Posted on 01/03/2012 4:46:38 PM PST by Kaslin
What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done? It's really a silly question, because the answer is so simple. It turns out that it's human greed that gets the most wonderful things done.
When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I'm talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves.
Let's look at it.
This winter, Texas ranchers may have to fight the cold of night, perhaps blizzards, to run down, feed and care for stray cattle. They make the personal sacrifice of caring for their animals to ensure that New Yorkers can enjoy beef.
Last summer, Idaho potato farmers toiled in blazing sun, in dust and dirt, and maybe being bitten by insects to ensure that New Yorkers had potatoes to go with their beef.
Selfless Takers
Here's my question: Do you think that Texas ranchers and Idaho potato farmers make these personal sacrifices because they love or care about the well-being of New Yorkers?
The fact is, whether they like New Yorkers or not, they make sure that New Yorkers are supplied with beef and potatoes every day of the week.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
My definition of greed is taking money and property away from others because you are too lazy to get off of your fat ass to earn it yourself.
Too a certain extent, greed is a survival mechanism. Obviously a person can be too greedy but that’s between them and God.
Making a profit is not wrong. However, anything taken to extremes can become sinful.
It is not merely our economy that is under attack at this juncture in history. It is the entire moral foundation of the nation.
Socialism (i.e. totalitarianism for the greater good...yeah, right!) likes to switch language to confuse the pseudo-intellectual (i.e. ignorant) masses.
There are some very wealthy very generous people in America. John Huntsman Sr is a billionaire and major philanthropist. The Koch brothers put big money into hospitals and various forms of cancer and other medical research. One of our local 1 percenters was just named citizen of the year for all the charity work he does. (Al Glick owner of Alro steel) Their “greed” allows them to give to the needy.
It may be hard for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle but nobody said it was impossible.
The way I would put it using your definition:
Ever system has greed and in Capitalism it can be corrected and resolved in socialism it can not.
I agree. You put it better than I did.
Va. 3rd graders sing an anti capitalism occupation song. The teachers claim they came up with it on their own.
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent
I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt
I lost my money
Lost my pride
Lost my home
Now I’m part of the 99
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent
I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied
’Cause I really have enough
Though I lost my yacht and plane
Didn’t need that extra stuff
Could have been much worse
You don’t need to be first
’Cause I’ve got my friends
Here by my side
Don’t need it all
I’m so happy to be part of the 99
contaminator = commentator oops :)
None of that is "free market", yet that is what the Free Traitors® have tried to pass off as "free market" policies for the past couple of decades.
And our 15+ Trillion national debt and a second Greater Depression are the results.
Actually I think you are closest. “Greed” is to covet, or want that which isn’t yours or what you don’t deserve or have not earned. It is inappropriately used today to replace the term “self-interest” in order to promote socialism.
A redefinition of the term has been attempted to imply to want more than you need; Here in lies the problem. It leaves to someone else to define what it is that you need, in the same way that “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs” leaves it to a higher human power to define your “ability” and your “needs”.
Pathetic, isn’t it? Young minds getting so polluted at such a young age. Hopefully some of them have parents who can set them straight at home.
People who are poor, for what ever reason, always define greedy as someone who has money and won't give it to them(the ungreedy poor). Take the classic Charles Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol. It is all about a business man who keeps his wealth to himself, granted he is tight fisted and mean, but the reason people don't like him is because, wait for it, he won't give them his money. At the end of the story when he wakes from his night among the spirits, he starts spreading money around, and then everyone loves him. Of course they are NOT defined as being greedy because they never worked their butts off making money,(except for Bob Crachett, who worked his butt off but didn't get paid for it).
OWSers are the true greedy of the world, along with every other marxist, communist, progressive, socialist SOB in the world.
Almost as pathetic as the claim that the students came up with it themselves.
You’d have to be a moron to buy that. How many 3rd graders are likely to say they want less of anything or that they worked all the time and never got to see their families?
Max Weber has a different take. Deferred gratification, the willingness to spend enough hours at the counting desk. Benjamin Franklin’s secular Puritanism , which is more or less the same as Smith’s moral philosophy.
Bob Crachett admires Scrooge, and feels sorry for him because his pursuit of wealth brings him no happiness.
I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt...
But his family, and especially the wife, hates his guts, but love him later after the money flows. Granted Scrooge is a dick but at the same time the story really points out that people like you more if you are free with your money.
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