Achievement is the success of an understanding in meeting its ambition so its value must reflect the nature of that understanding. If the understanding is selfish then its success must be by the exploitation of others, enabled by lies, to win easy private gain, and will not be a benefit but a liability to the community, like the pursuit of profit.

Hence a community made up of unselfish citizens will realise increasing benefits, providing increasing wealth and knowledge, whereas a community made up of mainly selfish citizens must languish into increasing impotence and delusion.

In 2007 it is difficult not to believe that every business is selfish and trying to extort as much money as possible from the hapless public, but the fact that this was not always the case is revealed by 'A Portrait Of Britain 1851-1951' by D. Lindsay and E.S. Washington, (1956)

"In 1851 the overwhelming majority of industrial workers were employed in factories containing not more than a hundred workers. There was then rivalry between these firms in the production of articles of high quality at a reasonable price.—Prologue p. 6"