blog-maryBlog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Greed – 4 December 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman

Reading the November-December 2006 issue of Public Citizen News, I began to think of the “greed is good” mentality that popularized movies and books just a few years ago. This edition highlighted some of the excesses that accrue from the glorification of greed.

Given this fallen world, I believe that capitalism – free enterprise – is the best possible economic system: a system that rewards hard work and ingenuity. Webster’s dictionary defines “free enterprise” as “freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in a competitive system without interference by government beyond regulation necessary to protect public interest and keep the national economy in balance.”

Because this is an imperfect world, there must be oversight and balance. Humans have always been prone to excesses of a negative nature; therefore those who use our economic system as an excuse to cross the line and stray into crime and corruption must be curtailed.

Public Citizen tries to take positive, legal action to protect the public from companies who get carried away with greed. One example that I’ve mentioned before involves the pharmaceutical industry and their “disease mongering.”

That is only one of many excesses that has gotten out of hand. Another example is the public subsidy of oil companies to the tune of $10 billion annually! The political manipulations and use of loopholes by powerful, greedy corporations are shameful. But since it is pretty obvious that being ashamed is not one of their characteristics, a watchful eye and legal action are needed to keep them honest.

Oversight is necessary to restore balance when greed threatens to overcome the best economic system in the world.

Go on to: Ethical Dilemma -5 December 2006
Return to: Advent - 3 December 2006
Return to: Blog - Main Page
Return to: Archive - By Date
Return to: Archive - By Subject

See Readers Comments