Business Ethics in USA

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Really? I find that hard to believe. There is way more people in Africa that are in poverty levels. Right?

 

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kmguru ...

Decent article. Thanks.

Most appreciated:

"Nothing reveals the corruption of leadership more clearly than
the record of executive compensation. According to one recent
survey of executive compensation during the 1990s, your pay
rose by 570%. Profits rose by 114%. Average worker pay rose
37%, barely ahead of inflation, which went up by 32%. In 1999,
while median shareholders' returns fell by 3.9%, CEO direct
compensation rose another 10.8%. Perhaps the real reason that
we are so obsessed with leadership today is that we see so little
of it from CEOs."

Take care

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I’ve always found the “gold-rush” mentality to be unappealing. A primary motivation today is to quickly find the pot-of-gold and get out, rather than patiently build a business of integrity and reasonable profitability over the long-term. Our obsession with fantastic profits, lottery jack-pots, and multi-million dollar law suit settlements steadily erodes our trust in one-another.

The current relationship between companies and investors is akin to that of the partners in the old Bogart film, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre after they've found the gold. We’ve forgotten that business is based upon trust, rather than greed. This corruption does not arise in the business world; it simply carries over from our personal lives into the business world. To paraphrase Erich Fromm:

“Greed is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity.”

When in polls people are asked what is the most important thing in their lives, their answers are generally correct. They speak of the overwhelming importance of “family, happiness, and contentment.” It appears however, that knowing the correct answer has little bearing on the way we actually live. We live as though fortune and prestige were by far the most important things in our lives.

Most of us understand that our frenzy-for-riches isn’t conducive to a healthy society, yet reason appears helpless in the face of addictive greed. I don’t see a ready cure for this sickness. We were told that September 11 might have an impact, but even the mistaken attempt to replace greed with patriotism, or nationalism, wasn’t sustainable. Historically, we’ve had to wait for the pendulum of mass psyche to swing in the other direction so that we might for a while, forget our “gold-rush” fever.

I’m as susceptible as anyone else to the Siren’s song of greed. The Argonauts survived the lure of the Sirens by having their ears plugged with wax, and because Orpheus, the musician, was on board. His song was sweeter than that of the Sirens. I suppose my only real protection against excessive greed is to focus more intently on Orpheus’, rather than the Siren’s song.

When I fill my life with little joys, I’m most able to withstand the Siren’s song. Cicero wisely noted that, "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

Michael

 

If 26% of people are poor, they still make more money than they would have in China.

 

I am single. Sorry don't understand your joke.

 

I think that what kmguru is saying is that simply stating that people in china don't make alot of money does not put homeless in houses or feed people that go hungry every night.

 

'Tis all relative. It's probably like here in Australia... theres plenty of people who cry over how poor they are, but in reality it's more like they just want what their neighbour has instead of what they have.

Then they get all depressed coz they can't afford the mercedes the neighbour has, because the neighbour is a doctor and they're only labourers, among other excuses, and drink themselves half to death instead of buying food.

"poor" is a psychological condition.

 

I think that that is a narrow-sighted opinion. I will grant that there are lots of people who want to just take advantage of the system. Hell, I take advantage of just about every system I can. But there are people who are truly needy. Most of the time it's not the people who are struggling who say anything, but the people who have a lot of things who feel guilty that while they have 5 cars, there is a family who can't afford to have enough food on the table.

"starving" is not a psychological condition

 

Tell that to the millions of starving children in South and Central America. Or Africa for that matter.

 

I was replying to the people who were saying its just as bad to be poor over here... Kmguru and Rimacloud mostly. They werent talking about the poor in Africa. My apologies, should have added "in the western World" to that. Some people cant read context.

 

Oh, and in reply to Kmguru...

"Anyway...even though in America, poor people have refrigerators and washers and dryers - what they dont have is health, food, transporation and training to get a job in private sector."

Their health is fine in general... you're saying they don't have access to top-class doctors if they get cancer. australian health care is free, if you go to a government hospital. If you pay more, you get private health care. Seems fair to me.

Food? anybody (in the western world ok Strgrl?) who is starving has only themselves to blame... granted I cant talk too much about the USA, but here in Oz we have welfare enough to keep anyone out of the gutter... therefore anybody found there is there of their own choosing.

Transportation? Don't talk to me about cars... catch a damn bus. You have those in america, right? Gawd, our grandfathers often had to walk kilometres (miles) to get to work... and here you lot are whinging about how you dont own cars. Geez.

Training? Go on the net. Go to a free college. theres plenty of those about. Buy some books. Again, without knowing the specifics of the situation in the US, in Australia we have relatively free education... ie you can get a four year Uni course and pay for it ONLY after you get a job earning more than 30k a year, and then pay only 3% of your income back to the govt. They dole out an (on average) loan sufficient to give you about $240 a week... enough to live on over here if you share with one or two others.

If you cant get govt assistance, wash dishes. What, you afraid of breaking a nail?


The difference, people, is that these days nobody wants to do the hard yards first. we all want to get a top class education, walk straight out into the real world and beomes accountants earning 50k a year. well guess what. It's tough out there, welcome to the real world. If you dont have what it takes, you aint gonna make it. simple.

In West Australia, one of our most famous millionaires still hasnt got a good education. He bought an old house, fixed it up himself on weekends, sold it for a profit. Then he bought another one....

Point? hard work. Too many people are afraid of it. Stick you lot in medieval times and you wouldnt last a week.

 

Oh geez...

No, I'm telling you that those who ARE poor, are poor only by OUR definition of poor, which is really not poor at all. They merely have less than some others.

I'm also telling you that no one starves in Oz, cause we have welfare. I spent years on it myself, except that I woke up one day and decided to be useful for a change. I never came CLOSE to starving. I also had shoes, clothes, and somewhere to live. I got off my ass and learned how to do something, then took that knowledge and found myself a job, firstly overseas and now here at home. It's called initiative, something sadly lacking in most people.

I'm telling you that anyone who IS starving (here) is doing so by choice, or sheer stupidity.

Ghettos? there are poor(er) areas yes... but like I said, that means the kids go to government schools and only watch 51cm TV's instead of 68cm TV's. And yes, buses go everywhere in the metro area and beyond. If you live in the outback, then no... but if that's the case get off your damn butt and move to the city if you want to find work. Would have THOUGHT that would be obvious.

Slaves? nope... never had 'em here. Why? Did we do something wrong? Did we miss something?

Diseases... never mentioned that. DID say that in general our health is pretty good, coz we have govt hospitals. DID say that if you want BETTER healthcare, then you have to pay for it. However, going to a govt hospital is what most of us do, and recieve treatment which is, generally speaking, pretty damned good.

So yes, we get diseases, but I completely fail to see what you're trying to achieve by mentioning them. Everyone else gets diseases too.. we just get decent treatment for them... EVEN THE "POOR" PEOPLE.

Paradise? What a silly concept, on THIS planet. However, we do have it pretty good here in Oz yes. Even the "poor" people.

 

Well, basically... yes.

Stupidity is something which natural selection should have been well on the way to weeding out, but hasn't. How unfortunate.

I give you $300 to last a week, but you go and spend it on alcohol and video games instead of food. This is MY problem? 'Fraid not sunshine. It's your problem.

If a small percentage of people werent so bloody dumb there wouldnt BE a problem, would there? And then you'd have to go find yourself some other "cause" to justify your own self image...

read my sig.... this pretty much sums up how I feel about it.