As the character Gordon Gekko (not to be confused with the Geico version) said in the one of my favorite movie speeches in the 1987 film Wall Street, “Greed is Good” (I have been in the apartment Charlie Sheen “dumped.”)

>The point is, ladies and gentlemen, 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 save not only Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

It seems that bubbles are good too. Daniel Gross, one of my favorite econ columnists in Slate and the New York Times wrote a book with an intriguing title and comic book cover design Pop! Why Bubbles Are Great For The Economy.

The book is available tomorrow. Click the widget above.

The concept is that the frenzy of irrational economic enthusiasm lays the groundwork for sober-minded opportunities, growth, and innovation. Of course that means ignoring the pain and suffering of individuals, but it peeks piques my curiousity enough to buy the book. Much of the bubble discussion out of the housing sector to date has been an us vs them, real estate industrial complex v. renters, etc. conspiracy theory.

Barry Ritholtz of Big Picture highlighted a TheStreet.com Brett Arends post that bubbles are everywhere as per value investor Jeremy Grantham who writes that the entire world is a bubble.

Here’s more on the topic (via Unstructured). No real visuals but its interesting nevertheless.


4 Comments

  1. edward May 7, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    Is this post just a plug for the book? Or were you trying to make a point.

  2. Jonathan J. Miller May 8, 2007 at 10:43 pm

    Both actually. I think that Dan is a great writer so I’d recommend this book, plus I was talkin’ about bubbles.

  3. Bill Rice May 9, 2007 at 4:16 pm

    Great post.

    It is important to keep natural market corrections in perspective whenever you have to earn your living in that Market. Mastering that will allow you to take market share in a downturn–market share that is easily defended and grown when the cycle turns.

    People that take that much time to criticize and make foolish anonymous comments probably shouldn’t waste their time on books without comic illustrations.

    Jonathan, keep up the good stuff!

  4. Noel May 24, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    Another great Bill Rice post. Relevant post Jonathan. thanks.

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