Greed Is Not a Postive Foce

I’m sure some of you (however many of “you” there are that read my blog) may have missed last week’s events on Comedy Central, and I’m certainly late in posting about it. But, here’s a brief summary. After Jon Stewart of the Daily Show cracked a bunch of jokes about CNBC, one of their hosts(Jim Cramer, of CNBC’s Mad Money) took offense. After a back and forth all week, Jim Cramer actually appeared on the Daily Show. What happened actually kind of surprised me. The show was not very funny, and Jon Stewart was pretty aggressive. You can watch section one here (and from there find the other sections).

Of course, there is plenty to blog about in this encounter (and there have been many blogs written about it, including fivethirtyeight’s take here, or the Nation’s take here). For me, there was one particular part that really stood out. Stewart criticizes the promotion of get-rich-easily ideas, commenting that our money comes from hard work. Cramer objects at first, but Stewart notes there is even a show called “Fast Money” on CNBC. Finally, Cramer admits the truth. “There is a market for it,” he says. Stewart quickly quips, “There is market for cocaine and hookers.”

This relates back to my earlier post about efficiency. The point is, a free market system can supply demands very easily and efficiently. But, it does a horrible job of supplying what is actually needed. The profit motive, which supposedly makes it so great, also distorts who we try to sell to and what we sell. So, here’s what happens (as I understand it). 1) Even if something is negative or damaging, we will supply it if we can make money off it. 2) We work to create ridiculous desires in the wealthy, so we can get then satisfy them and get their money. At the same time we may ignore the obvious life-or-death needs of the poor because they have no money to give to us in return.

I do not necessarily think that a market capitalist system is inherently not viable, but one thing is clear to me. Greed is not a positive force for production. Of course, I believe that people want to and should be fairly compensated for their work. I am not saying people should work for nothing. But this is not being greedy, it is being just. Greed, on the other hand, means (to me) “money above all else.” So sure, greed drives production of a lot of good things. It also drives the production of many harmful things and the proliferation of unnecessary and ridiculous things (which, in the long run are also harmful), and it lacks the long-term vision necessary for actual progress. Therefore, if we want to have a capitalist system that works, we need to have strong regulation and direction, providing limits on what we can do for money as well as additional incentives for the good things we need that do not make a lot of money.

As I am finishing this conclusion, I suddenly have the sensation that what I am saying is so very obvious, and it is sort of pretentious of me to talk as if I am sharing some new idea here. I certainly do not mean to be pretentious, so if this is obvious, then I’m sorry.