Corrupt, in a scientific and empirical discussion, is not a real word and tells me nothing empirical. (Unless it has a definition associated with it.)
But in poetry it’s fine.
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…Speaking of greed…
I came upon this marvelous quotation from Thom Hartmann:
If greed isn’t a mental disorder, is it what makes squirrels bury their nuts? Is it largely hormonal - as Ultimate Philosophy has claimed?
What say you?
Some further reflections…
George Gilder, in his role as an Economist, offered this analysis:
Wealth = Knowledge
Growth = Learning
Money = Time.
[Time is the one commodity that will always be scarce, when all else is abundant. Money buys you time, he claims. Perhaps he means the more money you have the earlier you can go into retirement, and thus have plenty of leisure time. Actually, it turns out that when responsible people, those of good character, go into retirement, they have less time than ever, because they are so busy helping people, or doing something to make the world a better place.]
…something to think about.
p.s. Here is a link to my latest 6-page booklet, for a lay audience, which - though teaching ethics - is remarkable for not mentioning the words ‘ethics’ or ‘morality’ even once.
it title is SUCCESSFUL LIVING: How to have a quality life. tinyurl.com/zkuphdq
Gilder had a primitive way of communicating it.
Money is not Time.
Money = Theoretical Work Output
With money, you can buy people to work as your slaves or servants and get their work output or goods from work output.
Yes, I agree.
As I researched further on Gilder’s background, I discovered that he is a Creationist, and has other confused ideas that make him a science-denier.
It could be a mistake to take to heart what he says.
Yet he has a point about knowledge (which I define as understanding, integrating, and coordinating the relationships among bits of information) as eventually resulting in new wealth. However today some knowledge is just used to ‘beat the system.’ This merely moves wealth around from one-or-more individuals to another.
It is only “greed” if it is too much for the need.
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A wise person once said the following, and I am inclined to agree:
Being ‘good’, or living well, is all about balance. Balance between reason and emotion, and between your needs and those of others, and between pragmatism and ‘the perfect solution’.
What say you?
Balance is the compromise between your desires and needs, versus those of those surrounding you, the environment, the situation upon which you depend and in which you survive, aka. your “God”.
Thanks to you, Ultimate, I’ve been thinking about the concept “corruption” and how to define it.
At first I noticed that dictionaries just use synonyms, such as moral turpitude, depravity, baseness.
Then I felt I would just say with regard to it: “It’s like pornography: you know it when you see it. You will recognize it when you encounter it.” 
Finally, my latest attempt to define it is this:
Corruption = being unethical and consciously knowing that you are.
Even if if you care that this applies to you, that this is the case - and you’d rather it wasn’t - you still have a corrupt character if this definition applies to you.
Is the concept useful to those who care about Ethical Theory?
Corruption means disruption, erosion, or entropy of the order, structure, or harmony. Corruption of a society is the failing of its structure toward lawlessness, conflict, and chaos.
Being ethical means to harmonize with the needs. If the society happens to be serving the needs, then it means to harmonize with the social order. If the society is not serving the needs, being ethical might mean disrupting the social order so as to free the people to better serve their needs.
Corruption and ethics are not a one-to-one correlation.
Neediness inevitability transforms into greediness.
a poor pirate…starved for gold. Becomes paranoid…he must secure double, triple the amount of gold, so that he has no possibility of every being poor again. Yes, excess must be piled and piled. Greed, is related to security, and the need for security. Both are almost psychologically the same. One camera is not enough, but ten. But what if they avert the camera? Then put in a turret. But what if the turret malfunctions? Bring in ten. But what if they disable it with an EMP? Then put in mines. What if they walk through the mines? Then double, triple the mines.
Corruption is when a system is infected and unable to revert to a non-infected state.
A predisposition of greed is genetically programmed.
George Gilder is wrong.
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Wealth is not knowledge. Knowledge can but does not necessarily and not always lead to wealth, and wealth can but does not necessarily and not always lead to knowledge. So Gilder’s equation “wealth = knowledge” is FALSE.
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Growth is not learning. Learning can but does not necessarily mean growth, and growth can but does not necessarily mean learning. So Gilder’s equation “growth = learning” is FALSE.
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Money is not time. Merely some economists and propagandists think that money would be time. Money is a means that can but does not necessarily lead to wealth and to power, and time can but does not necessarily run short (cp. date of redemption of debts because of credits, interests, compound interests). So Gilder’s equation “money = time” is FALSE.
By the way: A society with an economy that is based upon information (including knowledge and belief) is much more environment-sparing than a society with a money economy that is based upon energetic resources. Information (but not energy and resources) can be reproduced arbitrarily. So information is the better money basis. I would suggest a money system of two monetary units: “I” (“Information”) and “E” (“Energy”), so that, for example, 100 cents would consist of 98 I-cent and 2 E-cent, and both could not really be separated from each other.
Years ago, in his book CRITICAL PATH, Bucky Fuller proposed a backing of the currency, which I believe would work if tried.
He suggested that the dollar be backed by World Productivity.
For the life of me, I can’t see what’s wrong with that if there were an agreed-upon, reasonable way to measure global productivity. In the USA the Labor Department keeps statistics of American productivity, and so does the Federal Reserve Board track it also. We know that in certain respects China is today very productive with regard to computers, robotics. They exceed the USA in the application of these, as well as in the use of alternative clean energy. Japan is more advanced that the USA in robotics; and Germany is way ahead in utilizing green, clean energy (solar, wind, geothermal, wave power.)
The beauty of basing our currency on productivity is that the value of the currency will tend to go up, since world productivity is constantly rising - thus our money would become more valuable as time goes on 
Today, with inflation running amok, money erodes in value. [The Federal Reserve Banks engaged in what they euphemistically called ‘Quantitative Easing’ which was the printing of money with no wealth or labor behind it to back it up. That is the very definition of “inflation.”]
COMMENTS? QUESTIONS? IMPROVEMENTS?
You hopefully know that your so-called “Federal Reserve Bank” is a private bank, althought it is also called the national central bank, which is normally not private but statist, thus public. So “your” Federal Reserve Bank does not represent the interests of your nation.
The entire purpose of money is not to create a strong, healthy economy, but a powerful, wealthy monarchy.
This is basically true.
Thinkdr
I don’t think so. I do think that it would also depend on what the bribe is for. At the very least, it’s an unethical and unfair practice.
For instance, if a bribe is offered to “overlook” faulty material and work, and taken, someone may at some point pay for that action with their life. That is also illegal. If the building comes crumbling down countless lives could be destroyed.
Giving a waiter a tip even beforehand is nothing of the same. It may be a bit manipulative, who knows, maybe just a bit of practical wisdom there, lol, but it might also ensure better service, which the tipper has coming to him anyway.
So in other words, a person putting away money in a bank “for a rainy day” having some practical wisdom - that’s based on the greed hormone?
We were talking about greed, not wise savings. Get out of here with that.
You can’t associate a squirrel burying its nuts to a person putting money in the bank for a rainy day?
If a squirrel eats those nuts all in onedway, there may be a day when there aren’t many nuts available. What then?
Both the squirrels and ourselves have to learn to be like the “wise virgins” in the bible. Practical wisdom.
Yes, or a monopoly, namely the monopoly of one of the super-organisms (super-organisations / super-corporations).