AP photo U.S. politician Bernie Sanders released his book “It’s Okay to Be Angry at Capitalism” in October.

Capitalism is broken … or at least that’s the logical conclusion anyone who’s been exposed to it for five minutes would come to. Modern capitalism is built rather squarely upon the most extreme form of social Darwinism imaginable, which is to say some people find themselves rising to the top of society, staying there and not usually being challenged all while being the sole arbiters of all that is monetary.

While the scenarios at play in reality that led to this are likely a tad grayer, for the sake of framing, let’s pretend that they aren’t. The perceived strong pulverize the weak. They take everything from them, but the strong keep coming back to keep taking from the bereft. This phenomenon could be summed up by invoking every single one of the seven deadly sins, but I’ll leave it at one: greed.

Greed is the poison that kills capitalism from within and taints the increasingly evanescent American Dream. The most flagrant examples of this trend originate in the highest echelons of business in the United States, which is generally unsurprising considering the loose association between access to near limitless wealth and power and that of corruption.

Repeat offenders are our good friends at Wall Street, who seem to always find a quick and easy way out of a problem that would tear any normal person or business asunder. According to a 2013 article by Thomas DiLorenzo on David Stockman’s “The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America”, the company Goldman Sachs received such help. He states that “after being handed $10 billion the company ‘swiveled on a dime and generated a $29 billion financial surplus’ which included $16 billion in salary and bonuses just three months after the bailout to supposedly ‘save it from extinction'”.

In the constant promotion of these rich-get-richer practices in our society, we have seen the individuals that run companies like this form the most monolithic, all-encompassing conglomerates to have ever existed.

These are monopolies that would make the likes of Theodore Roosevelt himself roll over in his grave.

To cite Nestle’s own website, they “have more than 2,000 brands, from global icons to local favorites.” Two thousand companies owned by one mother corporation.

This is genuinely insane. The constant absorption of companies, especially local businesses, flies in the face of what capitalism stands for at its core. Competition is imperative to the health of capitalism, and actions such as this obliterate competition so thoroughly that it creates more of an economic oligarchy under the guise of a free market.

According to another 2013 article by David C. Johnston of the American Journalism Review, the journalists of today are doing an incredible disservice to both themselves and the public by not tackling these issues more thoroughly… or at all, for that matter. “Journalists are missing one of the biggest stories in America,” writes Johnston, “the saga of how new laws and regulations are promoting monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies, to the massive detriment of consumers”. Johnston cites many disturbing examples of such predatory business practices in the following paragraphs, including one such instance where AT&T took advantage of a removal of phone service price caps in California to raise their rates to an exorbitant degree. With constantly being on the receiving end of corporate greed and its consequences, we’ve developed a sort of Stockholm syndrome with it (and myriad other criminal behaviors, but that’s a different tirade) and quite often find it showing up in the media we consume as a topic of interest.

For example, take the hit TV show “Breaking Bad.” Generally regarded as a masterpiece, “Breaking Bad” follows the story of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher with terminal cancer who turns to drug trafficking to support his family. We’re shown the frightening transformation of a once mild-mannered family man into a ruthless drug lord by the sudden introduction of extreme wealth and a growing lust for power. An especially poignant scene from the show that highlights this is Walter’s “I am the danger” speech.

As much as we’d all like to think that we’re not susceptible to the siren song of money, each and every one of us is. We are all a proverbial Walter White waiting for the impetus that drives us to becoming Heisenberg. I know that this may sound like a trite phrase (or even hilarious) to certain circles, but denying this fact is to deny the show’s entire message. What exactly causes us to fall victim to greed’s call though? There is of course the obvious money aspect, but there must be something more, right?

Researchers Stephen W. Gilliland and Jennifer S. Anderson seek to shed light on this very subject through an in-depth psychological analysis of greedy tendencies in their 2014 article “On the psychology of greed.” They delve into what makes up greed: the traits that can be perceived as such, and actions that are labeled as such. They discuss the idea of greed as multifaceted and more nebulous than it seems. “Generally, people do not aspire to be labeled greedy, yet greed parallels valued traits such as ambition and drive.” This paints a more insidious picture of greed- one of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. To be driven and ambitious is not wrong, rather those are quite admirable qualities to possess. However, where do we draw the line in the sand?

Gilliand and Anderson cite a concept known as “relative deprivation” to discern where and when we could see something described as greedy. “Drinking a gallon of water is excessive and clearly more than needed, but not greedy unless there is a scarcity of water. If a group of people are hiking in the desert and one person drinks a gallon of water, thereby depriving others of the limited water supply, the excessive drinker would likely be described as greedy”, they state. While not entirely wrong, I cannot see myself entirely agreeing with the presented point.

The visibility of greed is certainly more prevalent in the presence of relative deprivation, but not exclusive to it. Rather, I see greed as a construct of personality and circumstance instead of one or the other.

In the realm of psychology, emotion and feelings are results of chemicals and their reactions to one another within the brain. The simplest of examples is dopamine causing a light, joyous feeling when you are faced with something pleasurable or enjoyable. When exposed to constant positive stimuli the effect deadens, which causes a phenomenon known as receptor burnout. A very easy way to achieve this is constant acquisition, which is something that individuals with near endless wealth are able to do ad nauseam. A 2022 article by Eric J. Mercadante and Jessica L. Tracy entitled “How does it feel to be greedy? The role of pride in avaricious acquisition” studies this piece of the puzzle through a very enlightening psychological lens. They cite the acquisition of new material possessions as “a means towards identity goal fulfillment and therefore should elicit pride.” Startlingly, this starts to solidify that nebulous picture previously painted of greed into something more of a societal shortcoming.

The idea that the soul of a greedy person is marred by the desire to project an image, or protect their self-esteem points us to how our world sees afflictions of the mind as trivial and easily conquered with enough toughness and grit. Whether a result of nature or nurture, the end result is building a wall of vice to protect oneself. In ignoring and suppressing these issues, they boil over and create something we can no longer cram into the dark recesses of our closets.

Shortcomings within established support systems tend to exacerbate this build-up of negativity as well. I know how disheartening it can be to go to therapy and have nothing of value be realized while being regarded as yet another patient, or even to be told by family that your problems or worries are insignificant in the grand scheme. Some process it better than others. Some fester in their misery until it warps them into something unrecognizable… like Heisenberg.

John Cunningham is a fifth year English/Communications student at SUNY Fredonia who is studying to become a librarian.