Geopolicraticus is a prolific blogger. His posts are huge. But don’t let that make you think they’re not well thought out. His take on on the concept of ratepayers is delicious. He starts with basic capitalism and by the time we reach the end we are discussing cell phone companies. I recommend the article and if you have the intellect and tenacity that you should read his columns regularly.
James Pilant
Can a business you work for require you as a condition of employment to not mention their name on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media? The answer appears to be yes. Take a look at this article. I think that businesses will continue to simply absorb as much of your behavior as a worker or citizen as they can, unless the federal government says they can’t. Why should you be allowed to wander about as a free human being when they can tell you not to and make you liable for firing or a lawsuit if you fail to cooperate?
Can the UN help bring about a world wide change in business ethics. The collapse of the rebranding of British Petroleum is calling into question whether or not the UN initiatives are in any way effective. It is a challenging article I call it to your attention.
James Pilant
The misconceptions about Islam in the United States would require dozens of books. I challenge anyone who claims such nonsense as that Islam is a religion of war to read this post. It is a magnificent story of how Islam deals with business creating a system of ethical rules of true excellence. If American business did half of this, we’d be living in a different society. Give it a read. I’ve added to my favorites.
A cynical look at ethics training combined with an even more cynical view of corporate success tempered by philosophical thought. Good read.
via Shminaminoo
Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, gets the award today. Let us scream two phrases into the night sky with the scant hope that our elected representatives will hear and respond. (You can try e-mail or letters but is that really working?) The phrases are “conflict of interest” and “patriotism.”
What did good ole Eric do to get me really upset? Well, take a look at this from the Wall Street Journal.
Yes, that’s right. An elected representative of the people of the United States is taking a short position against long-dated government stocks. That doesn’t sound like a big deal you say, what does that mean anyway? It means that if the United States does badly economically, he makes money. On the other hand if the country is prosperous and successful, he stands to lose money. Wow, and guess what, as minority whip of the House of Representatives he has some say in whether or not the country does well.
Now, you might ask at this point if I am suggesting that he is acting to destroy the nation to make money. No, I don’t. But I can’t see this as anything other than a massive conflict of interest considering how many possible influences he has over government bond values. And for pity’s sake, is this the act of a patriot? Now, here you have another opportunity for a good question. Do you believe that Cantor is acting the traitor by investing against our government bonds? Once again, I don’t. However, this is poor judgment on his part and certainly carries implications as to his actual feelings regarding the limits of capitalism.
Let me explain what I mean by the limits of capitalism, You see, I wonder where self-interest stops and other factors of judgment kick in. For example, I ask this question a lot and it goes like this, “At what point are you willing to give up profit to protect the interests of your country?” My general perception of the executives (CEO’s, etc.) in the United States is that they are willing to give up nothing.
Nevertheless, I will continue to claim long and loudly that a patriot must give up profit if it damages the interest of his country.
“The fundamental problem right now is that you have conflict resolution, or problem resolution, that is predicated on bad motivations, where politicians are trying to keep their jobs with the strategy of explaining to everybody why everything is fine, no matter what…What if your economic plan—where you monetize the entire future with no money and create a giant credit casino—doesn’t work? No plan! Oh, OK—so that means we’re going to spend a few extra trillion and do no reform? Interesting concept, my politician friends!”
That’s exactly what I think. We are witnessing a fundamental failure of the leaders of this country to deal with continuing financial incompetence of Wall Street. They seem to live in a world where devotion to contributions and the next election trump all considerations of patriotism and national interests.
(The quote is from an article by Lloyd Grove in The Daily Beast.)
James Pilant
On Wednesday, I didn’t post. When I was in my twenties, a very long time ago, I worked out, learning Tae Kwon Do (I have expert rank and used to teach). It was every Tuesday and Thursday night. It was important not to miss a practice. But one night, our black belt canceled. The basketball playoffs were being broadcast and he wasn’t going to miss them.
“What about karate?” I asked.
He replied, “Sometimes there are more important things than karate.”
Sometimes, there are more important things than posting. My son just turned seventeen. Soon, he will realize how stupid this old guy is and before then I want to spend some time with him.
We watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Notting Hill.
We had a pretty good time and our next films are to be Lost Horizon and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
[Desperate attempts to find a Jay and Silent Bob video that was not in bad taste have all failed. Sorry.]
Thanks for reading my stuff!
James Alan Pilant
In an attempt to build web traffic I have added a Blog Catalog Icon to the site. If you want to give me a boost hit it and follow the instructions. The more recommendations I get the more people come and look at this blog. Now if you look over my page, you will see no advertisements. I don’t do this to make money. So if you do assist me you will not be adding a horde of those utterly offensive get rich quick ads, etc. Thanks!
Julia Baird is a senior editor for Science, Society and Ideas at Newsweek. I am adding her to my list of columns to check regularly. Her piece this week is nothing short of inspiring. The idea of the internet as a human right is one I find compelling. I have written before on the need for similar privacy expectations for e-mail as we have for snail mail. I believe some day our e-mails will become more our property than they are now.
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