Capitalism - A Gordon Gekko story

Watched Michael Moore's Capitalism this weekend. I guess if you are right wing, you won't like it, and if you are left wing, you'll love it. Personally, I'm kind of ambivalent, I can agree with capitalism, and think it fundamentally is probably the best way to move societies and countries forward. However, I don't like a-holes, and I don't want to be one myself. This seems to be what has happened in the board rooms the last decades. The a-holes have taken power.



Now, anybody who has seen the 80's movie Wall Street by Oliver Stone, (still very good, see it!) with Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, know what I mean by a capitalistic a-hole. It is a person, who will go to any means to make money. He will not personally kill people, but he will without blinking make strategic decisions that will, in order to make a profit. And in a way, it is hard to argue with this person, since it is his (or hers) job.

So how do we stop this development, mainly happening in the world's largest economy, USA? Hey, I'm just a blogging Art Director, but if I should come up with a modest thought, it is this: In Sweden, we have a mix of state run corporations and private. The state mainly handles stuff like schools, prisons, health care and pensions. Now, we have the world's highest taxes, so here we have gone a bit too far, but anyhow, our country is doing allright in this downturn. Maybe our system isn't too bad after all. Maybe one should look at what works best, and see if that can be implemented where the Gekko's have taken over?