Yay
busganan!
In his bestselling book The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel dedicates
a chapter to the theme Never Enough. He observes that, for a significant part
of society, including some of the wealthiest and most powerful, there seems to
be no clear boundary to what “enough” truly means.
Two striking examples illustrate how greed can destroy even great
success. Rajat Gupta, a former McKinsey head and Goldman Sachs board member,
was jailed in 2012 for insider trading despite already having earned millions.
Bernie Madoff, who ran the world’s largest Ponzi scheme worth $65 billion, was
sentenced in 2009 to 150 years in prison. Both remind us that for some, wealth
is never enough, until it leads them to ruin.
This is not just a story from abroad. Recently, questions have been
raised over the lavish lifestyles of high-profile contractors after reports
surfaced about their ownership of luxury cars. In an article published on
August 26, 2025, Dominique Nicole Flores of The Philippine Star reported that
the Bureau of Customs would “immediately look into” the imported vehicles of
the Discaya family, owners of multiple construction firms linked to
multi-billion-peso flood control projects. Scrutiny intensified after lifestyle
features showing the Discayas flaunting their wealth resurfaced in connection
with Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto’s remarks on the ethics of potentially paid
media interviews.
And then there are congressmen accused of siphoning public funds to
sustain their extravagant lifestyles, an excess that only seems to deepen their
unquenchable thirst for more.
What has happened to the mindset of these individuals? Could such public
flaunting be an attempt to fill inner voids that wealth cannot satisfy? Is this
not a classic illustration of the deprivation Maslow described in his hierarchy
of needs, where unresolved deficits from earlier stages continue to shape
behavior? Perhaps their relentless hunger for more is rooted in childhood
poverty, leaving them insatiable even when abundance is already within their
grasp.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943) explained that deprivation at the
lower levels of his hierarchy, such as basic needs for safety or security, can
leave individuals with a lasting sense of emptiness. Even after acquiring
wealth and status, they may still chase symbols of success to patch up those
old wounds. It is this framework that helps explain why some people, despite
already having more than enough, remain restless in their pursuit of power,
luxury, and recognition.
But what if some were already born into wealth, yet their desire for
more still pushes them to bend morality to their will? At what point does greed
cease to be ambition and become a distortion of the human spirit, a kind of
madness where reason is silenced and values are cast aside?
Indeed, there seems to be an addictive rush in craving ever more
millions, even billions, despite the risk of public shame. Such relentless
pursuit hints at deeper disorders of the spirit, if not of the mind. Philosophy
teaches us a simple truth: when one continues to eat beyond fullness, the
result is not satisfaction but sickness. Greed works in much the same way, when
limits are ignored, the appetite becomes destructive.
Jessica Soho captured this reality with painful clarity: “Hindi na pala
baha ang magpapalubog sa ating bayan, kundi kasakiman.” Her words remind us
that the gravest floods in the Philippines do not always come from rivers or
storms, but from the unchecked greed of those who drain our public resources.
Housel’s lesson, then, is worth repeating: enough is never about having
too little, it is the wisdom to know that chasing more can eventually lead us
to the edge of regret. In the end, the measure of a life well-lived is not in
how much wealth is amassed, but in knowing when enough is truly enough.
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