What Is Oliver Stone's Use Of The Word Greed?

The father of capitalism, Adam Smith, stated “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” Self interest is the true nature of free market capitalism however, we should note Stone’s usage of the word greed as a substitute of self interest. Self interest as a concept moves focus away from the corrupt, self indulgent nature of the world portrayed in the movie. The word “greed” carries across the concept of self indulgence, depravity, and immorality that exists in the judgement presented by Oliver Stone. The concept of Schumpter’s creative destruction is not well understood by Stone. When Gekko asks “Why do you need to wreck this company?” in
Somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred from one person to another—like magic. This painting here, I bought it ten years ago for $60,000. I could sell it today for $600,000. The illusion has become real, and the more real it becomes, the more desperate they want it. Capitalism at its finest . . . . I create nothing. I own . . . . You’re not naive enough to think that we live in a democracy, are you, Buddy? It’s the free market.” What Stone fails to understand is that wealth can be created and not merely shifted around, and that the core belief of the free market systems provides creation, innovation, and risk
Adam Smith wrote that the invisible hand of the market forces would aid individuals acting out of self interest and render the entire society to be better off. What Gekko teaches us is that greed results in output whatever the means. Self interest, interpreted as greed here, drives creativity, motivation, and profit. Greed as a driver removes any room for mediocrity and pushes individuals to want more, which boils down to the concept of non-satiation. Greed is an axiom of non-satiation and non-satiation is nothing but the assumption in neo-classical consumer theory that consumers always demand a bundle with more rather than less. Non-satiation promotes greed which drives economic output and growth. As made evident by graph 1,US labour productivity, employment, Real GDP per capita and median family income remained consistently on the rise during the time period of 1980-1990. There is low variation in the measurement of all four variables proving consistency. So don’t judge capitalism on the basis of it’s motive but on the basis of its fruit. The United States in the 1990’s is evidence of how the economy is booming when greed is given free