2. “Whoever dies with the most toys
wins”
“Greed is Good. Greed works. Greed captures
the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”
3. Signs of “More” in Our Culture
“Get the MOST for the LEAST”
“Something for nothing”
“Supersize your meal”
“The Big Gulp”
Movie Popcorn: from bags to tubs
Big Box retailers – Costco/Price
Club/Sam’s
Average house size doubled
since 1970
4. How (according to Shames) does the
frontier function as a symbol of
American consciousness?
5. Speculators…
Shames argues that the key to understanding the
national character is found in the economic
history of the old West.
Speculators built up towns in the hopes that the
railroad would come and they would strike it
rich.
6. Speculators…
Why did they keep “bucking the odds”?
1. The long shot was worth the risk. (the real estate boom
paid out big)
2. A presumption that American would continue to thrive.
The “habit of more” = truth for the economically
ambitious: No such thing as losing – there was
always a second chance in a land of growth and
destiny
(this idea instilled long before the yuppie)
7. FRONTIER
The frontier was key to the
idea of more
America was seen as a land of
opportunity = vacant space
was linked to economic
prosperity
Vast open space allowed for
upward mobility – it signified
ambition and progress
Free land created American
John Gast, American
democracy (F. J. Turner) Progress
8. What connections does Shames
make between America’s frontier
history and consumer behavior?
(pg. 58)
9. FRONTIEROPPORTUNITYMORE:
American Trinity
Frontier gave the belief/raw materials
responsible for streak of economic booms
Booms became the justification for gambles
and American optimism
Optimism shaped schemes and visions
Frontier shaped American way of doing
things and a sense of what’s worth doing
CONSUMERISM
10. FRONTIER; OPPORTUNITY; MORE:
American Trinity
Frontier + Booms = Optimism & Americanism
Consequences: (Shames 58)
• Because of this goal of “more”, Americans have
NOT adopted other values, hopes, ambitions
• “The ethic of decency has been upstaged by the
ethic of success”
• No ideal of contentment; instead, “restless striving”
• Value system based on bulk not nuance
11. “In America, a sense of quality has lagged far
behind a sense of scale” (Shames 58)
12. Today’s Problem: Less of More
Productivity growth had declined
Expectations have not
• The baby boomer generation's definition of success began
forming at an early age. As children they watched their
parents work hard to achieve success through home
ownership, a good paying job and the obtainment of material
possessions.
Some moved to bigger houses and their parents purchased more
expensive cars as spendable income increased.
14. The Myth of Endless
Abundance
We keep the frontier mythology going even
though the idea no longer exists.
• New ideas are termed a frontier – space,
technology, fashion trends, the suburbs etc.
Economic growth became the new
frontier
15. “…what made all these usages [of “frontier”]
plausible was their being linked to the image
of the American economy as an endlessly
fertile continent whose boundaries never
need be reached, a domain that could
expand in perpetuity, a gigantic playing field
that would never run out of room and on
which the game would get forever bigger
and more filled with action.” -- L. Shames
[61]
16. The Yuppie
The 1980s were a quest for the
lost frontier
Disappointment of that
nostalgia resulted in greed and
narrowness = Y.U.P.P.I.E.
• Young Urban Professional
especially when regarded as
materialistic
• Coined in 1982 on the model of
hippie and yippie.
17. Wall Street – The epitome of
More
“It was ironic that yuppies came to
be so reviled for their vaunting
ambition and outsized expectations,
as if they invented the habit of
more, when in fact they'd only
inherited it the way a fetus picks up
an addiction in the womb” (Shames
62)
18. Wall Street – The epitome of
More
Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a Wall Street stockbroker
with a strong desire to get to the top. Working for his firm
during the day, he spends his spare time working on an
angle with which to approach the high-powered,
extremely successful –but ruthless– broker Gordon Gekko
(Michael Douglas). He finally meets with Gekko, who
explains to him his philosophy that "Greed is Good".
Taking this advice and working closely with Gekko, Fox
soon finds himself swept into a world of "yuppies", shady
business deals, the "good life", fast money, and fast
women; something which is at odds with his family and
the way he was brought up.
19. Wall Street – The epitome of
More
Gordon Gekko:
“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 it's forms - greed for life, for
money, knowledge - has marked the upward surge
of mankind and greed - you mark my words - will
not only save [this company] but that other
malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank
you”
“If you need a friend, get a dog” Ironically…
20. It’s released just after October
19, 1987
On Black Monday -- October 19, 1987 -- one
trillion dollars invested in the stock market
evaporated as the Dow Jones plunged 508
points, or almost 22.6 percent of its total value.
It marked the single largest drop in the history
of the market.
• Source: Online Newshour – www.pbs.org
