ABSTRACT
Greed has little to recommend itself. It is often hidden and secretive, hoarding and anal. A hallmark of greed is the intent to find a supply and take as much as possible; to drain the supply, perhaps driven by the fear that there will be no more. Greed is popularly seen as something over which individuals should have some control. Greed also has an anal form; the “filthy lucre” analysed by Norman O. Brown in terms of the Freudian hypothesis that faeces unconsciously equals money. Greed may also take expression in a phallic form: the greed for power over others, especially their sexuality and desire. The impulse to share and be generous can be regarded as the opposite of, yet closely connected to, greed. Greed in the wider system led to a blindness about risk, this led to a laziness about attending to possible dangers.
