How does greed affect moral values?

Greed gives rise to temptation and causes moral values to erode and cause people to only look after themselves. For instance, a politician may take office with the best of intentions. But then, things get tough, and people offer to help him with his career or give him money if he bends the rules a bit or ignores something.

Most people are "generally honest," meaning that they don't set out to do wrong, but may cave if the temptation is great enough. There is a saying that locks on doors are only to help keep the honest people honest, and there is truth to that. If a person is determined enough to burglarize, they will, so locks won't stop them. It is the people who are generally "good people" that the locks are designed to keep out. Locks have no effect on the totally pure and the totally dishonest.