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Please send me your current thoughts and information on ethics as a social interaction and personal decision tool for my unrestricted use to develop theories and supporting data on the topic for analysis and dissemination. If you require acknowledgement or credit for your thoughts and information, please request the same in your transmission.
Areas of interest:
Congressmen have one of the most beneficial retirement packages currently available in the United States so why should they care about the impact of reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits for the elderly.
The prosecution of those accused of commiting crimes against animals increases with attendant expenses for prosecuters, courtrooms, judges, clerks, bailiffs and court reporters while little is done for homeless people.
Congress reduces benefits for under privileged children and aid to families with dependent children on the guise of teaching self-responsibility while granting millions to businesses to advertise in China.
Congressmen have an excellent medical benefits plan so why should they enact a national health care program.
If Congress enacted a national health care program, many people, who are on welfare because they need medical coverage, would be able to seek work and become productive members of our society. Who is irresponsible, Congress who fail to recognize the importance of a national health care program, or people who stay on the welfare rolls so they can seek medical help when needed without risk of losing what assets they have managed to acquire?
Congressmen now propose a medical savings program. Since savings are dependent upon disposable income, which sector of the population will benefit from this program?
Congress enacted COBRA ostensibly to help people leaving employment with health care benefits by extending the health plan's obligation to continue to provide coverage on condition the employee or spouse pay the premiums for those benefits for the COBRA period of time following the event making the employee or the employee's spouse otherwise inelegible for participation in the plan. They could have required the health plan to keep the employee or the employee's spouse covered under the plan at the group rate in effect without regard for elegibility for as long as the employee or the employee's spouse continued to pay the premiums. They did not. The result was an almost certain guarantee that all employees who become ineligible because disabled must rely upon medicare for health care since such employees could not thereafter qualify for other health care programs at the end of the COBRA period because of the pre-existing disabling condition. Why should we thus shift the burden to the taxpayers while giving the benefits (profits) to the insurance industry, excusing it's liability for the events upon which the premiums were established.
Corporations have decided that the profit margin is more important than the value of knowledge and experience possessed by middle managers fired to obtain the bottom line goals. The cultural revolution in China used this procedure to alter the attitudes of the middle managers. A major problem manifested itself when medical students were expected to perform procedures they had barely studied and had no meaningful experience performing. Can you imagine the potential for tragedy if a group of replacement engineers show up at Cape Canaveral without prior meaningful experience lauching space vehicles.
One corporation, while firing thousands of employees, justified it's multi-million dollar compensation package for the CEO by claiming the actions protected profits. Paying a CEO $16 Million a year does not protect profits. Bottom lines created by downsizing do not demonstrate a healthy, growing, productive and market oriented business. The evidence of this mismanagement can be seen in requests by the corporation to increase the existing rates for a once free service by 84% and the announcement of increases in rates for convenience card services of 150%.
In an executive search for a replacement for it's multi-million dollar CEO who fixed the bottom line by firing 40,000 employees, the corporation agreed to pay the successful candidate $25,000,000.00 (that's right, $25 Million) in the event he was not appointed CEO after an introductory period. After 6 months the corporation decided the candidate did not meet their expectations and paid him $25 Million to leave.
Another corporation became disillusioned with its CEO and paid him $90,000,000.00 (that's right, $90 Million) to leave. Their one day pass for adult guests to their facility used to cost $14. They now charge $35 for the same pass. We all pay for this corporate mismanagement by directors who, contrary to the interests of the corporation and those who buy its products or services, approve excessive compensation packages clearly not warranted by the performances of the CEO and/or the profits of the corporation which should be paid to the shareholders, the people who took the risk of investing in the business of the corporation.
Congressional "hawks" spend $256,000,000,000.00 (that's right $256 Billion) per year on defense and an additional $38,000,000,000.00 ($38 Billion) for intelligence operations. To "balance the budget" Congress and the President cut the cost of living increase for our elders who very often live at or near the poverty level and those fortunate few of our retired citizens who are not so impoverished were hit with tax increases. Blaming the budget deficit on spending for social welfare programs Congress scapegoats the politically weak and infirm while covering up the real cause of the so-called budgetary crisis.
The imbalance created in our social economy by overpaying the executive portion of the work force is manifested in part by the difficulty with which our various governments struggle economically to provide historic levels of service to our communities. At a time when the disparity between the wealthy and the rest of our society reaches the greatest it has been in over half a century, social services and protections for our children approach some of the worst levels in decades.
Corporations have no conscience. Deregulating the corporate world sanctions corporate decisions lacking any sense of social responsibility or remorse for the adverse social-economic consequences. Stand up for humanity. Exercise your conscience with your vote and your money. Elect leaders with ethics to responsible positions to regulate business. Contribute to their election campaigns and boycott corporations that gouge the public with unconscienable price increases and/or pollute our environment without remorse.
Corporations exist as separate legal entities in perpetuity because the laws of our society allow them to exist. The advantages of such privileges are manifest in the proliferation and power of corporate entities. The concept of "Nobless Oblige" focussed on the duties and benefits of the privileged in our society to help improve the quality of life for the rest of society. The privilege of accumulating wealth and power in perpetuity can and should be conditioned upon principles that require corporations to enhance the quality of life for the rest of society. Maintaining employment near historic levels and to retirement for long term employees are minimal conditions worthy of the corporate privilege.
It was reported in a news magazine that Nike made $397,000,000.00 (that's right $397 Million Dollars) selling shoes in part manufactured by children paid $.50 (that's right 50 cents) an hour, but they can afford to pay Michael Jordan $20,000,000.00 (that's right $20 Million Dollars) to promote the sale of the shoes without apparent concern for the manner of production. It can be said that the pay which includes meals for the children provides them with a better quality of life than they have without Nike's work. Exploitation by any other name is still exploitation. A decent pay to their parents could also improve the quality of their lives while allowing the children to enjoy their childhood. Indeed, the less exploitive alternative also improves the image of America as supportive and not exploitive.
"You never expected justice from a company, did you? They neither have a soul to lose, nor a body to kick." - Sydney Smith (1771-1845; English writer, clergyman)
The statements, opinions, information, ideas and concepts here expressed are mine. They do not represent any statements, opinions, information, ideas or concepts of Tripod, Inc. or any other person, entity or organization, including, but not limited to those persons, entities or organizations whose URLs, logos and/or graphics appear on this web site. Nothing herein stated or represented by the writings and/or graphics infers any exception to this disclaimer. Please send your thoughts, information and sources of data by email.
You might want to check out books available on these issues at Barnes and Noble. Either use this search engine or the hot link in the Web Sites of Interest Section.
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 | The Ethics Page Was Last Modified 9/12/2003. "Main Street Electrical Parade" created by Jean Jacques Perrey on the Ondioline ENJOY |
