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In alt.engineering.electrical HeyBub wrote:
| wrote:
|
| Right. Greed is good.
|
| Greed is good only to the extent it motivates people to act within
| the law. The law is good when it ensures that greed has no negative
| impact on the society as a whole.
|
| We don't punish motivations. Likewise, the law DOES punish those who, with
| the best of intentions, have a "negative impact" on society. It is the
| result of the motivation that counts.

Those with good intentions should only make good (make whole) for their
errors. If they intended to profit from good intentions, and failed to
do so, then they have learned their own lessons. They will act smarter
the next time.

Those with bad intentions should also pay more. If not, they may well
try again to see what they can get away with. That payment can vary from
extra payment beyond making whole, to jail time, depending.

Note, that I do include as bad intentions things like advertising untruths,
and mistakes that could have been avoided were it not for cost cutting.

| Consider Albert Sabin as he hovered over the microscope looking for a polio
| vaccine. The many thoughts running through his mind probably included many
| emotions that people reject: GREED ("If I can whip this, I can do the kind
| of research I want!), PRIDE ("People will shake my hand and say nice things
| about me"), ENVY ("And I'm tired of Jonas Salk getting all the praise"), and
| a whole lot more.
|
| The result, of course, of these despicable emotions was that polio has been
| eradicated in my lifetime.

All these things led in the right direction in his case. It is a case of
greed (or pride or envy) leading to something that benefits everyone (or
at least doesn't impact anyone).

Something I learned about in business many years ago was the difference
between "creating value" and "diverting value". Creating value is when
you create something that benefits at least someone while not harming
anyone. Profiting from it is quite reasonable. Diverting value is when
you profit in some way that takes away from someone. There is a wide
scope of this and not all are obvious. This can include price gouging,
false advertising, anti-competetive actitivties, etc.

| A great worthy once said "If not for greed, no man would marry,
| build a house, or father a child."
|
| Lots of non-greedy people accomplish these things.
|
|
| Right. The point being that "greed" is not the issue nor should it be
| punished.

A"greed" :-) Greed is orthogonal. It can be good or bad depending on how
it is applied or used. Misapplication should be punished.

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