The world we live in is suffering from a disease. It is not a physical illness. It is neither a virus nor a bacteria, there is no vaccine to prevent it, nor a pill to treat it. It's so terrible that it's even one of the seven deadly sins. Every man, woman and child will contract this disease at some point in their life. It is engraved in their DNA, passed down from generation to generation. This disease is greed. Greed is present in every stage of life, from children who scream “MINE” when given a toy to cutthroat businessmen like Bernie Madoff who bilked billions of dollars from rich and poor alike. The article “Madoff Scandal's Deep Impact on Funding for Health, Science,” by Elizabeth Bernstein (2009), shows the drastic effect of Madoff's embezzlement on medical and scientific research. According to the article “How to solve the water and sanitation deficit in Africa?” by Mark Dearn (2014), the estimate of how much it would cost to solve Africa's clean water dilemma is brought to light, a small number, as small as what it cost Facebook to acquire the popular messaging application WhatsApp. The autobiographical novel "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich examines the struggle of people in minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. This shows the stark contrast between the few powerful CEOs and the many poor employees who support them. However, there is hope. People have noticed this problem, such as the music group Bad Meets Evil in their song "Above the Law." “Reversing the Culture of Greed,” by Jung-kyu Kim (2013), defines what we can do to solve this problem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay In the outside world, greed is responsible for endangering many lives and stopping progress in the medical field , leading to the deaths of millions of innocent people. Money that could solve problems around the world, like disease or unsafe water, is instead hoarded, swindled, or invested for personal gain. In 2008, news broke that a financier named Bernie Madoff had kept the money he was supposed to invest and instead kept it for himself. To make matters worse, the organizations that had hired him for his services were "...generous donors to health care-related causes that funded hospital buildings, long-term programs at charities, and high-risk research. (Bernstein, 2009). Progress towards curing a large number of diseases was halted and the lives of those who suffered from these diseases were grimly replaced by a monetary figure. “We could be inches away from a breakthrough that could change the lives of millions, and Madoff has pulled the rug out from under us,” says Jim Surmeier (Bernstein 2009). Greed also affects people internationally, in countries like Libya. According to estimates, “future annual spending on water supply and sanitation is estimated at $21.9 billion, compared to the current $7.6 billion.” (Cher, 2014). In February 2014, social media giant Facebook acquired popular messaging app WhatsApp for $20 billion, almost equivalent to the $21.9 billion needed to keep water clean in Libya. By spending large sums of money for personal gain and ignoring the needs of the rest of the world. In the current state of our society, it favors.