At another point where Mark Baum and his hedge fund employees are meeting the people they are betting against, Baum has a talk with a CDO manager. It is during this conversation where the CDO manager reveals just how corrupt the system truly is, and how millions of people would suffer if Mark and his group are right. When asked if the manager worries about rising default rates, all he responds with is that he assumes no risk. Mark flips out, and the conversation ends with the manager comparing his wealth to Mark’s wealth. Of course, the manager also has to mention that he owns a nice helicopter. A very revealing quote from the manager is “You think I’m a parasite don’t you? Well apparently society values me very much, judging by how much I’m worth.” Brown’s article sums up the reason behind society promoting this kind of thinking amongst individuals:
“The extension of economic rationality to formerly non-economic domains and institutions extends to individual conduct, or more precisely, prescribes citizen-subject conduct in a neo-liberal order. Whereas classical liberalism articulated a distinction, and at times even a tension, among the criteria for individual moral, associational, and economic actions, neo-liberalism normatively constructs and interpellates individuals as entrepreneurial actors in every sphere of