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Greed is a desire to obtain more money, wealth, material possessions or any other entity than one needs. Greed is listed as one of the Christian seven deadly sins, usually by the synonym of avarice.
Greedy individuals are often portraited as harmful to society as their motives often appear to disregard the welfare of others: within a closed context of limited resources, one person's improved economic condition must come at the expense of others. However, even in a non-zero sum context, an extreme state of affluence can result only from a diversion of resources from others to the affluent.
Desire to increase one's wealth has become more acceptable (and the word, "greed", used less frequently) in Western culture, where the desire to acquire wealth has been understood as indispensable for economic prosperity- this is the trickle-down theory, although it is disputable whether this is truly "greed". Most believe that there are varying degrees to the pursuit of material wealth, some lesser degrees might not be considered to be "greed".
When greed entails the covetousness of another person's attributes, the term envy is used. When greed is applied to the subject of the excessive consumption of food or drink the term gluttony is often used, another of the Catholic seven deadly sins. Greed is sometimes represented by the color yellow and the frog.
Buddhists believe greed is based on incorrectly connecting material wealth with happiness. This is caused by a deluded view that exaggerates the positive aspects of an object.
See also
External links
ca:Avarícia de:Habgier es:Codicia fr:Avarice it:Avarizia nl:Hebzucht ja:貪 pt:Ganância zh:貪婪
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