Rachel+A’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016

Greed: A Death Sentence $39…gone. Not $40, but $39…Two Fridays ago, the day after the Bernie Rally, I was going thrift shopping with my mom, and while she was driving down the street I realized I forgot my wallet! I actually had money of my own for once, thanks to my oh-so-generous and not-at-all-forgetful brother, who gave me $50 for my 17th birthday, since he obviously couldn’t decide whether I wanted a new dress or new shoes. Knowing my money was waiting for me in my wallet, just eager to be spent, my Mom turned the car around back towards the house. I ran inside to retrieve my Peruvian, llama wallet and lo and behold, my $39 was missing. Yes, I checked between the three year old receipts I have been religiously collecting, and yes, I also checked behind my school ID cards from middle school, but those $39 were nowhere to be seen. After having a mini heart attack and desperately tearing through any bags I’ve recently used, I finally brought myself to accept that I won’t ever see those $39 again, because someone with sticky fingers decided to venture through my wallet. Maybe during school, maybe outside of school, but at this point, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Was I upset? Oh yeah, I was looking forward to hauling some more ripped jeans and vintage sweaters from the thrift stores, but honestly, I was more confused than angry. Why would someone steal my money? Why do people even steal money in the first place?

The obvious answer is because of the power a simple dollar holds, any normal person likes money, and the quicker to their hands on some cash, the better. Everyone is guilty of being greedy whether that be from “borrowing” those $10 your brother left on his desk (guilty), to wanting to spend your birthday money on more, unnecessary clothing (guilty). Now, first of all, how did I even get to $39, when I initially had $50? Ironically, the first purchase I made was from buying five packages of baby wipes and three bottles of mini hand sanitizers from Target to donate to the homeless for TeenVoice, $39 was the change I received back. Every year, especially on my birthday, I reflect on who I am, and I create goals on how I can work on being the best version of me I could possibly be. Obviously I still have a long way to go, but buying some baby wipes allowed me to take some baby steps into achieving this life-long goal.

Unfortunately, this type of generosity does not out weight the greed thriving here in America. Big businesses from retail to food to medicine to tobacco, just to name a few, are all culprits of implementing the idea of “profit over principal”. Earlier this year, Walmart gave all their employees a raise from $9 to $10, the amount the employees should have already been earning. According to a study by Demos, “Wal-Mart could already afford this measure simply by redirecting about $6.6 billion away from its current practice of repurchasing its own shares — a tactic to artificially boost shareholders’ income — and boosting workers’ pay instead”. The majority of Walmart’s employees are living in poverty, with a family to feed, and the fact that a billion-dollar company couldn’t have previously reduced their booming profits, even slightly, is insulting to the work force. Making a hefty profit should not be more important than valuing those who are the reason for that success; the goose laying the golden eggs should be valued and appreciated more than the golden eggs themselves. A final note-worthy mention would be that “Wal-Mart has seen a 22 percent rise in profits per worker ” according to //The New York Times// in 2015, yet each worker still only had a $1 wage increase, and several had to suffer with their hours being cut.

Taking an even deeper look into the major success of corporations is no prettier than what we see on the shallow surface with the treatment of employees. Sweatshops are another ugly, therefore, hidden truth due to the monster, greed was allowed to grow into. Walmart is also guilty of incorporating unethical sweatshops for more profit; however, I’ll stop bashing on Walmart, since they are in no way alone. First of all, allow me to explain the conditions most sweatshops fall under: employees must work 10-16 hours a day, with inadequate breaks considering the incongruous work they are expected to accomplish in a stuffy environment. In Bangladesh, a country known for their undeniable sweatshops, the average pay is 13 cents per hour, and the majority of workers are women and children. American companies allow this treatment to those who are earning a measly 10 cents from a $60 shirt sold in Nike, H&M, or Gap. Where is the morality? How can a child as young as six years old be allowed to work for any more than 3 hours, let alone 16? Remember that Triangle Shirt-Waist Fire Fitz always mentioned we must know for the AP test? That fire occurred back in 1911, where working conditions being that awful isn't all that surprising, but the 21st century is far too advanced to have that history be repeated, right? Well, in 2012, a clothing factory caught fire In Bangladesh, resulting in the death of more than 110 workers. For similar reasons as the Triangle Shirt-Waist Fire, people on the top floors in this nine-story building were forced to either burn alive, or jump. An article from CommonDreams points out that “These brands have known for years that many of the factories they choose to work with are death traps ”, the factory that caught ablaze in Bangladesh had their fire escape doors locked, and barely working fire extinguishers. Come on, it’s the 21st century and having poor safety and completely preventable accidents are still occurring because the global clothing brands are getting fatter and fatter thanks to the starving workers getting skinnier and skinnier. Sears, Walmart, Gap, JcPenny, H&M, none of these retailers bothered to put in the extra effort and spend the extra money into improving these inhumane conditions workers were forced into until it was too late. Greed is the ultimate blame, valuing the wellbeing of an object over the wellbeing of actual human being.

Moving on to how greed deteriorates the //intangible// moral here in America, due to the indirect deaths outside of U.S. grounds, I’ll quickly mention how greed also causes //tangible// damage towards Americans on our homeland’s own soil. Medicine being pricey is not uncommon, but there are reasonable lines that outrageous prices have flat out crossed. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are also waning proud-doers in the “good hearted” department. Though there are numerous reasons as to why the U.S. is one of the richest countries selling some of the most over-priced drugs, greed has definitely weaved its way into why some of these drug prices have jumped up %2000. This is the case for a tuberculosis treatment; when the public is at risk of TB, the prices should not be rising from $15 a pill to $360 overnight. Another prime example is the cost of treating melanoma, a cancer most of us should be familiar with thanks to Mrs. Anderson. Though this is rare to get, treatments tend to have a hiked up price for rarer illnesses in order make a more-than-decent profit out of the few sufferers. Someone with melanoma can be seen paying from $120,000-$270,000 per year for treatment**.** These inexplicably expensive drugs emphasize the pollution greed has caused, blocking out the humility in what goals the drug providers are really aiming for: saving more lives or making more money?

Remember that story from Mrs. Kindred’s class, about the man wanting to save his sick wife, which therefore lead him to steal the over-priced medicine from the greedy vendor? Well, was not far from reality. Dr. Isaac Kojo Anakwah Thompson, was accused of falsely diagnosing 387 patients between the years of 2006-2010. Making one false diagnostic may be over-looked as an honest mistake, but 387? According to Florida’s Department of Justice, “As a result, Medicare paid approximately $2.1 million in excess capitation fees, approximately 80% of which went to the defendant ”. It’s ridiculous that an educated man would take advantage of his patients by purposely misdiagnosing them, earning more than $1.5 million dollars. In addition to this conspicuous scam, this doctor did not have to pay for the treatment of his patients, since they weren’t actually sick, therefore he was able to keep most of his “earnings”. But, in order to avoid having to slaughter your wallet to improve your health, it’s probably wise to take care of your health beforehand. Unfortunately, continued advertisements for tobacco are impacting the lives of countless Americans, preventing them from being able to steer away from giving their souls up to medical bills. With 20% of deaths here in America having tobacco to blame, the revenue of the tobacco industry rose up to $664 billion in 2010, according to tobacco statistics on Ash.org. I don't think I need to articulate more on how tobacco companies are possibly, just maybe, perhaps, considered greedy, as I’m sure most of you can imagine why.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins, and in my opinion, the worst. It’s defined as someone having a selfish desire to have more than what they own; I see greed as someone being enslaved by this “need” and cherishing money more than friends, family, and even their own dignity. I want to grow old in a fair country, where people would be willing to pay 15% more in clothing and items to overcome the support oblivious buyers are handing out to ongoing sweatshops. I want to live old in a country that has more people going thrift shopping to reuse the clothing that literally had sweat, blood, and tears go into its making. I want to die old in a country where my grown children are guaranteed to afford any drug treatment to ensure a long, healthy life. Though valuing principal over profit in the business world seems imperceptible here in America, looking at a smaller scale, say, here in Ventura, or here in Foothill, being generous is not that difficult. I’m not saying ambition is evil, within limits, it is clearly beneficial to our lives, but again: there should be boundaries to decision making, there should be standards. Greed taints humanity here in America, it devalues truth, it blurs the lines between what should be considered “moral” or “immoral”, and it personifies a person’s wallet more than the person themselves.


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