Absolutely. I have followed the Marcos story for some years now. He is a hero alright, to other despots and to major crooks everywhere. Of course, thieves everywhere may just envy him for the incredible amounts of money he was able to steal.
I agree with the author that there is no way to measure what the Philippines would be like if the incredible wealth of the country had not been diverted into private fortunes for so many years.
James Pilant
via Red Lion Oratory
Just in case you thought nothing new could happen at the Fukushima plant.
James Pilant
Our author writes in his conclusion that –
I think the sensationalism fed to us on a 24-hour news cycle is starting to make us delusional. That’s the unintended side-effect of higher ratings. Good news turns of televisions. Good news doesn’t get discussed at the bars and water coolers across America. Good news doesn’t make us feel better because we don’t get to say, “At least my life is better than theirs.” There is a cliché regarding every person getting fifteen minutes of fame. I’d like to think that if we waited a minute, the remain fourteen could serve as a sane example for others to imitate.
I like it. I have said similar things. I call for critical thinking and less television watching. I tell my students that there are better things to do with their time and almost all maintain their mass media habits in spite of my earnest protests.
I wish the author well and hope to see more of his work. Please read the whole thing.
James Pilant
via Sill-E Thoughts
This is from the movie, Sabrina. It’s one of my favorite movie quotes and it deserves to be more widely known than it is.
James Pilant
The quote –
Bogart – Making money isn’t the main point of business. Money is a by-product. –
Holden: David -What’s the main objective? Power? –
Bogart – Ah! That’s become a dirty word.
Holden – What’s the urge? You’re going into plastics. What will that prove?
Bogart – Prove? Nothing much. A new product has been found, something of use to the world. A new industry moves into an undeveloped area. Factories go up, machines go in and you’re in business. It’s coincidental that people who’ve never seen a dime now have a dollar and barefooted kids wear shoes and have their faces washed. What’s wrong with an urge that gives people libraries, hospitals, baseball diamonds and movies on a Saturday night?
This is from James Fallows –
Yes, that’s about right.
It’s easy to blame the ideology driven House or Representatives but the real villain is the President. Obama has established a reputation as a negotiator ever ready to cave under every imaginable circumstance, always willing to appear as the “adult in the room” no matter what has to be given up to maintain that image. But if that isn’t enough, we have a President celebrated for his eloquence who is constantly unable to rally the American people behind any major policy whatever. His speech this week should have laid out the shady blackmail being played out by the House, instead it’s a wimp suggestion to “call your congressman.”
I would like to explain something to Mr. Obama. My congressman is one of those people who are blackmailing him to do what they want on the budget. There is no threat I can imagine including physical violence that will change his mind. He could not care less what I think and probably even less what the President thinks.
I am a constituent of this person only in the most technical sense. In reality I am meaningless to him. His real constituency is Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party and talk radio. The President’s call for phone call activism is a waste of his and my time.
So, the train wreck approaches. Will the President cave? Of course – that’s almost his profession.
But that is not enough any more to stop default. There are too many competing plans and the Republicans Congress is split – unable to generate a majority for any one plan. Even if they can get it together in these last few days. any bill put together by these petty blackmailers, is dead on arrival in the Senate.
So, disaster is coming, kinds of a 2012 apocalypse on an early schedule.
James Pilant
Oh, thank God, somebody is willing to say it. Every time, I go to the book store I stare in total disbelief at a wall of books explaining that your mental attitude will bring you wealth, love and maybe stave off death.
I live in a strange world where actually being able to do things and think intelligently make you money. I live in a strange place where putting affirmations on the wall and repeating themselves to yourself at key moments in the day just makes you look odd.
Let’s stop thinking positive and start planning, working and doing. That’s where things happen.
James Pilant
The mortgage foreclosure crisis continues to grow. We are not talking about just the number of foreclosures. We are discussing active serious wrong doing on the part of banks and foreclosure companies. The use of the MERS electronic system to determine property ownership outside the States’ legal rules is a particularly egregious situation. A number of financial institutions on their own decided to dispense with hundreds of years of property law and create a system that passed title electronically. They did this without legislative or court approval and then proceeded to use it on millions of properties. We should not allow banking institutions to create law on the spur of the moment for their own benefit.
There is plenty of evidence that properties were foreclosed on that banks did not own. I call for justice. I call for a return of these properties to their rightful owners.
James Pilant
Income inequality in the developed nations is almost exclusively an American phenomenon. As you can see from the graph, we are more equivalent to African nations with limited economic development in terms of income
Another interesting article is the graph on the origins of our budget problems. Please pay attention to the enormous role played by the Bush tax cuts in destroying revenue.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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