Gordon Gekko was right. Greed IS Good.

Gordon Gekko is a fictional character from the Oliver Stone movie "Wall Street" and a favorite example of Keynesians/Socialists to point to as an example of what happens when you don't have Government oversight of the markets. In the movie "Wall Street", Gordon Gekko makes a speech where he not only denounces corporate bureaucracy as wasteful, he also makes the case that greed is good.






It's extremely hard to refute what he says in the above video, simply because he is 110% correct. We don't NEED new phones or new computers. The old ones work well for their purpose. We don't NEED new movies, or faster means of delivering information. The old ways worked just fine. But, someone figured out that they could get wealthy if they created these new products for the consumer to purchase. The result is a boom of new products and ideas that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

While greed IS good, like anything good, it can result in disaster if misused. Enron is a perfect example of this.  But before I get into Enron, let's look at a Socialist's point of view.



Bill Maher points to examples of greed having disastrous consequences, like Health Insurance Companies screwing over their customers to save a little money, Food Companies cheapening their products with sugar and fats to save money, Credit Card Companies charging outrageous interest rates, and Environmental Dumping, but what he fails to realize is very simple.

We've had Managed Care since the 70's when the government started endorsing HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) during the Nixon administration. We made it cheaper through taxation to buy insurance through your employer .We made it illegal to buy Health Insurance across state lines. Government handed the Health Insurance Industry a monopoly through regulation, and somehow it's a surprise when they start behaving badly?

We have the FDA (Food&Drug Administration) approving dangerous and ADDICTIVE medications like Prosac and Xanax. We have the FDA subsidizing BIG PHARMA by protecting them against competition from alternative medicines, and somehow it's a surprise that BIG PHARMA not only puts mediocre medications out on the market, but grossly overcharges for them?

The Department of Agriculture subsidizes major farming corporations by protecting them from competition of small farmers, and somehow it's a surprise that Major Farming Corporations place tainted food unto the market?

The point is that Greed IS Good, but Greed CAN'T be subsidized by the Law of the Land through legislative and Bureaucratic regulations. The Keynesians would say in response, "Well, the Free-Market fails because it doesn't control corporate greed."

Oh, but that's where you're dead wrong. The free-market doesn't have a LEGISLATIVE PROCESS to control greed, but it has something much more efficient. It has a trigger. A trigger that is built into each and every one of us as human beings, and as societal animals. That trigger is called FEAR! FEAR OF PERSONAL LOSS! 


When faced with a HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD scenario, the company may decide to invest, or to not invest. If there is a major fear that it's a bad investment, then the company won't invest. But when the government eliminates the fear, there is only the HIGH REWARD. So, is it any surprise that corporations would be quick to jump into a bad investment if there's no risk to the investor and could pay off big if the investment succeeds?

Enron is often used as an example of why we need government intervention and regulation, but Enron had received $1,600,000,000 in Corporate Welfare. What happened to Enron is what should've happened to Enron. Bear in mind, that Enron was considered to be invincible. Here we have a power company that's been turning out a profit for close to a century. There's no way they could fail... right?

WRONG!


Enron collapsed. Did the world suddenly stop receiving energy? No, another company took it's place. The TOO BIG TO FAIL DOCTRINE also subsidizes Corporate Greed. Now you might be stupid enough to ask, "Well, what does Corporate Greed being 'subsidized' have to do with anything?"

When you subsidize something, you get more of it. Enough said.

The major philosophical problem with Keynesians/Socialists is that they don't understand human nature, and until they learn the basic principles of Human Nature and Human Action, then there's no hope for any idea they have.