According to Merriam-Webster:
Greed (Noun): A selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed
And yet in the history of human existence, it is greed that has propelled mankind to its current form. (And you can make the case with animals too).
In its simplest definition, it is "a desire for more of something". "selfish" depends on the point of view. It could be just that individual, a group, a class, a race or a nation. "excessive" and "needed" also depends on the point of view - the individual or the one looking at the individual; they are both very subjective.
Our sensibilities prevent us from admitting that "greed" is what motivates most of us. That does not mean that we all value money alone. We are all greedy for different things - fame or fortune. Celebrities try for fame (with it comes fortune too), but most of us would take fortune over fame.
Manny Ramirez's $160 million dollar deal is propelled by his 'greed'. And in return he livened RedSox nation with his bat. There have been many others during the same period in RedSox roster that did not quite have the 'greed', but neither did they entertain the crowd . (This is not a point about highly paid athletes.)
And on Good Morning America (when she was with NBC), Katie Curic lit into the supposed retirement package GE offered its retiring star CEO Jack Welch. And I am certain she has not appreciated the irony. At that moment, she was the highest paid executive at GE, not Jack; NBC being a fully-owned subsidiary of GE. If it were not for Jack's "greed", GE would not be what it is. And neither would Katie. And there in lies the rub.
We are constantly reminded by the anchors about Wall Street's greed. And it is their own greed that got them into that seat in the first place.
And then there are the academics - the arm chair pandits. "Greed" does not even describe them. And all of them got to where they are because of 'greed' - they just don't call it that. They call it professional rivalry or passion or ego. They claim they do it for 'fame' and not 'fortune'. Once again, I am not knocking them down. They deserve richly what they have worked hard for.
Back to Wall Street. So, there were some "greedy" CEOs. And they invested in these shady 'credit default swaps'. Did we as investors stop them? No. Why not? Because of our "greed". And to say that their 'greed' is bad, but our 'greed' is good is down right hypocritical.
We are often told, "they need to give the money back because the company is not doing good now". Fair enough. But what money should they give back? The compensation they received during their good years? How fair is that?
All of us, in our routine jobs make a lot of mistakes. And some of them are costly to our business. Would it be fair then for our employer to want to 'garnish' our wages for our mistakes? If we make too many costly mistakes, we could lose our jobs. And even CEOs do.
And then, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, Barak Obama, John McCain,.... The list is endless. No, they are not in it for public service. They are in it for pure greed. Otherwise, most, with the exception of Obama (he hasn't been around long enough), should accept term limits and retire after 2 terms. Obama will be constitutionally forced to honor term limits (if and when he becomes the President).
So, I urge the rest of us "Average Joes", to not condemn "greed". But instead have the "greed" for any "thing" you desire. There is no satisfaction in not having the "thing" you desire - unless it can only be obtained through malice.
God Bless America.
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