Why Greed Is Good

On the contrary to these negative examples about greed, in some cases greed is useful. To quote Gordon Gekko a once influential man on Wall Street, “Greed is good.” Although this is a contradictory sentence, it holds true in the business world. According to historians Adam Smith, “argued that the invisible hand of market forces would ensure that the efforts of individuals acting in pursuit of their own self-interest made society as a whole better off.” So the reason greed is good is because it increases productivity. Greed increases productivity because it pushes people to work harder for money, thus creating business. For an example, Andrew Carnegie made his money in the steel business. Andrew Carnegie used new technology to create a better

According to Herbert Croly, “In the long run men inevitably become the victims of their wealth. They adapt their lives and habits to their money, not their money to their lives. It preoccupies their thoughts, creates artificial needs, and draws a curtain between them and the world.” Essentially, Croly said in the 18th century that money can cause people to become obsessed and overcome by the desire to make money. This desire for money is greed and as stated above; greed can be destructive to a country. Also, according to Adam Smith, “The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.” Smith states in this quote that money creates a discrepancy in social classes. Smith states that money can hurt a country by isolating them into separate classes. These separate social classes, create a problem because there is such a deviation, that not everyone can be positively effected by a law (Reducing the Violent Crime). An example of this can be Obamacare, and how Medicaid covers people who cannot afford health insurance. According to the laws and regulations of Medicaid, people who cannot afford health insurance get covered by other higher classes’ taxes. This creates an imbalance because it says, if