Financial Meltdown

Abstract

Oliver Stone’s¹ 1987 film, Wall Street, proved to be positively prophetic as the U.S. economy went into a meltdown in the fall of 2008. Stone made this film during the Reagan era (1980–1992). In the film, the character Gordon Gekko was the greedy Wall Street speculator, and justified h is creed of greed with both charm and a hint of malice. It’s clear that no good can come from this. In real life, however, the creed of greed has dominated for decades on Wall Street and been given ethical cover by the idea that the market is guided by an “invisible hand” and thus its profit-making is always good.

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.

—Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.