Insatiable Longing's Road to Suicide?

Radix malorum est cupiditas.

Is it? I've been thinking about this for a while. Ayn Rand would surely disagree, but hey, back then, she took it upon herself to defend people like the Vanderbilt's or the Fords' from being catalogued as evil, vile, greedy men. 

These men moved the world. These were men that invested their own time and work to give an extra mile, seek opportunities and thus provide better services to others. Yet, in the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer warns us:

"'Nay, old churl, not so fast, by God,' said this second gambler without delay. 'By St. John, you shall not depart so easily! You spoke just now of that traitor Death who slays all our friends in this country-side. By my word, you are his spy! Tell where he is, or, by God and the Holy Sacrament, you shall pay for it. Truly you are in conspiracy with him to slay us young people, false thief.' 759 

'Now sirs,' he said, 'if you are so glad to find Death, turn up this crooked path; for by my faith I left him in that grove under a tree, and there he will wait, and for all your boasting will he hide. Do you see that oak? There you shall find him. May God, Who redeemed mankind, save you and amend you!' Thus spoke this old creature." 767

What the three men ultimately find is what could have been the final scene to a Tarantino's movie.

Then, there's the figure of Gordon Gekko...

So, I can understand greed can become a motivator, people collaborating on a common goal. And to be honest, greed doesn't seem to be the term I'm questioning anymore. What worries me, is the insatiable longing that's building up radical inequalities of profit.

Some greedy men, have become capable of damaging environments in different countries, other women who have unfortunately shared power, have also incurred in corruption cases around the world. Call it the moon or a tunnel, it's all in the interest of the wealthy to hold and shape everything we know and engage to. 

I guess nothing's new but something is intriguing to me. How can you set any kind of limit on wanting more without hindering an environment or an individual's potential? When the mean is not the end but an addictive way of living, when is the greater good and altruism not a sacrifice of one man's dream?