Quote of the Week

“Greed, meaning an unseemly or immoral desire for more, does not exist because there is nothing wrong with want. No one except Scrooge McDuck wants money for its own sake. We want it for what it’ll buy.

Consider how silly it is to apply the concept of greed to the things money gets. If I want fresh fruits and vegetables instead of Spaghetti-Os, am I guilty of nutritional greed? If I want first-class instead of steerage, am I guilty of leg-room greed? If I want to drive my kid around in a Range Rover/Escalade/M1 Abrams Tank instead of a tiny, tinny death trap am I guilty of safety greed? Wanting things to be better is human. Is it immoral to be human?

Greed is a term applied exclusively to other people who are doing better than we are. At some higher tax bracket, people supposedly have “enough” and should stop trying to make their lives better. (Never mind that greed would, if it existed, obviously be good — high earners spread money to the McMansion builders, the BMW dealers and all the way down to the waitresses and shoeshine men. This process is called a “multiplier effect” if government spending drives it, “trickle-down economics” if it’s in the private sector.)

How can there ever be such a thing as “enough?” If you live to be 90 and are still healthy, you will have had a much longer run than most. Should you kill yourself? If you have a nice house, why wouldn’t you work to add a swimming pool? Why shouldn’t you, like Jerry Seinfeld, build a full-sized baseball field? Who are the victims of Jerry’s “greed?” Hamptons landscapers?

“What ‘s Wrong with Wanting More? Nothing” – Kyle Smith, Ny Post