Greed is a shameful and horrible sensation that corrupts many. St. Thomas Aquinas declared Greed as one of the seven deadly sins following pride, envy,wrath,gluttony,and, lust. Greed earned the right to be there, greed destroys many people everyday. It is a disease that has plagued the world. Many have fallen ill of the disease, and unfortunately there is no cure. Because greed makes his victims always hungry for more even when they do not need it. It makes people so desperate for more. That they are willing to feed their hunger even at the expense of others.
Greed is the reason for the world’s hardships and tragedies. Greed corrupts the mind and destroys the body. All humans are susceptible to become greedy. Multi-Billion dollar corporations Such as Walmart, Mcdonald’s, and Apple are a perfect example of how greed has corrupted our businesses ,they started by moving their manufacturing operations from America over to other countries like Asia, where labor is cheaper. Thus leaving millions of americans unemployed and breathing life into other nations economy while the american economy withers away.
All the money saved by these Multi-Billion dollar corporations goes into the CEO’s greedy little pockets. For example Walmart CEO Doug Mcmillon makes a salary of $25. 6 million dollars a year. Economists (name an economist) examined salary trends of CEO’s of the largest corporations in america. Their findings showed that a CEO’s compensation in 2015 is an average $16. 3 million dollars. Mcmillions salary is almost 2 times more than an average CEO’s salary. This number will continue to grow by 3. 9 percent since 2013 and 54. 3 percent since the recession back in 2009.
This growth is due to the millions of american jobs being lost every year. A CEO can make in a day what a regular worker will make in a year. There is a stereotype that says that the poor are more willing to lie and steal, but a study showed that the wealthy are actually more likely to lie and steal to maintain their wealth and status. This is due to their hunger for more. They sacrificed millions of american jobs for the fattening of their wallets this is a major reasons why greed is a disease that has to be battled everyday.
Greed has entered our schools, The competitive nature of high schools and colleges is the perfect breeding ground for greed. School is a jungle where everyone has to be greedy in order to survive. The ranking system in schools makes students gain better opportunities at the expense of another student lowering in rank, as well as losing college opportunities. Being greedy is the only way to survive in the wild. This competitiveness is the reason why student stress levels have risen drastically in the last few years. The stress and feeling of having to look out for yourself.
This stress of being left behind resulted in cheating on college campuses across america higher than ever before. This also applies in the workplace, many employees compete for higher positions undermining others in order to further their career. These are effects that greed has on our students. Greed corrupts many people in the world resulting in horrible acts being committed. Drug cartels want more and more money. They sell drugs such as cocaine and heroin drugs that killed 13,000 males and 8,000 females in 2014 alone. But drug lords continue to sell their illegal drugs even if it kills thousands of people every year.
Because they are making millions of dollars, but at the expense of these people who have a sickness. Greed has also crept its way into politics as well as law enforcement. Many politicians have taken bribes to turn a blind eye, a popular example is our 39th vice-president Spiro Agnew who was accused of accepting more than $100,000 in bribes, this resulted in the resignation of Agnew. Greed has also infiltrated our police force, Lt. Robert Sung and Detective Yatyu Yam both excepted a bribe of $2,000 from a karaoke bar owner in exchange Lt. Sung and Detective Yam would let go of the drug charges as well as give a heads up to the bar owner of any future drug searches happening.
Lt. Sung and Detective Yam both received a 15 year jailhouse sentence. This is another example of how greed is destroying the world, the people who are supposed to be the protectors of justice were able to be bought out for a few thousand dollars. Many people in the world have fallen i’ll to the disease known as greed. A quote by P. J. O’rourke he states” Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society.
If we are looking for the source of our troubles, we should not test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and the love of power”. This quote describe perfectly how greed is corrupting people. We should not be distracted by drug users, alcoholics, and addicts. We can still help them, but our main goal in society should be trying to find a way to destroy greed. Many people use greed as motivating force to become successful and gain power. But greed is a double edged sword, to obtain that money and power you had to lose everything and everyone that mattered to you. Is it really worth it to let greed consume you.
