"Greed is Good"

“Greed is good.” Now what can we think of when we hear that quote? I don’t necessarily agree with that saying 100%, but depending on a certain type of situation, that quote can pertain to something morally good and not so wrong. That quote pretty much takes us back to chapter 2 in the book when we learned about ethics and morals. “Ethics takes a more philosophical approach, examining what is good or bad. Morals are concerned with behavior as judged by society” (Essentials of Business Law, Liuzzo; Pg. 19). With those definitions in mind, would a quote such as “greed is good” fall under the category of an ethical dilemma? We were taught that being greedy in this world is not nice and that we will never get anywhere in life being hated on. That’s not always so correct once you live in the real world. When you think about it, so many people in this world have made it through life became rich by being greedy. Of course morally, it’s not good to be greedy, but you do what you have to do to reach your goals. For example, there are good and bad types of being greedy. If you were to start a foundation, say a foundation for helping kids fight cancer, you would want to be greedy and find ways to manipulate people into giving you money for raising money to these kids. Would that be so bad? You’re doing whatever you can to help them out. It’s for the cause of helping others. If you were to start a company for your own benefit and would trample over anybody just to get what you want, then that would be considered greedy in the form we all know the word to be.

“Despite a few glaring lapses, many companies today understand the need to maintain ethical standards in their dealings with customers, suppliers, and employees. To do this, some firms or industries establish a code of ethics…” (Essentials of Business Law, Liuzzo; Pg 21). Having a code of ethics in the business would definitely set some standards in order for people to be not so greedy. “Greed is good” is such an iffy quote and a tough subject to put my finger on. One side of me agrees and another disagrees. Have you ever seen a movie called “Envy” starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black? It’s a story about two friends who shared everything and one day Jack Black discovers a miracle spray that got rid of any kind of animal feces and made it disappear into thin air. Of course, he became rich, bought a big house, and bought everything his money could buy, while his best friend was left all by himself. The thing is, Ben Stiller never asked to be a part of his company and just watched his best friend do his thing. He then began to get jealous of his friend’s success. Throughout the movie, you realize that none of this is Jack’s fault because he had been nice to Ben and offered him everything he ever needed and that Ben had so much pride and acted like his success was nothing to him. Jack wasn’t really greedy, he was actually giving, but the thought of Ben being jealous, he was green with envy. It really comes down to what situation and how you’re looking at the quote to truly understand its meaning. It’s up to you to decide whether greed is really good, or if greed is bad.