Reframing Greed to Make It a Virtue

December 29, 2008

by Jerry Lobdill

I recently wrote an essay condemning the Mayor and City Council of Fort Worth, Texas as partners with the gas drilling industry in the rape of the electorate of the city. In that essay I said,

“When confronted with these issues by concerned citizens the City Council behaved as if they had never been told of them, and yet in every case they defended the promoters of greed and profit over safety and health and refused to declare a moratorium while appropriate studies and investigations are conducted.”

One of my chosen reviewers, an ally in the gas wars, took issue with my use of the word, greed. Now, I need to tell you a little about this fellow so you will know where he is coming from. He is a man of about 60 years of age, a lawyer who until a few years ago was a chief executive of a major pipeline company. He is steeped in the philosophy of mainstream business, that is, he subscribes to the notion that you either have totally unfettered capitalism or you have socialism, and socialism is a very dirty word that connotes communism, dictators, and the absence of freedom. This notion is an article of faith that is inculcated into every business person to such an extent that they cannot explain where or when they first came to believe it. It is at the core of their belief system.

As we discussed his concern about my use of the word, greed, it became clear that his objection was rooted in the issue of capitalism vs socialism. He said, “When you use that word you immediately lose credibility with many people, and they won’t consider the rest of your argument. They’ll peg you as someone who thinks profit is evil.”

Shades of Gordon Gecko! Gadzooks! I suddenly realized what was hanging him up. I said, “Oh. I think I understand now. Let me reword that and get back with you.” So I thought a little and came up with this:

“When confronted with these issues by concerned citizens the City Council behaved as if they had never been told of them but remained uninterested anyway. Instead they defended the propriety of fostering exuberance over found money and promoting profit over safety and health and refused to declare a moratorium while appropriate studies and investigations are conducted”

This rewording passed muster without further objection.

Modern business people have found it necessary to reframe greed as something to be desired rather than as a sin. It is seen as a determination to keep profit at the top of concerns at all times so as to succeed in business. You can’t afford to be satisfied with less than maximum financial gain. Any charitable expenditure must have a profitable payoff. Don’t be a chump.

The definition of greed has lost all negative connotations in today’s MBA schools. There is no such thing as an excessive desire for more. Any real man can divorce his private life from his business life. There is no sense of cognitive dissonance between the command of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself and the command of business to win and take all. You simply compartmentalize your life and don’t worry. Profit is more important than preserving even the ability of the planet to provide the bare necessities of life, clean air, clean water, and an environment that can sustain life.

So don’t use the word, greed, in any negative context. You may make business people uncomfortable.

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Written by Jerry Lobdill · Filed Under Politics

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Letter to the Editor: Good Cars need Good Teams - by R. A. Letcher, PhD

Good cars need good teams -- designers, engineers, line workers… and learning-oriented managers by Robert A. Letcher, PhD [Author’s note: I submitted the following as a letter to the editor of The New York Times, after that paper carried an article under the headline, "To Fix Detroit, Obama Is Said to Drop Plan for ‘Car Czar’", 02/15/2009.] It is widely accepted that you can't win a horse race without a good horse. Of course, it helps to have a lot of money and a good plan for spending it. But, you still need a good horse. The authors reminded me of this when they wrote: “The companies’ plans are required to show progress in cutting long-term costs as a condition for keeping their loans.” I doubt GM and Chrysler can win this most important "automobile race" merely by having better accountants and more muscular negotiators: they still need a good "horse". That means the companies will have to show that their teams can still design and build cars that people are drawn to buy and willing to pay for: winners. I doubt they can. The problem isn't that they didn't know how to; it's that they don't know how to break out of the group-think that ensnarled them, their managers, their whole organizations, decades ago. I would be more optimistic, had the government also required the companies to include plans for transforming themselves into learning organizations. Aye, there’s the rub: learning entails risk-taking, not “yes people”.
Bob's Bail Out Plan by bobl-tlm
Fiscal Therapy - Getting the economy back on its feet, giving taxpayers a break, saving your retirement fund and your kid's college tuition? Done. And it won't cost you a penny.

For years now, whenever I've been invited to lecture students on how our tax system works, I have asked a simple question: What is the purpose of the United States of America? The most common answer, be it at prestigious universities, elite prep schools, rural community colleges, or crowded urban high schools, is this: To make people rich. This should come as no great surprise. For anyone born after, say, 1970, the world has been shaped by Ronald Reagan's remaking of government's relationship with private interests—a vision of lower taxes, less regulation, and maximum economic leeway for those at the top. In this view, the pursuit of wealth is the warp and weft of America; everything else will follow. By contrast, the preamble to the Constitution tells us the nation's reason for being in 52 words that can be reduced to six principles: society, justice, peace, security, commonwealth, and freedom. Individual riches don't make the list. They are a product of American society, not its guiding purpose. Progress, then, must begin with a return to the best of the values that created this Second American Republic—one born, it's worth remembering, from the failure of the Articles of Confederation, whose principles (weak government, unfettered capitalism) found their resurrection in the economic policies of the past three decades.
read more at Mother Jones
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