Preview

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1194 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (2010)

Q1. Do you agree with Gordon Gekko that “Greed is Good”? Why or why not?

“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 U.S.A.”

Above is what has been quoted by Gordon Gekko in the 1987 Wall Street movie. Interestingly, the notion that greed is good has been suggested by Adam Smith, who argued that the efforts of individuals in pursuit of their own self-interest will make the society as a whole better off.

Greed defines as an inordinate desire to possess ourselves of something that might bring us benefits. We might morally assume that greed is inappropriate. I don’t agree with Gordon Gekko that greed is good because greed is not necessarily good; it is like a double-edged sword. In reality, human beings gain more pleasure when they act in their best interest and improve their life.

Greed can also become an addiction where the strong desire over attachment to material world makes people being never satisfied of what they have. This insatiable hungry creates a behavior of always wanting and expecting more of what gets them high, fame and pleasure.

In this movie, Greed makes one forget family responsibilities. This is the main reason for Winnie to be not in good terms with her father, Gordon Gekko as she realized that Gekko loves money above all. He spends much of his life earning money and power and also went through imprisonment because of money. Besides that, greed can be seen as the motivator to get more money, power and fame. Bretton James acted against ethic values in taking over Keller Zabel when he uses his position and influence to bring down his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The word greed, when generally used, bears negative connotations to describe something that is socially unacceptable. Individuals who are known as being greedy are often acknowledged as people who are not thankful for what they have. Greed is a voracious need for more, and to some, more is never enough. In Laurence Shames’ article, “The More factor”, the concept of growth and wanting more is dubbed as insidious because Americans are shown as being exceedingly greedy to satisfy their own ends instead of promoting widespread growth. Such satisfaction must take advantage of new ‘frontiers’ to profit from as old markets tend to decline in profits. American views of an unending frontier, opportunity, and more have always been a part of who Americans are.…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the movie “Wall Street” Gekko made the remark that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right; greed works” (Stone, 1987). Greed is for people that only think of themselves. Gekko’s perspective tells us that he is not concerned with ethics. In order to gain as much money as possible, he is willing to make decisions that contradict trading regulations. Instead of corrupting others, Gekko should allow new stockbrokers to make their own decisions about how they want to trade. . This brings me to Gekko being self- interest; he made the quote (Stone, 1987) “If you want a friend get a dog.” This let me know friends means nothing to him. He is only in this for the business. By him doing dirty insider trading this caused him to spend time in jail.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    | Greed is akin to selling yourself to the devil. Greed hits everyone (Tom and his wife are poor) yet they are greedy. Greed leads to taking advantage of others and prohibits spiritual growth.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of Ronald Reagan’s famous propositions was the assertion that greed is good. The meaning behind the belief that greed is good, however, has been established long before the 1980s. While many individuals believe that America was founded on Judeo Christian beliefs through the coming of the Puritans seeking religious freedom, the heart of the American spirit lies in a more universal religion, a religion that began on consumerism and paved way toward the goal of economic freedom. American consumerism not only provided the basis of the economy in the United States, but introduced the country to cultural individualism as well. First and foremost, one of the driving factors that led to the discovery of the new world and colonization of the Americas…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Examples of greed is the American revolution. When British was sending people to America ,they didn’t let them go the pass the colonies. This frustrated the colonies because they wanted freedom so later a war broke out between them. Alone greed is powerful. Power is the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Walker Theme

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Greed and misery are two nouns that come hand in hand. In The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker and his wife were both very miserly beings. They had stingy and quarrelsome personalities and had tendencies to horde objects and money. The two lived distant from others and like to stay isolated(243). They were in essence human representations of the word “greedy”. Though they were married and very alike they actually despised each other. They would get in arguments and had a lack of trust. The lack was so immense that they would even horde valuables from each other(243). The greed caused them to be miserable together and live a depressing life together. The greed was so bad that when Tom’s wife went missing along with some valuables he cared more about the missing object than his wife’s wellbeing. When he found the objects wrapped inside her apron on a tree Tom said, “let us get hold of the property and we will endeavor to do without the women.” This proved how far Tom’s greed actually went and what it can do to a person. He was so miserable with his wife…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Greed is an excessive desire to acquire or posses more than what one needs or deserves with respect to material wealth. In life, there are things we need and things we want. Greed is usually associated with the want part of life. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting the finer things in life, but when you can’t control your wantsand you want more and more, it turns into greed, and it can especially be evident in a churchgoer. Some churchgoers hide their greed, while you can see it very clearly in others. A good example of this would be how churchgoers always encourage giving. In the Bible it says that, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." But when it comes time for them to give to a needy cause or pay their tithes and offering, they become stingy and only give small amounts, or nothing at all. Some of them may even say, "Sorry, I don't have any money," when they know they have money but are trying to save it because they saw a purse or a pair of sneakers that they want at the mall, when they have 200 other pairs of those things at home that they don't even wear. A child goes without food and shelter everyday because of the greed in some people, especially…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” -Erich Fromm. Greed is an underlying theme that repeatedly takes form throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels, it eats up and consumes his characters to the point of their deterioration. They all yearn for an outcome that they will never get, however they feel that the world owes whatever it is that they seek to them. Fitzgerald uses his characters to criticize the upper class's greed, arguing that if someone achieves wealth, or is raised wealthy then it will lead to a feeling of entitlement. People who live affluently feel entitled to everything, especially love and money which results in failure and decline of…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Capitalism & Greed

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the article, "Capitalism and Greed"(1982) by James L. Doti the author states, “In his path breaking work, The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith described an economic system based on self-interest"(1). This economic system based on self-interest is the foundation for capitalism and pertains to the 21st century where America still uses capitalism as its economic model. In the article, "America's Disease is Greed"(2004) by Andrew Greeley, he discusses and makes many points how greed comes with capitalism. First glance at a capitalist economy the morals of the self-interest theory might get questioned, but a more in depth look at the capitalist society it shows that it is the best way to gain economic performance.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Greed is a bottomless pit which drains the person in an endless effort to satisfy their needs without ever reaching fulfillment. Various authors such as GUY DE MAUPASSANT (use lower case as needed), James Joyce, Isabel Allende and John Steinbeck believe that greed creates a strong and intense selfish desire within you in which you will never be able to achieve satisfaction.…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    2. Do you believe that Bernard Madoff worked alone, or do you think he had help in creating and sustaining his Ponzi scheme? Would this represent a conflict of interest?…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Wolf Of Wall Street

    • 1000 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The film is talking about Jordan Belfort (Leonard DiCaprio starred) ran a stock brokerage firm called Stratton Oakmont that defrauded investors in 90s, this is one of the most famous business fraud scandals in wall street and he is known as “Wolf of Wall Street”. The company running the business by buying penny stocks with some secrets accounts, they hired salesmen to do the cold calls and persuaded them to buy their stocks that could make many profit to them. After many clients bought the penny stocks so that the price of stock rose, they would dump the stocks they had bought. They earned a lot of money from this while their clients lost their investments from stocks crashed. By running this defrauded business, the firm became bigger and bigger and hired more and more salesmen. After few years, Belfort and his partners had to do money laundering in order to solve the problem of their huge dirty money from fraud. They saved their money in Swiss bank accounts and found people to laundry their money. Finally, the unethical business was discovered by FBI and the firm was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Belfort was arrested by FBI for money laundering and securities fraud.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Obsession with Money

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We live in a world where money is needed for everything we do, so we end up becoming obsessed. At first, it’s a necessity, but then we want more. A person wants to keep making money because they are greedy. As long as they are greedy, they will always crave for more than what they need. In general, money is powerful, but at the same time you can’t let it control your life. In the Queen of Versailles, David Siegel is trying to build the dream house. In order to do that, he has to borrow money from the bank. As he proceeds to build the mansion, the bank stops giving him money. His idiotic wife doesn’t know what’s going on, and she goes on an endless shopping spree. In the end, the man ends up losing the house, and is forced to sell it. Obtaining money can either make you live a life of greed and misery, or a positive life.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wealth and Happiness

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In conclusion, we should feel no excessive greediness and enthusiasm for wealth but should always maintain…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Money is not the root of all evil. In fact, the love of money is the root of all evil. When a person love money so much, he will jealous on other with more money and he tends to get more money than him in every possible way even by committed crime. A man greedy is also another negative sign of loving money. They never satisfy the amount of money they have, they want more and more. They steal, rob and cheat to get quick money to fulfill their greedy.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics