Greed is an antidote to poverty .

[sentinel]

If greed were the real cause of wealth then everyone would be wealthy , but we can see that those who wish for wealth sometimes gain it, sometimes they don't - I think most probably it varies according to their kamma, & I think that whosoever attains wealth with greed in their heart would attain it to an even greater magnitude with the attenuation of that greed.

Now, can you find anyone whom reduce his/her greed and therefore attain greater wealth ?!
That's rather difficult to prove .

A businessman who only thinks of his own interests and the highest profits is soon to be out of business. A businessman who lowers his prices to only small profit margins, listens to his customers, interacts with them, has altruism to understand what they want and need, is soon to have a successful business.

I understand your likely point that the original impetus to open a business might be on some desire which some might call "greed" but as I noted earlier any endeavor could be called "greed" even getting out of bed and eating food; the desire or greed to survive. A better definition to use might be when the ambition becomes too strong that one harms oneself and others. And then it actually becomes counter-productive and un-profitable anyway.

I would like to take an example . Tony Fernández boss of the AirAsia flights company , he lower his airfares for his flights and comparing to other flights companies his flights still the cheapest . However , this is strategy not compassion because the real meaning behind him with inner desire is to earn more money and that is consider greed .

The OP is get out of poverty and thus the meaning is making more money or acquire some wealth and secure financially .
If get out of the bed or eating food is a kind of greed, it is not about getting out of poverty and become rich with some wealth accrue to ensure one is no more living as a deprived vagrant .

Thank you .

[chownah]

When we said greeds, we are talking about continuous desire across one's whole life and not merely when doing a certain jobs !

I don't think "we" actually stated what "we" are meaning when "we" talk about greed. It seems clear to me that "we" are not all using the same definition for greed.
chownah

Then I guess you don't know which greed I referred to ?

That is correct.
chownah

[DNS]

If get out of the bed or eating food is a kind of greed, it is not about getting out of poverty and become rich with some wealth accrue to ensure one is no more living as a deprived vagrant .

Getting out of bed and going to work is not greed to come out of poverty? What if one is in poverty and goes to job interviews so that one can get out of poverty? Is that greed (according to you)? Or are you now saying that greed is not an antidote to poverty?

As chownah noted, you need to define greed and at what level does mere work, going to school, ambition, goals become greed.

[sentinel]

If get out of the bed or eating food is a kind of greed, it is not about getting out of poverty and become rich with some wealth accrue to ensure one is no more living as a deprived vagrant .

Getting out of bed and going to work is not greed to come out of poverty? What if one is in poverty and goes to job interviews so that one can get out of poverty? Is that greed (according to you)? Or are you now saying that greed is not an antidote to poverty?

As chownah noted, you need to define greed and at what level does mere work, going to school, ambition, goals become greed.

Here I found in dictionary ,
Poverty definition, the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.
Greed is intense desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

Merely getting out of bed as mentioned earlier implying greed by your self does not link to eradicating poverty .
Of course if one is poor and having determine to find a way out of the state but not really strong desire to do so is insufficient .
Therefore , greed, a strong desire , is necessary .
Without which one possibly will reach no way .

As one can see, living in this world , the lack of desire or greed will some how make us drop behind everything because money is devaluing and the cost of living is getting higher each year and at the end most probably one will suffer the lack of money and material .

You may disagree with this , it does not matter .
To cut off desire or greed to acquire more money or to bring it to the minimum probably only for the monks .
According to SC information I heard that the nuns in Belgium is complaining of lack of material and money to support their living . What we called basic necessities required for living nowadays actually is much much more than few hundred or thousands years ago .

[chownah]

If get out of the bed or eating food is a kind of greed, it is not about getting out of poverty and become rich with some wealth accrue to ensure one is no more living as a deprived vagrant .

Getting out of bed and going to work is not greed to come out of poverty? What if one is in poverty and goes to job interviews so that one can get out of poverty? Is that greed (according to you)? Or are you now saying that greed is not an antidote to poverty?

As chownah noted, you need to define greed and at what level does mere work, going to school, ambition, goals become greed.

Here I found in dictionary ,
Poverty definition, the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.
Greed is intense desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

I believe that the definition you suggest for greed is incorrect. What dictionary did you get it from? I think that the definition you suggest can be made more acceptable by adding the concepts of selfishness such as:
Definition of greed - intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food (https://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j ... kDvYmCbl6Y)
....or.....
The definition of greed is an intense desire to accumulate large amounts of something, such as food or money, especially if you try to acquire more than you need or more than your fair share. (http://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... lXtsunCoUA)
It is difficult to find a definition for greed that does not mention selfishness or excess.
chownah

[chownah]

As one can see, living in this world , the lack of desire or greed will some how make us drop behind everything because money is devaluing and the cost of living is getting higher each year and at the end most probably one will suffer the lack of money and material .

I think you are confusing greed with motivation. Greed is not the only thing which motivates one to do something including making money to support ones existence.
chownah

[sentinel]

a strong desire to continually get more of something, esp. money:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... lish/greed


Now, no matter how , even now , I think many of us already have more than the Necessary and basic requisites material to survive , yet, at this age of time is still considered poor . That is still lacking .

Therefore , if you say to acquire the most basic needs only is sufficient and to accrue more than that is greed , one can see that greed is dominating almost everyone .

[sentinel]

ambition : a strong desire to do or achieve something.


https://www.google.com/search?q=ambitio ... e&ie=UTF-8

[Grigoris]

You can define it any way you like, the Buddha was not in favor of greed.

[binocular]

Now, can you find anyone whom reduce his/her greed and therefore attain greater wealth ?!

As a matter of fact, to get anything done, one has to reduce one's greed and calm one's mind. Otherwise, it's not possible to do much actual work.

That's performing a task but not necessary can attain greater wealth ?!

How can one hope to attain greater wealth, if not by performing certain tasks?

Even a thief has to at least temporarily calm his mind when he's about to go steal something.

When we said greeds, we are talking about continuous desire across one's whole life and not merely when doing a certain jobs !

It seems that greed pertains more to the choice of tasks and the purpose for which one does the tasks, rather than the actual doing of the tasks.

What seems to be characteristic for greed is that the choice of tasks and/or the purpose for which one does them are adhammic, not leading to liberation from suffering.

[binocular]

Relatively rich or well off people love to blame the poor for all their problems, its really a lot of BS.

I suppose it's possible that there might be a few who do that, but I've never seen that. The well off people I know never blame the poor and have much compassion for them. Which problems of the rich and what blame given to the poor have you seen or heard about?

The well-off people probably talk quite differently with other well-off people about poor people than they do with poor people.
Have you witnessed many examples of how well-off people talk about poor people with poor people?

[binocular]

Getting out of bed and going to work is not greed to come out of poverty? What if one is in poverty and goes to job interviews so that one can get out of poverty? Is that greed (according to you)? Or are you now saying that greed is not an antidote to poverty?

As chownah noted, you need to define greed and at what level does mere work, going to school, ambition, goals become greed.

I don't think we can get far in this discussion here with secular, non-religious definitions of greed. I think we need to delineate greed in specific, Buddhist terms, if we are to have a meaningful conversation.

If one gets up in the morning, goes to school, goes to work etc. for adhammic reasons, then that seems to be greed. If worldly goals are our only goals, then greed indeed seems to be the only way out of poverty (apart from being so lucky as to have a trust fund, a large inheritance, and such), although greed does not guarantee worldly success.

Worldly goodness is not the same as Dhammic goodness, as far as I can tell.


Edited for an addition.

[chownah]

It's a personal thing. If one studies ones own intentions one might discover greed and find a way to replace it with compassion. It can be done but not everyone is aware of the fact that it can be done. I am not saying that there is any greed in you whatever and I am not saying that you should try to look carefully to see if there is any greed in you whatever and I am not saying anything about the compassion you have and I am not saying that you should look carefully to see how much compassion you have.....and especially I am not trying to tell you how to do anything.

So the world's going to hell, and you're not the man with a plan.

The buddha is the man with the plan......I'm just trying to show how I think his plan relates to greed and compassion......maybe I've got it all wrong.....I'll let each person decide for themselves if replacing greed with compassion is worth pursuing. Actually I think replacing greed with just about anything is an improvement.....someone will now probably show me how wrong I am in that replacing greed with hatred would not be an improvement.
chownah

[sentinel]

As a matter of fact, to get anything done, one has to reduce one's greed and calm one's mind. Otherwise, it's not possible to do much actual work.

That's performing a task but not necessary can attain greater wealth ?!

How can one hope to attain greater wealth, if not by performing certain tasks?

Even a thief has to at least temporarily calm his mind when he's about to go steal something.

When we said greeds, we are talking about continuous desire across one's whole life and not merely when doing a certain jobs !

It seems that greed pertains more to the choice of tasks and the purpose for which one does the tasks, rather than the actual doing of the tasks.

What seems to be characteristic for greed is that the choice of tasks and/or the purpose for which one does them are adhammic, not leading to liberation from suffering.

You see , have you seen anyone having greed for 24 hours nonstop ?

Therefore , having desire but persistent until achieve something and feel satisfactory .

[DNS]

Relatively rich or well off people love to blame the poor for all their problems, its really a lot of BS.

I suppose it's possible that there might be a few who do that, but I've never seen that. The well off people I know never blame the poor and have much compassion for them. Which problems of the rich and what blame given to the poor have you seen or heard about?

The well-off people probably talk quite differently with other well-off people about poor people than they do with poor people.
Have you witnessed many examples of how well-off people talk about poor people with poor people?

Yes and they don't blame the poor at all for their problems. They have the usual interpersonal problems everyone has from time to time and they don't blame the poor for that; they blame the person causing the interpersonal problems (wife, husband, friend, agent, publicist) and never the poor.

The rich business people sometimes blame another business, a competitor for their falling sales, productivity and even then it is the CEO and the board that they blame, again not the poor people.