Greed Redefined: How Ethics Determines True Excess

Editor's Note: Ellisville resident Robert Srote is who will appear on the April 3 election ballot for Mayor of Ellisville.

Greed is traditionally defined as "an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth."  That definition is more than a little ambiguous. In a capitalistic society, it can be said that an excessive desire is the engine that drives ambitious people. So what exactly defines excessive and what does one really need or deserve? To most of the world, America’s per capita GDP of roughly $47,000 likely seems excessive and more than what is needed or deserved. Simply put, what one needs or deserves is both highly subjective and relative.

Let’s take Albert Pujols as an extreme example. Does anyone need or deserve a salary of $25.4 million a year? Is Pujols greedy? Without question the answer is No. Pujols merely accepted a contract for what his talents were worth in the open market. Now does it make sense to accept a contract in L.A. that allegedly only pays 13 percent more than the St. Louis Cardinals' offer when the cost of living is roughly 60 percent higher in L.A.? Probably not, but this is questionable behavior, not greedy behavior. Not to mention the superb job Cardinals' management did of selling their side of the story to the media to Pujols’ detriment.

If your wealth—material or otherwise—is honestly and ethically obtained, then is merely accepting what you are offered, and therefore what your human capital is realistically worth, greedy? The answer is emphatically NO. Greed needs to be clearly redefined and to do so, only one word must be added to the classical definition: An excessive desire to unethically acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth.

That one word removes all ambiguity. If the excessive desire to acquire or posses something includes immoral behavior as a condition of attainment, then the definition of "excessive" and delineation of what one needs or deserves no longer matters. The mere intent to unethically attain something solidifies the new explicit definition of greed.

In other words, it is the nature of the motive, not the excessive desire, which characterizes greed. You can either jeopardize moral principles to satisfy your excessive desire or you can follow your moral compass and be rewarded with the long-term gratification that follows ethical behavior and builds the character that makes future immoral behavior easier to resist. 

An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves is healthy for society, while an excessive desire to unethically acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves is greedy.