The pursuit of wealth is not per se something that I perceive in my fellow human beings. However, since I am not at home in the spheres where big business takes place, my perception is limited to what the normal average citizen does. He wants to live and live well and not lose what he has. I guess that's called wanting to preserve material and physical security. However, I believe that this is not enough to counteract the forces that are acting on all of us. It rather leads to the fact that we can become mutual despots when we are afraid for our lives and our belongings. And we turn to those very forces or support what comes from "above" and thereby fight each other horizontally. How shall I put it? Those who do not listen to their own conscience when something is ordered or sold to them as a virtue ignore their conscience in favour of lesser things. But you are of course right that freedom requires means.