Wednesday, December 17, 2003
 
Greed, For Lack of a Better Word, Is Good

So after reading that book, I had to go and watch Wall Street to get a nut's-eye view of the 1980s and the corporate raiders and LBO artists.

Man, what a cool movie. I rather liked Gordon Gekko, who rose from humble beginnings as a city college kid to become what he was. I mean, read his speech to Teldar stockholders. It's a pretty rousing bit.

But almost to the end of the movie, in the confrontation between Gordon Gekko and Bid Fox over Bluestar Air, suddenly Michael Douglas opens his mouth and Oliver Stone's economic theories come out. He calls capitalism a zero-sum game and vomits forth a Paul Krugman column.

Stone's projecting. Everything he captures right about capitalism in the movie he negates with this single speech, where capitalists are fleas and Martin Sheen's working man is the noble dog.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:08 PM
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To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."