What Is "Greed"?

[The Rabbi]

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.

How is is greedy to kill the thing that gives you money? Wall St has experienced severe layoffs since the crash.
Of course leftists were never much good at logic or critical thinking.

 

[Seawytch]

What is greed? It looks like this...

and this...

CEOs' pay as a multiple of the average worker's pay, 1960-2007

 

[The Rabbi]

What is greed? It looks like this...


and this...

Looks like some people are better at making money than other people. Nothing greedy there. Note that lower economic groups still achieved substantial gains. Your view would have the rich much poorer, as well as the poor much poorer.
And Mother Jones is so fucking gay....

 

[Sunshine]

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 one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Bible:

1909 painting The Worship of Mammon by Evelyn De Morgan.Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of greedy behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason,[citation needed] especially for personal gain, for example through bribery . Scavenging[citation needed] and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include simony, where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual confines of a church.

Seven deadly sins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Sunshine]

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.

Your vision will likely not change things. Many people think poverty is a virtue.

 

[BluePhantom]

There will always be greed and envy wherever human beings are present unfortunately. Whether on a large scale Gordon Gekko level or a low scale "oh I want that guys shoes". To some degree that's good as long as it's properly directed. What I mean is that someone who wants some kick as shoes and goes into society and contributes in some way (working, starting a business, whatever) and earns the money to buy them has channeled desire into productivity that benefits society (the goods or services he offers) and self reward (his bitchin' shoes). Someone who looks at a guy with cool shoes and acquires them by thumping the guy over the head and taking them off his feet has channeled that desire in a very negative way...and he probably now has cool shoes that don't even fit.

Business and industry can certainly thump their line workers over the head to make a buck sometimes, but it seems that OWS and, in my experience, most liberals are of the opinion that all business do that and that's not the case.

 

[The Rabbi]

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 one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Bible:

1909 painting The Worship of Mammon by Evelyn De Morgan.Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of greedy behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason,[citation needed] especially for personal gain, for example through bribery . Scavenging[citation needed] and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include simony, where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual confines of a church.

Seven deadly sins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If we want to stamp out lust we can start with Congress.
But this isn't about the 7 Deadlies. It is about the definitin of greed. How do you separate greed from ambition?

 

[AquaAthena]

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 can mean an excessive desire for getting or having something, especially money, but greed is not always a bad thing. Greedy people can be, by virtue of their own ambitions, very benevolent and are often charitable people who also employ many others and sign their paychecks. There will always be greed, however one defines that, and there will always be people who benefit from greedy people. Greed can be a very good thing. It can mean JOBS.

 

[The Rabbi]

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 can mean an excessive desire for getting or having something, especially money, but greed is not always a bad thing. Greedy people can be, by virtue of their own ambitions, very benevolent and are often charitable people who also employ many others and sign their paychecks. There will always be greed, however one defines that, and there will always be people who benefit from greedy people. Greed can be a very good thing. It can mean JOBS.

What you are describing is ambition, not greed. I maintain greed is wanting what doesn't belong to you rightfully. By that definition the OWS people are greedy.

 

[BluePhantom]

Let me follow up my point with a little example. I was watching the news a couple weeks ago and there was a protester complaining that he couldn't score with any of the girls because he didn't have a tent at the park. He was quite upset about this as well and it struck me that OWS has created a micro-society which has two classes: the "tented" and the "untented". If you are tented you will be able to score chicks, if you are untented you are in the class that will (as this guy was) become envious of the tented and start demanding the use of a tent because you have the right to score chicks too. Soon will come the cries that they should be "the people's tents" and those greedy tented elitist bastards are oppressing the reproductive rights of the untented in an effort to keep them down. They will march through the park screaming "Down with the tented bourgeoisie".

Ok maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration....but the point is that even if complete economic equality is created in a given society, the greed and envy will simply focus on something else: how hot someone's spouse is, how well someone can sing, how easy it is for someone to maintain their weight, how talented someone is....anything.

 

[whitehall]

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".

It's a mistake to hold up Clinton as anything but a degenerate crook. The dot-com bubble was about to burst, Clinton pardoned the most notorious corporate crook in history in exchange for a million dollar donation to his library and ENRON flurished. Nothing was as it seemed on the surface because the media kept the whole rotten administration hidden.

 

[Ropey]

Let me follow up my point with a little example. I was watching the news a couple weeks ago and there was a protester complaining that he couldn't score with any of the girls because he didn't have a tent at the park. He was quite upset about this as well and it struck me that OWS has created a micro-society which has two classes: the "tented" and the "untented". If you are tented you will be able to score chicks, if you are untented you are in the class that will (as this guy was) become envious of the tented and start demanding the use of a tent because you have the right to score chicks too. Soon will come the cries that they should be "the people's tents" and those greedy tented elitist bastards are oppressing the reproductive rights of the untented in an effort to keep them down. They will march through the park screaming "Down with the tented bourgeoisie".

Ok maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration....but the point is that even if complete economic equality is created in a given society, the greed and envy will simply focus on something else: how hot someone's spouse is, how well someone can sing, how easy it is for someone to maintain their weight, how talented someone is....anything.

Heck of a statement without any source or proof. You're still talking too much AND saying little. Then you even admit to exaggeration and still no sources?

More of this:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/histo...eally-the-war-mongers-the-numbers-say-no.html

 

[Intense]

Greed is holding on to something, or attaining something against Conscience. There are Circumstances that suggest action, it's up to you what you do with your own Energy and Resource. Demanding Something from Someone that is clearly Their Property, is Theft.

Avarice

Avarice (from Latin avarus, "greedy"; "to crave") is the inordinate love for riches. Its special malice, broadly speaking, lies in that it makes the getting and keeping of money, possessions, and the like, a purpose in itself to live for. It does not see that these things are valuable only as instruments for the conduct of a rational and harmonious life, due regard being paid of course to the special social condition in which one is placed. It is called a capital vice because it has as its object that for the gaining or holding of which many other sins are committed. It is more to be dreaded in that it often cloaks itself as a virtue, or insinuates itself under the pretext of making a decent provision for the future. In so far as avarice is an incentive to injustice in acquiring and retaining of wealth, it is frequently a grievous sin. In itself, however, and in so far as it implies simply an excessive desire of, or pleasure in, riches, it is commonly not a mortal sin. CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Avarice

 

[BluePhantom]

Greed is holding on to something, or attaining something against Conscience.

I agree with the essence of your point, but just to play devil's advocate here....what if you don't have a conscience?

 

[Intense]

Greed is holding on to something, or attaining something against Conscience.

I agree with the essence of your point, but just to play devil's advocate here....what if you don't have a conscience?

I think we each have one. The issue would be whether it is fed or starved?

If not Conscience, Who's running the Asylum?

 

[BluePhantom]

I think we each have one. The issue would be whether it is fed or starved?

If not Conscience, Who's running the Asylum?

I would hope so, but you look at a guy like Kenneth Lay for example and sometimes you have to wonder. You know?

 

[Ernie S.]

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.

Your vision will likely not change things. Many people think poverty is a virtue.

It may or may not be, but expecting someone else to work to support you doesn't seem particularly virtuous to me.

 

[Intense]

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.

Your vision will likely not change things. Many people think poverty is a virtue.

It may or may not be, but expecting someone else to work to support you doesn't seem particularly virtuous to me.

So ... I take it, you don't have Kids?

 

[The Rabbi]

Your vision will likely not change things. Many people think poverty is a virtue.

It may or may not be, but expecting someone else to work to support you doesn't seem particularly virtuous to me.

So ... I take it, you don't have Kids?

Even my own kids it isn't an open-ended support forever. At some point they need to responsible for their own lives.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

What Is "Greed"?

It's stockholders...."drafting" CEO's to spend more time, in D.C., to get a STRONGER choke-hold....​

.....on politicians!!!!!! ​

"A new study by FTI Consulting concludes that institutional investors no longer accept the fact that chief executives may get involved in policy debates. They demand it. In fact, more than 85 percent of the investors surveyed said they want CEOs to engage more with policy makers to protect their company’s interests. With 95 percent of those surveyed also complaining that the decisions coming out of Washington have been negative for their portfolios, it’s easy to see why. And when the survey pool consists of 260 investors managing assets of $2.6 trillion, executives may want to heed that advice."