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Greed, Capitalism, and Free Markets

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Is greed good? Were I to quote a Hollywood icon from the movie Wall Street, the words “Greed is Good”, I would be showered by many with criticism. It’s all about altruism, peace, love, and free stuff, right? So, instead, I will point you to several insights about greed, and suggest that, perhpas, the word “greed” has been made out to be a villain.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. Wikipedia has:
Greed is the selfish desire for the pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism.
Yet, I believe that to apply the extreme position that greed applies “…especially when this denies the same goods to others”, is an editorialization on the definition.

Greed – the desire to have more than one needs – is relative. To suggest, for example, that a priest or monk only has what they need, and nothing more, is to then suggest that anyone not “of the cloth”, is therefore greedy.

If I, for example, have a two bedroom house, and three children, some may say that all I need is a roof over my head. I, on the other hand, would want a bedroom for me and my wife, and one for each of my children. Is that greedy? Do I need a bedroom for each child? That’s relative to your perspective.

My city offers public schooling, but I am of the opinion that that education is poor, (and independant studies back me up on this), so I am sending my children to private school, and paying for that. Is that greedy? Here is something free, but I want something better. Some one argue I don’t need that.

Where do we draw the line?

How often do I need a new car? New clothes? A new camera? New computers? How many assignments a month do I need, and how many do I want? Do I need to make a profit off of every shoot, or is it just that I want to?

The first video worth a listen to is from decades ago, with Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman:


More videos after the jump.
(Continued after the Jump)


Next up: Milton Friedman on self-interest and the morality corporations pursuing profits.


Milton Friedman debates Naomi Klein (by creative editing):


Charlie Rose takes this look at Friedman for almost an hour:


And finally, a bit of hollywood’s take on Greed, thanks to Michael Douglas:



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Originally published on Photo Business News & Forum on February 11, 2009. Comments are closed; this post is part of the archive.

11 thoughts on “Greed, Capitalism, and Free Markets”

  1. I’d say greed is when one is willing to endanger others (not just in a physical form) to achieve what they want. For example, the Enron case was a result of greed, these people had so much money to begin with, but due to their greed they wanted so much more that they caused the collapse of a company with thousands of people losing their livelihood and their pension.

    The Madoff case is greed, he was already wealthy, yet made up a scam and stole billions from people.

    The current downturn problems are a result of greed, irresponsible practices of an industry with far too many short-sighted people interested in their next quarter bonus. And it is also very much the fault of the “poorer” people whose greed made them mortgaged themelves to oblivion, in order to move into a house they could never afford in the first place.

    I have no problem with people getting rich and buying boats or even something modest, like moving from a 14” TV to a 26” LCD, but when you set off willingly to destroy people’s lives (even if it is your own or your family’s) that is definately greed.
  2. I wish Milton were alive today to see yet again what happens when the invisible hand of the free market moves freely. Milton’s explanations seem very simple, and seem to make a lot of sense. If Freedman were to have it his way, this world would be an even more uglier place than it already is. He always argued against social security and other social services provided by the state. Now in my opinion the US has a social system that’s (almost) as bad as it gets. Can you imagine the US without social security? Friedman would say that would make this country better. But my father’s 401K that lost 70% of its value in a week tells me that something is fundamentally wrong with it. You see, America is a country where those who’ve developed and have nurture the idea of the “invisible hand of the free market” have built a socialist system for themselves, a system where the invisible hand is an ally. But the big majority of the people don’t live in that system. They live in this capitalistic system that’s plain cruel, the cruelest by far of any so-called industrial nation. This is a system that socializes the debt and privatizes the gain. That, according to Friedman, is how things should be. For instance, employers should not provide their employees with medical benefits. That should be left to employees. And insurance companies should be able (as they already do) to charge whatever makes the shareholders smile (that would spread love around, too, according to Friedman). People should be let to die like dogs when they get sick and can’t afford to pay for insurance. But that’s OK. That’s the ultimate freedom that would make everything perfect for once.
    To summarize, America’s system is raw, very primitive and cruel even at this stage. We have seen many times, and the recent collapse is the newest reminder, what happens when the invisible hand is not controlled by the brain. A system Friedman wished for would look like Enron. It would have to collapse in the long run, and it would take everyone down.

    BTW John, what Friedman talked about was not about being satisfied with a two-bedroom home. Things would be better if that were the case. He wanted you to aim higher, to wish for a mansion, and to go and get it!
  3. Djorde, your anger is misplaced, if understandable. There hasn’t been a truly free marketplace ever in modern history, at least in the near-half-century I’ve been alive.

    The current economic mess is just about entirely the result of bad government policy incentivizing damaging behaviors. To name but a few: government pressure on banks to make loans to people who couldn’t pay them back in the name of “home ownership”; a Fed-fueled asset bubble; poison-pill and other laws that prevent the kind of real shareholder oversight that would have kept boards of directors looking out for shareholders like they are supposed to.

    “Greed” is a convenient straw man to rail against; it’s essentially a meaningless term in this context. The collective result of everyone pursuing his self-interest (=capitalism) has produced more prosperity for more people than any other economic system in human history. It’s government that destroys prosperity and steals from some to give to others. Read and learn, then you’ll be angry at the right people.
  4. An interesting and daring perspective. Yes, greed has been villified especially in today’s media. Borrowing a bit from Atlas Shrugged, I find a degree of greed more than capable of solving our current predicament. If, and only if, the government can enact policies that support those that risk, as well as stay out of the way.

    As we continue to be brain washed that the government can solve all of our problems, I’m concerned that the idea of the pursuit of happiness, and subsequent dichotomy, ownership of failure, is being lost on the population. It’s a brave new world.
  5. Re: Michael’s comment above…

    I agree totally that “the current economic mess is just about entirely the result of bad government policy”. But that bad policy is a clear result of US leaders following the advice of Milton Friedman and his “Chicago Boys”.

    The US Government is a group of elites who work on behalf of corporate interests – and have done so for decades. They have no interest in the plight of the masses. Their only interest is accumulating more wealth and power for themselves and their elite friends.

    If you want to see the real results of Milton Friedman’s “Free Market” experimentation just visit the massive shanty towns that have sprung up in cities all over South America. I’ve been there, and it ain’t pretty.

    Also you might want to read Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” and watch award winning documentary “The War on Democracy” by journalist John Pilger.
  6. Knowledge is Power.

    To me, this statement is the essences of greed. The movie Wall Street is a fitting reference too. Remember the days of hostil takovers.

    How many companies were ruined? How many people lost their pensions?

    401k – Retirement fund? What a joke. That was just another way to fleece the worker imho. Nothing but more greed there.

    How about TV every night these days. You can see and hear greed in the sound bites surrounding the debate over the stimulus package from everywhere.

    The porn industry needs help. The mere hint of stimulus dollars extending off in one direction has another industry throwing their hats in the ring.

    Does this package look vaguely familiar to the one that got our president elected? Somewhat, but if you gave this debate another three weeks, my guess is you’d never recognize it.

    Jobs? Everyone knows where most of those have been going over the last 10 years. NAFTA, was there any greed associated with this decision.

    Credit Cards. No greed found in this industry eh!

    Healthcare Insurance? Chocking the life out of most companies. No greed found here I guess.

    Steel profits over the last 5 or 6 years. Oil Profits over almost the same period.

    Knowledge is power alright, it gives the brain and the ego justification to crush the heart and soul out of the decision making process.

    What would integrity do in the current economic environment. I dare say it would be looking for anyone it could help except itself.

    I sincerely hope this situation doesn’t become the ten year plan they had in Japan.

    Good luck and let them eat steak.
  7. The US Government is a group of elites……

    Thank you Aaron for clarifying this. I was about to say the exact thing.


    @ Michael & Cogniz:

    The last thing I expect is the US govt to solve this issue. Most of are a bunch of crooks like their buddies on Wall Street.


    Re: “There hasn’t been a truly free marketplace ever in modern history, at least in the near-half-century I’ve been alive.”

    I agree. There has never been a truly, by-the-book communist system in the world. Ever. What we’ve had is called dictatorship. It’s OK to add a prefix “communist” if we’re talking about Soviet Union, but I’ll give myself that freedom to add the the prefix “capitalistic” in front of dictatorship when I’m talking about Batista’a Cuba. Fair enough?

    Back to your statement; the fact that there hasn’t been a truly free marketplace ever is a positive thing. We have seen many, many times, and what’s happening now is not the last time, what happens when you give too much freedom to Wall Street. How could then total and complete freedom, economic freedom that Milton spoke of, produce anything but a total and complete disaster?


    “If, and only if, the government can enact policies that support those that risk, as well as stay out of the way”

    I don’t care if your risking affects your life, but if that risking is not voluntary on my part, if it affects my life in any way, then you bet I will be in your way. And their risk taking is directly affecting many people’s lives, most of whom are neither asked to take part in this nor are they rewarded in end.
  10. I’ve been trying to figure out why, in Europe, it seems that people works less hours and yet can afford better appliances and cars than the average person in North America. I was at mechanic’s once with my – then – 10 year old car (I have a 3 year old car now). He was talking with a friend at his shop about Europe, saying “You’d never see cars like this, no one drives cars this old.” Yet, most of those country have much more of a “welfare state.” Higher taxes and more extensive help for health and the poor.

    When Adams wrote about capitalism, the idea of a big business would have been maybe 100 people – most businesses were less than 10 people working on high-quality hand crafted goods.

    Corporations are no longer driven by supply and demand – they’re driven by fear of getting taken over if their stock prices drop too much (and thus board of directors and executives loose their jobs.) The worst thing a company can do for its long term value is lay people off. But they always think in quarter of a year at a time – and laying off people is a cheap solution to short term problems.

    There’s also very little accountability if a company does harm. If YOU were to kill 100 people, you’d be in jail for the rest of your life. A company does that and it might pay a fine. I think the directors and executives should be held just as accountable as individuals.

    Its well known that auto makers look at which is cheaper – paying lawsuits for killing people, or fixing the problem that kills people. That is just one example.

    What really drives me nuts is that many conservatives think that anything other than total free market, no taxes, no interference is “communist.” They don’t see shades of gray – only black and white, us and them. (BTW – I was raised staunch conservative.)

    In principal, capitalism is a good thing. Capitalism without accountability – I’m not so sure.

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