It’s A Wonderful Government Regulation

Scene from “Its a Wonderful Life,” (1946), directed by Frank Capra. Photo courtesy The New York Times.

A holiday-themed musing on what we risk losing.

This Thanksgiving, I admit to having provoked an awkward moment.

Before the Thanksgiving meal, our family has a custom to share what we are thankful for. When it came to my turn, I said that I was thankful for government regulations and “It’s A Wonderful Life,” (1946), directed by Frank Capra, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.

My quirky fondness for “this old chestnut” is based on the sacrifices we share in building and preserving personal wealth.

That sounds rather highfalutin’, doesn’t it?

In “It’s A Wonderful Life,” an angel helps.

Capra captures financial panics in “Its a Wonderful Life,” framed as two depositor runs on the Bailey Brothers Savings and Loan, the institution that George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, inherits as manager.

Two “bank runs,” one fantastical; the other equally fantastical but revealing.

One, a side show of capitalism. The other, the promise of shared sacrifice.

The first “bank run” is a panic fueled by the town’s only retail bank closing its doors to ward off depositors storming the vaults seeking to remove their deposits. The depositors cross the street and Stewart lets them into the…