Greed is Good, Caring is Better.
Gordon Kimber

Over the last 30 years, or so, business schools at many American universities have been preaching Greed is Good as a business model. The simplicity of the concept plays well within the ruthless environment of business and has given rise to the astronomical remuneration packages of many corporate executives, too few of whom have experienced the restraining hand of justice.

It has also been the cause of devastating numbers of jobs lost, jobs exported, pensions squandered, medical plans plundered, taxation inequities, and families devastated. One more time the wealth of the few transcends the poverty of the many. Of course some executives fail, but even then it is rare that their financial situation following failure is anywhere nearly as precarious as the hard working employees they have exploited.

Quite apart from the personal consequences of subscribing to Greed is Good are the societal repercussions of the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of an uncaring few while deprivation and poverty afflict many. The military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about in 1961 now benefits from the Greed is Good business model in just the way that he feared would happen. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power he worried so much about not only exists but is flourishing at the cost of our democracy and our world standing.

Funds for public services diminish with increasing unemployment. Diminished resources lead to deprived schools, universities, and libraries. This places future American workers at an international disadvantage in a world where education is viewed as the path out of poverty. Subsequently the competitive superiority that made America great is being squandered while an uncaring plutocracy flourishes.

The short term profit motivation of avaricious managers also precipitated the collapse of the traditional retirement plan, earned and paid for by employee contributions. The specious argument that the world is changing faster than ever before and so you cannot expect employees to work their lifetime with a stable company is simply an indefensible ploy of the Greed is Good practitioner.

Even worse is the rise of a wholly owned, and dubiously elected, Republican legislature and Presidency deliberately separating the ever more the wealthy and the worker. One consequence of this disenfranchisement is the possibility a new revolution.

Greed is Good leads to the long term diminution of American influence in a world of increasing antagonism. No longer can we assume endless resources and exploitable overseas workers.

There is a better way. Caring is better, not only for the worker, but for the whole economy.

Caring means a quality education for all that will provide the highly skilled workforce required in the 21st century and will keep Americans working and spending their money in America. Manufacturers need customers with money to spend.

Caring means a fair wage for a day’s work. Caring means pensions are inviolate.
Caring means assuring everyone access to affordable medical care. Healthy workers produce more and cost less in disability pay.

Caring means protecting the only environment the world has got and preserving it for America’s future.

A change of philosophy is urgently needed. Greed has concentrated wealth in the hands of a few, leaving the economy in peril of a depression. Caring means creating an environment where success is measured not in dollars but in the health, welfare, and education of Americans.