Greed is good. No, really.

I expect you didn't expect an ethicist to say that.

But let me quote Gordon Gekko (in 1987's Wall Street) in full: "Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."

Gordon is hardly a likeable character, but he is right -- greed is the force behind many of humankind's essential improvements to life.

But of course there's a problem with greed too.

The Wall Street bankers who led us into the current economic crisis were being greedy -- to the nth degree. The problem with greed isn't greed per se: it's with the level of greed, and with the "what" of greed. In other words: just how greedy are you, and what are you greedy for?

Are you greedy to be the wealthiest person on the planet? Why? What is that extra $20 billion (or whatever the sum is) going to do for you? Or are you greedy for the planet as a whole -- you've never suffered from malaria because you can afford the necessary drugs, so why shouldn't everybody in the world be in the same situation?