Michael Douglas' famous speech in the 1987 Movie, Wall Street:

"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 Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you".

The role of corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, won him the Best Actor Oscar that year. The "Greed is Good" philosophy sums up the ethos of the eighties and early nineties.