Demagoguery about greedy rich people or greedy corporate executives being paid 100 or 200 times their workers? salaries is a key weapon in the politics of envy. Let?s talk about greed, starting off with Merriam-Webster?s definition: “A selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.”

That definition is a bit worrisome, because how does one know what a person really needs? It?s something my economics students and I spend a bit of time on in the first lecture. For example, does a family really need one, two, three or four telephones? What about a dishwasher or a microwave oven? Are these excessive desires?

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