Greed is a social disease that afflicts millions of Americans and people world-wide. It occurs whenever a person seeks unfairly through deceit to acquire wealth at the expense of and to the harm of other persons. Good Americans should urge governments to institute programs to combat this social plague which resides in the illusion that greed itself is good when in fact it is the root of nearly all of our economic and social ills. It manifests itself as a sickness that distorts our nobler visions of humanity and malevolently darkens our conduct towards our fellow human beings. Examples abound. Cheating at cards is an obvious and simple one. On the other end of the spectrum, so is selling mortgages to persons who will be unable to pay them and then, through deceit and misrepresentation, re-selling those same mortgages to investors and pension funds as "triple A" credit instruments. Many people are hurt but a few reap the windfall. How many fortunes are built on honest hard work as compared to those originally created by fraud, swindling or outright criminal activity? It is hard to say because our brightest youth are being taught the arts of fraud and the swindle at the highest educational levels to facilitate the greed of a few rather than improve the lot of humanity. Racism, chauvinism, religious bigotry and nationalism are examples of group efforts perpetuated by greed to take unfair advantage of other groups of people and acquire or deprive them from their assets and prospects. Greed has obviously infiltrated the mind-sets of many American politicians and business leaders who are adept at using American democracy to swindle the American public at every opportunity. They are equally adept at managing the perceptions of Americans of the way things are away from the putrid reality of condoning practices and policies that enable the already wealthy to attempt to sate their insatiable greed at the expense of ordinary Americans. With the elections of 2012 looming, Americans need to take a very hard look at all candidates from the point of view of their private wealth, of how it was acquired and from whom it was acquired. Unfortunately, all wealthy Americans are suspect of acquiring wealth through greed by taking unfair advantage of other Americans or communities. Individuals whose careers and successes are predicated on greed should be routed out of government, the civil service and the judiciary to make America into a wholesome environment in which to raise a family and have prosperity for all. Persons who have been worshiping at the altar of greed have brought America to ruin.
One problem, by far the most significant tool the greedy use to take advantage of people is government.
The acquisition of wealth is not necessarily "at the expense of and harm of others." Just because I have running water and a toilet doesn't imply that someone else doesn't just because I do. If I decide to abandon my toilet and poop in the forest, someone else didn't just magically acquire a toilet. What one person owns doesn't preclude another person's ability at ownership.
You must be one of those people that think we are not really animals. If it benefits my ability to exist, if I have the ability to take it, then your ability to exist without it is not a variable in my decision.
You are not allowed to talk about greed around conservatives. Because that means you are a jealous socialist who wants handouts. They rather raise taxes on teachers than on Warren Buffet.
Anyone that talks about greed as if it should be somehow outlawed and then, as a result, all the have-nots would suddenly have all their needs fulfilled should really do some serious thinking about what they are saying. If the US government were to make a new law making it illegal for US homes to have running water, people in third world nations that had little or no running water in their homes before, would not as a result of that law somehow be able to have running water, just because the US citizens now don't. There's more to "wealth" than the bank account numbers of million and billionaires. Wealth isn't a static quantity. It can shrink and grow. One person's ownership of property does not necessarily come at the expense of someone else's ability at ownership of property. When I eat food, I'm not able to do so because I've taken it from the mouth of someone else. If I buy a car, my purchase doesn't prevent someone else from doing the same. Perhaps they can't buy the very car that I purchased, but my purchase hasn't been at the expense of anyone else's ability to purchase a car.
If you own one million dollars that is one million dollars less that everyone has to buy cars or pay for their running water.
In economic terms, that's kind of a dumb statement. Wealth is dynamic. There are more jobs, higher standards of living, and wealth in the US now than 100 years ago. Now in religious or ideological terms, there may be something to your statement. I don't want to get into your articles of faith.
Only if there's a constant quantity of money in the world. Or, put a different way, only if wealth can't grow. Sorry, but it isn't a constant - and it can and does grow.
I always considered fok having earned wealth desiring to keep it as moral and the desire of others who have not earned that wealth to get it to be greed...
OK pal - go on believing that. I guess you never considered what wealth actually is or the effect that people's labor and ingenuity have on it, but whatever. Hell, if you ever caught on to the way these things actually work, you wouldn't be quite as eager to justify the politics of stealing other peoples' property. I certainly understand the mechanics of that little problem. Been there and done that.
There is a direct connection between your statement: and my response: I think one of your problems is that you can't see the connection.
What does that have to do with me owning 1 million dollars and the rest of the people owning x-1million?
Money is a medium of exchange provided by the state. You are speaking about wealth. I'm speaking about the basic mathematical fundamentals of money. If in 1981 the top 1% of society owned 35% of money available and in 2011 they own 50%. Then between 1981 and 2011 they have gained 15% of the available pie and the bottom 99% have 15% less. This means 15% less goods and services that about 300 million people can not buy. This is basic mathematics. When the bottom 99% get bled dry by the top 1%, there is nothing left for the bottom 99% to give them... so they start saying that they are being taxed too much and that there's too many regulations, etc, etc. It's how plutocracies get created. Read a history book!
But we don't have a fixed supply of money either. Money is created out of nothing to meet the demand for money. So even if we completely ignore the dynamic nature of wealth, we also have to consider the dynamic supply of money. If I get a loan from a bank to buy a house, the bank likely gets (a large portion at least) that money either directly or indirectly from a loan from the federal reserve. (or that loan is sold to an underwriter who then gets the money directly from the fed) So when that money is lent to me, it's basicallly created out of nothing not transfered from someone else to me and then to the previous owner of the house. So if one individual has a million dollars there is no way you can possibly state other individuals have less. What exactly are they teaching people with an 'economic background' these days?
So the house against which the loan is secured is worth nothing, is it? One would have to ask why you bought it in the first place.
without greed you would not be motivated to receive A's and B's in the HS or college classes you are currently taking without greed you would not have a low cost computer from which to make these cool posts without greed you would not have high speed Internet available to you for low cost without greed there would be no $5 foot longs without greed there would be no Michael Moore films for you to enjoy without greed there would be no theaters for you to view those Michael Moore films without greed there would be no cars or taxis to transport you to see those Michael Moore films to net it out quite simply greed is good
Because currency is not a fixed amount. The FED increases the money supply at a fairly regular rate. If you get a million dollars by stealing it, than yes, you're up a million and the person you stole from is down a million, but otherwise the fact that you have a million doesn't mean it was "taken" from someone else.
