# [Podcast] The Miracle of Kingship, Revisited

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/exit-podcast-5646171/podcast-the-miracle-of-kingship-revisited
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/exit-podcast-5646171/podcast-the-miracle-of-kingship-revisited.md
Podcast: [EXIT Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/exit-podcast-5646171)
Published: 2025-12-24T05:04:06+00:00
Episode link: https://blog.exitgroup.us/p/podcast-the-miracle-of-kingship-revisited
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/182472377/d82652ddfd5be9a19630f81cc09daf2a.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/exit-podcast-5646171/episodes/podcast-the-miracle-of-kingship-revisited
Duration seconds: 1344

## Resource

Last Christmas, I wrote an article titled George Bailey and the Miracle of Kingship : It’s my take on it’s a Wonderful Life, which is my favorite Christmas movie, and it’s one that many of you seemed to get a lot out of. EXIT is a fraternity dedicated to shorting managerial systems and building the human institutions that come next. Learn more here: In the process of writing it, talking about it, hearing your comments, and developing thoughts at EXIT over the last year, a lot of the ideas that we drew out of this movie feel increasingly relevant to the mission of Exit, so I thought I’d revisit it. So, like I did for The Feudal Instinct , this will be a “director’s cut.” I’m going to read the article, but I’m also going to add some elaboration and commentary of things we’ve been developing since last year. So here goes: [This post assumes you’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life. If you haven’t, definitely watch it tonight.] Mr. Potter is basically right about George Bailey. You can’t run a lending business like a charity ward, particularly one owned by other people for whom you act as a fiduciary agent. If George Bailey gave away money to anyone who asked, he would bankrupt the building and loan. No matter how much profit Bailey selflessly chooses to leave on the table, it isn’t enough to build infinite houses for free. And that’s the first clue as to what is really happening here: George Bailey doesn’t bankrupt the Building & Loan. In fact, he somehow pulls it through the Great Depression (which, in the real world, sank Building and Loan Associations as a category — more on that later) and his large family lives simply but comfortably. Which means that, somewhere off camera, someone at the Bailey B&L is denying loans, foreclosing on deadbeats, and repossessing properties…

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## Transcript

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