Greed Is Good

The phrase, “Greed Is Good” is highly rated among phrases from all around the world. However, my opinion about the phrase is much different. I have been raised to believe that people do not benefit, in the end, from greed but from helping those around us. “Many people in the United States have an entreprenueurial spirit that encourages them to pursue the ‘American Dream’ of owning and operating their own business. However, there are numerous responsibilities and decisions that come with accomplishing this objective.” (Essentials Of Business Law, Liuzzo, Pg. 265) Throughout time, in America, while the chance to gain wealth is high, not very many people begin from the bottom and work their way to the top. In America, the wealthy continue to get wealthier while the rest of us maintain the level of wealth we began with. It works this way because wealth is achieved two ways in America: Hard work or inheritance. In the movie, Wall Street, Gekko states, “One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit.” This is a very true statement still today in America. On account of only one third of wealth comes from hard work, it is very easy to see why I feel that Greed is, in fact, not good. “The major disadvantage of a sole proprietorship is the fact that the owner of the establishment has unlimited liability, which means that the owner is personally liable for all of the legal debts and obligations of the business. (Essentials Of Business Law, Liuzzo, Pg. 265) This is the large disadvantage of a Sole Proprietorship but many company owners have found ways around these legal debts and obligations which is part of the problem with greed. Greed causes people like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and several other no-brained celebrities to continue to gain wealth while the rest of us sit and wait for the day to come when we may see money. Greed gets you money, yes, but it does no common good for the people around us. After all, don’t you find it more important for people that work hard to gain wealth than those who gain it by inheritance?