Greed is Good: Use It or Lose It

In a 2014 article published in Sociological Forum (March 2014) we quoted Gordon Gecko, the lead character in the movie Wall Street, who was telling an assembled audience of stockholders that what makes our economy strong and vibrant is "greed." We propose to harness that greed by letting Gordon Gecko be Gordon Gecko, and give him the social honor of recognizing that his wealth and lavish life style do contribute, however indirectly, to the public good. Moreover, we propose to create
entrepreneurial projects or philanthropic gifts for the common good that the Geckos of the world might embrace under a heading of "targeted opportunity philanthropy" (TOP). In this proposal we would link wealthy donors with specific projects like college tuition endowments for talented students from low-income families; support for students to attend non-college technology programs; rebuilding schools in poor neighborhoods; and second-chance programs for school dropouts and ex-offenders.

But, and it is a big but, we propose that a major portion of the accumulated wealth that Gecko does not consume or give away in his lifetime via targeted opportunity endowments must be returned to the public treasury upon his death. In short, use it or lose it. There is much more to this proposal including the creation of a Family Inheritance Court to allocate some of Gecko's unspent wealth to family members. What the proposal prevents is the creation of family dynasties that allows wealth to be transferred across generations.

If you want to know more about our "use it or lose it" proposal we encourage you to read the article in Sociological Forum.