I really enjoyed the author’s take on the PR industry. At this point, I wanted to quote from the article but don’t let me spoil. Enjoy!
James Pilant
Category: ethics
Aristotle For FUN!
If you have been to my blog for the last few days, you will find that I am investigating the beginnings of ethics. You can blame this on Chris MacDonald, who runs an excellent web site called Business Ethics Blog. I like his ethical analysis of various societal ethical problems (the Gulf Oil spill, etc.) and feel that my analysis is more plebian(a kind way of saying – not as good). So, I am going to study ethics in more detail and with more care. I’ve had classes and I have actually read a good number of the ethical philosophers. Unfortunately I was neither looking for the philosophers’ perceptions of the business world or how to analyze using their rules. I’ve got a general idea about the rules, but that is not enough, so I am working on the subject.
I’ve been listening to lectures on the internet from You Tube on this subject carefully skipping anything from the Hoover Institute or the National Review.
Sometimes when you are browsing on the web, you are incredibly lucky and find something wonderful.
I did. I found a lecture on Aristotle by a fellow named Mark Steel. Have you ever wanted to attend a serious course taught by a stand up comedian? Well, this is it. You get laughs and a lot of fascinating information. Further, I liked his analysis of the Aristotle’s teachings.
So, if you want a good laugh, a good time and some knowledge of classical philosophy. This is where to go!
James Pilant
P.S. I’ve posted the first one of three ten minute sections. The second two are on the right side of the page when you bring up the first one. I’d put them all up but my WordPress account is not putting them up the way I want.
By the way, if you think I intend to get good with the purpose of out pacing Chris MacDonald, you are entirely mistaken. On an academic plane, he is better than me. I really occupy a different niche in the business ethics blogging. On academic matters, I learn from him.
Aristotle – A Primer
Aristotle is good place to begin the study of ethics. This is a good ten minute introduction to the man. The philosophy will take a lot more time and a lot more thought. But get used to the gentleman and his ideas, and with that basis – with that preparation, you will be more likely to move forward.
Martha Nussbaum is an expert on Aristotle and I felt her comments were clear and easily understood.
One of the things I would like to convey to my reader is the tremendous utility of You Tube and similar sites. You have the opportunity to learn almost anything on line that is within the general idea of learning in this civilization (and some that is not). I don’t think the implications of this are fully realized. One of my online associates traveled all over the world teaching himself in the didactic manner (self education). While we would miss out on seeing the world, we can pursue such a didactic path without having to go anywhere at all. We can self educate very easily, more thoroughly and at a higher quality than any previous generation.
Warning! And this is a major concern. Not all videos or web sites are created equal. There is enough nonsense, lies and wickedness to destroy your reason and thinking ability many times over. This is very sad. What it means for the individual learner is that there is an additional task, separating the wheat from the chaff: discovering what is valuable in teaching and what is not.
Nevertheless, bearing that warning in mind, the opportunities for self education are available in abundance. I would plead with you to take advantage of that opportunity.
James Pilant
British Call For Executive Bonus Regulation
British Business Secretary Vince Cable calls for stiff bonus regulations.
Mr Cable said disclosure was vital.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the potential scale of 2010 bank bonuses remained “of considerable concern to the government”.
He added: “I’ve launched a consultation in my own department on corporate governance that takes in issues of remuneration and disclosure, and it may well be that that’s a better way of tackling it.
“I wouldn’t just cover banks, but highly paid executives in general. But we have to have a system whereby executive pay is available to shareholders so they can make proper decisions from it.”
Isn’t this something we should be talking about? Currently, business bonuses are at all time highs while the middle class barely hang on. Why don’t we talk about austerity for someone who isn’t a homeowner or a worker?
All over the United States, salaries have been stagnant for decades or even reduced. Some fields have diminished in size or virtually ceased to exist. Why should business bonuses be immune for the same kinds of cuts?
From further down in the article –
Mr Cable said he was “not persuaded” that banks realised they needed to limit bonuses, saying excessive remuneration in the sector remained a “major irritant”.
He added that if the banks gave out substantial bonuses at a time when the wider population faces the impact of austerity measures, it would be a “major provocation”, and that the government had the power of raising taxation to deal with the matter.
We’re not even having a discussion about this. Why is it always the middle class that gets hit? Why do they talk about Social Security and Medicare when there is so much money among so few who accomplish so little? How is it that Americans who paid into Social Security their entire working lives can be referred to as the “Greediest” generation as if they were two bit thieves?
James Pilant
How to stay safe while shopping online (via Axxera Inc.)
I read through Axxera’s advice on avoiding online scams and liked it. Please click on the link below if you find this an important topic and take the opportunity to learn more.
James Pilant
via Axxera Inc.
A Clip And A Fond Farewell To Leslie Nielsen!!
This is a cut from the earliest film I can remember seeing Leslie Nielsen in. It was called Tammy and the Bachelor. At this time, he was doing leading man roles. Comedy was decades in the future.
I saw all those Naked Gun films and some of the other comedies he did. I’ll miss him.
James Pilant
Jayaraman Rajah Iyer Comments On The Post – The Homeowner As Victim, Not Deadbeat (via Chasing Fat Tails)
Reading the article I find it is devoide of the human element. A computer goes by some numbers and ticks off an Action letter that is taken as sacrosanct even to the extent of putting up a lock in a house that ought not to be attached. I’ve got a feeling these mortgage service agencies are paid on the basis of number of notices issued and they act indiscriminately. It is bank’s responsibility to assure action taken is legitimate to start with. My suggestion is Article 13 UNCAC: Participation of Society. Let consumer group be formed in every precinct, represented by a Trustee in the Board of the banks who would oversee the effective functioning of the foreclosure procedures from setting-up to execution.
It’s an interesting idea. I’ll need some more data on Article 13 UNCAC.
James Pilant
Matt Taibbi Shoots And Hits!!
Matt Taibbi is as usual dead on target. He does a veritible Indian War Dance on the horrors of the foreclosure crisis. Read the paragraph below and then go spend a delightful (quality of writing) and painful (financial corruption) story.
The moral angle to the foreclosure crisis — and, of course, in capitalism we’re not supposed to be concerned with the moral stuff, but let’s mention it anyway — shows a culture that is slowly giving in to a futuristic nightmare ideology of computerized greed and unchecked financial violence. The monster in the foreclosure crisis has no face and no brain. The mortgages that are being foreclosed upon have no real owners. The lawyers bringing the cases to evict the humans have no real clients. It is complete and absolute legal and economic chaos. No single limb of this vast man-eating thing knows what the other is doing, which makes it nearly impossible to combat — and scary as hell to watch.
Excellent, exactly. This is not a moral crisis where six million Americans suddenly decided to buy too much house. This is a moral crisis where the biggest financial institutions in the world decided to take the home owners of America on a little trip into world finance. The banks had a hell of a vacation. The home owners never made it back.
James Pilant
THE UPPER HAND! (via Uganda Muslim Brothers and Sisters(UMBS) Marhaban مرحبا)
Giving money is a critical part of business activity in the United States. Without it, there are no non-profit corporations and many other economic activities are either wholly or partially funded by giving.
This posting is a discussion of the importance of giving for those who practice the religion of Islam. More interestingly, it discusses the rules of this giving and these rules I highly recommend.
We would do well in the United States to practice our giving with these kinds of things in mind, whatever our religious beliefs may be.
James Pilant
Know Doubt About It (via Know Thank You)
This is a very fine comment on industry self regulation. The author’s primary interest is in the food industry but much of what is said applies to any industry which claims the superiority of self regulation. I recommend this.
James Pilant
via Know Thank You
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.