as far as means produce ends -- a counter example could be some sort of slavery; the means are horrible but they might produce the ends one wants..

of course it also depends on the timescale we are looking at 10 years, 100 years, 1000 years, etc

Do you have an example where something that depended on slavery as a means ended up good? (It's easy to find things that depended on slavery that produced what someone wanted.)

Yes, there are examples of societies that had slavery and became "good" (for some reasonable definition of "good"), but I'd argue that their "good end" was not dependent upon their slavery means.

I'd say that those owning slaves did so because it enhanced their quality of life -- therefore it was good for them. So pretty much any society that had slavery the ends were good for those in control, for some measure of good (they may have had a higher standard of living but they lost their humanity etc)

I think that we're talking about different "good"s.

Here are some examples.

I understand that using heroin feels really good. However, the effects of using heroin are (stereotypically) bad over all.

A Somali warlord has it much better than the average Somali. However, a warlord culture is, on the whole, a disaster.

Are there examples of slave cultures that were as productive as same-era free cultures? (Not that productive is the only measure of good, but ....)

Is that question so beyond the pale that it should be downmodded instead of answered or explained away?