What has devastated the US and global economy? The simplest explanation is unrestrained personal greed. People everywhere have had no reservations about abusing business practices, ethics, laws and cultural norms because all they cared about was amassing personal wealth. Most have also betrayed family members, friends, employers or clients. Greed is an ungodly sin that drives desires, ambitions and behavior. Greed pollutes civilization.
"I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself," said Ivan Boesky in his 1985 commencement speech at the University of California. He was sick, wrong and evil. Greed is our common enemy.
Governments have utterly failed to create and enforce laws that would prevent the disastrous impacts of unconstrained greed, whether it is in the financial world or anywhere else or among government workers that find ways to steal obscene amounts of money. Nor have religions controlled greed.
Is something missing in modern times? Yes. Strong feelings of guilt, before people commit their terrible deeds, before awful people are identified and found legally guilty. Emotional guilt must act as a deterrent to legal guilt. Guiltless greed has supplanted innocence among so many people that it rips the social fabric and brings down whole economies. Greed drives economic inequality. It pushes the middle class down into the lower class.
Once upon a time human beings were personally constrained because of strong feelings of guilt. Guilt served as the internal controlling mechanism for bad behavior or, better yet, just thoughts of behaving badly. In other words, guilt had preventive power. In better times guilt was a powerful force of negative feedback in peoples' lives. When guilty feelings go, so do shame and responsibility.
Something has clearly gone wrong in family, cultural, religious, business and education systems. In Greed We Trust has become an evil addiction guiding the lives of far too many people. They are not satisfied with a big piece of the pie. They want everything. When possessed by greed, no possessions are enough.
Seeking success within moral and legal boundaries has succumbed to unlimited self-centered selfishness. It is not enough for people to fulfill all their everyday needs and then some. They are compelled to become millionaires. Millionaires are self-propelled to become billionaires. Billionaires are self-driven to become bigger, higher ranked billionaires. Celebrities want to be even richer and more famous. Politicians want even more power and the considerable wealth that those outside government have. Corporate CEOs thirst for ever more money no matter how many perks and dollars they already receive. They want still more mansions and bigger yachts.
Modern greed has no limits. Culturally, greed is like a cosmic black hole that sucks in whatever it can conceive of. It has nothing to do with legitimate needs. It produces no remorse. It cares not about the pain it causes other people or about society. Greed is stronger than any drug addiction, any religion or moral value. Personally, greed is an emotional cancer. Among these sick people, it displaces any effective feelings of guilt. Guilt has no payoff as long as greed is repeatedly successful in delivering excessive wealth. Successful greed is so visible and in many quarters idolized that it keeps attracting more believers. Putting relatively few of these greed devils in prison does not seem to curb this trend.
"Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction," said Erich Fromm. This is what we must teach children. There is never enough for the greedy. When satisfaction is impossible, happiness is illusory.
It comes down to this: Either society through parents, teachers and religious leaders once again instills strong feelings of guilt for thoughts of greed, starting with children, or humankind continues sinking into oblivion. Self-imposed feelings of guilt must be seen as a virtue. Evil greed is an epidemic far more deadly than the flu. Generosity must replace greed; it is free of guilt.
Here's a great bumper sticker: Guilt Prevents Greed.
Joel S. Hirschhorn has succeeded as: a full professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison; a senior staffer, U.S. Congress (Office of Technology Assessment); head of an environmental consulting company; Director of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, National Governors Association; now an author and consultant. Recent books are: Sprawl Kills - How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money, and Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government. He has published hundreds of articles in newspapers, magazines, journals and on many web magazine sites. He has given hundreds of talks at a wide range of conferences worldwide. He focuses on American culture, politics and government, and health issues.
Joe, you expressed my thoughts and feelings completely. Relative to our past we have lost our moral compass. You got the reasons right. Parents not instilling good citizenship in their children. Religion being pushed out of government and the work place. Learning institutions that are complacent about greed or infer or teach that greed is good. With government folding their tent as to oversight and regulation and pursuing an economic policy of 'greed is good' its become a receipe for disaster. Education is key to saving us from ourselves. But, look around. In some areas 50% of students do not graduate high school. Fully 50% of college students seeking graduate degrees are foreign. It is not uncommon for Virginia students with 3.8 or 4.0 grades to be rejected at the major universities in the state. And, the cost of an education has become prohibitive for many. Just consider that 90% of black children and 50% of white children receive subsistence in the form of food stamps.
Going to take more than education to turn this ship of state around. Will take a populist reform movement to set some things right. Like increasing medicine, science and math degrees by 10% nationwide while reducing foreign student enrollment by 10 or 20%. Where feasible, opt for three year degrees. In general, pursue a reform of government through a real reform agenda like that presented by the Republic Sentry Party. The religious sector needs to take the reins, stop cowering to the non-regious sect and government and boldly pursue the teaching of Moses and the ten commandments, etcetera.
We can regain our Republic, our sovereignty and the democratic principles we once lived by, but its going to be slow, long and difficult. But, it must be done if we are to survive as a nation.
E. Rock, IMO religions should be at the forefront of instilling how to discriminate the rights and wrongs in life. Parents, religions and schools have the responsibility to teach our children how to be good citizens. With so much crime and corruption in our society its highly obvious something is wrong. The government is simply a reflection of society as a whole, IMO.
Nice article but I have a completely different opinion. Self interest is what makes the world turn. You need some rules and they need to be enforced. But without personal gain nothing will happen. Yearning for a "Lost World" will not make it so. Guilt is a feeling that is subjective. Progressives feel that guilt is judging others and therefore not to be done. Respond to this comment
Nothing wrong with self interest, but that can be healthy or it can become unhealthy when it turns into uncontrolled greed. Second, I have never seen any evidence that progressives exhibit what you attribute to them.
This is a great topic and a good read Joel, yet it is so hard to pinpoint a definite place to find responsible when it seems like a collective out-of-control disrespectful people are everywhere and in all societies. I think America was the last great hope for fairness, but Capitalism overtook Democracy and has never looked back.
In order for us to get back to making things right we must first somehow figure a way to make money of less value and importance. Humans place value on things like, gold, diamonds, silver, and money, therefore we should be just as easily able to place greater importance on right from wrong if we care enough.
We have become a society of intellectuals, who talk a lot, but never do much. We are a people who, let's say, will go on the internet for 30 minutes to rant about our streets being dirty, yet we won't pick up a broom and sweep in front of our house for 20 minutes.
We have the power to make money of less importance, we just need to find a way how and to implement it. Maybe we could start by having every American burn $5 a week. The maybe the gravy train would slow down.
I enjoyed the what you wrote. I feel that every now and then you not only need a little greed, you need drive and determination to push to the next level. Life with no direction will have you going in circles. Greed does make a person want more than what they currently have and because the greed is embedded in our dna we rise to the top! /
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