Loose cannons

Greed is good — for the rich only

"The ACA story on Monday was all about inflaming the mean, envious streak in Australians that confuses success with wrongdoing... It is a characteristic we should endeavour to suppress, not cultivate like a hothouse flower." — Sun-Herald columnist Miranda Devine commenting on A Current Affair's airing of an illicitly obtained video of the inside of HIH Insurance founder Ray Williams' $7.5 million Mosman home.

Dribble

"Bondi writer and PR consultant Martin Dougherty, who has won and lost couples of fortunes and is broke again after a bad telco investment last year, says envy is the most mysterious part of the Australian psyche... The envy comes from having the 'rebellious anti-authoritarian psyche of captured people who (later) became subjugated by bureaucracy. It seeps through generations'." — Devine again.

We wouldn't work without them

"Australia is an exciting place to be but it's a little too cynical and a little too quick to condemn entrepreneurs who are the ones who give us the social energy to create wealth." — Dougherty, quoted by Devine.

Those who pay the piper...

"These people are celebrated for their courage." — Dougherty again, referring how "corporate gamblers" like media magnates Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch are treated by the US media.

From GLW issue 451