Well... Friedman and I disagree... and I disagree with Laffer and most anyone who's influenced Reagan... I'm very much a demand sided thinker! He was too but became senile and ventured away
I found him, Friedman, to provoke interest in finding (via empirical research) alternative causation. For that, I've always found that smiling face of his full of earnest and without malice toward folks who did not agree. The UofC produced lots of folks who can seemingly swim with ease in Ice... whereas I find the softer version a bit more enabling.
Greed in the context I proffer is the motivator for many things... Some of these create wealth and in that creation I've found economic growth which supports life in this Nation. I don't argue that point. What I do argue is the notion that Greed is manifest in the many who seek to approximate the status of their greedy dreams... Therein is the key to their demise. Hence the greatest threat!
If a nation bombs us it only awakens that sleeping giant... If they subvert our political system they awaken revolt which ought to result in a reemergence of our basic system. But if they tickle our greed they create the process that has no foundation and will topple and terminate the many... creating the Dukedoms and Earldoms and serfs and a new Magna Charta...
Economics, as you know, is all about the Social bits... The mindset of the many who are driven beyond their intellect to achieve... They risk with out knowing it... they are puppets manipulated by those who's greed is coupled with the intellect to succeed.
As in the 'Cows' bit above, Enron is a prime example of how 'Nothing' becomes an accepted reality of 'Something' of value... Greed for riches provided exactly what the 'Nothing' ought to have provided...
If we lost everything but the capacity to eat we'd survive but we've learned we must have our cell phones and cars and savings and the rest of it but when that generates folks who don't give a dam that some of our citizens starve something is wrong with that mindset. What does that say about our Economic system? To me it says Greed motivates at the price of another and always will. The greed of our system took the farmer and placed that noble enterprise in the hands of the corporation whose greed is designed to let the lesser folks starve under the guise of a better system of food production. We hardly know our neighbor let alone help them when they are in need but yet common decency and if you believe in God, his notion seems to be we should all care about everyone equally... greed don't allow for that.