I think there should be a chamber who decides if any decision is in the public interest or whether it is just for the benefit of a minority of share holders.

If the cost to human happiness is a rise in maximising profits then something has gone seriously wrong to society, as everyone cannot be equal in a society based on extracting the surplus value off the back of the majority of workers.

Why do you think so countries are so competitive in their markets, its profits over happiness.

That would be awesome if we could, but some people are just too greedy and want more and more money to themselves. They don't care about about anyone else. Thats really only a small number of people, but it just so happens that they are the big dogs in charge.

I think we could, but only if it was true happiness. Unfortunately in this system we live in, people tend to find things they think are true happiness and isn't. Like material possessions or other things like that.

I wish it could happen, but it probably never will. This can only happen if greed never existed. So as long as greed exists, this will never happen to me.

I agree. Greed unfortunately is too much of a part of our society. And it gets in the way of happiness.

there is a big difference between greed and profit....

making money is NOT a bad thing. I'm sick and tired of people thinking it is. Society has and will always exist with a monetary system whether simple or complex. It is unavoidable. So the idea that we can have a society that isn't based on making "money" isn't possible.

However, I do agree that there are many people in the world that spend too much time worrying about how much money they earn and what new gadgets they have and how nice their car/house/etc. is. That isn't the fault of money but the love/worship of money. ie materialism.

There will always be a need to work and produce things. Without people working to produce food, clothes, furniture, appliances, etc we wouldn't have very much to live off of. That is a fact of life.

as for this: "as everyone cannot be equal in a society based on extracting the surplus value off the back of the majority of workers." - NO ONE IS EQUAL. We are all different. No single person is the same as another. We are different for a reason and trying to make everyone equal is a pointless waste of time.

Totts : A world based on non-greed would be nice there is no doubt about that but, I don’t see much chance of that happening. As corporate America became stronger there slowly became an emphasis of greed as the norm in this country if not the entire world.

Greed is considered so much the norm now that anything that may or may not be right goes generally by people who have a voice to step in because it’s the “Well, what are you going to do?” type of mentality.

The sad thing is people are truly the ultimate Zen masters and can stand up to greed . The problem is the “Well, what are you going to do?” type of mentality has made people unaware that they have a voice.

Theoretically we can. It's called Communism. In the past it always fails because there is one single person who decides they deserve to be superior and eventually gain enough followers to take control.

BNuge : communism doesn't work because it fails to provide an incentive to work harder. It doesn't work in theory and it doesn't work in practice.

Probably not mainly cause everything about life in our world has to do with money. Its why we go to school, its why we spend 1/4 of our lives learning then the other portions working. Most non-profit organizations need money so when you look at it... money really is needed.

I think the problem here is money is not going where it should be going. Money should be flowing to small businesses not to huge giant corporations. Why do celebrities make so much? Because us sheep pay for their products plain and simple. That is pretty much why all these giant corporations and people are so rich. If people stopped watching Football guess what? They would have about the same salary as someone from McDonalds probably even less depending on the figures.

What people really need to do is stop using mainstream products and purchase stuff from small businesses. Things will just get worse until you realize why people are rich and why others are not. There are far too many good products and businesses out there that deserve to make an income but the way the system is set up right now makes it extremely hard for them to compete let alone survive.

The best way to find greed is to look at multinational corporations, those are the people who will do ANYTHING to make a buck and that means hiring people from india and china so they can cheat their way to profit and success.

I would love to trade today's silly ways of money being more important than happiness, but, though many of us would agree with it, take it from a rich person's point of view.

Why would they want to work hard all their life, make millions, then have those under him rise to be equal to him, people who didnt work as hard as him get the same pleasures as him. The rich society would never succumb to this idea.

again im not against this but its not gonna happen

Nope, like Communisim this works in theory, but people will allways whant more.

Communism doesn't work because it doesn't provide any reason to work hard or do well. In fact, you can point at CAPITALISM and the opportunity to do better as the reason we have the technology we have. Medicine, computers, technology, comforts, and all the wonderful things we have were made because people were encouraged to do better in their lives by creating things others want.

Life is also better because we all specialize. Money represents value for which we can have things. I can't be a cow farmer and trade a cow for someone who makes shirts. I would lose on that end. And if I had to do everything for my own survival, I would live an unhappy lifestyle. Imagine waking up, picking a few coffee beans from the bush to make coffee, milking your own cow, going out to farm, then having to repair your own house, which is windy and drafty because you're too busy farming to make a nice house.

We don't have to do that because incentive (greed) gets us people who are very good at specific things. Because of that incentive, we can live happier lives. Greed is not a bad word. It means people work hard to achieve what they want.

Lastly, Wal-Mart started out as one store. IBM was a few guys in a garage. BP, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Hollywood... all these places started out small. They're not to be hated, they should emulated. Those people worked hard to make McDonald's a big, rich place. And how many jobs does McDonald's provide around America? They're hiring people and people are getting employment.

I've never been hired by a guy who makes 30,000 a year. I get hired by big corporations. This stuff is Econ 101.

To answer the question: No, we cannot have a world based on goodness. We can have tiny little communities of a few people that may work well but even then value differences are going to cause problems.

No, we as humans cannot and never will. It's a shame, but it's the truth.

Long story short: No, we can not have a civilization like this. Here's the basic facts

Happiness=Security, Comfort, and Good mental health; it's just preprogrammed into us to want those first two things above all else. So of course, we can boil this down even further.

Security/comfort=Material possession. When I was growing up in scenic Virgina, I had this old lady who lived just a few doors down from me who was a hoarder. One especially interesting thing was that she ALWAYS left her doors and windows wide open for whatever reasons she had. Even more noticeable is that when she was taken by her family to get treated for hoarding, and after they cleaned the house out of everything but the essentials, she stocked up on every kind of security system humanly possible, and kept the doors locked and windows shuttered at all times. Having items to assure us of our vast wealth and high status are important to us. Even if we don't a vast wealth or high status, we can trick our brains into thinking we do by buying up all the items in a collection, or buying heavy quantities of different items, of course, this leads us all to the simplest fact of all.

Material Possesion=Money. No matter what store you go to, there are very few things you can get for free. You can't buy anything relating to entertainment or excitement or security without a little scratch, so of course, this leads us to

Happiness=Security, Comfort, and Good Mental Health=Material Possession=Money, or simplified, Money=Happiness.

I think a lot of that argument was assumptive. Not every person sees security/comfort as material possessions... though I see what you were getting at and it is a good point. Many people do think that money is happiness.

But yeah... it would be nice if we lived in a world where people made decisions on promoting the happiness of others before their own monetary gains, but it is not in our natures. The people that have the most power rule and are often the ones that succeed in passing on their genes to the next generation. Thousands of years ago that meant having a warm cave, lots of fur pelts, and a good spear... now it means having a lot of money, connections, and a shiny car.

Like Geeogree said, why does everyone assume money is a bad thing? Capitalism works because of it's incentives to strive forward and be a pioneer in new and better technologies. Systems like communism (this thread reminds me of it) almost always fail, because it isn't in human nature to . . . HECK, it isn't in ANYTHINGS' nature to just give away their hard work for no reward. Scraping by day to day just barely surviving doesn't sound good when placed next to, "Work a little and earn your reward". Why do you think most communist nations are third world and related? Vietnam, Korea . . . those don't sound like very good places to live to me.

Greed is an integral part of the human psyche and not likely to go away, no matter what.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ <<< 3 doc about how we need to change to a resorce base system.

but http://www.thevenusproject.com/ <<< this one has how we can change, and what the world Couldlook like

China is a growing powerhouse Nation. Some predict that by 2020 it will rival the US as economically superior. China's government has an 86% approval rate and admiration from its people. China is Communist.

China has a ways to come economically before you can compare apples to apples their quality of life, but will be interesting to see.

Communism = Fail?