Do you think greed is good? Do you agree with Gordon Gecko?
No. This is basically the flawed “invisible hand” theory, that everyone will pursue their own greedy desires and it will magically all work out great. But the test was conducted (USA), and it didn’t work out great. So now we know.
^I agree. The government does a much better job of allocating scarce economic resources. Just look at the bustling economies of Cuba, North Korea, and the Soviet Union.
This is the tired old arguement, “but our way is better than those communists, bla bla bla”.
Not binary though. There are many ways of doing things, including the ways which have not yet been tried. China’s experiment is interesting; hybrid ‘greed is good’ mixed with coordination/planning from the top.
Greed seems to be good, until you realize “there can only be one.”
Ask Ayn Rand.
I saw all 6 parts of this program while in my hacksaw undergrad program and it was one of the most memorable things I learned. I made my students watch it as homework when I adjuncted 2 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0VHiONkot8
tl;dw, greed is good
Yea because we all know greed doesn’t exist in the government at all…
Let’s start with the premise that greed is an instinctive human trait and you are never going to eliminate it.
What’s more dangerous (1) greed in the hands of powerful govt officials who control everything? or (2) greed shared among many in competition with each other?
Yea this is the typical supply side response to anything remotely criticizing laissez faire capitalism. “If not this than what? You a commie, boy?!?” I
I agree with you. I think the market is incredibly efficient at what it does, but what it does is not always for the best. Having a strong government to guide the market is the common sense solution as the markets goal is one fold, generate return. The world should not be judged soley on how pruductive we are and how we allocate resources, and the market does not think long term enough at all (which is not a fault of the market, but of the participants that make up the market who generally do not think long term enough).
Invisible hand works and it has worked for 200+ years.
Who was leader in charge of all prior activities to ensure I had a hot coffee in my hand at 7:30 this morning?
I don’t know who the leader was either, but it somehow happened to my satisfaction.
Greed is fantastic. The one who creates the most value for the customers receives the most wealth. It encourages continuous competition and rewards those that make others happy. This is the basic premise of a free market… and to say that the USA is representative of this is a complete joke.
So we meet at last Kurgan.
And to answer the question, yes, greed it good. Competition is the cornerstone of free markets. Greed drives competition.
Obviously, there are some bad apples that give greed a bad name, but you’re going to have a certain degree of asshats in any population.
It’s not bad per se. It can and often is bad if it results in exploiting your fellow man as you pursue greed. If you are providing a valuable product or service to society and enjoy keeping score, there’s nothing wrong with that. I will say though the people I know who are fantastically greedy are among the least happy people I’ve met.
Not sure if I understand the question. Let’s say within the US, there is what we perceive to be a broad spectrum of ideologies. However, in reality, these are 99% the same - almost all people here agree we should work, get paid money, own property, be free to do most reasonable things, etc. All are ultimately driven by greed ideology; the difference is just that people agree on different parameters like tax rates.
If you go to some “socialist” country like France, most of that stuff is still mostly the same. There are material differences for sure, but people are clearly still greed motivated.
It’s like chimpanzees and humans are 99% the same in terms of DNA. You’re not similar to the extent that you can mate with a chimpanzee, but if a silicon based alien comes to earth, we would look a lot like other apes to them.
Agree. So the question makes as much sense as “Is water good?” Without water, we will die in about three days, but we can also drown in it, and that takes only a few minutes.
Greed is not the same thing as pursuing profits. Greed is paying your workers below average, or holding on to a stock that tripled in price for no good reason, or not caring about environmental issues, or giving mortgages to people you know can’t afford them, etc. Basically, greed is short term thinking and it’s not good.
Duncan Macleod of the clan Macleod? Is that you brother!?!?
has this been tested?
whether greed is good is mostly irrelevant. it is innate. of course you want more for yourself and your family than someone else and their family. greed is human nature. this is why we need regulation and laws to prevent greed from destroying society.
greed w/o laws = bad
greed w/ laws = good
if u cant eradicate it, embrace it.