What Is "Greed"?

The Rabbi

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Sep 16, 2009
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The OWS movement rails about "greed", like we can outlaw an emotion.
But what is greed? Is someone who works hard because he wants to get ahead greedy? I don't think anyone would say so.
It seems greed is wanting money that legitimately doesn't belong to you. I can be as greedy as I want, but unless someone gives me money voluntarily then it doesn't do much. If I deceive someone, then I am a criminal. But if I deliver on what I've promised then I've earned my money.
By that definition the OWS crowd are the greedy ones. They demand their student loans get paid off, yet they've done nothing to deserve that. They demand--well, I dont know what they want. Neither do they. But demanding someone else's money is greed.
 
The wealthy whine about tax increases, yet the 1990s with the Clinton era tax rates had the best result between Federal taxing & spending. There was a "surplus".
 
Greed is pretty good. Avarice is what's bad.

Take your average greedy rich person. He could well bet the farm on a bum stock trade and lose it all because he's greedy. Call it redistribution of wealth today.

The avaricious, that described democrats to T.
 
Greed is bribing corrupt politicians for favorable tax treatment.
Ask Warren Buffett:

"'Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won,' Buffett said.

"It’s been a rout. You have seen a period where American workers generally have gone no place, and where the really super rich as a group increased their incomes five for one in this rarified atmosphere.'”

Why We Need Occupy Wall Street
 
The answer then, is to become rich! Anyone can do it. If a couple of kids fidding in the garage can create Microsoft or Apple, it can be done.

Not by the lazy, but it can be done.

The battle cry of the left is GIMMMEEEEE.
 
Lk. 12:15 - "be on guard against every form of greed; life is not in possessions"

lust and envy - James 4:2

covetousness - Exod. 20:17; Rom. 7:7,8; I Cor. 5:11


the gravest of sins - Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:29; I Cor. 6:10; Eph. 5:3

Greed is idolatry - Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5


Greed is materialism gone beyond healthy self-interest
 
Lk. 12:15 - "be on guard against every form of greed; life is not in possessions"

lust and envy - James 4:2

covetousness - Exod. 20:17; Rom. 7:7,8; I Cor. 5:11


the gravest of sins - Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:29; I Cor. 6:10; Eph. 5:3

Greed is idolatry - Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5


Greed is materialism gone beyond healthy self-interest
"As the following post from Politico’s Ben Smith illustrates, OWS really has altered what the media talk about—the chart measures a Nexis search of print stories, Web stories, and broadcast transcripts that used the term 'income inequality,' measured by week..."

"It runs from 91 instances in the week before the occupation started to almost 500 instances in the last week of October."

Why We Need Occupy Wall Street

When Occupy Wall Street becomes Occupy New York and puts hundreds of thousands of protestors into the streets around Zuccotti Park, "income inequality" will become Wall Street's epitaph. Nail the greedy bankers to their "Cross of Gold."

Then FLUSH hundreds of elected Republicans AND Democrats from DC in a single news cycle.
 
I share your POV, Geroge, but I think you're more hopeful than I am.

I've kinda seen these popular protests come and go, ya know?

I mean, compared to the antiwar and civil rights movements OWS seems like (at least so far) small potatoes.

But the fact that the OWS movement has changed the nature of the grand national argument Americans are having?

Now THAT has been it's major success to date.

And THAT is a good thing, in my opinion.
 
I share your POV, Geroge, but I think you're more hopeful than I am.

I've kinda seen these popular protests come and go, ya know?

I mean, compared to the antiwar and civil rights movements OWS seems like (at least so far) small potatoes.

But the fact that the OWS movement has changed the nature of the grand national argument Americans are having?

Now THAT has been it's major success to date.

And THAT is a good thing, in my opinion.
Do you remember reading what Noam Chomsky has had to say about the early days of the protests against the Vietnam War? As I recall, he's said the number of spectators outnumbered the marchers, and the police spent their time protecting the protestors from spectators. OWS has projected a timeline for success that's roughly equal to the amount of time between the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the Constitution.

OWS will have to become ONY.
IMHO, they will have to bring hundreds of thousands of unemployed and underemployed onto Wall Street, possibly on week-ends, in order to maximize crowd size.

A few years ago, I saw first hand the effect that half-a-million protestors in the streets around LA City Hall had on local government. That was during the height of "Immigration Reform" when Spanish language radio was instrumental in convincing Hispanics to get involved on their day off.

If OWS can do the same thing in Brooklyn around next November...?
 
Greed is bribing corrupt politicians for favorable tax treatment.
Ask Warren Buffett:

"'Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won,' Buffett said.

"It’s been a rout. You have seen a period where American workers generally have gone no place, and where the really super rich as a group increased their incomes five for one in this rarified atmosphere.'”

Why We Need Occupy Wall Street

Great, so unions bribing corrupt politicians is bad, right?
 
Greed is bribing corrupt politicians for favorable tax treatment.
Ask Warren Buffett:

"'Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won,' Buffett said.

"It’s been a rout. You have seen a period where American workers generally have gone no place, and where the really super rich as a group increased their incomes five for one in this rarified atmosphere.'”

Why We Need Occupy Wall Street

Great, so unions bribing corrupt politicians is bad, right?

excellent use of the non sequitur

:thup:
 
The wealthy whine about tax increases, yet the 1990s with the Clinton era tax rates had the best result between Federal taxing & spending. There was a "surplus".

On paper using rosy projections.
 
I share your POV, Geroge, but I think you're more hopeful than I am.

I've kinda seen these popular protests come and go, ya know?

I mean, compared to the antiwar and civil rights movements OWS seems like (at least so far) small potatoes.

But the fact that the OWS movement has changed the nature of the grand national argument Americans are having?

Now THAT has been it's major success to date.

And THAT is a good thing, in my opinion.
Do you remember reading what Noam Chomsky has had to say about the early days of the protests against the Vietnam War? As I recall, he's said the number of spectators outnumbered the marchers, and the police spent their time protecting the protestors from spectators. OWS has projected a timeline for success that's roughly equal to the amount of time between the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the Constitution.

OWS will have to become ONY.
IMHO, they will have to bring hundreds of thousands of unemployed and underemployed onto Wall Street, possibly on week-ends, in order to maximize crowd size.

A few years ago, I saw first hand the effect that half-a-million protestors in the streets around LA City Hall had on local government. That was during the height of "Immigration Reform" when Spanish language radio was instrumental in convincing Hispanics to get involved on their day off.

If OWS can do the same thing in Brooklyn around next November...?

Any millionaire who wants to pay higher taxes can just stop taking deductions. Easy, or they can write a check. Solution found.

I don't know where you were during the immigration reform grand march. I was here. It accomplished nothing except to deprive mexicans of a day's income. It was so harmful that they never did it again. Isn't that a clue? There were plenty of stores open with the hispanic ones closed. Schools reported less fighting, freeway traffic was a breeze, stores reported less shoplifting, hospital emergency rooms could treat truly sick and injured people. Meanwhile, the changes that they wanted, never happened. There is no universal amnesty, they still don't have driver's licenses. They got nothing. The goal was to shut the city down. All they did was shut themselves down. So hard, that it was the first and last time they did it. Although I wish they would do it again. It was so nice. One day of experiencing what it would be like without the inconvenience and annoyance.
 
Greed is bribing corrupt politicians for favorable tax treatment.
Ask Warren Buffett:

"'Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won,' Buffett said.

"It’s been a rout. You have seen a period where American workers generally have gone no place, and where the really super rich as a group increased their incomes five for one in this rarified atmosphere.'”

Why We Need Occupy Wall Street

Great, so unions bribing corrupt politicians is bad, right?
Union membership in the overall workforce has declined from about 35% in the 1950s to around 7% today. During that same half-century, the 1% has tripled their share of income and wealth. It seems like the 1% are getting a lot more benefit from their corruption dollars than unions are; prosecuting corruption in unions and on Wall Street isn't likely to happen by "choosing" between Democrat OR Republican in the voting booth.
 
Yup the "rich" get richer. The solution is not to make the rich poorer, but to make more people rich. Government can't do that. Only getting an education, having a good idea and working your ass off can make you rich.
Conservatives don't hate poor people. We hate that there are poor people.
Paying people to stay poor only makes more poor people and less rich ones.
 
I share your POV, Geroge, but I think you're more hopeful than I am.

I've kinda seen these popular protests come and go, ya know?

I mean, compared to the antiwar and civil rights movements OWS seems like (at least so far) small potatoes.

But the fact that the OWS movement has changed the nature of the grand national argument Americans are having?

Now THAT has been it's major success to date.

And THAT is a good thing, in my opinion.
Do you remember reading what Noam Chomsky has had to say about the early days of the protests against the Vietnam War? As I recall, he's said the number of spectators outnumbered the marchers, and the police spent their time protecting the protestors from spectators. OWS has projected a timeline for success that's roughly equal to the amount of time between the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the Constitution.

OWS will have to become ONY.
IMHO, they will have to bring hundreds of thousands of unemployed and underemployed onto Wall Street, possibly on week-ends, in order to maximize crowd size.

A few years ago, I saw first hand the effect that half-a-million protestors in the streets around LA City Hall had on local government. That was during the height of "Immigration Reform" when Spanish language radio was instrumental in convincing Hispanics to get involved on their day off.

If OWS can do the same thing in Brooklyn around next November...?

Any millionaire who wants to pay higher taxes can just stop taking deductions. Easy, or they can write a check. Solution found.

I don't know where you were during the immigration reform grand march. I was here. It accomplished nothing except to deprive mexicans of a day's income. It was so harmful that they never did it again. Isn't that a clue? There were plenty of stores open with the hispanic ones closed. Schools reported less fighting, freeway traffic was a breeze, stores reported less shoplifting, hospital emergency rooms could treat truly sick and injured people. Meanwhile, the changes that they wanted, never happened. There is no universal amnesty, they still don't have driver's licenses. They got nothing. The goal was to shut the city down. All they did was shut themselves down. So hard, that it was the first and last time they did it. Although I wish they would do it again. It was so nice. One day of experiencing what it would be like without the inconvenience and annoyance.
Schools reported less fighting on a Saturday?

In fact "they" did it again the following May Day with a march along Wilshire Blvd.
Where you there?
Do you have any clues about how to organize marches of that size in support of Wall Street?

Any "inconvenience and annoyance" experienced by local bigots was a small price to pay for sending the 1% the message that immigrants won't be scapegoats this time.
 
The OWS movement rails about "greed", like we can outlaw an emotion.
But what is greed? Is someone who works hard because he wants to get ahead greedy? I don't think anyone would say so.
It seems greed is wanting money that legitimately doesn't belong to you. I can be as greedy as I want, but unless someone gives me money voluntarily then it doesn't do much. If I deceive someone, then I am a criminal. But if I deliver on what I've promised then I've earned my money.
By that definition the OWS crowd are the greedy ones. They demand their student loans get paid off, yet they've done nothing to deserve that. They demand--well, I dont know what they want. Neither do they. But demanding someone else's money is greed.

Greed is Wall Street destroying the world economy with a $516 trillion dollar derivatives Ponzi scheme.
 

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