Greed

[Ed62]

It seems like we always associate greed with the heads of large companies, but maybe it's time we take a look in the mirror. How many of us have much more than we need, but we still want more? Are the CEOs that much different from the rest of us? (No, I don't have a soft spot in my heart for CEOs)

How much would you be willing to give up to help someone less fortunate? What if it meant there's nothing in it for you? How far would you be willing to go to get what you want? Would you bend on morality? Would you break the law? Do we have a greedy society? Is our own greed part of the financial problem in the U.S.?

Ed

[newood2]

Yep, The awlful "G" word. Along with "I" "me" "mine" "myself" is all a part of our inherent nature. Same root cause, so even without the big bucks we poor ones are just the same.
Howie

[dbhost]

How about a counter point. How many of you use what you have for the betterment of others? How many have helped people with the skills and resources you have that might otherwise be left out in the cold?

I know I have more stuff than I "need". But I also am not cheap when it comes to helping others. I spent a good deal of my "free time" since the hurricane helping neighbors reattach siding, stand up busted fence panels, clean up etc... My yard is still a mess... The circular saw, hammer, and jig saw, that are honestly luxuries as I earn my living doing other than woodworking, have gotten a LOT of use...

I am NOT tooting my own horn by any means, but rather pointing out that just because we have more than we need in one way or another, when we do have extra, we are often presented with an opportunity to use that extra to help someone out that may really need it...

I get to see the best, and worst in people in the aftermath of these storms. It never ceases to disgust me the greed and selfishness some people exhibit in these times, and it never ceases to amaze me how utterly selfless some people can be, working their tails off, and giving away what they can, and most likely more than they can really afford for those in need. I wish I could claim credit for being in that latter group...

Are we guilty of greed in our own lives? I doubt any one could honestly say no. Everyone has a streak of greed in them, at least a little bit, at least I think they do. Everyone I have met does anyway... And greed in itself isn't neccesarily a bad thing, if you define greed by a burning desire to accumulate. If for example, a desire to accumulate the memories of the smiles of the single mother and her kids that you just built a dining room set for, that have never had anything more than a carboard box to eat at... But if you are out to get all the possessions and money you can at the expense of everyone and everything else, there is a SERIOUS problem...

[LCHIEN]

looking out for oneself is a natual instinct. Ultimate completely selfless generosity is the opposite... unless everyone else in the world was similarly inclined you would die for wanting everything - food shelter, medicines.

Evolution preserves some of the normal greed in us, I think, not to an extended overwhelming all consuming greed, but an instinct to try and get by with lowest effort and maybe get something for nothing every once in a while especially if we think it won't hurt anyone else...

[radhak]

Mark Twain (great man - you can always depend on him to have said something to suit every occasion!) once said - everybody is a thief, it's just that some of us don't get the opportunity!

I feel that could hold for many other 'baser' instincts. Thank god for laws of society - I might have murdered a teacher, each of my siblings, and at least a couple of girls, one time or the other in my youth !

But Greed is good! It makes things go. If everybody had zero greed, the stock markets would stop functioning, the Lotto would never have been born, among other great things.

But even better is, normal greed covers the bare minimum. Even if there was nobody to catch you, you wouldn't want to steal the neighbor's car (say he's out on vacation); but that issue of FWW magazine lying under your shared mailbox...hmm, lemme stop before I incriminate myself ! If you manage to haggle a great deal you'd be very happy; but if you knew it might end in the other party going destitute or something, you know you'd go back and ease their pain.

And that's what makes a difference : when you have more (much more) than the average worker, but it's not enough and you get your company to pay for your commute : Free rides for CEOs -- on the company jet or other perks, that is when you can be called GREEDY!!!

Sorry Ed - I ain't greedy, and I daresay neither are you.

[Uncle Cracker]

Since money (or the lack of it) is the cause of so many of the average Joe's problems, I think it would be natural to expect that he would want to accumulate more of it. Not everybody wants a summer home or a yacht... Most just want to be able to live their lives with less worry. I don't consider that sentiment to be greed...

On the other hand, a guy with more than he (or a small country) could ever spend, particularly if he does little good with it (except as a tax shelter), who then strips his company to the bone, and grabs a multi-million dollar parachute on his way out the door... Now that's greedy...

[jackellis]

For some folks, it's not so much about what they can buy with all that money. Instead, it's a way to keep score - to demonstrate that they've outdone the others.

Warren Buffet lives a pretty modest life for someone with a net worth of $50 billion. In spite of the fact that he keeps adding to his considerable fortune, would anyone consider him greedy? Not I.

[Uncle Cracker]

Warren Buffet lives a pretty modest life for someone with a net worth of $50 billion. In spite of the fact that he keeps adding to his considerable fortune, would anyone consider him greedy? Not I.

He is also one of the most philanthropic people on the planet, giving billions$ to various worthy charities (even though I have so far escaped his notice ) . This is not an example of a greedy person.

[LinuxRandal]

I've been fortunate, in the fact of knowing/helping people who have lost everything in fires, to knowing people who visited tv shows, dieing of cancer, to spread the word on giving.
I have had some lean years (worst year ever, earned $8,000 and kept my house) to having what I consider my best year around (think school teacher)
Know people who don't earn much and have a happy family, to those worth tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, and don't talk to their families, to those, in the public, and somewhere in between financially that are happy.

Some people are money greedy, some people are time greedy and some love/want/attention greedy. You do have to balance it with helping others and realize both how fortunate you are, and try to think on what you would REALLY need to live.

Money and possesions don't buy happiness. Happiness, comes from within, money and possesions only allow one to spread/spend their time how they are.

[Uncle Cracker]

Money doesn't buy happiness, but it can buy stuff you can use instead...

[leehljp]

Greed is not what makes the world go round. But greed is what is going to stop it! Greed isn't the good that it is being made out to be.

Maybe I am getting to old for this world! My values are such that if it came down to it, I would give my life for others. And others would give their life for me or my family and even beyond that for principles of life. Greed is the very antithesis of this, and once one starts believing that a little greed here and a little more there - then it comes down to - got to protect myself on all fronts cause no one else will, . . . then it becomes me, my self and I. AND next, it is the kids and their generation that are more selfish than their parents.

A little leavening . . .
one rotten apple . . .

It is not that anyone of us is perfect and certainly not me, but when we lower our own expectations in reaching for ideals in a society, then the little leaving or one rotten apple spoils the whole.

Ideals -
“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, . . .?” We may not attain ideals in our personal humanity, but to . . not try is the beginning of destruction as we are seeing now. Greed is being seen as a good thing. Shame!

Glad our service men and women, at the core of their life don't think this way! Glad our forefathers didn't think this way either.

[herb fellows]

The definition of greed should perhaps be re-written. To want or have 'things' is not, in and of itself, a horrible human trait.
To accumulate them at the expense of, or by the harming of others is.
I suppose you could say we indirectly have goods at the expense of others who therefore do not have them, but I don't think this is a legitimate use of the word greed. Only when you directly impact someone else's life in a negative way does it become morally reprehensible.
Also, one should have the compassion to help out others less fortunate when the opportunity arises to do so. It really is true that it feels better to give than receive. You can't buy the satisfaction that you feel when you help someone in need, you can only earn it. If you give away $10,000, and that $10,000 doesn't mean much to you, you have attempted to buy it rather than earn it. The satisfaction isn't there. That particular satisfaction comes only when you do with less to make someone else's life bearable. That is the true meaning of charity.

[jackellis]

Only when you directly impact someone else's life in a negative way does it become morally reprehensible.

I can't think of specific examples but here's a hypothetical that's probably not unreasonable in today's climate. A hedge fund manager achieves incredible success and is worth billions, won in part by selling short certain financial institutions (think Lehman). He gives away a few tens of millions to his alma mater for a building with his name on it and perhaps a few millions more to an affordable housing project.

The hedge fund manager's business is buying and selling securities. He (or she) manages money for some really wealthy people, and perhaps some public retirement plans and university endowments.

How should he be judged?

[Kristofor]

Greed is. Period. Millions of years of evolutionary biology (or original sin if you swing that way instead) sets this up as the standard operating procedure for people as well as animals. Look at puppies that push the runt of the litter out of the way to let the bigger dogs eat first.

Trying to force a change to that behavior will always be difficult as the behavior itself is self rewarding. Moreover, in most cases ambition and industriousness are considered positive attributes and these are close cousins and enablers of greed. Of course when you remove the consequences <cough>bailout<cough> from making those mistakes you're again reinforcing the behavior even if your actions are needed for the "larger good".

I think actively teaching my child(ren) kindness, empathy, and compassion is the right way to more effectively address the issue. When a person has personal convictions that guide them to do the right thing then hopefully they can overcome the temptation to make a quick buck at someone else's expense.