MovieChat Forums > It's a Wonderful Life (1947) Discussion > Bailey was an idiot. Why not take Potter...

Bailey was an idiot. Why not take Potter's offer to run his affairs


given that George runs it his way?

Potter had flat out admitted that Bailey had beaten him and his advisor (or whoever that was in the scene before) admitted Bailey was exceptional at what he did.

Bailey could have made the fortune he had desired (and lost out on after screwing things up with Wainright) and still be able to help the people of Bedford Falls. With a newborn on the way, he should have swallowed his pride and tell Potter (with faux bravado) that next morning that he would take his offer.

Instead he let his temper get the best of him (which seems to be his biggest flaw)

Uncle Billy's biggest flaw was being a drunken buffoon.

Mother is the name for God on the lips & hearts of all children -Eric D. Raven

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Because Potter is untrustworthy AND George didn't want to sell out to him...

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George "Well what about the Building and Loan?"

Potter "Oh, confound it, man, are you afraid of success? I'm offering you a three year contract at twenty thousand dollars a year, starting today. Is it a deal or isn't it?

LOL, 3 years later, Building and Loan gone, Potter throws George out on his ear.



"But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

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I think if Potter was satisfied with George working for him, he would extend George's employment beyond 3 years.

But that would mean George killing his conscience.


About Potter's offer, it was EXTREMELY attractive.
USD 20,000 annual income when the unemployment rate was at twenty something percent (it was during the Great Depression), no need college degree (George only had high school qualifications) and being able to travel around the world (few Americans travelled outside their state, let alone outside USA then).

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Yes that offer was "too good to be true", wasn't it?

Bailey would have had to have shown value to Potter far beyond his salary after that contract or he would have been out on his ear.

There's a bunch of real people who are much nicer than the fictional Potter who in today's world would do that in a blink of an eye and call it "business", let alone during the depression.

"But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

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Potter killed his dad. Plus Potter wants to run the building his way. He wanted an employee, not a partner.

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George wouldn't have had decision-making control. The job offer was a bribe. George sells out, doing well for himself and his immediate family, but ceding the welfare of the town to Mr. Potter. George couldn't do that, not when he knew the kind of man Mr. Potter was, and not when he knew and spoke of often how important it was for Bedford Falls to maintain at least one honest institution that didn't require crawling to Potter.

___
I used to think I knew everything about the world. Now I just know that it's round.

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Mr.Potter used all the things George missed out on in life to tempt him to give in to him. The career he never had,the travels he gave up,the dumpy house he lived in. All it required was to sell his and the town's soul to the devil. Fortunately, George realized this and turned Potter down.

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Because George would have to sacrifice every principle he had to work for Potter. It would be like if a woman was asked to run the campaign of a candidate who either ridiculed women or treated them like sex objects. No woman in her right mind would do that!

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i would

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Then in 3 years, the town would be similar to how it looked when George was never born. Thank goodness he came to his senses.

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Potter would've expected & demanded George do the unconscionable, such as foreclosing on jobless people & leaving them homeless. And more.



Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.

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This was George Bailey, not Vidkun Quisling or Marshall Pétain.

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