Walter E Williams - Greed is Good

[Ravengaurd6]

To win this argument, you have to state that greed is good.

you simply state that it is preferable to violence.

[theyoungmrt]

3:20 Williams is lying. He said he doesn't care about future generations. If he didn't, he would fight so hard for liberty and the free market. He obviously cares about future generations much more than any of his detractors.

[MacFeeley]

This guy is a jackass

[mattilyons]

Greed is not good or bad. Greed is merely a fact of the human condition and we should live in a society that has the institutions to best harness that greed for the benefit of all.

[sanluisskywatch]

Paul/Williams 2012

[dubified89]

I think it would be more accurate to say desire is good. Greed has the connotation of like a maniacal desire, one that is strong enough to inspire people to commit heinous acts. Libertarianism is all about learning self-control and self-discipline so I say that desire and self-interest are good but 'greed' as it's commonly thought of is bad.

[TheFlutevisions]

Greed will cause a person to commit murder. Murdering and killing is what were all about., indirectly speaking. . We're just so dam greedy it's a shame.

[pretorious700]

"Most good is not done in the name of good"......very well put.

[betof98]

We should have had 2 black presidents by now, E Williams & Thomas Sowell, Instead we have Obama, It just shows how uninteligent white mayority could be.

[KilllaCaleb]

to all of you who are confused by the concept of greed, presented by Mr.William:

if a man uses force to gain some immediate satisfaction at the expense of another man, on the whims and wishes that he feels. well that man is not acting out of greed, infact he is doing a great deal of harm to his values/virtues and he will be met with a great deal of concrete consequences, such as his shamed reputation and the force or reaction of other men.

you cannot in any rational sense call such a man greedy

[seppsters]

"Greed is good" is generalizing a bit, but I agree with him, whether you're selfish or altruistic you allways contribute to the common good, in a capitalist system.

[yamahaU3]

Greed is only harmful when people don't pay for the cost of their action, which is what happens in the government.

[WTFisGo1ng0n]

madness

[pretorious700]

@WTFisGo1ng0n many things appear mad to the terminally ignorant

[Twiggy269]

The Utilitarian argument for self interest has never been a very convincing one. Tying the "Greater Good" into the root premise for selfishness is undercutting the moral foundation for greed. Greed and selfishness is not good because it causes the most good for the most people. This is a collectivist argument. It is good because it is in tune with the nature of Man and his right to his own life. The "Greater Good" is merely a secondary aspect or, side effect.

[OutlawCongress]

@Twiggy269 I disagree. There is no reason they can't be mutually reinforcing: being greedy is good for you (tautological) and it is also good for people you do deal with and who benefit from the externalities of your action. Thus both you, and others, have a pragmatic interest in supporting your greed and you theirs.

Also, consequentialism is not the same thing as utilitarianism. I don't recall Williams mentioning any comparisons of utility or discussions of maximizing utility.

[OutlawCongress]

@Twiggy269 What he is saying is that the consequences are, at least within the domain of economics, good consequences.

[OutlawCongress]

@Twiggy269 What he is saying is that the consequences are, at least within the domain of economics, good consequences. You can be a moral deontologist and still make consequentialist arguments: things are good because the consequences are objectively or a priori good consequences.

[Raford146]

LMAO at 2:44

[Ddvex]

Greed is BAD!!!

Greed is NOT individuals pursuing their self interest.

Greed is individuals pursuing ILEGAL and IMORAL interests.

Greed is stealing from the poor through monetary inflation.

Greed is corporatism and crony capitalism (businesses pursuing help from government).

Greed is corrupt government taxing excessively to bailout friends considered "too big to fail".

Greed is invading Iraq to steal their oil.

Greed kills presidents who oppose wars.

Greed is NOT good.

[Illyrien]

@Ddvex

Well, Greed just is, it is how it is allowed to make itself felt that defines good or evil. With the Nonaggression Principle it becomes a force of good, otherwise it can become quite bad

[Ddvex]

@Illyrien

Greed is word that has a negative connotation, related to evil, ilegal and imoral issues (e.g. wanting your neighbour's wife).

Self Interest, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily have that connotation (e.g. wanting to mary a beautiful woman).

We don't associate people aiming to be prosperous and productive as Greedy; we call them FREE.

Liberty, and free will, promote good virtues!!!

[1czelaya]

If I heard this 5 years ago, I would off turned it off immediately. However, now, understanding liberty and freedom... eventually you understand what factors propagate freedom, liberty, and technology.

Greed is just pursuing your own self interest.

Of course, anything in excess is dangerous, including greed.

[manofoss]

This is so great!

[kjakobsen]

Walter Williams is brilliant

[ravaneli55]

you, Sr LibertyPen, are incredible!

[Apptendo]

But Peter Joseph told me MONEY was EVIL!!! Support the Venus Project. Robots are fucking awesome!

[spamdude1]

Is the whole talk available?

[pinegrove33]

One of the world's greatest geniuses. I put him only behind Horowitz, Sowell, Kimball, and VDH.

[pensword5]

The only time greed in not good is when the greedy make the rules for, or influence the rules for the market (which makes it by definition not a "free market")

Its even worse when they have control/influence over how public funds are spent.

For a clear illustration of just one example, see Jeffery Emmelt. CEO of GE. Now on the Obama staff.

CHANGE lol.

[Kame6000]

Amazing man, I can't believe I'd never heard of him before

[furyofbongos]

Love the W.W.!

[CircleBastiat]

People who deny greed are always the greediest of them all. My father, the good liberal child abuser that he was, always decried the greed of businesses meanwhile he tried to squeeze every ounce of profit he could get from the Dotcom bubble. He bragged about his wealth to all who would listen until the day the market crashed and he lost everything.

Men who know how to harness their greed for productive uses can change the world. Men like my father simply chase whatever buck they can find.

[kmg501]

Walter Williams <3

[echatav]

It was implicit in his talk, but greed is good only insofar as the institutions of freedom, like private property and markets are available. But yes, when they are available, then greed is without intention the noblest sentiment.

[selfrealizedexile]

2:50 rofl, glad someone else mirrors my response; I hate it when you see those politically-charged oil company ads about alternative energy sources and you have an engineer and a random teacher juxtaposed on the issue as if we give a damn about what the teacher by herself has to say on the issue. The actual, intelligent determinant of what energy we use, how we use it, and how much is determined on the market. Those ads smack of Marxist democratic nonsense.

[UzualSuspekt]

Such a simple and powerful principle. How are statists and progressives not able to understand?

[UtubeMyAccountName]

@UzualSuspekt "...satists and progressives..."? You mean like pots and kettles?

What's the difference? :-)

[jbowes2]

@UzualSuspekt I think the nicest way to put it is that they believe in equality, even if it means people are worse of on average.

[shaqdaddy11]

Not only is greed good, its natural.

[selfrealizedexile]

@shaqdaddy11

Conatus. Those who argue against an individual's right to himself and his own agenda are perniciously stoking their own greed, only this time society must acquiesce to "social" or "public" goods (aka the despot's).

[lyricisible]

Everything that's natural is not necessarily good! For example the thorns in a rose are natural but would you say they are good? How is greed good ? greed's what we north American steal from the poor third world country to feel better? another example that we could relate is that greed is what the elite people take or even steal from the lower class citizen! GREED IS NOT BAD. what he is saying is basically the same as saying killing is good because it reduces the overpopulated earth LOL.

[darkr0astedblend]

@lyricisible Thorns are a defensive mechanism, so yes, depending on the point of view, they're good.

Have you even watched the video? ffs

[shaqdaddy11]

@lyricisible Your an ignorant man.

[lyricisible]

Yall need to use your reason and not just your intelligence! The arguments such as " i don't care about the future generation because it hasn't done anything for me" sounds like something true to say. In fact it is true, as much as the people who say i don't want to take care of my parents when they are old because i haven't asked them to be born" although it may be true it's not reasonable. We human use reason, our intelligence suppose to be used for progressing not destroying the world.

[shaqdaddy11]

@lyricisible What have you dont for the greater good of mankind?

[ViolentMob]

@shaqdaddy11 Exactly, if everyone was a communist for example in practice, we as a species would still have been stuck in the stone age. As Williams puts it "Most good are not done in the name of good"

[shaqdaddy11]

@ViolentMob I agree. Its often that those who sing the praises of selflessness, havent really practiced selflessness in there personal life. They simply like the idea of selflessness in theory. So when you ask "what have they done for the greater good of mankind" they cant say anything.

[Wolky702]

this channel always cheers me up!