Prisoners Of Greed — In Addition To Drug & Gambling Addiction, There’s Also An Addiction To Money
Like an addiction to gambling, drugs, and alcohol, some people are addicted to money
By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
Addiction
A craving, a mania, an obsession with using or acquiring more of something than is useful to you or good for you is an addiction.
It’s a weakness, not a strength.
We recognize craving narcotics, alcohol or gambling as addictions, but we don’t see an obsession with acquiring more money than you need or can ever possibly use, also as an addiction.
- The person who won’t stop gambling is a gambling addict.
- The person who won’t stop injecting heroin is a drug addict.
- The person who won’t stop the drinking is an alcohol addict.
- The already wealthy person who won’t stop striving to acquire ever more wealth is a money addict.
Having More Money Than You Can Use Does You No Good
There is nothing that you can buy with that $201 million that you couldn’t have bought with $200 million. That extra million dollars does not benefit you at all. It’s just a number in a spreadsheet.
But the money addict doesn’t care about that reality.
If there is no practical reason for someone who has $200 million, $500 million, $1,400 million to struggle and strain and strive to increase their net wealth to $201, $501, $1,401 but they do it anyway; they are infected with a condition also known as greed.
Paying $2 million instead of $3 million in taxes has absolutely no effect on their lives. None. If they pay an extra million dollars less in taxes and they’re left with $501 million in the bank instead of $500 million it makes no difference in their lives, so why do they care?
Because they are addicted to money.
The Desire For More Than You Can Use Is Emotional Not Rational
They strive for more money for the same reason that the gambling addict tells the croupier to reach over and spin the wheel.
Because they’re addicted to money.
They strive for more money for the same reason that the hoarder stacks another bundle of old Time magazines in the corner of his garage.
Because they’re addicted to money.
They strive for more money for the same reason that the staggering alcoholic gulps down another shot of booze.
Because they’re addicted to money.
Why We View Money Addiction Differently From Drug Addiction
We have no respect for the heroin addict or the alcoholic. We view the degenerate gambler with open disdain, so why do we celebrate the money addict?
We all know that the energetic pursuit of more alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, or adrenaline leads to blatant damage to our lives. The difference with money addictions is that striving for more money, the energetic expression of greed, appears to improve people’s lives.
Humans Assume That More Of A Good Thing Is Always A Good Thing
I think that’s because we humans generally assume that more of a good thing is always better.
We think that more caviar is always better than less caviar, that more silk clothes are always better than fewer silk clothes, that more diamonds are always better than fewer diamonds, that more beautiful women (or men) in your bedroom are always better than fewer beautiful people in your bedroom.
If more of a good thing is always better than less of it, it follows that more money will always be better than not more money.
But, of course, that’s an illusion, a fantasy.
The quality of the food, houses, cars, doctors, etc. that a person with $201 million has is not and cannot be even the tiniest bit better than the quality of those things that a person with only $200 million has.
More Of A Good Thing Is Not Always A Good Thing
We forget that you can have too much of a good thing.
The truth is that more of a good thing is often worse than less of a good thing.
Nothing exceeds like excess.
Money Is A Tool, Not A Goal
If you don’t have some goal that $201 million will realistically get you closer to than $200 million will, then that additional $1 million is worthless to you.
A Money Addict Is Still An Addict
And if you nevertheless lust after that next million, if you strive to get it, and if you rue the lack of it, then you are no better than the alcoholic, the sex addict, the gambling addict, and the drug addict.
The only difference between you and them is that money is your drug of choice instead of heroin.
You’re still an addict and greed is nothing to be proud of.
— David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
