In a series of articles on the nature of greed, Christian blogger Ted Scofield writes:

When I ask people "What is greed?" typically the first concept articulated involves the notion of abundance. Greed is when you have too much stuff (which only money can buy), or place too much importance on stuff, or spend too much time pursuing or wanting or envying stuff.

A college student told me, "When people are sleeping on the street and you have a Mercedes and four empty bedrooms in your McMansion, then you are greedy." The late comedian George Carlin might agree: "That's the whole meaning of life, isn't it? Trying to find a place for your stuff … That's all your house is—a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff. Sometimes you've got to move, you've got to get a bigger house. Why? Too much stuff!"

Sure enough, we Americans are not filling our houses with people. In 1950, the average home size was 983 square feet and 3.37 people lived in it. By 2009, the average home's square footage has ballooned to 2,700 with only 2.57 occupants. In 59 years, the average American home grew by 175% while the average family size shrunk by 24%.