There’s something glaringly different hearing Gordon Gekko’s speech juxtaposed against the current financial crisis. Gekko, for all his relentless individualism–has stated his aim as a “liberator of companies”. His goal was PROFIT for himself, but in so doing, also profit for his shareholders. This was the essence of his GREED.
I’ve kept Michael Douglas around for inspiration. His Gordon Gekko portrayal not only is timeless, but has since become the motto of every aspiring capitalist and modern Wall Street hotshot. This is crystallized by the now immortalized “Greed Is Good” speech:
Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the esssence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms: greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind;
No, these days greed isn’t good enough anymore. Greed doesn’t work. Today’s Wall Street hotshots gun for PROFIT, but not necessarily for their shareholders. In fact, what is evident is that all the big bankers, traders, and brokers got paid for taking bad risks and LOSING money. And now the whole system of capitalism has been shredded since governments are scrambling to bail out these ailing companies at the expense of taxpayers.
It’s chilling to hear how Gekko had complained about this more than twenty years ago:
The new law in Corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest.
And fittingly: now the unfittest companies are going belly up one by one.
Where have all the Gekkos gone?
How funny, I was thinking of Darwinism as I read, and it was quite a surprise to happen upon it at the end. Loved the movie too!
Gekko was definitely on to something. Greed is desire on steroids. It’s a force that when harnessed can fuel success, but when unleashed will implode on itself. The difference between Gekko’s greed and Madoff’s (et al) is that he was the master of greed, they are its fools. And you sure got it right – they replaced speculation with peculation. These guys aren’t greedy capitalists, they’re common thieves disguised as market bulls. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they were let loose in the fragile China shop called Wall Street.
Nice write up. Is that Fortune Magazine cover real? If so do you know what month/year it is from?
^ Looks like May 2005, European edition.