Forum Post: Unregulated GREED undermines the economy
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 4, 2012, 1:22 p.m. EST by aahpat
(1407)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Unregulated greed is self-destructive.
Unregulated greed undermines economies by concentrating too much capital and the opportunity potential that that capital represents into the hands of too few people.
Regulated greed motivates people to grow the economy for all in order to grow their own economic potential.
When not enough people can share in the creative potential of the economy because the investment capital is not available then the entire economy is depressed. s is the case here in the United States. And has been for the past thirty years or more.
When greed concentrates too much capital in the hands of too few the consumer base is undermined. Most industry depends on a vibrant consumer base. If that consumer base has no money to spend on products corporate America has no demand and no reason to to produce having ever fewer people to sell to.
It is then the fiduciary responsibility of corporate America to support and promote a greater distribution of capital to a wider population. Henry Ford understood this. Intel Corp understands this and works hard to grow it American workforce. They know that American consumers are the most lucrative market on the planet and they do everything they can to grow that lucrative consumer base.
Couldn't agree with you more. I like to say unrestrained capitalism encourages greed. Capitalism needs to be restrained with the proper policies and regulation that will maximize prosperity for the majority of people.
The wealth inequality and economic stress of the lower and middle classes will only result in increased stress on the upper class and on government. Their well being (the upper class) is dependent on the well being of society at the middle and lower levels. And vice-versa to a certain degree. The sooner everyone understands this the better.
Middle class consumer spending drives the economy. It's pretty simple. To continue to "put-upon" the middle class is really just ignorantly suicidal in the end.
Every opportunity that I get I like to tell corporate types that they have a fiduciary responsibility, to their share holders, to support the long term growth of the middle-class.
When I closed my long held position in GE at the beginning of the OWS protests I wrote to Jeff Immelt and told him I was selling the position because I did not think that GE had a commitment to its shareholders to grow its middle-class consumer base. If they don't hear it from us they won't hear it.
Ethics Protests at Business Schools
If OWS mounted large scale ethics protests at America's major business schools across the nation the university presidents would jump in the shit of the business school deans to do a better job of teaching ethics and corporate responsibility.
but without greed - how will we get our soylent green ?
blasphemy, you socialist!
I am a capitalist who believes that if more people have more they will have more to share with me. If others have less they will have less to buy the products of my investments with. My investments thrive when more people have more. My investments decline when the economy declines.
my comment was sarcastic. it is sad, though, that today you would be labeled a socialist (or communist) for being so reasonable.
I figured that. You gave me the opportunity to clarify and amplify. Thanks.
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How do you regulate something so steeped in the human mind?
Business schools teaching ethics and corporate responsibility instead of predatory libertarian 'greed is good' philosophies. It has been done in the past and it can be done again.
Its basic human nature. I want what you have if you have more than me. You can't tell me when you go to the lake and see the guy with the expensive speedboat you don't feel a twinge of want.
Greed is a learned value. Ethics and corporate responsibility are the counter to it. Its no different from religion teaching people to love thy neighbor is the counter to people simply treating each other like shit without any constraint.
Knowing that others disapprove of your excessive proclivities goes a long way to helping people to self regulate. Alan Greenspan and the libertarians crow on about self regulation but they never talk about the evils of excess. As a result MBA's on Wall Street for the past thirty years have self regulated without any ethical limits which is really no regulation at all.
greed is an emotion tempered by society
Semantics.
it's not semantics. there is a distinct and important difference between regulating a human emotion and regulating behaviors that stem from a human emotion.
OK. I just don't want to cut too finely because it starts going over too many heads. KISS. (;^>)
if what i wrote goes over too many heads, then we're screwed.
The existence of OWS is testament to the screwing.
Are you kidding. Greed is basic.
Only among sociopaths.
Children are sociopaths? Every child goes through the mine phase and that is not taught
Let me finish that for you........... Only among sociopaths....
can degenerate and irresponsible gamblers do foolish things with their money, like handing it over to complete strangers to play it in a game they do not understand or even know enough to tell if it's rigged, expect their fellow statesmen to provide expensive regulatory boards, which are obviously corrupted, to issue expensive band-aids, paid for by their neighbors, to them when they screw up and lose.
It's not just fawk regulation.... it's fawk foolish people that are too lazy or greedy to produce wealth, instead of rolling the wealth extraction dice to make their money work off the bruised backs of those who do work and produce.
Outlaw wallstreet type casinos or let them do whatever they want to any who want to bend over. If they are prudent and wise enough to have a legally binding contract, let them take their cases to court when the agreements are breached and losses occur.
Only borrow money from those who actually have it to lend, this means not fractional banking casinos.
I reject anyone finishing my statements. Especially you.
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Too late and it's obvious you need lots of help with both your thinking and likely home training.
one may naturally feel a twinge of want, but that doesn't justify stealing the boat. is this really that controversial?
you don't get it. nobody is proposing the elimination of greed as a human emotion. we can regulate our behaviors that stem from it, though. we have done so since the dawn of civilization. i may hate someone, but i am forbidden to act in any way i please on that emotion. rightly so, i can't kill them.
No you are proposing the regulation of a basic human emotion which in some cases is justified and some is not.
clearly you did not read my posts
Because greed, and thus, "human nature" is sometimes not justified, we have to have laws to protect things like the environment, and the unwitting consumer. Thus, the epa, and the consumer protection agency. Freedom to be "human" is all good and fine, but it demands personal responsibility as well. Greed (and, other "natural instincts") clouds good judgement, money is corrupting, etc. etc. That's the exact reason why "unfettered capitalism" is such an extremely bad idea. "Personal Freedom" can't restrict other people's rights, and that's why we have governments in place to protect everyone's civil rights. Take the movie Wall Street... the whole point of that movie is that "Greed isn't good. Greed doesn't work." So many people missed the whole point of Oliver Stone's message.
So is it greedy to want what the rich have?
What you're really asking is "aren't poor people greedy for wanting the rich people to pay their fair share." Which, the answer is clearly, "no." Right now, the rich don't pay nearly enough taxes, and the current vogue is to demand that they pay even less, so that they may "create jobs." That's a complete farce, and everyone with half a brain knows it's nothing but a con. "Starving the beast" is a republican strategy to deliberately run up the national debt so that social programs are made unaffordable... That's theft, which is what you get when greed gets out of control. And, in the interest of justice, that's why a lot rich people should probably be bankrupted and put in jail. And, if anyone thinks this kind of "take from the social safety net and give it to the rich-- ie, fascist strategy" is actually somehow healthy for America, then they need to look at their history over the last 100 years, and they'll see that the rich used to pay MUCH higher taxes, and the economy was far more solid. The tax code at that time was designed to encourage corporate profits to be taxed in such a way as to encourage that money not be paid out to salaries and stock dividends, but to be reinvested in the middle class, highly skilled, well-educated employees who actually made those companies run, not to mention the "trickle down" effect their salaries had in supporing the local communities that provided a good place to do that business. Alternatively, that money could be rolled over back into the company, for the expansion of the business which actually created the new jobs, right here in the USA. Instead, everyone got GREEDY and decided to take whatever they could get, claiming the pre-tax profits were somehow "their money." So, now a lot of overpaid, undertaxed people have assumed this really wacko sense of false entitlement. You never hear the phrase "it's all just gonna go to the gov'ment" anymore-- you haven't heard it since good 'ol Ronnie Reagan started the trend of lowering taxes. And, it took 30 years, but now our country is f'ing broke, while the rich have gotten much richer. So, no, moron, it's not at all greedy to "reset" the tax code, rebalancing the system to save the middle class, let alone the poor, and, sadly for the money whores, that means a lot of rich people are gonna have to pony up bigtime. The middle class and the poor really have no choice at this point either, but the rich need to really feel the pain of austerity, because they so richly deserve it.
No I'm asking if wealth redistribution is greedy
evolving laws on behavior. they've existed since civilization. remember those child labor laws banning child labor? they killed capitalism, didn't they?
Greed existed before that.
and for just about everybody, life really sucked then
For cavemen? For wolves? For any animal with half a thought?
what is your point?
I'm just saying that you aren't going back very far. Life may not have been easy for Ug but it was not bad.
that's your baseline. you're a joke. there is no conversation to be had with you.
Ok then give me something new because obviously I am not getting what you are saying or explain it better.
Back off from warp 7 to warp 4 on the greed propulsion drives and everything will be firm perky teats! Ok cappin?
What do you suppose has caused this unbelievable greed that we are seeing? Why do non productive people want what the productive people have earned, how greedy can you get?
"non-productive people"?
Thirty years of libertarian 'greed is good' that has led to the destruction of millions of jobs depriving people and families of an honest livelihood and you talk about non-productive people as the problem. You values are so perverse that I can't imagine talking with you in a civil way.
Regulate GREED. What an asinine concept.
How about regulate HATE as if a certain reasonable amount is an actual cure for anything, or prevents bad from happening.
You're an idiot.
Disavow GREED and take responsibility for your own financial house.
What undermines the economy is the fact that the majority of the 99% are degenerate gambling addicts and cannot fathom the concept of handling and controlling their own money.
This means they conveniently find themselves wanting their money to work for them at the hands of known crooks in a rigged casino, instead of demonstrating any prudence or willingness to accept responsibility for their own futures.
"kingscrossection" is a long outed T R O L L.
Don't waste your breath arguing with him. TROLLS are here to make us waste time in totally fruitless and unproductive "discussions"...
Save it, my message clearly addresses and answers the original post. As many times as I've seen you post similar messages to others, unsolicited I might add, it appears to me that you are one of the many tattle tales on this site.
Now if I'm wrong and you have something engaging or useful to reply to what I've typed about living among 99%ers, who are degenerate and irresponsible gamblers, I'm all ears.
YAAAWN!
Time for my nap!
TROLL B.S. never fails to put me to sleep...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"TROLL B.S." : recommended by more doctors than any other sleeping aid!!!
WARNING: Do not drive or operate heavy machinery while taking TROLL B.S.
Damn, I had read that the grim reaper had called on you for your last time.
Oh well, for your snitching tattle tale misery to persist is merely a tiny annoyance.
Thank you so much!
I feel completely refreshed by my little nap...
You really should commercialize that stuff!