The Greed Tactic

The “Greed” Tactic 

By Lawrence W. Reed

Have you noticed how “progressive” candidates try to buy your vote by denouncing “greed”? Simultaneously, they promise to soak the economy with trillions of dollars in taxes. Makes you wonder just who the greedy ones really are, doesn’t it?

“Greed” flows off progressive tongues with the ease of lard on a hot griddle. Whoever hurls it can posture self-righteously as somehow morally superior, above it all, concerned only about others while the greedy wallow in evil selfishness. This is a sleazy tactic, not a thoughtful moral commentary.

Economist Thomas Sowell famously wrote, “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.” 

Once upon a time, “greed” meant more than just the desire for something. It meant the obsessive worship of it that crossed the line into actions that harmed other people. Really, really wanting a million bucks was not in and of itself a bad thing if you honestly worked for it, freely traded with others for it, or took risks and actually created jobs and wealth to secure it.

If you worshiped the million bucks to the point of a willingness to steal for it or hire a public official to raid the Treasury on your behalf, then you were a greedy person.

“Greed” also means, to some people, an unwillingness to share what’s yours with others. A father who buys a yacht instead of feeding his family would qualify. But that’s because he is evading a personal responsibility. He owes it to the family he brought into being to properly care for them.

Let’s not forget the fundamental importance of healthy self-interest in human nature. Taking care of yourself and those you love and have responsibility for is what makes the world work. So does Inventing and producing goods that others need. 

The progressive perspective on “greed” is that it’s a constant problem in the private sector but somehow recedes when government takes over. I wonder exactly when a politician’s self-interest evaporates and his altruistic compassion kicks in? Does that happen on election night, on the day he takes office, or after he’s had a chance to really get to know the folks who grease the wheels of government? When he realizes the access to power and money he has, does that make him more or less likely to want to serve himself?

There’s nothing about government that makes it less “greedy” than the average guy or the average institution. Indeed, adding political power to natural self-interest is a surefire recipe for magnifying the harm that greed can do. Have you ever heard of corruption in government? Buying votes with promises of other people’s money? Feathering one’s nest by claiming “it’s for the children”?

If you are an honest person in a free market, you realize that to satisfy the self-interest that some critics dismiss as “greed,” you produce, trade, invest, and employ. You create wealth, not simply steal it and redistribute it.

The “greed” charge turns out to be little more than a superficial envy-based smear intended to serve political ends. Don’t be a sucker for it.

Final word: The antidote for greed is character. Read about it here.

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(Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta, Georgia. He blogs at www.lawrencewreed.com.)