Greed Is Good?

With the cuts to Medicaid and Food Stamps, those in favor of the cuts say they are TIRED of PAYING for LAZY people to have a free ride on their tax dollars. Voices on the other side who are against the cuts say it is a lifeline for those who are struggling financially. Two sides to every story, right? Who is right? The intentions of the cuts are to STOP the waste, fraud, and abuse of the system, or is it? Is there a way to know? The other side of stopping the waste, fraud, and abuse is good old GREED. Can this be a possibility?

Who could forget the catchphrase “Greed is good” from the 1987 movie Wall Street. In the movie, Gordon Gekko says, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good”. The phrase has become a symbol of unrestrained greed in popular culture. In the movie two handsome men, Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, do whatever it takes to make money in the illegal and lucrative world of the stock market. The image of power and obtaining money, even if it outside of the law looks glamorous sparking a culture of people wanting to do the same in their lives. Entertainment became a goal.

The definition of greed is simple. It is the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. Can you identify with the definition. In today's culture the young people often say they are "getting their bag,' or "getting those coins." They have their mind on the money and money on their minds.

The 1980s saw a significant rise in this mentality, especially within the financial sector, leading to the "decade of greed" label. While the phrase "greed is good" is modern, some argue that the idea of using self-interest to drive economic progress can be traced back to earlier philosophers like Bernard Mandeville. 

Bernard Mandeville, born November 15, 1670 - January 21, 1733, was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist, satirist, writer and physician. Essentially, Mandeville called for politicians to ensure that the passions of man would result in a public benefit. It was his stated belief in the Fable of the Bees that "Private Vices by the dexterous Management of a skillful Politician may be turned into Publick Benefits". The Fable of the Bees, as a satire, the poem and commentary point out the hypocrisy of men who promulgate ideas about virtue while their private acts are vices.

In the poem, Mandeville describes a bee community thriving until the bees are suddenly made honest and virtuous. Without their desire for personal gain their economy collapses, and the remaining bees go to live simple lives in a hollow tree, thus implying that without private vices there exists no public benefit.

Mandeville presented a real-life situation in nature where to survive you must at all costs put yourself and self-gain first or you will suffer demise. This is contrary to what Christians are taught in the Bible. In Christianity, selfish desires are considered a sin. The saying there is two sides to everything holds true for every situation it seems. The deciding factor is CHOICE and CHARACTER. What will a person choose when presented two options and why.

The Bible has many verses that warn against greed, including the dangers of being obsessed with money and power.

       Ecclesiastes 5:10 "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never                   satisfied with their income." 

       1 Timothy 6:10" For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." 

       Proverbs 28:25 "The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper." 

       Mark 8:36 "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" 

• Luke 12:15 "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."
• Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves." 

The Bible teaches greed is a selfish desire to have more of something, often money or power. Greed is a gateway to every kind of evil. Generosity is a sign of a lack of greed, while stinginess and withholding are a sign of its presence. The Bible encourages contentment with what one has.

In fact, greed is one of the seven deadly sins. According to the standard list, the seven deadly sins in Roman Catholic Church are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth, all excessives. Some economists and evolutionary theorists, however, suggest that greed is a good thing for stimulating the economy, and greed may give people an evolutionary advantage (more resources = better chances of survival).

Research has also connected greed with lower emotional stability and self-esteem, with less trust in others. As mentioned, greedier people have reported shorter romantic relationships and smaller families, and having good social relationships is crucial to wellbeing – even more so than having a good income.

Far too often, greed comes with stress, exhaustion, anxiety, depression and despair. In addition, it can lead to maladaptive behavior patterns such as gambling, hoarding, trickery, and even theft. In the corporate world, as John Grant wrote, “fraud is the daughter of greed". Research also shows that both greed and self-interest are related to more materialism, more psychological entitlement, more psychopathy, less perspective taking, and less emphatic concern, which also makes sense theoretically because both greedy and self-interested people focus on the fulfillment of their own needs.

How does it feel to be greedy?

Constant Desire for More: If you find yourself always wanting more--whether it's money, possessions, or attention--this could be a sign of greed.
Difficulty Sharing: If you struggle to share resources, time, or attention with others, it might indicate a greedy mindset.
Feeling Unfulfilled.
Prioritizing Self-Interest.
Having dreams or goals of being financially stable or even having an abundance of wealth is different from greed. Greed is intense and at ALL costs. Yes, setting goals can be good because it can help you be more focused, motivated, and successful. Goals can help you visualize your future, plan actions, and track your progress. We are limitless in the goals we may have and achieve but when they come at the expense of others is when the goals become sinful and evil in nature, and not Christian.

The Bible teaches we are to care about the welfare of others. In the Bible, "brother's keeper" is a command and a blessing. It appears in the Bible when Cain asks God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" after Cain kills his brother Abel in the book of Genesis. "Brother's keeper" is an expression that means to be responsible for helping and caring for others, even if they are not blood relatives. It can also mean to be compassionate and empathetic towards others. 

If a person works hard and achieves monetary success, they are not a greedy person. Money in itself does not make a person greedy. It is the unsatiable need for more and more even if it hurts others that defines greed. Right now, people are not able to wrap their heads around all of the cuts that are impacting them negatively. The answer as to WHY the Trump administration (Elon Musk) is slashing jobs and federal programs, to them, indiscriminately, is not satisfying. Many are holding their suspicion of GREED as the underlying answer hoping the cuts WILL benefit America and Americans. Time will definitely tell.  Fingers are crossed the administration IS its brother's keeper.

The "Find Out" Stage of the Election (Voter Remorse)

How many of you are hearing people say, "I didn't know Trump was going to do _________ (fill in the blank)?

How many of you are not surprised by people saying they didn't BELIEVE Trump would do what he SAID he would do?

There is an anagram going around FAFO. I was today years old when I learned what it meant. (My apologies) but it means F*** around and find out and a lot of that is going on with 

Welcome to the FIND OUT PHASE of the election, we entered it on day one. Trump meant what he said out loud and you probably can't even imagine the things he means that he DIDN'T say out loud. You're about to find out it includes YOU even though you VOTED for him.

VOTER REGRET is being voiced and there is little sympathy being had for those who voted to elect Donald Trump. MAGA farmers and teachers are regretting casting their ballot for Trump as he strips federal funding and shuts down aid programs. 

While Trump and Musk claim they ordered a 90-day freeze on USAID’s foreign aid spending to rein in wasteful spending, in actuality they’re hurting American farmers and other business owners who sell goods and services to USAID. American Farmers supply around 41% of the food aid that USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture send around the world, which amounted to $2.1 billion in food aid from American farms in 2020, the Washington Post reports. Other farmers who voted for Trump are angry about the president’s tariff plans that could lead to retaliation from China that could impact soybean and corn farmers’ ability to sell their crops — something that happened during the first Trump administration. Voter remorse.

In the weeks since President Donald Trump has assumed office, more than 200,000 federal workers at more than a dozen agencies have had their roles eliminated. There are attempts from Republican officials in states like Alaska, Virginia, Iowa and Florida to either acquire exemptions for certain government workers in their states or build aid packages for those already laid off. They got caught up in what they believe would only happen to others. 

Everyday people are going on record with their regrets. “Emily Anderson from Duluth, Minnesota, categorizes her vote for Trump this year as the ‘biggest mistake of my life, as she was appalled by his implementation of Guantanamo Bay as a holding facility in his immigration crackdown.

“When we said safer borders, I thought he was thinking ‘let’s stop the drugs from coming into the country,’” Trump voter Staci White said. “I didn’t know he was going to start raiding places. Now I’m like: ‘Dang, why didn’t I just pick Kamala?’”

Our allies are in being swept up in the FIND OUT stage of Trump's presidency. The tipping point came when Trump decided to upend years of U.S. policy by holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Then, Trump special envoy for Ukraine and Russia on Saturday all but ruled out the inclusion of other Europeans in any Ukraine peace talks. This caused leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and the European Union to meet at the Elysee Palace for talks on Europe’s security quandary. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was also there.

LGBTQ voters were among the only demographic groups that did not move more toward Trump in the 2024 election. President Trump signed a far-reaching executive order requiring federal agencies to discriminate against transgender people by denying who they are.

Trump was able to make slight inroads with Black voters nationally, who made up about 1 in 10 voters across the country. Trump about doubled his share of young Black men – which helped him among key Democratic voting group. About 3 in 10 Black men under the age of 45 went for Trump, roughly double the number he got in 2020. Donald Trump won more Black voters than any Republican candidate was able to do in nearly fifty years, an analyst said Friday. Trump, once elected, launched an unprecedented attack on Black federal employees. On Wednesday (Jan. 22), workers received emails that threatened consequences if they did not report on co-workers who work in diversity, equity and inclusion positions that may have gone undetected by the federal government. 

Hispanic voters were more open to Trump than they were in 2020. Roughly half of Latino men voted for Harris, down from about 6 in 10 who went for Biden. Donald Trump won the vote of Hispanic men by one point (49 percent Harris – 50 percent Trump), a 35-point difference from 2020, when Joe Biden won the vote of Hispanic men by a 34-point margin. The starkest increase may have been the 14-percentage-point swing in Trump's share of Hispanic voters, according to an exit poll conducted by Edison Research. Some 46% of self-identified Hispanic voters picked Trump, up from 32% in the 2020 election when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Mr. Trump instructed his administration to dramatically expand detention space inside the naval base to detain as many as 30,000 "high priority" unauthorized immigrants with criminal records. Since then, officials from across the government, including the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security, have scrambled to implement the president's directive. His ICE raids go beyond the criminal element. The Hispanic community is in hiding.

Poor people voted for Trump. According to exit polling in ten key states of the 2024 presidential election in the United States, 46 percent of voters with a 2023 household income of 30,000 U.S. dollars or less reported voting for Donald Trump. In comparison, 51 percent of voters with a total family income of 100,000 to 199,999 U.S. dollars reported voting for Kamala Harris. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump endorsed a House Republican budget plan that would impose hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare program jointly funded by federal and state money, which helps provide coverage for Americans with lower incomes, including pregnant women, children and people with disabilities, among others. The rich don't have poor people problems.

“We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated,” Trump has been quoted as saying. In an analysis of voters by education in states where exit or entrance polling is available, nearly half of those with high school diplomas or less schooling said they supported the billionaire. 56% of voters without degrees voted for President-elect Trump. Who cares about education anyway?

Dozens of "probationary employees" were let go from the Department of Education last Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the firings. Dismantling the Department of Education was one of Trump's key campaign promises. He has slammed the department as a "con job" that should be "closed immediately," and has directed Musk to investigate the agency. The Department of Education is the smallest cabinet-level agency with 4,400 employees. Another 1,400 employees work in the agency's office of Federal Student Aid.

About six-in-ten registered voters who say they have served in the U.S. military or military reserves (61%) support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while 37% back Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a Pew Research Center survey. 63% of veteran voters identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, while 35% are Democrats or Democratic leaning. Loyalty matters to vets? More than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been dismissed from their roles, the agency said Thursday.

According to Social Security data, approximately 45% of beneficiaries aged 60 and older are identified as White Americans, meaning a significant portion of Social Security recipients are white individual. The new head of the Social Security Administration said Wednesday that deceased centenarians are “not necessarily receiving benefits,” contradicting claims that tens of millions of dead people over the age of 100 are getting payments from the agency made by Elon Musk. Who wants to live to a ripe old age anyway?

About 37% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Food Stamps participants are white, according to a USDA report. Other SNAP participant demographics: 26% African American, 16% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 2% Native American, and 16% "race unknown. Using research from the Urban Institute (gathering data from 59 million people), the graph below presents the largest percentage of welfare recipients in 2019. The majority of recipients were white (43 percent), followed by Hispanic (26 percent), and Black (23 percent). During the 119th Congress, the Subcommittee will work with the Trump Administration to cut back on unnecessary government spending and empower American workers and families through reforms to the deficient welfare state.

Is there more? Can there be more? You bet.

White women have been the biggest beneficiaries of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, though DEI programs benefit many groups of people. Trump issued an executive order terminating "illegal DEI and 'diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility' (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear." You mean I can't check female anymore on a job application Mr. President?

Although women as a whole have historically voted for Democrats, white women have not. Instead, over the last 72 years, a plurality of white women has voted for the Democratic candidate only twice, in 1964 and 1996. On Tuesday, they once again went for Trump – just as they did in 2016 and 2020. Women are mothers who care for and nurture families. You wouldn't mess with families in any way would you Mr. President? The Department of Health and Human Services has also lost thousands of employees, including at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the Associated Press. About 700 workers were fired from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), multiple sources told ABC News. At least 16 of the CDC cuts were to members of the World Trade Center Health Program, which critics said could put the health of 9/11 first responders at risk.

The Trump campaign leaned into targeting young men, as the former president publicly palled around with male YouTubers and podcasters, such as Joe Rogan, who make little space for women. This effort paid off. Exit polling indicated that there was a canyon-wide 16-point gender gap between young men and women, which is an increase from 2020. While women between the ages of 18 and 29 preferred Harris 58% to 40%, their male peers chose Trump 56% to 42%. However, compared to his last run, Trump did better with both young men (41% of them voted for him four years ago) and young women (33% in 2020). During Trump's campaign he told women he would protect them. He sided with anti-women men's groups to win votes people!

There is a lot to regret for the Trump supporter (even though he still has a large group of supporters, for now). Those who DID NOT VOTE for Trump are not taken by surprise. They believed the words that came out of his mouth and his actions they witnessed. They sounded the alarm and said, "DON'T VOTE FOR TRUMP!" They are not feeling voter's remorse but something akin to anger at those who were willingly ignorant of his plans for his presidency. Many are saying, "You get what you voted for," and keep it moving. Some are even delighting in the possibility of Trump supporters suffering for their choice. I'm just wondering how long will the FIND OUT STAGE last and how much more can it encompass. Never one to disappoint, Trump has told us once again who he is.

Donald Trump is receiving widespread backlash after he likened himself to a “king” on social media (Feb. 19, 2025) following his administration’s decision to rescind New York City’s congestion pricing program. “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” This is the photo Trump uploaded with his tweet. FAFO!!!!