Bernie Madoff, Steve Jobs, and Wall Street Greed

Most everyone has no idea how important fundamental ideas are to their view of the world and thus to their lives and happiness.  False cultural ideas are reinforced in our society and tend to perpetuate themselves.  Don Watkins exposes one of these harmful ideas in his excellent article in the link below.

For a clearer perspective on his article I would like to point out a distinction between rational and irrational selfishness.  A definition of selfishness is: Concern with one’s own interest.  One who is rationally concerned with his own personal interest will carefully consider his every decision within the context of his lifetime.  What will benefit his life most when taking his entire life into consideration?  A rational person will study hard in school, get the best education he can, develop employable skills, get a job that best fulfills his needs and wants (his long term interest), carefully select a mate who shares his life’s goals (if he chooses to get married), become a very good friend to all of his carefully chosen friends, and earn a reputation for honesty and dependability.  He thus behaves in a way that is rationally and truly selfish.

Being irrationally selfish is what is normally thought of as a selfish person in our culture.  This type of person is obviously not serving his best long term interest.  Lying to his friends, cheating on anything and everything, and seeking instant gratification at the expense of his friends and commitments does not serve his best long term interest.   This type of behavior is self-destructive, not selfish.

One of the consequences of our faulty cultural view of selfishness is the type of government we want.  Those who believe that most people have the heart of a Bernie Madoff want a government that highly regulates business and life in general to protect the rest of us from the irresponsibly greedy.  Those who believe that most people have the heart, if not the ability, of a Steve Jobs want a free market with no regulations: Capitalism.  One view of selfishness leads one to live under government tyranny.  The opposite view will motivate one to live in freedom and, like our Founding Fathers, to fight for it if necessary.

America is currently destroying herself through an orgy of self-sacrifice and overbearing big government.  Ideas do have consequences.  Please examine them thoughtfully before you accept them.

http://www.american.com/archive/2013/september/bernie-madoff-steve-jobs-and-wall-street-greed

This entry was posted in Home Page. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply