While another bank has gone belly up, Washington Mutual, little if any progress is being made on the President’s proposal for a bail out of the financial system. Members of the President’s own party are revolting and not backing his proposal, including Senator McCain who seems to be waiting for celestial inspiration to suggest a plan of his own.
One point of disagreement among those involved in the negotiations, and holding progress, is executive compensation at the companies that would benefit by the bail out plan. Not surprisingly, however, not a single CEO has come forward and offers to forego his Golden Parachute and other perks in order to help and speed up the process.The purpose of this article, however, is not to identify those CEOs responsible for the enormous mess that our credit and financial markets find themselves in. We all know who they are. Besides, it is the job of the Justice Department in Washington and the Attorneys General of the Fifty States to bring the crooks to justice and expose their questionable business and investment practices.
Unlike doctors who take the Hippocrates Oath, there are no sworn pledges to high ethical and moral standards that CEOs must adhere to. In addition, earning tons of money is not a crime, if honestly earned that is. Even so, being a CEO of any of the country’s largest corporations does involve ethical and moral responsibilities, responsibility to the corporation, its employees and shareholders, and responsibility to the community. Yet, it clear that to too many of Wall Street’s “brightest and best” money is not only a medium of exchange but also some sort of divinity to be worshipped. After all we live in a society where one’s standing in the community is often measured by the neighborhoods where we live, the size of our homes, the makes of our automobiles, the labels on our cloth and a whole bunch of other equally ridiculous considerations. Above all, we are judged by how much money we make instead of what we have done with our lives.
We can be fooled into believing the numerous reasons given by President Bush, Secretary Paulson and others for the collapse of our financial system. The fact remains, however, that the root of the problem is only one: the incredible greed and selfishness of the vultures of Wall Street, mostly CEOs of great abilities but who lack prudence and ethical standards. These are the leaders of the free market economy who expect and demand virtues and loyalty from their employees but whose inner satisfaction is the preservation of their Golden Parachutes.
The Fortune 500 corporations, which include all of the troubled companies causing the monumental crisis facing the U.S, are an integral part of our free enterprise system, of our free market economy. The importance of all these corporations is best exemplified by the catastrophic consequences when one these companies encounter setbacks, such as is the case of AIG. Yet, as great the magnitude of these companies is, their shares are so widely held that the companies really have no owners. As a result, Chief Executive Officers run companies at will, appoint unconditional officers and nominate friendly and loyal directors. In essence, these CEOs become surrogate owner with all the matching attributions and powers.
Lack of hands-on management of the country’s most important industrial and financial corporations by its owners, an indispensable condition to prevent imprudent decisions or dishonest behavior, has led to extraordinary abuses on the part of deceitful and money hungry CEOs, namely huge salaries, unreasonably stock options and nauseating bonuses. Such abuses don’t occur on giant companies such as Kock Industries, Bechtel, Cargill, Public, Price Waterhouse or Fidelity Investments, all privately owned corporations run by their owners, primarily.
Since we have been duped, disappointed and financially damaged by the “best and the brightest of Wall Street”, let’s seek out the “worst and stupidest” to rescue us.
One point of disagreement among those involved in the negotiations, and holding progress, is executive compensation at the companies that would benefit by the bail out plan. Not surprisingly, however, not a single CEO has come forward and offers to forego his Golden Parachute and other perks in order to help and speed up the process.The purpose of this article, however, is not to identify those CEOs responsible for the enormous mess that our credit and financial markets find themselves in. We all know who they are. Besides, it is the job of the Justice Department in Washington and the Attorneys General of the Fifty States to bring the crooks to justice and expose their questionable business and investment practices.
Unlike doctors who take the Hippocrates Oath, there are no sworn pledges to high ethical and moral standards that CEOs must adhere to. In addition, earning tons of money is not a crime, if honestly earned that is. Even so, being a CEO of any of the country’s largest corporations does involve ethical and moral responsibilities, responsibility to the corporation, its employees and shareholders, and responsibility to the community. Yet, it clear that to too many of Wall Street’s “brightest and best” money is not only a medium of exchange but also some sort of divinity to be worshipped. After all we live in a society where one’s standing in the community is often measured by the neighborhoods where we live, the size of our homes, the makes of our automobiles, the labels on our cloth and a whole bunch of other equally ridiculous considerations. Above all, we are judged by how much money we make instead of what we have done with our lives.
We can be fooled into believing the numerous reasons given by President Bush, Secretary Paulson and others for the collapse of our financial system. The fact remains, however, that the root of the problem is only one: the incredible greed and selfishness of the vultures of Wall Street, mostly CEOs of great abilities but who lack prudence and ethical standards. These are the leaders of the free market economy who expect and demand virtues and loyalty from their employees but whose inner satisfaction is the preservation of their Golden Parachutes.
The Fortune 500 corporations, which include all of the troubled companies causing the monumental crisis facing the U.S, are an integral part of our free enterprise system, of our free market economy. The importance of all these corporations is best exemplified by the catastrophic consequences when one these companies encounter setbacks, such as is the case of AIG. Yet, as great the magnitude of these companies is, their shares are so widely held that the companies really have no owners. As a result, Chief Executive Officers run companies at will, appoint unconditional officers and nominate friendly and loyal directors. In essence, these CEOs become surrogate owner with all the matching attributions and powers.
Lack of hands-on management of the country’s most important industrial and financial corporations by its owners, an indispensable condition to prevent imprudent decisions or dishonest behavior, has led to extraordinary abuses on the part of deceitful and money hungry CEOs, namely huge salaries, unreasonably stock options and nauseating bonuses. Such abuses don’t occur on giant companies such as Kock Industries, Bechtel, Cargill, Public, Price Waterhouse or Fidelity Investments, all privately owned corporations run by their owners, primarily.
Since we have been duped, disappointed and financially damaged by the “best and the brightest of Wall Street”, let’s seek out the “worst and stupidest” to rescue us.
Ooopps!, maybe they are in Washington, D.C already.
HZ
HZ
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