Paul Samuelson on the 1990s

An intriguing paradox is that the 1990s isn't called a decade of greed.

~ Paul Samuelson

Joe Nocera on the Michael Milken pardon

[O]f all the pardons handed out by Trump, I can’t think of one that is more deserved. In his best-selling book about Milken, “Den of Thieves,” James B. Stewart described the junk-bond king as being at the center of “the greatest criminal conspiracy the financial world has ever known.” Well, that’s certainly what Giuliani wanted people to think, but it was never true. Giuliani perp-walked executives whom he never ended up charging. He put firms out of business for no good reason. A number of his highly publicized convictions were reversed on appeal.

As for Milken, he agreed to the plea bargain only after Giuliani indicted his brother and sent the FBI to interrogate his 92-year-old grandfather. Before sentencing, Judge Kimba Wood held an unusual hearing to allow prosecutors to lay out the case they would have brought had Milken gone to trial. It was far from a slam dunk; even Wood acknowledged that some of the testimony was ambiguous as to whether Milken had manipulated stock or committed insider trading. It was clear from the hearing that had Milken gone to trial, he had a decent chance of winning. Although Wood originally sentenced Milken to 10 years in prison, she eventually reduced it to two.

In her remarks before sentencing Milken, Wood noted that many of the letters she received said that Milken should be punished because

We as a society must find those responsible for the alleged abuses of the 1980s, economic harm caused savings and loan associations, takeover targets and those allegedly injured by the issuance of junk bonds as well as by insider trading and other alleged abuses, and punish these criminals in proportion to the losses believed to have been suffered. These writers ask for a verdict on a decade of greed. 

Such sentiments, while understandable, could not be the basis for sentencing Milken, Wood concluded; she had to focus on the crimes to which he had pleaded guilty. And yet, it has always seemed to me that Milken was punished for these much broader transgressions.

~ Joe Nocera, "Michael Milken Deserved a Pardon, But He Didn't Need One," Bloomberg.com, February 19, 2020

Laura Tyson blasts the "free market frenzy" of the 1980s

The free-market frenzy in the United States during the past decade demonstrates some of the pitfalls of unregulated capitalism.

~ Laura Tyson, Los Angeles Times, January 1990

Gordon Gekko: "Greed is good"

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 not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

~ Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas), from the movie Wall Street, released December 11, 1987

(Movie clip)