Okay, I agree it is ethical to make them and ethical to buy them. But are they in good taste? The only appropriate venue I can imagine for one is the wreckage strewn debris trail constituting my teenager’s bedroom.
Maybe you have a better idea, if so, please let me know.
James Pilant
Currently there is a great deal of admiration in the American business press for nations like China and Vietnam. They are great places to invest, we are told; and we are told this with great confidence. One of the reasons they are great places to put your business or your money is the lack of “uncertainty.” You see democracy is messy while human rights crushing totalitarian regimes are predictable. A democratic country might consider raising the minimum wage while a Chinese regime can assure companies that such a thing will never happen.
However, there are occasional down sides to totalitarian Communist societies however friendly they may be to American business. One of these downsides is that their ability to keep secrets means they can do unethical, bizarre or ridiculous things without hindrance. Of course, sometimes when a large nation does these things the results can last much longer perhaps for as far as humans can perceive.
Please enjoy the article.
James Pilant
The job situation in America is a great moral and ethical question.
Over the past three decades, jobs have been exported, eliminated or converted downward into low pay service or part time jobs. This has enriched a small number of Americans – the top one percent of the population now controls 42.7 percent of the financial wealth of the nation – the top ten percent have 93 percent of the nation’s wealth.
The result – – the bottom 90 percent of the American people own 7% of the nation’s wealth.
If globalism and free trade are inevitable. If the free market is the best method of determining economic results, then a continuation of this is all that awaits us.
Americans are handicapped when it comes to having jobs in a world wide market. Americans have roads, bridges, police, fire departments, educational systems and an extensive military. These require taxes. Corporations have no desire to pay taxes and so they go to countries who have favorable tax laws or are willing to forego taxes for the jobs shipped there. Americans tend to be well educated and middle class. This means they will not work for 75 cents an hour and expect to be treated with some respect while having a high survivability on the job. This is inimical to the interests of corporations. It is easier to manipulate and use poorly educated people with no social standing. Safety costs money and killing Americans draws attention while dead foreigners are less of a problem. Americans live in a nation that has laws. Corporations do not want laws restricting their activities and they absolutely do not want to be prosecuted for their crimes.
So, if globalization and free trade are inevitable all we have to do to compete in a global economy is to give up way of life and gradually drift downward in our standard of living but only for the bottom 90%.
Is this a moral outcome?
Are the citizens of the United States similar to bacteria on a slide under a microscope? Do they deserve that level of analysis? .. the cold powerful corporate intellect realizing that a dash of penicillin could clear the way for new corporate profits?
Or do human beings have souls? Do Americans have a duty one to another? Do companies organized and financed in this nation bear a responsibility for their economic decisions?
There are things like justice, honor and duty. These are a joke in the world of the international corporation. I don’t believe these ideas draw laughter among the general population.
James Pilant
When I first saw this, all I saw was the first part of the headline, and I thought, “No, he can’t be stopped.” But then I caught the part where Rebekah Brooks resigns and thought, “Maybe he is mortal after all. ”
James Pilant
The Wright Flyer – the Wright Brothers used it to test out their theories of flight.
Lunar Lander
Bell P-59 AirComet – America’s first jet fighter.
There is probably a little more of the movie than business ethics in this little teaching module but it’s still relevant and very, very fun.
If you are teaching business ethics and you want to lighten the atmosphere, this is a good little video.
James Pilant
I like fighters. There are people out there who are just not going to take the status quo. This is one of them.
I have complete confidence that many of you will be in disagreement with some or all of her stances and beliefs. But pause for a moment and think what our society would be like without motion, without change, without difference, and most of all think what the world would be like if everyone agreed not to be different.
James Pilant
via Vomits Her Mind
This is what I have been saying in many blog posts. We simply cannot keep doing the same economic things over and over again when they have failed over and over again. Some have said that is the very definition of insanity.
It is not ethical or moral to have corporations and the wealthy shed their tax burdens while leaving the average wage earners holding the bag. Those who control large sums of money in this country benefit like everyone else from educational systems, roads and bridges, and the work of police, firemen and our soldiers. Calling yourselves, “job creators” does not place a halo on your head or relieve you of your duty to your country, your state, your community and your fellow citizens.
We need to have a tax code that allocates the taxes paid in relation to the excess wealth accumulated and severely limits the amount paid on the base money necessary for basic needs, like food, shelter, education and medical needs.
I like this blogger’s thinking and I wish him well.
James Pilant
This is a lot more entertaining and probably much more moral than the codes of conduct created by corporations. It’s a fun read and something I didn’t expect to see written out. I was under the false assumption that it was more of an unwritten code like that of the gunfighter. Well, I learn things all the time while blogging.
James Pilant
via HDBikerGuy
I think this is a very clever post about a growing method of marketing. This is a kind of supercharged “keeping up with the Jones” method which has more than a few moral failings. Of course, in movies and television, the struggling middle class is largely absent. We focus on corporate over achievers with vast sums of money (The Proposal, etc.) or supposedly Middle Americans who never seem to have real money problems. This move is, of course, tripe, and the author here calls it out appropriately.
It’s a good post and this blogger is focused on consumer, So, you might pay more than one visit.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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