Greed is simply wanting more than you need for your survival and comfort.
Can greed result in something good? Sure. If Steve Jobs had quit after acquiring all the money he needed to survive we would not have all the other people who work for Apple with jobs whose own survival has been improved, and we would not have the i-Phone and other products which make all our lives more comfortable.
Can greed result in something bad? Sure. We have federal legislation which unjustly redistributes wealth from the common man into the pockets of a select few. This redistribution has resulted in open theft and a crashed economy and many millions thrown out of work whose survival is threatened.
The trick is differentiating the two, and providing an infrastructure and regulatory environment which rewards the former and restricts the latter.
The problem we have on the political landscape right now is that there is no differentiating going on. Those who attack "the rich" are attacking the innocent and guilty alike, wanting to impose a raft of regulations, many of which would harm free enterprise. Those who defend "the rich" are defending the scum and the hardworking alike, opposing all regulation, including those that would prevent theft and unnatural wealth redistribution.
Everything has been boiled down to simplistic bumper sticker logic, with neither position being tenable.
