Borrowing a Cup of Hope #16 Moneylust Has No Ethics.

Hospitality as Spiritual Practice.

I used to work for a major corporation, a marketing company that sold motivation and incentive programs to encourage salesmen to keep selling. Things like frequent flyer programs were aimed at the general population, and things like a free trip to Denmark were aimed at the corporate sales people. I was a copywriter, and when I was writing for a travel incentive program I found that if I said “Exquisite Cuisine” it would always sell.

A college buddy had gotten me the job, let’s call him John. He was good at it, and into it, whereas I was still ambivalent about wearing a tie. I felt like a spy in the heart of the beast. One day there was a program where it looked like we were selling a crock of shit, and it bothered me. I took John to the side and told him I did not think this program passed the smell test. He said “Dean, Dean, Dean. I’ve worked long and hard to keep my conscience out of the workplace, and I’m not about to let You bring it Back.”

The longer I was there the more it felt like I was part of a criminal enterprise. They weren’t just looking for good ideas about how to do a better job, they were looking for ways that they could increase profits without getting caught. The whole effort was focused on Getting Away With It. And the defining concept was Moneylust, in the grand tradition of the All-American Gold Rush.

This focus was most clearly delineated in the Friedman Doctrine. Please absorb this Wiki summary:

“The Friedman doctrine,… is a …theory of business ethics advanced by economist Milton Friedman that holds that the [only} social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. This shareholder primacy approach views shareholders as ….the only group to which the firm is socially responsible. …Friedman argued that the shareholders can then decide for themselves what social initiatives to take part in.” (Friedman, Milton. "A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits". The New York Times Magazine. 10-23-24.)

This sounds rational, but the effects can be devastating. This is how the Love Canal landfill became the site of an environmental disaster in 1977. Decades of dumping toxic chemicals killed many residents and significantly harmed the health of hundreds more. I’m sure their goal was short term profits, and if the shareholders were going to get all “social justice-y”on us, they would pay to clean it up. Of course, shareholders did no such thing, and it took a Superfund bailout by the Feds 21 years to clean it up. That’s Shareholder Primacy in the real world.

Another example is Wall Street. In the excellent film, The Big Short, you’ll see young investors bringing the market to its knees as they make millions on the collapse of a spike in real estate speculation. As the two young dudes celebrate, Brad Pitt fills them in. “You just bet against the American Economy. Which means if we’re right, people lose homes, they lose jobs, people lose retirement savings, people lose pensions. …Banking reduces people to numbers. Here’s a number. Every 1% unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die. Did you know that?”

This devotion to Moneylust is best summarized by the Gordon Gekko speech in Wall Street: “Greed is Good. Greed is Right. Greed Works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.” In other words the survival of the fittest. In other words, Shoot The Wounded; Take No Prisoners.

Gekko doesn’t talk about having greed to bring justice to the world, or to help the afflicted; greed for love means to have someone love you. It’s just the Monetizing and Weaponizing of Appetite. As if that’s a Virtue.

This Greed Thing is important not just because it is so prevalent in the US Economy and Culture, it’s responsible for the ascent of German-American politician Donald Trump; and also because Vladimir Putin is famous for it too.

I’m a big fan of Masha Gessen, the Russian -American writer and Putin critic. Gessen was born in Moscow, and is author of important books on the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, and a bio of Putin. She’s a contributor to 14 print publications, plus this: “They have been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 2017, and an opinion columnist at The New York Times, under the byline M. Gessen, since May 2024…. In an October 2008 profile of Vladimir Putin for Vanity Fair, Gessen described Putin as "an aspiring thug" and claimed the "backward evolution" of Russia began within days of his inauguration in 2000.” A very clear thinker.

Gessen says this: Putin is “…very, very greedy.…there aren’t a lot of things that are extraordinary about Putin, but his greed is truly extraordinary.” And Putin’s greed is important because he has groomed Trump to believe in the same practice. Putin wants Ukraine, Trump wants Greenland, and he also wants to be able to dictate the way Putin does, or Xi of China or Viktor Orban in Hungary. Trump’s greed is an endless as Putin’s; they are Soulmates in Greed. The list of outrageous, corrupt ways Trump has cashed in as President is tiring to contemplate.

What is the central core of Greed? On a personal level, it is selfishness. In Trump’s case, he can best be described as a narcissistic sociopath, which means that for him, no one else really exists. I’m no psychiatrist, I’m just reacting from watching him build from my time living in Manhattan, when he was a D-list celebrity and “short-fingered vulgarian”. He went from being a bankrupt real estate con man with deep Russian Mafia connections to being a fake TV celebrity, and then suddenly a candidate for president. As Seth Meyers famously said, “I was surprised to hear that Donald Trump is running for President as a Republican, because I thought he was running as a Joke.” But the bitter truth is, television operates on Moneylust- greed for ratings, greed for income and for profitability. Fox News generates a cool billion in profits every year, because they don’t spend any money on telling the truth.

What is the opposite of greed? It’s Empathy, when you feel the pain of others. It’s Compassion, when you are moved to respond. We know where Elon Musk is on the subject, from what he said on Joe Rogan. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is Empathy.” (CNN 5:38 PM EST, Wed 3-5-25)

Le5t’s be clear: Unbridled Greed is Bad. How do we survive the powerful selfishness of Moneylust that is tearing at our democracy, our institutions, the very fabric of our civilization? I don’t have a Silver Bullet that will cease all the ongoing damage. But I do know that it took a while to get here, and it will take a while to turn it back. I have a suggestion, a practical means of rebuilding as we fight back: Hospitality. It’s the long game, but hear me out.

I have been in several protests and gatherings of people lately, committed to fighting back against everything Trump and MAGA are doing now. And aside from actions like calling your congresspeople, writing letters and demonstrating, which are all important, we are also finding that just talking to each other is invigorating. We drink Capri Suns and coffee, eat Doritos and granola bars, and talk to someone we don’t know, about something we care about besides Work. We break out of our computer-induced silos of solitude. We’ve started doing rotating suppers with neighbors, reaching out to old college buddies, having people over instead of meeting at a restaurant.

I am by nature drawn to solitude, so none of this comes to me naturally. But I also find the times we live in to be painfully distressing. My trans friends feel under assault; my academic friends are under attack; my friends with disabilities fear for their lives; my LBGTQ friends are aggressively marginalized; people of faith from the tradition of Dr. King, like me, feel betrayed by “The Church” at large that sits on its hands while USAID funding for those most in need is slashed and thousands are condemned. We need to gather and reconnect, in order to Build The Resistance. It takes time, but it’s a good use of time. Netflix can wait.

Hospitality is a Generosity of Spirit, the opposite of greed. Be a waiter to your friends: How can I help you? It’s a Spiritual Practice that connects us through the shared experience of food and drink. What could be more elemental than that? Feeding someone is a primordial act of care; Food is Love. Plus, misery loves company. It’s how we can sustain ourselves as we continue the battle. We can’t let them sour our own spirit. So while we strategize and network and protest and campaign, I find my batteries recharge when I make sure to be present, listening, open and empathizing. Then I go back to my solitude, refreshed beyond my best expectation. Then, I can Carry On.

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