Greed is not good

For those interested.

In the 80's it was Greed was gloried. I have seen a few fall on their sword because greed took over logic.

Wolf of Wall Street (J Belfort)




Ambition is sometimes thought of as a form of greed, or the acceptable face of greed, which can be defined as the excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, not for the greater good but for one’s own selfish interest. Greed reduces our focus to the pursuit of its object. Ambition, in contrast, is more flexible and far-reaching, and can enable us to flourish and contribute to the flourishing of others. Ultimately, the difference between greed and ambition may simply be one of emphasis, with greed being reductive and destructive, and ambition expansive and adaptive.

 

I equate ambition with trying to be the best in your field of endeavour.

I equate greed with trying to amass a large quatity of a material item or money at the expense of morals and/or other people around you.

But the lines can be blurred; a very ambitious person may be so self-absorbed in their pursuit of career etc, and in the process neglect their family and friends - which could be construed as greedy and selfish.

 

The way I see greed is that it's about balance. You need greed to have incentive but at the same time greed can overpower you so you need to step back. There's thousands of examples of that e.g. Nathan Tinkler or can be as simple as people at the casino that win some money and just don't know when to walk away and end up losing it all. From a property investment perspective greed is when you leverage too much and don't have the necessary buffers in place to protect your assets.

 

Greed is destructive, easy to lose the lot, have seen investors crash and burn

 

A % of something is better than 100% of nothing.

 

Interesting observation;

Many poorer folk think of the rich as "the greedy rich", or "rich c*nts'....we hear it bandied about all the time ...even Bill Shoiten is currently exploiting this attitude for votes.

And; I can't understand this mentality of the less well off folks; because the vast majority of rich folks have got there through hard work (in school, in their job, in their Business) and then being financially responsible and wise with their money as they earn it.

At what point does having a good amount of money suddenly switch from being ok, to greedy?

Most rich folks I know are generous, by the way.

 

First definition of greed I found being "Intense and selfish desire for something (especially wealth, power, or food)"