# Greed is Good



## Scott (Mar 14, 2006)

I watched the 1980s movie, Wall Street, recently. I had forgotten that Gordon Gekko's infamous Greed Speech appealed to evolution. For those who have not seen the movie, Gekko is the villain. He is a predator, a corporate raider and modern day robber barren. He is greedy, cruel, and willing to sell his own mother to make a dollar. He uses money to seduce the hero, Bud Fox (played by Charlie Sheen), into white collar crime. It is a gripping movie with a good message (greed is bad and can lead to all sorts of wrong behavior), although the language and one or two scenes are not appropriate.

Anyway, here is an excerpt from the Greed Speech (which is great - Douglas is really at the top of his game here). The speech is at the shareholder meeting of a corporation he is trying to take over. He chastises the inefficient board of directors.



> The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated.
> 
> In the last seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you.
> I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them!
> ...


Anyway, I thought it was interesting how Oliver Stone and the screenwriter could so effectively (from a rhetorical perspective) use evolution to justify selfish and savage conduct (which the movie depicts Gekko's corporate raids to be). It conjures up (to me at least) images of the weak and helpless dying in favor of the strong. And it is time for the weak Teldar board to fall under the stronger Gekko - to be eliminated (Gekko's predatory gaze at the board when he says the "eliminate" line is priceless). 

What is interesting to me is how naturally evolution fits into a Gekko outlook on life.

[Edited on 3-14-2006 by Scott]


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## Puritanhead (Mar 14, 2006)

Well, I do believe there is _rationale self-interest_ in economics, but we shouldn't make that the sum of our ethics-- and subordinate everything to that end.

I used to play a game called _Wall Street Raider_, which has been around for years from DOS days to Windows... one of my computer opponents would be called Gordon Gekko incidentally. I found the game to be quite amusing and entertaining, though it might bore some people. On rare occasions, I would go from starting with a $100 million fortune to having estate in excess of $1 trillion dollars in thirty years. I would own whole industries. Though, in my acquisitiveness when I look back on the ethics involved. I would bribe for contracts. I would take short-cuts to save money in decisions. My aerospace company would sell defective computers for space shuttle missions for example. My biotech company would make some pretty potent concotions for the military. Some of my large companies would initiate frivilous lawsuits against small competitors and literally bankrupt them as they try to defend against those suits. No need to put 2 and 2 together, and realize what happened sometimes. I was often buying companies, gutting them, and selling their assets-- and getting a hold another one in that same sector to dominate the market. Other times, when given the option, I would do dirty tricks to boost the bottom line. It might not cost me anything except occasion Anti-Trust fines and imaginary lawsuits.

I once took the whole economy on a ride-- where I basically had a foot in every major sector of the economy with giant holding companies. When I controlled such large wealth I could manipulate the market-- inflate stock prices, corner the bond market. I would buy up large enough share in competiting corporations to shape company policy, and then I would take and load those corporations up with debt, and dump them on the market and virtually guarantee their long-term failure, diminished market share or restructuring-- only to gain an edge by controlling another well-managed company in that same sector which takes the lead in market share. The U.S. Government couldn't pay its bills without my holding companies giving them funds through the bond market. I would float massive hundred-billion dollar loans in my holding companies, buy up the bonds cheap, and sell high-- moreover, the government would have plenty for lucrative defense contracts. And who controlled the defense sector? Yours truly. Eventually-- all of the borrowing ended with a massive hyperinflation and economic collapse throughout the nation. I hedged myself to go sailing upwards while everyone was losing everything. Sometimes, I cannot help but to think it was attributable to me. I controlled the banks-- so high interest rates didn't bother me. Oh well, I could live with 48% income taxes... could the rest of the smucks out there??!?
:bigsmile:

In the end, the billionaire mogul is just a mortal who came into the world with nothing and that's how he will leave it. Of course, all of this is in the virtual world of a PC game. I think it's better for me not to have such enormous wealth-- it corrupts the _best of men_-- it's preferable to have spiritual treasures. Everytime I premised a new game-- on sound business practices-- I would always stir away from that. I do the same thing with Civilization type games as I start world wars and raze the ground of my enemies on my imperial conquests of grandeur.


"For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?" (Matthew 16:26)

[Edited on 3-14-2006 by Puritanhead]


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## Presbyrino (Mar 14, 2006)

> What is interesting to me is how naturally evolution fits into a Gekko outlook on life.



Wall street is in my top 3 of favorite movies. 

My other favorite movie has the same intense portrayal of the evolutionary world-view in business: Glengarry Glen Ross. It's the story of real estate salesmen trying to survive in a cut-throat sales office, under a tyrannical boss named Blake (played by Alec Baldwin). One of the motivation speeches that the boss gives to his employees is priceless:

"Blake: We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize?
[Holds up prize]
Blake: Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."


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## Anton Bruckner (Mar 17, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Puritanhead_
> Well, I do believe there is _rationale self-interest_ in economics, but we shouldn't make that the sum of our ethics-- and subordinate everything to that end.
> 
> I used to play a game called _Wall Street Raider_, which has been around for years from DOS days to Windows... one of my computer opponents would be called Gordon Gekko incidentally. I found the game to be quite amusing and entertaining, though it might bore some people. On rare occasions, I would go from starting with a $100 million fortune to having estate in excess of $1 trillion dollars in thirty years. I would own whole industries. Though, in my acquisitiveness when I look back on the ethics involved. I would bribe for contracts. I would take short-cuts to save money in decisions. My aerospace company would sell defective computers for space shuttle missions for example. My biotech company would make some pretty potent concotions for the military. Some of my large companies would initiate frivilous lawsuits against small competitors and literally bankrupt them as they try to defend against those suits. No need to put 2 and 2 together, and realize what happened sometimes. I was often buying companies, gutting them, and selling their assets-- and getting a hold another one in that same sector to dominate the market. Other times, when given the option, I would do dirty tricks to boost the bottom line. It might not cost me anything except occasion Anti-Trust fines and imaginary lawsuits.
> ...


:bigsmile: is your real name Ryan Bush


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## Pilgrim (Mar 17, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Presbyrino_
> 
> 
> > What is interesting to me is how naturally evolution fits into a Gekko outlook on life.
> ...



Glengarry Glen Ross is definitely a classic. I think they are selling swampland or something like that. Steve, that's about the only part of Baldwin's speech that you could have posted without being censored! Well, that and "Coffee is for closers."


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