I think it is time to squelch the greed is good myth or the myth that greed is one of the main components to economic freedom. Right off the bat, greed has been one of the predominant driving forces when it comes to slavery, war profiteering (and military aggression for material gain), central banking, monopolization, rent seeking, cronyism, feudalism (and neo-feudalism), corporate fascism, planned obsolescence, oligarchies, coercion, theft, and fraud. The last time I checked, none of these things have lead us to more economic freedom or more freedom, with responsibility and accountability, in general. Greed has been basically defined as the selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed. Within any market system, how would this human trait, totally left to its own devices because it is considered good, not lead to the extreme use of force, coercion, theft and/or fraud? This whole idea that greed is good is as convoluted as tyranny is good or exploitation is good. It is utterly nonsensical. Also, as much as we are driven by our own self interests, we must all have to cooperate to a certain extent, both within an economy and within a shared ecosystem and society. This dangerous idea that we should not check our own selfishness and greed ignores the fact that we all live on a finite planet, and that many times this greed or selfishness leads to extremely negative externalities like war, slavery, oligarchies, economic inefficiencies, misallocation or utter waste of resources and labor, short sightedness, fraud, theft, cronyism, and the list goes on. Now, Im not saying that we are not going to be driven by our own self interests or that we should not strive for more. On the other hand though, we must also balance these drives with the reality that we all depend on others to one extent or another (you certainly did not just pop out of the womb ready to conquer the world) and that there is also a very rational and logical need for cooperation, empathy, efficiency, conservation, and frugality. Greed is not good nor is any drive that is excessive and based solely on selfishness, especially when it comes to a species that relies upon each other to one extent or another for survival, companionship, and progress. ~Andrew
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 15:28:04 +0000
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