The Need for Greed

Your blaming the wrong people

It's not the banks or businesses (except for the criminal acts) it's the average person. Americans just have to have the next xbox, a bigger car, a bigger house and twice as much as their neighbors. Americans by and large need to LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS, self employed with no clue how to operate a business. Then when their overinflated use one credit card to pay another comes crashing down, suddenly now lets blame the bank the car company the mortgage company. Maybe americans should end their concept of endless, gimme, gimme, gimme. A decadent culture of over endulged, excessive abuse. Oh you just gotta have the NBA final four pay per view, oh you just gotta have that next whatever. American businesses seem to be adjusting, the american consumer is still spending like mad. Job or no job afforable or not. Which part of the constitution guaranties the right to be so irresponsible? Just because your a "free" american does not mean in any way shape or form that YOU are automatically entitled to being rich. Americans should learn the difference between NEED and WANT. One last note YES this applies to me as well.

TD of CO @ Aug 13, 2009 09:36:11 AM

Greed

Maybe there is such a thing as principled greed.

Greed is good when it is based on truth, real things not on lies. There should be non of speculative greed.

It is good to have greedy people who keep their promises, honor contracts and who own up to responsibility.

The world economy is dependent on the demands and needs of the American consumer.

The demand was fueled by inflated book values of real properties. Property values were driven up by speculative greed.

Loans were taken out on the unrealistically high book values of the properties. People and bankers began thinking that properies will pay for themselves because of the continuous boom. Never mind the capacity to pay of the borrowers.

Trouble started when property values reached the peak and started falling. Defaults started. Bankers bundled the bad loans and called them collectible assets and used them as securities to get money from investors and the government. When property values nose dived, the whole system collapsed.

Come to think of it, it is speculative greed which made the most damaged to the world economy. Speculation led to the rise of oil prices to ridiculous heights. It is good that reality set in and prices are now back to their old levels.

When oil prices collapsed speculators trained their attention to commodities. Rice, edible oil and food prices in general started rising causing hardships to the consumers in the developing world. Now with falling demand, prices are slowly going back to their year ago levels.

It is disconcerting to know that the world economy is dependent on the state of the U. S, economy. Jobs are being lost throughout Asia because of weak demand for electronic products and other exports to the U.S.

Looking back, it seems the demand for Asian goods, taking it further the health of the world economy was based on the artificial wealth created by greed of the unprincipled kind.

Might it be that the reality is the lower economic levels that we are in now or the even lower levels that we may be headed to?

I am not blaming anyone.Just preparing to accept reality. There should be less speculative greed.

J. R. Lazaro @ Jul 13, 2009 07:15:50 AM

Bravo Mr. Newman (continued...)

This is not the world we live in today. Today we are (almost) guaranteed the freedom to contemplate excess desires. So we lose a few thousand dollars in bad investments, so what? Does that mean that we need to throw even more money away on more government, therefore limiting our rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. I would dare say, no.

I think that it is quite obvious from a range-of-the-moment perspective the extent that freedom is tied to economic prosperity. Just as one example, there is the comparison of the average lifespan of a Swazi (aprox. 31) and an American (aprox. 78). Swaziland is one of the last surviving monarchs in the world and it has the lowest life span average in the world. A monarch is not much different from a dictatorship and neither are what could be considered freedom-focused government.

Tighter regulations and more controls by politicians, who on average, know next to nothing about economics or business, in the hopes of curtailing a few of the irrational "greedy" people, will only lead to one thing, as the author of this article stated: less greed. Less freedom means less greed, and this means that for the average, "selfless," non-creative, non-economically stimulating person who relies so heavily on the greed of others, there will be less innovation, more stagnation, less inventing, more inflation, etc.

I love the saying, "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding bureaucracy."

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Have a great day!

Chris Swank of WA @ May 14, 2009 03:51:08 AM

Bravo Mr. Newman

Greed is the near-basic element of economic growth. Greed by definition is the excessive desire/pursuit of money, wealth, power, etc. It refers to the essence of happiness for man.

Many people from both the left and supposed right will say that greed is evil. The left, because one man's greed is another man's suffering; no man should have a nice home, if one man lacks it. I think that the world we all live in now is part of an era of unparalleled prosperity, even its darkest shadows are living longer, healthier lives. The right will say that greed is evil because it is one of the seven deadly sins. They will say this, while enjoying the results of the dedicated work of some of the world's greediest people (i.e. cars, mobile phones, computers, etc.).

Both sides fail to recognize the essence of greed. Before the wheel was invented people were surviving. The wheel was not a crucial element for the livelihood of anybody, at that time. However, one man had an excessive desire. From that desire came the creation of mankind's most significant invention. This can be said of all inventions. From the microchip to the assembly line to the corporation to the writing of a beautiful play. Somebody, somewhere, wanted more than what was available; basic greed.

There are, however, two types of greed: 1) rational and 2) irrational. It is quite obvious when greed is rational (i.e. based in reality) and when greed is based on an irrational premise (i.e. the overreaction to an emotional urge). Greed is not the most basic element psychologically, that would be self-preservation. The need for self-preservation can only be classified into one category: rational.

No person with the goal of self-preservation can be classified as irrational. A person acting in his or her best interest will choose the best way of surviving. This person realizes that in order to choose the best way to survive he must be aware of the rules governing himself and the universe he lives in; he must learn. Learning, alone, is not enough. He must integrate and apply what he learns into his life. He must be honest with himself and the world he lives in, because any lie, however small, will weather away his ability to perceive reality, leading ultimately to his destruction, which is counter-productive to his goal of self-preservation.

The beauty of self-preservation is that it is the only force necessary to keep men honest. By being honest, other men are able to practice self-preservation. The basic premise of self-preservation rests on one key element: freedom. Hence, the creation of the society of the United States. For thousands of years, prior, in nearly every part of the world, "society" was the means of sacrificing free men for the livelihood of others. An "excess desire" for the men without freedom was simply to survive.

(continued...)

Chris Swank of WA @ May 14, 2009 03:33:58 AM

Linear economic thinking leads to an end...

As the author of this embarrassingly inadequate and grossly simplified article on greed, obviously writes it out of self-interest, then we can be sure of what direction not to go.

Expanding without foreseeing contractions, recessions or even depressions, is short-sighted and ignorant. Expansion can never be perpetual.

Greed has to subside in times of frugality, and the childishly indulgent and hollow strategies of consumerism in a faltering economy are counterproductive and often encouraged by self-absorbed, self-righteous pests. Such people often lack patience and long-term thinking, which lead them to tell dramatic and exaggerated tales of a painfully shallow history.

Money has fundamentally been an expression of work and services. When the amount of money is based on estimation and inflation, there will eventually be overestimation and hyperinflation in accordance to a system of greed. Needless to say, greed often leads to deception, egoism, exaggeration, denial and not least a misconception in real values. The value of tangible material, the value of human life, the value of moral and ethics.

From where I stand the author of this article belongs to the group of people who initiated the economic collapse which has had global repercussions and too few to blame and even fewer to hold accountable for. The author should be held accountable for any encouragement that will bring about the demise of gullible readers and seekers of materialistic wealth.

Allan @ Mar 12, 2009 09:37:20 AM

Revolting Rhetoric

The author of this article misuses the term greed here. Wanting money to support your family and sustain yourself is not greed. Greed is the pursuit of money or goods as an end in itself, or to support a lifestyle grossly disproportionate to what is necessary in a society to get by.

In this situation, the bankers' aimed to acquire as much money as possible at the sake of those who were given loans that they could not nearly afford. Given, the popular belief at the time was that housing prices would keep rising and that these folks could make a profit and walk away unscathed from the loan. Either way it is either willfully unethical or woefully ignorant.

I do agree that some of the blame falls upon everyone involved, borrower and lender included, so don't mistake my critique as partisan finger-pointing.

Greed has garnered far too much acceptance and even celebration in the global North. Belligerent capitalist cheerleaders should find a careful re-reading of Adam Smith enlightening, as he is far more liberal towards the role of business than he is popularly believed to be.

Peter Morain of OR @ Mar 07, 2009 12:23:26 PM

Greed

With all these tax breaks, bailouts, campaign contributions and influx of foreign money; GREED is alive and very well in America.

Raymond Young of NV @ Feb 25, 2009 23:45:43 PM

Irresponsibility

There is a need for greed-it is the engine that drives the economy. But greed also needs to be responsible-greed at any cost is what got us into this mess. Trickle down does not work because of irresponsible greed-billions in tax cuts-didn't help keep jobs in this country-it sent them overseas.

Bad loans to homeowners-real estate people, bankers and wall street all knew they weren't worth the paper they were printed on-but greed marches on. I will get mine-to hell with everything else.

The government just looked the other way-no resonsibility there either-if the truth be known-they probably profited too.

Hal of PA @ Feb 16, 2009 09:37:37 AM