these un-moral and wrong things, the business people hoped to shallowly spread the popularity of their banks and businesses. 

The “Facebook/Zuckerberg’s Greed, violating trust, and coming of privacy crisis” article describes the un-moral actions that Facebook has recently taken. There was a privacy crisis that occured, where the privacy of individuals using Facebook was jeopardized. Eventually Facebook fixed the issue, but this occurrence demonstrates the extent at which social media and other online services will take in order to keep their profitable services in continuance. Without the continued posting on social media by individuals around the world, Facebook would be nowhere. 

All three of these examples demonstrate the extent at which people will go in order to achieve what they want. Wall street business workers and the actions of Facebook represent greed. Both Wall street businesses owners and the owners of Facebook performed embarrassing actions in order to attempt to make themselves or their companies look better. The negative impact that these greedy actions can have on society are shown by Nick’s response, who was negatively impacted and hurt by the shallow personalities of Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan, and others. 

The Inside Job documentary features many individuals and businesses who used dishonesty in an attempt to make more money. One example shown in the video was a women who got ripped off by an investor who was working for someone who was illegally obtaining money (defraud). She initially bought her house for an expensive (but fairly reasonable) price. However, she was then told that she had to pay more and more for her house in order to maintain in. She and her husband were already working long hours as it was, and she could not afford the new and unexpected additional payments. This is another example of using trickery and dishonesty to negatively impact others, while supposedly gaining a profit for oneself. 

The “First they Jailed the Bankers” article states that the U.S. actually rewards individuals who use fraud and market manipulation techniques. The U.S. rewards these individuals by bailing them out. This process encourages dishonest techniques as a means of making profit. 

Just as Nick began to lose his honesty by becoming more and more influenced by the greed and wealth that was found around him, businesses and individuals featured in Inside Job lost their honesty as they were influenced by the potential for wealth and great prosperity. Using techniques involving both fraud and market manipulation, these businesses were able to use very dishonest and wrong practices. While most of these big businesses suffered in the end, when they were shut-down out of debt from the various economic crises, there were some businesses that were simply bailed out. 

As seen on “ Inside Job”, Men on Wall Street work all day every day, and their lives revolve  around pursuing their dream. Their desires and lust for things other than their ultimate end goal that they struggle with along the way are what will be a detriment to their success. It explains the heavy drug and prostitution use in wall street which was one of the things the young men trying to make it big had to do in order to show they could handle anything. In the news article, “The most successful Founders are Greedy”, Paul Graham explains that business men are pushed for the need for power rather than the want for money. Just like Gatsby was pushed to reach his dream by daisy and wanting a power over her. Every business men has that green light they see while working towards their dream, but also face desires that will stray them from pursuing their dream. 

Gatsby had, “ changed [his name] at age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career”. In “ Inside Job” many other business men have lost sight of who they were or changed their character in order to gain wealth and power. CEOs of banking companies such as Bank of America involved with the financial crisis weren’t born with the drive to be greedy. They became greedy when their urge for power caused their character to diminish. 

In the news article, “ Facebook/Zuckerbergs greed, violating trust, and coming of privacy crisis” explains the unmoral actions Facebook has done. The privacy of people on Facebook was jeopardized, and you see how social media is not really private and there are people pretending to be something they are not. Just how Gatsby and many business men do, they change their character or way people see them in order to gain success or reach their dream.

When Myrtle spoke to Nick back at Tom's and Myrtle's apartment in New York she admitted that "The only crazy I was was when I married him. " Catherine, Myrtle's sister tells Nick that "When they do get married they're going West to live for a while until it blows over" In this way Myrtle is giving up her marriage to be with Tom and eventually marry and move away. In the article by Santa Clara university called “Creating the Good Society” the writers discuss how Americans believe in individualism and this feeling leads them to want pursue their private satisfactions and and self-fulfillment. This is the type of American Myrtle identifies with. She has a dream of being wealthy and surrounded by beautiful things. By pursuing this idea of individualism she puts her marriage at risk by chasing after another dream; Tom.  This want to pursue her dream cost her her life as she was killed in the crossfire of Daisy and Tom.