It is fair to compare the two sins of greed and envy.
I am surrounded by Lefties and a few others who are filled with envy, wanting to tax rich people at much higher rates than everyone else, because the rich are presumably greedy.
I know many rich people, I know virtually no greedy people. Most of the rich people I know love their work and love business and they are rewarded for their efforts. I also know many rich social climbers. If personal recognition is a category of greed then the angry Lefties, particularly those in politics have the worst case of greed. They are like the rich social climbers, greedy for attention and status.
To me, Adam Smith explained that self interest, which is a large category that includes the subcategory of greed, is the basis for our successful commercial society and the reason most of the world is eating and is prosperous.
I have never found a social justification for the widespread social phenomenon of envy. It appears to me that there is no benefit to society from having envious people. A large category of such people are criminals at the bottom of our society and others are committing white collar crime in the middle class.
On the personal level, I find that envy is a very destructive emotion. It eats away at self identity and generates hatred, loathing and constant anger for the individual.
To repeat my position. Greed has been shown to have positive social benefits. Envy doesn't appear to have social benefits and does appear to be highly destructive of the individual who is cursed with that emotion.
If you want to tax the rich disproportionately, we should all feel sorry for you. You suffer one of the deadliest sins: envy.
This should be a footnote. People filled with envy want a leveling of economic disparity. Such an idea is most closely associated with the horrors of the French Revolution and the Left ever since then. It is not a Judeo Christian idea. In the Torah it is clear that justice is defined by treating the rich and poor alike. The rich person's generosity is not considered greater than the poor person's mite.
I am surrounded by Lefties and a few others who are filled with envy, wanting to tax rich people at much higher rates than everyone else, because the rich are presumably greedy.
To me, Adam Smith explained that self interest, which is a large category that includes the subcategory of greed, is the basis for our successful commercial society and the reason most of the world is eating and is prosperous.
I have never found a social justification for the widespread social phenomenon of envy. It appears to me that there is no benefit to society from having envious people. A large category of such people are criminals at the bottom of our society and others are committing white collar crime in the middle class.
On the personal level, I find that envy is a very destructive emotion. It eats away at self identity and generates hatred, loathing and constant anger for the individual.
To repeat my position. Greed has been shown to have positive social benefits. Envy doesn't appear to have social benefits and does appear to be highly destructive of the individual who is cursed with that emotion.
If you want to tax the rich disproportionately, we should all feel sorry for you. You suffer one of the deadliest sins: envy.
This should be a footnote. People filled with envy want a leveling of economic disparity. Such an idea is most closely associated with the horrors of the French Revolution and the Left ever since then. It is not a Judeo Christian idea. In the Torah it is clear that justice is defined by treating the rich and poor alike. The rich person's generosity is not considered greater than the poor person's mite.