It is fashionable and easy to condemn Greed as a vice. But, as Ayn Rand argued in her novel, Atlas Shrugged, greed, properly viewed, can be a virtue.

The oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico exhibit both the worst and the best faces of greed. The worst is painfully obvious. The ruin of an entire ecosystem. The economic destruction of an entire region.

But set the disaster aside for a moment and consider the astounding combination of initiative, innovation and genius required to drill oil wells from platforms over 5000 feet of water. Wells thousands of feet deep. Oil companies don't do this because they are civic minded, or want to be good corporate citizens. They do it for the money. Out of greed.

We can debate whether deep sea drilling should be allowed because of the risk of disaster. We can debate the need to reduce our nation's energy consumption so that such extraordinary (and risky) operations would not be necessary. But as an engine for getting things done, Greed works.

Instead of attacking greed, we should respect, even nurture it, but also keep it under control. That is what government is for.