Letter: Unbridled greed is a pervasive, awful influence

Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 9:04 a.m.

What's really happened in our country that I find most appalling is the greed that is running rampant. My own values were as tainted as the rest of the country's, meaning that getting ahead and being successful monetarily meant everything. I still don't believe being well-off is a crime, but I've come to discover there is much more to life than a home with a pool and a stupid vehicle like a Hummer to go shopping in.

The greedy insurance and pharmaceutical companies and the greedy doctors and lawyers place a burden on the American public that leaves us so beleaguered that I have become insensitive to their rhetoric. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not ready to break out the violins for any of them.

It all started when a few men got drunk with the power of running our country. Today we call them politicians, people who are in the pockets of the greedy people mentioned above, as well as in the pockets of the corrupt executives of many other large companies.

Make no mistake, the greedy are the ones who choose how we shall live and who will govern us. Today, as I watch the tube or read the papers, I find very little truth, just ads being paid for by special-interest groups that stand to lose something if the truth were to be known.

SHEL BERLASKY