Sunday, October 19, 2008

The epigrammatic Tyler Cowen

Nice that the New York Times would actually publish somebody from George Mason:
You’ll note that greed doesn’t play an independent role in this explanation because greed, like gravity, is pretty much always there.
I've always hated the idiotic suggestion that "greed" exists only among wealthy business executives. Are rock stars, movie producers and pro athletes not also greedy?

The assertion that rich people are rich because they are more greedy than other people is a claim that can't withstand the slightest examination in terms of actual facts. Are physicians and engineers more greedy than janitors and retail clerks?

The vilification of the rich as greedy is either (a) ignorance, (b) political demagoguery, or (c) a "sour grapes" rationalization, an attempt to make a virtue of poverty.

2 comments:

  1. (d) Appeal to the sin of covetousness.

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  2. Some of the greediest people I have ever met were lower middle class. Often that greed was the reason they weren't more prosperous. Kinda hard to get rich when you can't even hide how badly you want other people's money.

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