Grieving for our Country

[Tammy]

My 3 millennial children give me hope - they reject materialism.

[LDAHL]

When I see an inordinately angry person I don't want to be like them. When I see a glutton, I don't want their food. Why is it that of all the 7 deadly sins, greed is the one that has become a virtue? In terms of motivation for achievement, a little healthy ambition is not greed. Ordinary, well-directed human desire is not greed.

That "greed is good" mentality is so 80s.

It’s such a wonderfully flexible term, isn’t it? You can rail about the 1%’s greed. A Zambian peasant could rail about yours. Any level of sanctimony, envy or spite can be ennobled by preaching about someone else’s lack of virtue. It’s the perfect have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too form of virtue signaling. It allows us to pretend all our problems could be solved if only we could tear down a few wealthy malefactors. We can indulge our baser instincts while congratulating ourselves on our high thinking.

I thoroughly enjoyed the eighties.

[catherine]

It’s such a wonderfully flexible term, isn’t it? You can rail about the 1%’s greed. A Zambian peasant could rail about yours. Any level of sanctimony, envy or spite can be ennobled by preaching about someone else’s lack of virtue. It’s the perfect have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too form of virtue signaling. It allows us to pretend all our problems could be solved if only we could tear down a few wealthy malefactors. We can indulge our baser instincts while congratulating ourselves on our high thinking.

That's really not what I'm saying at all. I'm not saying that everyone in the 1% is greedy. I'm not saying everyone that has more than I do is greedy. I'm not a judge of greed, but like porno, I know it when I see it--just as anyone can identify any virtue or vice when they see it.

In my mind greed is what comes to mind when I read this...whole article here. About Sloan Kettering staff dismayed at the direction their leadership is taking.

The meeting ended after several doctors advocated an immediate no-confidence vote in the hospital’s senior leadership. The turmoil followed reports by The New York Times and ProPublica that the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. José Baselga, had been paid millions by drug and health care companies and failed to disclose those ties more than 100 times in medical journals, and that hospital insiders had made lucrative side deals that stood to earn them handsome profits, sometimes for work they had done on the job.

With that, I am going to take my baser instincts and high thinking out of this discussion.

Happy New Year, LDAHL. BTW, my son and DDIL bought the book Reagan by Bob Spitz for my husband for Christmas.

[Williamsmith]

It’s such a wonderfully flexible term, isn’t it? You can rail about the 1%’s greed. A Zambian peasant could rail about yours. Any level of sanctimony, envy or spite can be ennobled by preaching about someone else’s lack of virtue. It’s the perfect have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too form of virtue signaling. It allows us to pretend all our problems could be solved if only we could tear down a few wealthy malefactors. We can indulge our baser instincts while congratulating ourselves on our high thinking.

I thoroughly enjoyed the eighties.

I think what Catherine is referring to is more accurately termed, “exploitation”. I doubt she begrudges a hard working person the fruits of their labors. But it’s disingenuous to pretend that amongst the wealthiest of this country there isn’t a remnant that did not honestly obtain their wealth through the aforementioned sweat of their brow. History is saturated with accounts of such people. And the term is properly...” eat your cake and have it too.”