Think all the way back in history. How many times have greedy rulers been on the throne? How many times have this greediness led to war? The answer is way too many times! Way back in the mid-1600s, Louis XIV of France, also known as the Sun King, showed off his wealth. Even though he was one of the most powerful French monarchs and a monarch with the longest reign in European history, he spent his money on clothing, paintings, monuments, and buildings. Louis XIV of France was a very supportive patronage of arts. For example, he patronized arts by funding and commissioning artists, composers, musicians, and writers. One of his biggest projects was the Palace of Versailles. Louis XIV of France converted a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII into a dazzling palace. If Louis XIV spent his wealth elsewhere, such as on projects to improve poverty, things might be different nowadays! Not that improvement in art is not good; it’s simply that I believe that being able to live without having to worry where your next meal might come from and where you’ll be living is more important.
Even further back in history, the Romans emperors showed off their wealth. The emperors and nobles flaunted their wealth by wearing costly clothing, expensive rings, and Roman emperors have people fight in the Colosseum in order to show their power and wealth to everyone. In my opinion, I find it totally unnecessary for people to die in order for others to prove that they are wealthy. This happened all over the world. Instead of spending all their wealth on these unnecessary bonuses, meaning things that are not relevant for survival, they could have spent their money to help the poor. By doing so, they will be reducing the poverty levels. Also, they can choose to do other things as well. They could form police forces to help combat crime. This greediness led to war between the wealthy, mostly the royals and the nobles, and the poor which were consisted of farmers and middle class people.
Nowadays, things are a little different, though not by much. Greed still plays a major role in human and countries’ actions. For example, corruption is a big problem, and most of the time, corruption happens because of greed for money. According to Transparency International, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50 from a scale of 0-100 with 0 being highly corrupted. This statistic shows that corruption, caused by greed, plays a key role in shaping the international system. For example, when Somalia was held under Somalia’s coalition government, corruption became a huge problem. From 2009 to 2010, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia noticed that 70% of funds dedicated for development and reconstruction in Somalia were unaccounted for. Somalia's coalition government used those funds for other purposes. There are a lot more cases like this. In 2009~2010, it’d been noted that approximately $70 million in cash payment from other Arab donors had gone missing. These large scale corruptions happen because of greed. The government officials want to keep the money for themselves, thus, taking it away. However, what they are doing is not good for the nation. For example, money donated from other donors was supposed to be used on development and reconstruction. But instead, it went into the pockets of government officials. When the money in a country is used for its rightful purpose, the statistics of unemployment rates, mortality rates, malnutrition, resource demands, and even dying bees can decrease!
Some may argue that greed is an emotion, a desire for more goods, and less of an international problem, but I will beg to differ. Even though greed is a desire, a feeling felt by human beings, it is the foundation and underlying cause for a lot of problem such as poverty, corruption, unhappiness, and war. Some people, to fulfill their desires, will do whatever is necessary. On the other hand, some people believe that greed is not all that bad since it motivates people to take action, thus, it will benefit capitalism and people will get richer. Even though greed motivates people to take action, the actions taken are not always morally right and justified, and some people's thirst can never be resolved. Another concern is that being greedy does not necessarily mean that people will always get what they want. There are more imminent problems the world is facing, but in my opinion, the root of problems is the problem itself.
This is why I believe that greed is the most important problem the world had ever faced. There’s no definite solution for this since each and every individual is different and there’s no way of manipulating people into being less greedy, at least in this generation. Even though that is the case, there have been important figures in history that sacrificed themselves for the benefits of the world and their community. Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were such people. This is proof that this problem can be minimized.