This article is from February 10, 2020. It was posted on another platform where I tried to communicate with fellow Patriots, but that platform repeatedly censored me -- without telling me why. I will be moving all of my Notes from there to here in the coming weeks.
It’s a word that when most people say it, they do so with a sneer. It’s a word that Leftists use to attack Free Enterprise and Capitalism. The Leftists have even been successful -- in some cases -- of getting some clear-thinking American Patriots to say it with the same gut-filled disdain. The available definitions of the word characterize it as negative. But it’s not what the Left says it is.
The variations of the definitions are small, but most sources define it as an intense, insatiable, all-consuming desire to want more than one needs. More than one needs? Who decides what someone should want or need? Only the individual seeking more is qualified to determine that.
While the definitions of the word may be accurate from the standpoint of intensity, it should come as no surprise to clear-thinking American Patriots that the Left manipulates the word in order to apply it wrongly to Free Enterprise, Capitalism, profits, and to anyone who wants more of what is good for them. It is THIS application of the word ‘greed’ that has made its way into the propaganda word salad of the Left.
We most often hear this Leftist drumbeat about ‘greed’ when it comes to business and profits. It is part of their mission to have everyone forced to share their earned wealth. The Left’s mischaracterization of the motivation for profits, the efforts made to keep employees hired and to hire more and to expand that company’s free exchange of goods and services with consumers, is NOT greedy. It’s the epitome of success in a free market.
Pricing of goods and services, in a free market economy, can only be successful and accepted if the consumer agrees to purchase those goods and services. If the price is too high, the consumer doesn’t make the purchase. If no one buys, the company goes out of business, which is what happens in the free market when business doesn’t fill the consumer’s needs.
We also hear the Left’s greed drumbeat when they are intent on forcing individuals to give up their earned income to people who haven’t earned it. Forced charity.
My personal view of greed -- and when it really applies -- is when someone allows their pursuit of profits and more extra income to become an illegal and unethical enterprise to achieve those goals. In plain terms, they break the law and purposely work to screw over consumers and others. Their intensity for more violates societal norms and values.
My personal view of greed also includes people who want more of what doesn’t belong to them and wants it bestowed upon them without working for it. Those greedy people want the tax revenue paid by others to be given to them. This is the way of the Entitlement Class -- those citizens who do not contribute to the society, but want every other Working American to finance their existence. They are the same citizens who vote for politicians who will take it for them.
If we all begin to do as the Left, and we target anyone who wants more of what is good for them as being greedy, then we have to include the guy who flips hamburgers and wants $15 an hour in a labor market that can only support $8.50 an hour. This guy demands more from an employer instead of exercising his freedom and liberty to gain more skills and/or go find another job where he thinks he will be treated more fairly. He opts to use all of his energy to demonize the company that gave him a job that he voluntarily agreed to carry out and complete. His efforts are now about turning the society against his employer.
The employer has a responsibility to all of its employees, and to the ownership -- including stockholders. Doubling the salary of employees in a market that cannot bear the increase will cause layoffs and price increases. These resulting costs to the business could end the existence of the business (as is repeatedly shown when these forced wage increases are put upon businesses).
However, the Left has a steep learning curve when it comes to economics and to past lessons. The Left always believes that past mistakes weren’t done properly, didn’t have enough money, didn’t have the right leadership, didn’t have enough participation, blah blah blah. It’s how they try to justify failed policies and programs and double-down and triple-down on failure.
Don’t be influenced by the Left’s efforts to demonize your motivation for getting more of what is good for you -- for a great life, for a great retirement, for great wealth to be left to your children and grandchildren. As long as you earn it legally and ethically, you are doing what all good American Patriots do -- getting more of what is good for you. Stop and think about this: it is likely to cost you more to live and survive in retirement than it does in your active working life. You need to earn and pursue even MORE wealth to have a comfortable retirement. Only you -- the individual -- can decide what is best for you.
Dr. Thomas Sowell says it best: "I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you've earned, but not greed to want to take somebody else's money."
