Let's Watch Wall Street - the Movie

I think we need to rent the movie from the 80’s, “Wall Street” again. Sorry, I didn’t mean rent – I meant download. Remember the main character Warren Gekko played by Michael Douglas? Gekko coined the phrase, “Greed is Good”, which was a rationalization of the ruthlessness of the financial arena in the 80’s to make money. The idea is that the more money you make, the more you spend, the better you feel and the economy grows.

Now where have I heard that recently?

With all the news coming out about companies accepting bailout funds and still spending money on lavish company retreats and stadium names and other such things, one has to wonder about our whole collective greed.

I’m beginning to wonder if the folks running these institutions are younger than 45 years old. If they are, then they may have just graduated from high school the last time unemployment was in double digits (the early 80’s). The reason the populace is wondering why they “don’t get it” is perhaps because they have only known prosperous times in the their career and therefore, trips to Las Vegas and box seats at the Yankees game is just the normal course of business.

Talk about a reality check…..