The Evils of Greed
At first sight, greed may appear to be good for the United States economy, but long term greed can have a negative impact. As Erich Fromm stated, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” The motivations behind greed are not good for society. Greed for money and power negatively impacts the economic system. It has and will continue to hurt the economy. Throughout United States history greed has affected the society and economy negatively, this can be seen through the Dot.com bubble and bust of the late 1990’s, the Housing Market bubble and bust of 2008, and the Crash of 1929.
The dot.com bubble and bust of the 1990’s is another example …show more content…
The greediness of companies convinced people that they could afford the mortgages that were being sold. When people couldn't afford to pay their mortgages they began to default on their loans. This created foreclosures making an excess of houses to go on the market. The price of the houses went down and people who were still paying for their mortgages went underwater, meaning they were paying a mortgage for more than the house was worth. This caused more people to default on loans and soon led to a crash in the market. This crash led to an unemployment of 10% and also put the United States into a Great Recession. The greed of the companies wanting more money and power caused many people to lose money and jobs. Not only did it affect the people who owned the houses but it came back to hurt the companies who were greedy in the first …show more content…
Many people put their money into the stock market, believing that they would become rich. The market appeared to be doing well, even major companies put their money into the market. The prices were on the rise and reached the highest it had ever been, in the summer of 1929. Soon prices began to drop and people lost confidence in their stocks. On October 29, 1929 people sold their stocks all at once, quickly causing the prices to drop. This day began the Great Depression and became known as Black Thursday. Rumors spread that the prices would go even lower and panic set in. The Great Depression cause problems for families and for companies. The unemployment rate spiked up to 25%. Families experienced emotion related depression and relied on each other financially. It took a long period of time for the United States to emerge out of the Great Depression. Greed was behind this whole crash because people depended on the market as a way to make themselves
At first sight, greed may appear to be good for the United States economy, but long term greed can have a negative impact. As Erich Fromm stated, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” The motivations behind greed are not good for society. Greed for money and power negatively impacts the economic system. It has and will continue to hurt the economy. Throughout United States history greed has affected the society and economy negatively, this can be seen through the Dot.com bubble and bust of the late 1990’s, the Housing Market bubble and bust of 2008, and the Crash of 1929.
The dot.com bubble and bust of the 1990’s is another example …show more content…
The greediness of companies convinced people that they could afford the mortgages that were being sold. When people couldn't afford to pay their mortgages they began to default on their loans. This created foreclosures making an excess of houses to go on the market. The price of the houses went down and people who were still paying for their mortgages went underwater, meaning they were paying a mortgage for more than the house was worth. This caused more people to default on loans and soon led to a crash in the market. This crash led to an unemployment of 10% and also put the United States into a Great Recession. The greed of the companies wanting more money and power caused many people to lose money and jobs. Not only did it affect the people who owned the houses but it came back to hurt the companies who were greedy in the first …show more content…
Many people put their money into the stock market, believing that they would become rich. The market appeared to be doing well, even major companies put their money into the market. The prices were on the rise and reached the highest it had ever been, in the summer of 1929. Soon prices began to drop and people lost confidence in their stocks. On October 29, 1929 people sold their stocks all at once, quickly causing the prices to drop. This day began the Great Depression and became known as Black Thursday. Rumors spread that the prices would go even lower and panic set in. The Great Depression cause problems for families and for companies. The unemployment rate spiked up to 25%. Families experienced emotion related depression and relied on each other financially. It took a long period of time for the United States to emerge out of the Great Depression. Greed was behind this whole crash because people depended on the market as a way to make themselves