Thomas Sowell on "Greed"

One of the curious inconsistencies of those who denounce "greed" is that this term is seldom applied to government, no matter how high its taxes.  While significant rises in gasoline prices almost invariably bring charges of "greed" against the oil companies, the earnings of these oil companies are just 4 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, while taxes are 17 percent.  But only Big Oil is accused of "greed."  Even when local governments seize people's homes, under their power of eminent domain, and then turn these properties over to private developers to build casinos or shopping malls - which will pay higher taxes than the homeowners paid - that is seldom called "greed" though it often means destroying homes that people of modest means have struggled and sacrificed for years to won, all in order to replace them with people who will provide politicians with more tax revenues to spend in order to get themselves re-elected.