"Good deed math" feels like it drives legitimacy from some intrinsic sense of 'goodness', which to my ken looks de-emphasised in Franklin's model. Each act is a deed unto itself: a good deed and a bad deed do not counteract or excuse one another in some cosmic calculus.

The only link is the person -- that their acts inform their thoughts and habits, which informs future acts. In this case "good deed math" is likely a post-hoc rationalisation, predicted by the Franklin model but not exactly encouraged.

At least that involves good deeds. This article actually seems to pervert it into a hustle culture thing. His beliefs and values don't matter, it doesn't matter that he became a devoted abolitionist in his later life, what matters is that he got out there and built stuff.

just because some people pervert the concept doesn't invalidate the concept.

A good and a bad doesn't make a neutral.