The New York Times carried an article the other day, whose headline "
Billionaires’ Rise Aids India, and the Favor Is Returned" promised coverage of, say, the top 10 Indians in the Forbes list. However, the article focused on just one of them (save for passing references to a few others) and in doing so read like a PR job for Gautam Adani. By an uncanny coincidence, a day or two later, the Lokayukta of Karnataka submitted a report
indicting Adani and others in what appears to be a massive scam relating to illegal mining in that state. More
details emerged today suggesting that we have barely seen the tip of the proverbial iceberg up until now. No doubt, the future will bring us even more gory details. And no doubt all parties indicted are innocent till prosecuted in a court of law and found guilty.
That said, this episode reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend around the time the global financial crisis first revealed its enormity, about capitalism and excessive greed and such -- pretty common topic given the context. My friend's thesis, in short, was that capitalism is based on ambition and greed and that there is no such thing as excessive greed because it is impossible to calibrate that scale. So we just have to man-up and learn to deal with it.
I had a different view. In my opinion, other than psychopaths, everybody has a sense of right and wrong. While this sense of right and wrong may be subjective and may vary from person to person based on culture, religion and various other factors, there exists a common objective notion of business ethics and civic propriety that we all understand. This comes from a secular morality that transcends religion and is based on the self-evident principles of sustainability. It forms the foundation for the legal and regulatory framework of nations. Many of these legal and regulatory frameworks suffer from any or all of the following maladies: they are obsolete/ full of inconsistencies due to constant patching with changes or new laws/ inhibit economic growth by constraining enterprise/ draconian and convoluted enough to promote corruption. The need for reforms in such cases is urgent and there is no disputing this fact -- as times change, we need to change with them. However, the argument that existing laws are not in the best interests of promoting economic growth should not become a ready refuge for the excessively greedy to bend or break rules.
Which leads us to my proposed definition: excessive greed is when one's ambition overcomes one's values and principles. As long as greed remains within those boundaries, it remains a legitimate driving force to entrepreneurship and economic growth.
Yes, it is that simple. You know it, better than anyone else, when you're making excuses to circumvent your own value system. All you have to do is to look within. Unless, of course, you're a psychopath.
