Greed, et al.
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Blog Entry #3


I read a lot of history, both in general and in specific.  One of the things I’ve noticed being repeated over and over are the comments about the downfall of empires, countries, and even peoples/tribes/cultures.  From ancient times up to recent times .. it’s always the same story.  There are, of course, variations in some of the (minor) details, but all are the same at their core.

1. The Gods

People “forget” their gods, no longer worship them, or worship them improperly.  This causes the gods to turn their faces away from the people, tribe, country, whatever.  The gods are sometimes ‘replaced’ by other, “foreign” gods, or are sometimes just no longer able to keep all the “demons” in the world from running amok; i.e.-they’ve lost their ‘powers’.  In any case, everything just falls apart.  It may be that this is being use literally – the ‘actual’ gods are suffering because humans aren’t feeding them ‘mana’ – or it is being used as a metaphor or excuse for severe changes in the traditional values & practices of the culture .. and people just don’t know how to cope.

2. Ancestors

People forget about or just no longer revere their ancestors.  This one may actually have some ‘meat’ to it.  Studies have shown a for-real connection between peoples’ consideration of their ancestors and their concern for their descendants.  When people are only concerned about themselves (i.e.-“today”) and no longer concerned about their descendants (i.e.-“tomorrow”), they think they can do any damn thing they want, now, and to hell with the consequences.  This is obviously very short-sighted, at best, and usually has disastrous long-term consequences .. and too often ‘not-so-long-term’.

3. Greed

But the one thing that always shows up and seems especially bad is that people become greedy and corrupt.  Note that nothing is said about becoming wealthy, but about becoming -greedy-.  Working hard and/or wisely and becoming wealthy is seen as very positive and admirable.  It is presumed this is done “fairly” and within the bounds of and in consideration for societal/cultural norms.

However, greed indicates all sorts of unhealthy negatives.  It indicates an intense desire for money (or the cultural equivalent) far, far beyond what is needed or even useful.  It condones “the ends justify the means” (im)morality.  It cares not a whit about people or society.  It cares only for one’s self.  People no longer matter, not even as a mere “number”.

This leads to all sorts of problems.  The so-called “social contract” that allows people to interact smoothly no longer has much, if any, meaning or guidance.  Greed deliberately breaks many of the guides of the contract.  If it causes others to suffer, that’s just too bad; those suffering from your actions either deserve to suffer for being “weaker” than you, or just don’t matter in life (your life being the only standard by which to measure).  This means the very basis of “civilized society” flies out the window!
Society depends on everyone following, at least modestly/moderately, the “social contract”, and when one or more parties begin to ignore or actively flaunt its guides, society begins to fray, if not out-right break, at those points.

In some cases, the behavior is the result of an “ego-game” (for lack of better term).  The participants are vying within their own peer-group for supremacy.  Only members of this peer-group are important or have any value or meaning.  Everyone else is just part of the ‘background noise’, and obviously of no importance.  Not even as servants or support personnel.

In other cases, the behavior is literally the result of a mental sickness.  This is a bit different from the previous in that it is irrelevant what others may be doing.  This behavior is actually pathological.  The amount of wealth one has is just “not enough”, and no matter how much one has, it is never, ever “enough”.  Asking the question “enough for what” is meaningless, because having wealth is important for its own sake and more is simply more.  The impact of this hoarding of wealth on others, or even on society in general, is completely without meaning.  The focus is strictly to fill an internal need, sick though it may be.

And in a tiny number of cases, greed is simply to fulfill 'The Joker’s Need' – “It’s not about the money, I just want to see the world burn.”

In all three cases, society and its needs are irrelevant and thus ignored.  But the money must come from somewhere .. and that means the rest of society.

Money is a medium of exchange.  It is used to exchange “energy” from one person or entity to another, in representation of goods and/or services.  A society only has/produces so much “energy” to make its economy function.  As long as the “energy” keeps flowing, the “engine” of the economy keeps working.  When the “energy” is hoarded and no longer available to fuel the “engine”, it simply stops functioning.  When society’s engine stops working, society loses the “energy” to do things as simple as feed itself!  When people become hungry enough, naturally, not all the excuses, misdirection, or spin in the world will save your sorry, mis-begotten ass.  If you try to use the police and military forces to suppress hungry people, you will only anger them more than they already are.  At that point, the possibility of society surviving intact heads down to the single digits .. .. and for the survival of the greedy fools who caused the mess to approach negative numbers!

Unfortunately, there is another aspect of greed that is often overlooked, especially in ‘modern’ times.  In all three cases, there is only “loyalty” to oneself, not to society and certainly not to country/nation.  If your greed results in the demise of the country you’re in, tough beans, just move to another one.  After all, ‘society’ is meaningless and only the accumulation of wealth, for its own sake, has any meaning.  This means decisions are made on the basis of “what benefits me, personally” instead of taking any consideration of society’s needs.  If a decision will result in many millions of dollars for you, but will throw thousands of people out of work, of course you take your millions.  People can simply find another job .. even if the one you just destroyed was literally the only one available in the entire area!  It’s not your fault that society planned so poorly.

But it’s not just “natural people” (i.e.-human beings) that get caught up in greed.  Corporations have been all about greed for a long, long time.  And, of course, they have absolutely no incentive to be “loyal” to a country/nation at all – their only “loyalty” is to their profits.  It means nothing to the corporation that they may be the very cause of destruction of environment or society, or even gruesome death.  If things get difficult enough in one location, they simply abandon that location and go elsewhere.  People, society, country - - none of these mean a thing to corporations; only their profits have any meaning.

And forget the complete and utter B.S. that CEOs, et al, use as an excuse – “It’s not my fault that ‘x’ happened or ‘y’ policy exists – it’s the corporation that did it.”  Look, corporations are a legal fiction designed to represent a collection of people, for whatever purpose.  Its policies and practices are determined and enacted by people.  From the CEO & BOD on down to the lowest employee, the active unit is a person, not a faceless paper entity.

They also like to use the excuse of “staying competitive in the global market” for many of their policies and practices.  This is pure and utter Bull Shit.  What they say is belied by what they do.  If they could get slaves to do their work, they would, but lacking that, they look for places where they can pay slave-like wages, with no benefits, no safety rules, or anything else that would cost them even a dime.  This might be fine if only short-term, instant gratification was important, but it is lousy for the long term.

Now, according to the ‘Holy’ Chicago School of Economics, corporations will do what is supposedly ‘right and proper’ because of their own “enlightened self-interest”.  In the many decades this utter crap has been pushed, and that includes at the end of a bayonet - literally, it has not once proven to be true.  It’s a pleasant myth corporations like to trot out, but their own records prove their only interest is profits .. and any way to increase them is considered “fair”, no matter what harm may be caused to others.




To be continued…