Gekko: Well, I appreciate the opportunity  you're giving me, Mr. Cromwell,  as the single largest shareholder  in Teldar Paper, to speak.      Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!  All together, these men sitting up here [Teldar management] own less than 3 percent of the company. And where does Mr. Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock; he owns less than 1 percent.

And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.                            

Cromwell: This is an outrage! You're out of line, Gekko!

Gekko: Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents, each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I'll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents.     

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!

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.  Greed is right.  Greed works.  Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence 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.  And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.         

Thank you very much.

I personally think that desire or "greed" is a good thing, and that it simply needs to be curved by morality, law, and enforcement of them.

Oh, I thought this had to do with Full Metal Alchemist.

Show = he's an awesome bad guy

Real life = not if you're mean to people for being greedy

Without greed/capitalism there would be far less inventions/discoveries.

Christopher Columbus wasn't an explorer, he was a businessman looking for a new way to India so he could trade goods. He was a capitalist. Without him all of us in North America would be natives.

And talking more modernly...do you think Bill Gates made Windows for the good of the people? Haha hell no he made it to make $$$, and thanks to him we all have computers.

Greed is good to a certain extent.

You know, there used to be civilizations of millions of people who might not have seen that as a particularly good argument for the beneficial powers of greed.

Anyways, the very definition of greed is that the wish for self gain and wealth is excessive. Lots of the things people do for money (even a crap load of money) isn't greed.

Although I disagree with that definition of greed, going with that definition isn't it the desire to live beyond our needs, luxury, what drives consumerism? Our strive for utility? Our strive to not simply produce for our families, but produce excess (which leads to specialization), trade them, etc? How do you define "excessive"? Utility, although marginally deminishing, is always increasing. Net utility, can be increased with specialization and productivity. What's excessive? Basic needs today have been the luxury of yesterday. We live like kings today because of economic progress, and economic progress is driven by greed, the desire for happiness (or love, life, etc).

Well obviously I'd need a definition of what defines greedy first, but for the general term, it's hard to really classify any form of greed as "good". Guess I'd also need a definition of good, as that is vague as well.

I mean, anyone can argue the benefits, of any so called event. Hell I'm pretty sure the Nazis with the Autobahn revolutionized highway travel around the world, especially in America with the Interstate system. However, is it logical to take that one beneficial thing, and cloud the other things the Nazis did.

That's how I view greed. It has had its benefits in a capitalist society, and even its benefits under a dictatorship, but does that even come close to outweighing the other things it has done to people, families, and countries as a whole. Me like some of the most famous philanthropists, believe that you should have the freedom to get everything you deserve, but there is no justice in letting the world dieing beneath you. With greed, no one wins.

Hm, the desire to better ones income is bad now? Competition is what makes the free market thrive and its mostly supported in Democracies.

Let's face it, regardless of if there was currency or not. Greed would always exist in other ways.

Greed also isn't a completely bad thing and most people, I believe, are hypocrites if they claim greed is bad because if they really believed that then they would be donating to charity on a regular basis. Do most people do that? Nope.

As Zucas said, a definition would have been nice. But I don't like greed in its basic form (get more for your personal gain), in the same way that I think the American Dream is a load of crap. Sure it has its upsides, and it certainly has benefits I would miss if I hadn't had it in the first place, but I'd be happy in a society were they had taken a backseat too. I'm a socialist and happily pay my taxes, knowing that it will help make other people's lives better. Sure, I wish the government would spend my money more efficiently, but not paying taxes isn't going to help anyone.

I'm learning and sorta agreeing (bit wary since my knowledge is limited) in counter cyclical policy. Ease government spending and raise taxing during times of expansion, and increase government spending and lower taxes during recessions.

Looking at private property with that mindset, I say that let the government do what's necessary to stabalize the economy and keep it from fluctuating so radically and then let the free market do as it pleases. So I don't see how higher taxes and higher government spending all the time is good.