12 How are we to live? The ultimate choice 13 University of California, Berkeley, in which he told his audi- During the eighties Peter Lynch worked fourteen-hour days ence: 'Greed is all right... greed is healthy. You can be and built the Fidelity Magellan mutual fund into a s 13 bill greedy and still feel good about yourself. Twenty years afte giant among funds. But at the age of forty-six, when most the Free Speech Movement had made the campus the centre exec utives are still aiming higher, Lynch startled his col- f radical thought in America, Berkeley business students leagues by quitting. Why? Because he had asked himself. applauded this praise of greed. They were looking forward to What in the hell are we doing this for? And in answering earning money, lots of it, and soon. What was happening that question, he was moved by the thought that I don't was, as Michael Lewis put it in his popular Liar's Poker, 'a rare know anyone who wished on his deathbed that he had spent and amazing glitch in the fairly predictable history of getting more time at the office and spending. Smart bond traders like Lewis were earning a Symptomatic of the changing view was Oliver Stone's movie million dollars a year in salary and bonuses before they turned Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas as a convincingly twenty-five 'Never before, Lewis could truthfully assert, have unpleasant Gordon Gekko, a financial wheeler-dealer whose o many unskilled 25-year-olds made so much in so little time manner of operation resembles that of Boesky, with some s we did this decade in New York and London. Yet even elements of a corporate raider like Carl Icahn thrown in for that was peanuts compared to the sums made by the older good measure. Bud Fox, the ambitious young stockbroker heavyweights: corporate raiders like Carl Icahn, T. Boone played by Charlie Sheen, is for a time taken in by the prospect Pickens, or Henry Kravis, developers such as Donald Trump, of making it big, but when Gekko attempts his usual take- the junk bond financier Michael Milken, or Wall Street chiefs like Salomon Brothers' John Gutfreund Foxs father works as a mechanic, an angry Fox aslo.r which n the hothouse, money-directed United States of the ighties, these people were heroes, written up in magazines, Tell me, Gordon, when does it all end, huh? How many yachts can you water-ski behind? How much is enough? 0 talked about endlessly. Yet at the end, many were wondering what it was all for. Donald Trump confessed That question suggested something that the philosophers had always known, and the rich of the eighties were re- It,'s a rare person who can achieve a major goal in life and not discovering: affluence has no limits. More people were begi almost immediately start feeling sad, empty, and a little lost. ning to wonder what in the hell are we doing this for? Like f you look at the record- which in this case means ner Lynch, they were making decisions about the rest of their lives, instead of just continuing in the course that seemed to papers, magazines, and TV news- you'll see that an awful lot have been set for them by economic and social expectations. of people who achieve success, from Elvis Presley to Ivan They were beginning to live their lives with a purpose. Boesky, lose their direction or their ethic The recession that followed the boom has helped make Actually, I don't have to look at anyone else's life to know ople think again about the world they would like thats true. I'm as susceptible to that pitfall as anyone else erge when the economy picks up again. Though some may1 2 Ho w ar e we t o live ? University of California, Berkeley, in which he told his audi￾ence: 'Greed is all right . . . greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself'.6 Twenty years after the Free Speech Movement had made the campus the centre of radical thought in America, Berkeley business students applauded this praise of greed. They were looking forward to earning money, lots of it, and soon. What was happening was, as Michael Lewis put it in his popular Liar's Poker, 'a rare and amazing glitch in the fairly predictable history of getting and spending'. Smart bond traders like Lewis were earning a million dollars a year in salary and bonuses before they turned twenty-five. 'Never before', Lewis could truthfully assert, 'have so many unskilled 25-year-olds made so much in so little time as we did this decade in New York and London'.7 Yet even that was peanuts compared to the sums made by the older heavyweights: corporate raiders like Carl Icahn, T. Boone Pickens, or Henry Kravis, developers such as Donald Trump, the junk bond financier Michael Milken, or Wall Street chiefs like Salomon Brothers' John Gutfreund. In the hothouse, money-directed United States of the eighties, these people were heroes, written up in magazines, talked about endlessly. Yet at the end, many were wondering what it was all for. Donald Trump confessed: It's a rare person who can achieve a major goal in life and not almost immediately start feeling sad, empty, and a little lost. If you look at the record - which in this case means news￾papers, magazines, and TV news — you'll see that an awful lot of people who achieve success, from Elvis Presley to Ivan Boesky, lose their direction or their ethics. Actually, I don't have to look at anyone else's life to know that's true. I'm as susceptible to that pitfall as anyone else ... " The ultimat e choic e 13 During the eighties Peter Lynch worked fourteen-hour days and built the Fidelity Magellan mutual fund into a $ 13 billion giant among funds. But at the age of forty-six, when most executives are still aiming higher, Lynch startled his col￾leagues by quitting. Why? Because he had asked himself: 'What in the hell are we doing this for?' And in answering that question, he was moved by the thought that 'I don't know anyone who wished on his deathbed that he had spent more time at the office'.9 Symptomatic of the changing view was Oliver Stone's movie Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas as a convincingly unpleasant Gordon Gekko, a financial wheeler-dealer whose manner of operation resembles that of Boesky, with some elements of a corporate raider like Carl Icahn thrown in for good measure. Bud Fox, the ambitious young stockbroker played by Charlie Sheen, is for a time taken in by the prospect of making it big, but when Gekko attempts his usual take￾over and asset-stripping procedure on the airline for which Fox's father works as a mechanic, an angry Fox asks: Tell me, Gordon, when does it all end, huh? How many yachts can you water-ski behind? How much is enough?10 That question suggested something that the philosophers had always known, and the rich of the eighties were re￾discovering: affluence has no limits. More people were begin￾ning to wonder 'what in the hell are we doing this for?' Like Lynch, they were making decisions about the rest of their lives, instead of just continuing in the course that seemed to have been set for them by economic and social expectations. They were beginning to live their lives with a purpose. The recession that followed the boom has helped make people think again about the world they would like to see emerge when the economy picks up again. Though some may