Matt Yglesias says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for Week Ending 4/17/2009 #5

... whatever one thought should be done with large financial institutions as a policy matter, surely we could agree that the executives at these institutions are primarily bad people.

It turns out we couldn’t agree on that. But my argument is pretty simple. These are people primarily motivated in life by greed. Not just by a desire to make some scratch, mind you. These aren’t immigrants who walked through the desert from Mexico in order to earn more money by washing dishes in a San Diego hotel. They’re not 24 year-olds looking for a hefty salary in order to pay off student loans. They’re multi-millionaires who want to earn millions more. It’s possible, of course, that Vikram Pandit really does find being a bank executive to be intrinsically interesting. But a good person, who’s primary passion was the life of a bank executive, would be donating the bulk of his massive compensation package to charity. But that’s not what Pandit’s doing. Rather he, like virtually all executives at major firms, is living a life that’s primarily oriented around an ethic of greed.

Once again we get a look at one of the core values of the conservative movement ... GREED. They say greed is good. They say greed is right. Truth be told, even in this awful economic climate, the greedy haven't been hurt nearly as bad as the rest of us. Greed is only good for the greedy.

Greed interferes with any attempt to act in a manner that benefits the many as opposed to the few. Greed corrupts government. Greed leads to the lowering of the inheritance tax. It leads to cutting taxes on the highest income brackets. It leads to deregulation allowing industries to take more risks and make more money. Greed leads to corporations skirting the law to increase profits. Greed leads to politicians seeing businesses and lobbyists as their constituency.

Ultimately, we are a country who gets to decide what we value. We do that we when go the polls. In November of last year, we went to the polls and we rejected the politicians whose policies of greed sunk this nation into an awful financial crisis. We should take every opportunity to remind our elected officials of that fact. By combating greed, the government can restore economic prosperity for most Americans.

Source - Think Progress