Word: greed
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...that seems to have happened in spectacular fashion. No matter how the battle turns out, the unseemly scramble for riches has, for the moment at least, given overreaching a bad name. In the end, the RJR brouhaha may turn out to be a useful testing of the limits: of greed, of debt, of dealmaking. The resulting outcry may prove an effective regulating device. "In its own way, the deal has been typically American, where nothing is in moderation, including the enormous selfishness of management," notes James Bere, chairman of Borg-Warner. "It's touched a nerve. Sometimes we have...
...Congress cannot ignore growing public fears that greed, debt and buyouts are all spiraling out of control. "The dealmakers have gone too far," says Samuel Hayes, professor of finance at Harvard Business School. "They have defied that tolerance that allowed them their freedom." Federal Reserve chairman Greenspan urged the Senate in October to consider tax-law changes to curb the debt buildup. Said he: "The laws still provide substantial incentives to borrow...
American business is built on a rock of lawfulness and trust between companies and those who hold a stake in them. But when avarice grows out of proportion, cracks start to appear in the foundation. "Greed can be good," says M.I.T.'s Modigliani, when it spurs profitable and productive growth. "But it can also be bad," he warns, when it outpaces all other considerations...
...Greed is good. Or at least that's what wheeler-dealer Gordon Gekko told a stockholders' meeting in the movie Wall Street. Stephen Koepp, the editor of our Business section, is not so categorical. This week's cover stories on the biggest takeover battle in U.S. history gave him a chance to explore an important question: Is the lust for bigger and bigger deals harming the U.S. economy? Says he: "A healthy appetite for profits is what makes capitalism work. But at these levels, is it just a power game, in which money is a means of keeping score...
COVER: The brawl for RJR Nabisco tests the limits of greed and American capitalism...