Greed is a good thing

I think we are in agreement on the terms. As I said, everyone is greedy and everyone should be greedy. You quoted the definition of greed as: "Greed n. - An objective attribute of all beings that is perceived as a will to attain a state of ownership distinct from a state hitherto the attaining, whether through means of acquiescence or consenting compliance, to an inordinance. " Despite the legal sound of this definition, can we agree that greed is basically wanting more than one haves or needs? The Oxford dictionary says "intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. " I would add that the word "intense" was added by the writer to imply something, mainly the idea that greed is a bad thing that leads to crime. Selfish we will cover later. Dictionary. com says "excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions. " The first question we should ask is "what is excessive? " If you were to say to me that I want excessive amounts of money, how would you answer the question "excessive according to whom? " How would you define excessive? Too much? More than you need? What is too much? How much is an "excessive" amount of money? Of course, you are smart enough to figure out that that is impossible to answer. That is like trying to answer how many feet in the air is high or how much weight is heavy! With the way certain dictionaries define greed, there is no real definition when they start talking about excessivness. No one could possibly decide that I make X dollars of money per year but if I make Y, then I will be greedy. Greed is also often linked to the word "selfishness. " Not to get off on another subject but we are all selfish. We can, do and should care about ourselves. Should I care more about me than you? Not at all but that does not mean I don't care about me. If caring about ourselves makes us selfish, then I am afraid we are all guilty of selfishness. We should care about ourselves. Those who don't do not survive too long. Let's explain greed further. Let's say you get hired for a job and maybe you are hoping to make $20 per hour and you have it figured out that you can pay all of your bills and have a little left over for savings making $20 per hour. In other words, $20 per hour works for you. However, your boss informs you that you have 2 choices. You can take $20 or $21 per hour. He is letting you choose! Since the extra dollar per hour is "excessive" and "more than is needed" and you most likely would find ways to spend it on your "self," wouldn't that make you greedy if you accepted a dollar per hour more? Of course not. You would accept more because with more, you can do more and buy more. In fact, when you spend that extra dollar, that is good for society. You will be benefitting the restaurant who takes that dollar and they can pay their employees or the hardware store when you buy that flashlight, benefitting their employees. It is good for you to accept that extra dollar. Why take less when you can take more provided you are not stealing from your fellow man? Now, what if you were making $20 per hour and your boss asked you if you could get by on $19 per hour and you figure out your bills and realize you could. He asks if you would mind taking the $19 but it is still your choice and there is no job pressure whatsoever. Are you going to volunteer the pay cut? No one who honestly answers is going to say they will take less. A liar might say that they would but no honest person would. No one wants the bare minimum in life besides some extremely religious people like monks. They want more. Why are grocery stores in business? Is it because they enjoy feeding hungry people and that they feel it is their obligation to society to keep people from starving? No, they are in business because they are greedy. The owners of the store realized that they could fill a need by feeding people in exchange for more money than the owners pay for the groceries on the shelf. Chevrolet does not sale cars because they want you to be able to get back and forth. They sell them because the owners are greedy and want more. They don't care if you ever drive the car. Frankly, to shorten this, you would not have ANYTHING if it wasn't for some greedy person who started a business who wanted more. You would not have food on your table, car, internet service, a computer, clothes, Ipod, tv, electricity, etc. I don't believe you would have one thing in this world that is not a result of someone's desire to make more money, acquire more wealth and have more things - greed. It is the steering wheel that drives the vehicle of progress. Without progress, we would be living in grass huts and hunting for all of our food and growing it ourselves.