Comments on: The High Cost of Greed …

By: Tony Clement

Tony Clement — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:43:51 +0000

Well said by everybody…greed is always a culprit as it is an evil that permeates financial matters and destroys humanity and society. This is where we find ourselves today…in the process of self-destruction at an accelerating rate. Few truly know what the causese are for our demise at this juncture; therefore, the solutions may be not be so easy to attain, if they're even attained at all.

In other words…the thieves are in our midst.

By: PATRICK GABRIEL

PATRICK GABRIEL — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:14:45 +0000

LYING CHEATING STEALING JEALOUSY ANGER PRIDE MISERLINESS DOUBT. THIS IS THE STATE OF THE NATION. THOSE 8 POISONS ARE ANTIDOTED BY PATIENT EFFORT AWARENESS MORALITY COMPASSION AND GENEROSITY…MEDICINES TAKE TIME AND PRACTISE…MEANWHILE ABIDE CALMLY AND ENJOY YOUR HEALTHY INSIGHTS.
PATRICK GABRIEL, DC MBA BS BA

By: Marie Saqueton

Marie Saqueton — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:53:27 +0000

It's about time we all yell; ENOUGH ALREADY, WE WANT YOU ALL OUT OF OFFICE AFTER EACH ELECTION, EXCEPT FOR THE HONEST ONES? IS THERE ONE AT LEAST? NO MORE CAREER POLITICIANS, GIVE TERM LIMITS TO CONGRESS AND SENATE, WE DO OUR PRESIDENTS, SO WHY NOT THEM? THEY ARE TO BLAME FOR OUR DOMESTIC PROBLEMS, AND THE PRESIDENT FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. TELL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS, CALL THEM, EMAIL THEM AND EXPRESS YOUR DISCONTENT OF THEIR PERFORMANCE, AFTERALL THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE OUR SERVANTS NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. AMERICANS WAKE UP, AND CLAIM YOUR RIGHTS BEFORE IT IS ALL CONSUMED BY BIG GOVERNMENT. GET TO THE POLLS ELECTION DAY TO CLAIM YOUR POWER….

By: Mitch Christopher

Mitch Christopher — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:48:22 +0000

Greed is the root of all evil.

You have it.
I want it. I covet.

Who's greedier? You, you fortunate hoarder? Or me, the coveter?

You're right on-target in your analysis of the bought-and-paid-for political hacks (i.e., MISrepresentatives of voters) in our corrupt criminal godvernment.

They're greedy PIGS. They've sold out Americans.

It's a good idea to go back 100 years to educate severely dumbed-down Americans about all the TREASONS committed against them by criminal godvernment's political swine. Even mindless American Idol worshippers should be interested to know the Truth about never-ratified 16th Amendment that extorts federal-mafia income tax. It gives venomous bite to feral Federal Reserve banksters — slavedrivers of the USA.

Sellouts have been prolific and legion ever since. All in the name of greed.
These PIGS already access all the money their greedy black hearts could crave.
They're greedy for power. Money lust isn't a big enough thrill anymore.

Greed for power set-up the Global Economic Depression. Theft of wealth made it so.

By: D Wright

D Wright — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:09:59 +0000

Yes, greed is at the heart of it. The concern that all of the above leaves me with is that there is still a prevailing mindset in the US that it's the Government's fault, the Fed's fault, big business' fault, it's everyone else's fault (greed) but mine.

In one particular example, I watched a while back a congressional testimony of a middle aged, middle class woman talking to the world about her experience with her house purchase, where her bank account manager had artificially inflated her earnings on the application to get approval and the real estate agent had been "very insistent", and she overpaid for the property (now apparent in hindsight).

You know where this is going, or maybe you watched it as well, her situation went pear-shaped, times got tough, she couldn't service the mortgage, the property value dropped and she ended up defaulting, losing her home and now has a financial mess hanging over her.

Everybody in the room felt sympathy and bemoaned the evil bank manager, real estate agent and global economy. Yet, no one asked why she had knowingly signed a fraudulent application. Or done better due diligence of the house purchase. Or a bit of basic budgeting the plan for the mortgage. It was everone else's fault but hers.

It worries me that this is an underlying theme in American culture. Multiple credit cards, rampant housing market, savings rate at near zero as people spend beyond their limit, excessive consumerism – and… advertising made me do it??

Where is the personal accountability? I think greed is a big part of the problem and the question and response are on track. I just think you may have missed on who the culprits are, or at least left some of the list.

By: Dan C

Dan C — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:32:55 +0000

I only have a point of contention that seems like semantics, but sometimes, the devil IS in the details. In this case, the word should be "desire". More specifically, the problem is human emotional manipulation. We live in a world where corporations are given tax deductions for buying advertising which tells us to destroy our own future. (Sugary drinks, unnecessary spending, debt-based living, cheap food with little nutrition, automobiles and their associated death rates, etc.). Humans believe they are intelligent and in control of their actions. We are not. We do stuff. We have reasons for doing stuff. In that order. This 'financial' crisis is really a crisis of existence for human beings that belies the inability to act in our own best interests. We 'know' we should save instead of go into debt, yet we don't. We 'know' we should do something about our government's fascism, yet we don't. Our perceptions are as easily manipulated as those of a child believing in the tooth fairy. The solution is to put the real costs of everything we buy on the price tag. In other words, the costs of wars for oil, bailouts for banks, and health care for everyone should be included in a sales tax on every product purchased at retail. The failure mode of such a system is that people would have to stay home, make things themselves, and trade with their neighbors without cash. The success mode is that the more we buy, the more money government has for maintaining the logistics required to support those purchases. A consumption tax is a lot less regressive than a dead planet.