That's a pretty broad brush there, Doug.

Posted By: Steve Haines, catboats, Goose Bayou, FL
Date: 6/1/08 4:38a.m.

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I'm not defending greed, selfishness, or anything else, and most of us believe that there are people who have a great deal, but want it all. Worse, there are those that will do just about anything to get it all, without regard to who they harm, or how many. I don't know that there's any sort of detatched research on this subject, so I'm forced to go with personal experience. I know several people who qualify as very well off, with an annual household income between 300K and a million or so. I know one guy who is the sole owner of an outfit that in 1998 grossed right at 190 million. It is much bigger now. All of these people are energetic, focused, and work a very great deal indeed. The guy that makes the serious bucks is the son of a man, now dead, who built a small, local construction company from nothing. The son became a structural engineer, expanded the company, first locally, then regionally, nationally, and internationally. This guy's "cause" is education, and he spends time on committees and stuff, but also spends time and money in the schools himself. He also treats his employees very well.Yep, he lives in a house that would make a pretty decent hotel, has condos where he goes frequently for business, and has some cool "toys". he happens to be a MoPar gearhead, so one of those toys is a Dodge Viper. Yep, greed is common. But it is not confined to the very successful, and is not the only component of success. To claim that "it only takes one thing to get rich.....consistent, unalloyed greed...not brain." condemns a group based on the percieved attributes of a few. By the way- I'm not a rich guy, don't play one on TV, and don't like some of the rich guys I know. But there's more to them than greed. Agreed?