Since
the
very
beginnings
of
modern
civilization,
individuals
in
societies
have
been
hell
bent
on
producing
dramatic
economic
inequalities
between
themselves
and
the
majority.
Modern
times
are
no
different.
If
you
painted
a
line
on
the
side
of
a
building
30
feet
tall
that
represented
the
disparity
between
the
lowest
and
the
highest
family
incomes,
the
average
income
would
be
10
1/2
inches
off
the
ground.
Half
of
the
nation
would
be
clumped
somewhere
below
that.
Despite
this
staggering
numbers
of
poor,
housing
for
them
is
so
scarce
that
of
the
over
3,000
counties
in
the
United
States,
in
only
4
can
a
person
making
minimum
wage
afford
a
one-bedroom apartment. Please tell me that I'm not the only one that finds these facts repugnant.
I
believe
that
this
disparity
assaults
the
American
psyche.
Largely
because
the
media
constantly
feeds
us
images
of
people
and
places
from
the
upper
reaches
of
that
painted
line.
Sadly,
In
the
comparison
most
of
us
lose.
This
nation
equates
decency
with
wealth
and
indecency
with
poverty.
The
images
presented
by
the
media
create
waves
of
anxiety.
Being
“less
than,”
being
"poor",
carries
a
stigma.
Some
sociologists
believe
that
we
are
so
materialistic
today,
that
poverty
actually
carries
the
same
shame
that
cowardice
carried
in
earlier times.
America's Disease is Greed
by Andrew Greeley
The
most
serious
spiritual
problem
in
the
country
today
is
reckless
and
untrammeled
greed.
Greed
caused
the
disgraceful
corporate
scandals
that
fill
our
newspapers.
Greed
is
responsible
for
crooked
cops
and
crooked
politicians. Greed causes the constant efforts to destroy unions that protect basic worker rights.
Greed
has
produced
rash
tax
cuts
that
have
given
money
to
the
rich
and
in
effect
taken
it
away
from
the
poor.
Greed
has
led
to
the
immigration
policy
in
which
hundreds
of
poor
men
and
women
die
every
year
as
they
struggle
across
the
desert
for
the
jobs
that
el
norte
promises
them.
Greed
accounts
for
the
efforts
to
take
profitability
out
of
the
pensions
and
health
insurance
of
working
men
and
women.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
fact
that
so
many
Americans
have
no
health
insurance
and
the
fact
that
the
recent
reform
of
Medicare
was
a
fraud. Greed causes newspapers to overestimate their circulation.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
obscene
salaries
of
CEOs.
In
the
'90s
the
ratio
of
CEO
compensation
to
average
workers'
compensation
was
250
to
1,
meaning
that
the
boss
earned
on
his
first
day
of
work
during
a
year
as
much
as
the
worker
did
in
a
whole
year.
In
European
countries
the
ratio
is
closer
to
100
to
1.
Recent
estimates
put
the
current
ratio
at
500
to
1
--
the
boss
makes
as
much
before
lunch
as
the
worker
does
all
year.
Greed
is
the cause of the high wages paid to the bosses even if the company is failing.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
endless
stress
and
ruthless
competition
of
the
workplace
and
the
strains
and
tensions
of
professional
class
marriages.
Greed
(in
this
instance
another
name
for
relentless
ambition)
explains
much
of
the
cheating
on
college
campuses.
Greed
is
responsible
for
outsourcing,
which
is
incapable
of
comprehending
that
the
employees
who
lose
their
jobs
are
also
the
consumers
who
sustain
the
economy.
Greed
generates
the
reckless
ventures
that
in
part
caused
the
bubble
of
the
late
'90s.
Greed
causes
expensive
wars
that
shatter
the
budget.
Greed
is
the
reason
that
only
the
wealthy
are
benefiting
so
far
from
the
economic
upturn
that
is
allegedly
happening.
Greed
drives
loan
sharks.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
success
of
big
box
stores
that
tax
the
poor
with
low
wages
to
provide
bargains
for
affluent
suburban
shoppers.
Greed
is
the
reason
poor
white
Appalachians,
poor
African
Americans
and
poor
Native
Americans
must
fight
the
wars
that
the
wealthy
start.
Jessica
Lynch
joined
the
Army
so
she
could
go
to
college.
Her
Native
American
roommate,
killed
in
action,
joined
so,
single
mother
that
she
was,
she
could
support
her
children.
Greed
is
the
reason
why
the
country
is
being
run
by
those
whom
the
president
has
described,
however
inelegantly, as the ''haves and the have mores.''
No
one
said
during
the
bizarre
deification
of
President
Reagan
that
he
taught
us
that
greed
is
good
and
that
we
should
feel
good
about
our
greedy
country.
Greed
is
the
reason
that
the
country
is
being
run
by
the
insurance,
pharmaceutical,
weapons
and
petroleum
industries.
Greed
causes
worldwide
sex
slavery
of
women and children.
Greed
drives
the
murders
of
the
narcotics
world.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
exploitations
of
teen
sports
stars
by
colleges
and
for
the
mess
in
the
pro
sports
world.
It
is
also
the
cause
of
the
use
of
performance
drugs
by
young
athletes.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
bad
advice
lawyers
gave
the
Church
years
ago
to
beat
victims
of
sexual abuse into the ground. It is behind the scam artists who steal from the elderly.
Greed
may
have
been
a
more
serious
problem
for
Americans,
say,
in
the
era
of
the
robber
barons.
But
the
Garys
and
the
Morgans
and
the
Carnegies
were
a
small
bunch
of
men.
Now
their
greed
has
seeped
down
to
a
much larger segment of the population.
The
Catholic
Church
speaks
of
four
sins
that
cry
to
heaven
for
vengeance.
Two
are
cheating
workers
out
of
wages and exploiting widows and children. Both happen every day in our greedy country.
Ambition
is
not
evil
within
limits.
The
struggle
for
success
is
not
bad
within
limits.
Hard
work
and
fair
rewards
are
good
within
limits.
It
is
not
good
to
take
from
the
poor
and
give
to
the
rich,
and
that's
exactly
what
this
country is doing today.
Don't let anyone tell you that lust is the most deadly of the deadly sins.
Copyright 2004, Digital Chicago Inc.
GREED: noun \gred\
An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to
material wealth.
Copyright © 2022 GreedFreeAmerica.org. | All rights reserved.
Since
the
very
beginnings
of
modern
civilization,
individuals
in
societies
have
been
hell
bent
on
producing
dramatic
economic
inequalities
between
themselves
and
the
majority.
Modern
times
are
no
different.
If
you
painted
a
line
on
the
side
of
a
building
30
feet
tall
that
represented
the
disparity
between
the
lowest
and
the
highest
family
incomes,
the
average
income
would
be
10
1/2
inches
off
the
ground.
Half
of
the
nation
would
be
clumped
somewhere
below
that.
Despite
this
staggering
numbers
of
poor,
housing
for
them
is
so
scarce
that
of
the
over
3,000
counties
in
the
United
States,
in
only
4
can
a
person
making
minimum
wage
afford
a
one-bedroom
apartment.
Please
tell
me
that
I'm
not
the
only one that finds these facts repugnant.
I
believe
that
this
disparity
assaults
the
American
psyche.
Largely
because
the
media
constantly
feeds
us
images
of
people
and
places
from
the
upper
reaches
of
that
painted
line.
Sadly,
In
the
comparison
most
of
us
lose.
This
nation
equates
decency
with
wealth
and
indecency
with
poverty.
The
images
presented
by
the
media
create
waves
of
anxiety.
Being
“less
than,”
being
"poor",
carries
a
stigma.
Some
sociologists
believe
that
we
are
so
materialistic
today,
that
poverty
actually
carries
the
same
shame
that
cowardice
carried in earlier times.
America's Disease is Greed
by Andrew Greeley
The
most
serious
spiritual
problem
in
the
country
today
is
reckless
and
untrammeled
greed.
Greed
caused
the
disgraceful
corporate
scandals
that
fill
our
newspapers.
Greed
is
responsible
for
crooked
cops
and
crooked
politicians.
Greed
causes
the
constant
efforts
to
destroy
unions that protect basic worker rights.
Greed
has
produced
rash
tax
cuts
that
have
given
money
to
the
rich
and
in
effect
taken
it
away
from
the
poor.
Greed
has
led
to
the
immigration
policy
in
which
hundreds
of
poor
men
and
women
die
every
year
as
they
struggle
across
the
desert
for
the
jobs
that
el
norte
promises
them.
Greed
accounts
for
the
efforts
to
take
profitability
out
of
the
pensions
and
health
insurance
of
working
men
and
women.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
fact
that
so
many
Americans
have
no
health
insurance
and
the
fact
that
the
recent
reform
of
Medicare
was
a
fraud.
Greed
causes
newspapers
to
overestimate
their
circulation.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
obscene
salaries
of
CEOs.
In
the
'90s
the
ratio
of
CEO
compensation
to
average
workers'
compensation
was
250
to
1,
meaning
that
the
boss
earned
on
his
first
day
of
work
during
a
year
as
much
as
the
worker
did
in
a
whole
year.
In
European
countries
the
ratio
is
closer
to
100
to
1.
Recent
estimates
put
the
current
ratio
at
500
to
1
--
the
boss
makes
as
much
before
lunch
as
the
worker
does
all
year.
Greed
is
the
cause
of
the
high
wages
paid
to
the
bosses even if the company is failing.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
endless
stress
and
ruthless
competition
of
the
workplace
and
the
strains
and
tensions
of
professional
class
marriages.
Greed
(in
this
instance
another
name
for
relentless
ambition)
explains
much
of
the
cheating
on
college
campuses.
Greed
is
responsible
for
outsourcing,
which
is
incapable
of
comprehending
that
the
employees
who
lose
their
jobs
are
also
the
consumers
who
sustain
the
economy.
Greed
generates
the
reckless
ventures
that
in
part
caused
the
bubble
of
the
late
'90s.
Greed
causes
expensive
wars
that
shatter
the
budget.
Greed
is
the
reason
that
only
the
wealthy
are
benefiting
so
far
from
the
economic
upturn
that
is
allegedly
happening.
Greed
drives
loan
sharks.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
success
of
big
box
stores
that
tax
the
poor
with
low
wages
to
provide
bargains
for
affluent
suburban
shoppers.
Greed
is
the
reason
poor
white
Appalachians,
poor
African
Americans
and
poor
Native
Americans
must
fight
the
wars
that
the
wealthy
start.
Jessica
Lynch
joined
the
Army
so
she
could
go
to
college.
Her
Native
American
roommate,
killed
in
action,
joined
so,
single
mother
that
she
was,
she
could
support
her
children.
Greed
is
the
reason
why
the
country
is
being
run
by
those
whom
the
president
has
described,
however
inelegantly,
as
the
''haves
and the have mores.''
No
one
said
during
the
bizarre
deification
of
President
Reagan
that
he
taught
us
that
greed
is
good
and
that
we
should
feel
good
about
our
greedy
country.
Greed
is
the
reason
that
the
country
is
being
run
by
the
insurance,
pharmaceutical,
weapons
and
petroleum
industries.
Greed
causes worldwide sex slavery of women and children.
Greed
drives
the
murders
of
the
narcotics
world.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
exploitations
of
teen
sports
stars
by
colleges
and
for
the
mess
in
the
pro
sports
world.
It
is
also
the
cause
of
the
use
of
performance
drugs
by
young
athletes.
Greed
is
responsible
for
the
bad
advice
lawyers
gave
the
Church
years
ago
to
beat
victims
of
sexual
abuse
into
the
ground.
It
is
behind
the
scam
artists
who
steal
from
the elderly.
Greed
may
have
been
a
more
serious
problem
for
Americans,
say,
in
the
era
of
the
robber
barons.
But
the
Garys
and
the
Morgans
and
the
Carnegies
were
a
small
bunch
of
men.
Now
their
greed
has
seeped
down
to
a
much
larger segment of the population.
The
Catholic
Church
speaks
of
four
sins
that
cry
to
heaven
for
vengeance.
Two
are
cheating
workers
out
of
wages
and
exploiting
widows
and
children.
Both
happen
every
day
in
our greedy country.
Ambition
is
not
evil
within
limits.
The
struggle
for
success
is
not
bad
within
limits.
Hard
work
and
fair
rewards
are
good
within
limits.
It
is
not
good
to
take
from
the
poor
and
give
to
the rich, and that's exactly what this country is doing today.
Don't
let
anyone
tell
you
that
lust
is
the
most
deadly
of
the
deadly sins.
Copyright 2004, Digital Chicago Inc.
GREED: noun \gred\
An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what
one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material
wealth.
Copyright © 2022 GreedFreeAmerica.org. | All rights reserved.
