The Jones is an interesting movie that poses some interesting questions. The Jones is about a team of four salesmen that pose as a family unit. The question posed by the movie is the morality of sales.
At the end of the movie, Gary Cole(a neighbor of the Jones’ and thereby a sales target) commits suicide because he is going to lose his house due to no longer being able to pay his mortgage. He racked up debt trying to buy all the products that the Jones were being paid to market and received for free.
Gary Cole goes on a drunken tirade at a dinner party and David Duchovny(one of the Jones) asks him if he can sell some of his stuff so he can pay back the Mortgage. Duchovny begins confessing that he didn’t pay for all his stuff but stops short of admitting that his company bought it for him to try to sell. The next day Gary Cole commits suicide by drowning himself in a pool.
Duchovny blames himself and announces to the neighborhood that he and his family are fake. His family is actually 4 salespeople. Now the first issue is that Gary Cole should not have been so upset over losing his house. He was so rich that he could easily move into a small but livable property by selling some assets. The Cole character obviously had some issues with needing to be the best.
The second issue is that financial institutions and sales people con people out of money all the time. Banks charge hidden fees. Sales people try to trick people into signing contracts, hoping you won’t read all the fine print so you get ripped off your money at the end.
Do the banks and credit card companies feel guilty if people commit suicide over the feeling of helplessness that massive debt causes? No. Why is it okay for banks and credit card companies to steal peoples money but not bank robbers is a question posed by Michael Moore in his film Capitalism: A Love Story. Because banks and credit card companies have all the money and power. Enabling the use of brute force would give the little people a chance.