It's not greed, M., greed is good. Selfish is good. The pursuit of happiness is selfish. Self-ish- feeling good about yourself.

It's envy that is bad. And envy is what drives the Progs.

Greed? Get another job.
Envy? Take what someone else earned already.

Isn't the whole point of the word 'greed' to be pejorative? We have separate words for 'frugal' and 'stingy' which represent two distinct concepts, the former being thrift and the avoidance of unnecessary spending in order to ensure financial stability, the latter being a slavish devotion to the saving of money beyond necessity, and even when counterproductive.

The whole point of 'greed' is that it isn't good, otherwise it wouldn't be described as greed. Greed is when the pursuit of wealth, profit or power is so great that it creates destruction or misery far outweighing its supposed benefits. Governments, businesses and individuals are all capable of this.

A non-ideologue would want everyone held accountable for what they do in the pursuit of profit, or the pursuit of anything for that matter. Unfortunately, the political spectrum seems divided between those who think the government can do no wrong as the champion of the people while evil businessmen plot our destruction, and those who believe all governments to be dictatorial impositions while businesses are allowed to ravage the land at their convenience.

baracky is a greedy bastard

Aenas,

In business we can have competition which keeps greed in check.

Having opposing governments is difficult and generally leads to wars.

I worry more about greedy governments than greedy businessmen. The government can force you to buy their product.

Aenas,

A non-ideologue would want everyone held accountable for what they do in the pursuit of profit, or the pursuit of anything for that matter.

If only big brother was watching and protecting us from Emmanuel Goldstein.

Interesting comment on the deadly sins at Blunt Object:

http://bluntobject.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/unwelcome-education-deadly-sins-edition/