Are Our Homes Just Monopoly Board Houses?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

From The Mail Online –

Standing as a monument to the credit crunch, this life-sized Monopoly house was created as an ironic statement on the global financial crisis.

Created by Canadian artist An Te Liu, 44, the 36ft by 44ft work called ‘Title Deed’ was built in Willowdale, in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Art is a political statement. The artist wants to let us know that what we find to be important in our lives, something we hold in affection and dear in our memories is now just a toy for financiers. First a chip in the global securities market, then a bailout bad debt to get money from the government, then a cash cow to be mortgaged not refinanced because while refinancing makes sense, the numbers on paper are more important. In brief, the homeowner gets it in the shorts, every time, with any possible exception.

Seeing property as a home, a loan, a debt, an investment and something that is more monetised than we realise, the artist wanted to use the iconic board game as a metaphor.

‘Just as the sub prime mortgage crisis hit America and was caused by traders and bankers playing their games in Wall Street, so the common man was squeezed because of that,’ he said.

‘Our homes are not necessarily what we think they are. They are property just like in Monopoly to be remortgaged and used as collateral.

I admire the sentiment and I like the artist’s willingness to send a message. Surely, we need more messages, more senders and less compliance with a state of mind that allows mind boggling evasion and contempt for the law.

James Pilant

500 Posts

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I have posted more than 500 times.

I could not have done without your encouragement and kindness.

My Thanks!

James Alan Pilant

Duty, Honor, Country

On By southwerkIn ethics

May our corporate leaders take a listen.

James Pilant

Just For Fun – Killer Cat Stops Mail Service

On By southwerkIn ethics

Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night,… not really, that’s the American Postal Service. This is the British version and they will no longer put mail in the house through the door slot because – (Well, read -)

The Royal Mail will not post letters through the door for one family in Portsmouth because their cat, who scratched a postman’s finger, is now considered a threat.
A tortoiseshell cat called Lana is accused of scratching the mail carrier when he pushed letters through the opening.
Carl and Carol White say the feline was just acting playful but the Royal Mail has stated that it is important to prevent animal attacks.
The family has been told to keep the cat away from the door or risk losing their postal delivery, so Carl now goes to the door to collect the post when the carrier knocks.

American Postal Carriers are apparently tougher than their British counterparts. That’s nice to know. If there’s a war, we’ll get mail delivery and they won’t. All we have to do is drop Commando Kitties across Britain. I’ve got some I’ll donate right now. We can pre-bombard them, in case of a future war.

(By the way, the cat pictured above is innocent of any postman attacks. It seemed unfair to picture the alleged attacker, who after all is a juvenile.)

James Pilant

Girl Scout Uniforms To Be Made In China?

On By southwerkIn business ethics, Capitalism, ethics

From the Digital Journal –

Jackie Evans Inc. a small textile company in New Jersey has been in business for 10 years making uniforms for the Girl Scouts.
Passaic, New Jersey—Jackie Evans, Inc. employs 90 people in a town with a population of about 67,000 people and an average household income of $29,904.
The Girl Scouts of America told the company a few weeks ago they will be seeking bids from four companies. Two are from overseas, one of them is China.
If Jackie Evans, Inc. loses the bid it could be forced to shut down and the 90 employees will be out of a job. Their only client is Girl Scouts who they make uniforms and sashes for.

The phrase, “Is nothing sacred?” leaps to mind.

Do the Girl Scouts believe in patriotism? Well you can get an award for it.

American Patriotism Interest Project Award
For Girl Scouts 11-17

American Patriotism Interest Project Award. © GSUSA. All rights reserved.America is a unique place to live and work. It offers many freedoms, and each one comes with responsibilities. Girl Scouts 11-17 can find out what those freedoms and responsibilities are by doing this Interest Project.

Complete two activities in the Skill Builders section, one activity in each of the other three sections, and two other activities in any section you choose.

I looked through the activities. The Girl Scouts offer a multitude of alternatives but I’m sure there will be a new one next year. It will go like this – Visit the Girl Scout Uniform factory in old Shanghai. Oops, I’m sorry, that the Chinese Patriotism Award.

Maybe the American Patriotism Award can be gained for visiting the empty building where the American factory that used to make Girl Scout uniforms was or perhaps they could put together a food basket for one of the laid off workers. That’s patriotic, isn’t it?

James Pilant

Steven Mintz AKA Ethics Sage Comments On My Post – The Legacy Of An Inspirational Teacher Is Felt Throughout The Ages.

On By southwerkIn business ethics, Teaching

The post ended on an explanatory note about league tables. These are the English variation of our school rankings under No Child Left Behind (an abomination of a law). Steven Mintz begins his comment at that point.

I couldn’t agree more about “league tables.” Newsweek reported the best high schools in the U.S. in June 2010 and based its selections on how hard school staffs work to challenge students with advanced placement college-level courses and tests. Nowhere in the ranking is the fact that the best high schools are those that serve all of the students not just the very best among them. As a college professor I find it to be disturbing that so many students lack a strong work ethic and motivation to learn for learning sake. How do we measure whether a high school instills these values that are so important to success in college and to create the thirst for lifelong learning? We also should recognize that what a teacher should and does accomplish in the classroom may not be known for years. Perhaps Henry Adams said it best: “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops.”

The Ethics Sage (Steven Mintz) can be found here. I recommend his web site. It is on my blog roll.

(The Ethics Sage’s current post deals with Jeff Skilling (Enron) and his appeal which if successful could release him from prison.)

James Pilant

Home Ownership At 66.9 Percent

On By southwerkIn business ethics, ethics, Philosophy of Business1 Comment

That’s the lowest level of home ownership in the United States since 1999.

After the housing bubble burst, the rate has been declining gradually.

About 18.8 million homes, or 14.4 percent of all houses and apartments, were vacant, according to the government survey. Without vacation homes, that rate would be 11 percent.

The number of vacant homes has soared over the past four years from about 16 million at the start of 2006. It has been hovering around 19 million since the end of 2008. There are around 131 million housing units nationwide, according to the Census Bureau.

About 2.5 percent of all primary residences were vacant and for sale and 10.3 percent of all year-round rental units were listed as vacant and for rent.

Isn’t this just sad. Americans believe in the dream of home ownership, and it’s a mirage for many millions. And if that isn’t enough irony, almost 19 million homes are sitting empty.

We can do better than this.

James Pilant

Fox News Badgers And Repeatedly Interrupts Guest Calling The Bank Actions Fraud (Four On One)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is bizarre. They only invited the guy to use him as a punching bag. We never did discover what he had to say. The narrative that the network is pushing is “personal responsibility.” It’s, of course, a one-way responsibility, only for those who bought homes. The banks and mortgage foreclosure companies, the financial firms that packaged these mortgages as gambling chips, they don’t appear to have any responsibility for what happened.

That’s an amazing clip. I really wanted to know what he had to say. I never will know. Doesn’t a guest deserve two uninterrupted minutes to explain his idea?

So, much for the state of television news.

James Pilant

Just For Fun – Wells Fargo Repossesses Automobile They Don’t Own

On By southwerkIn business ethics, Philosophy of Business

This is a little film clip of Wells Fargo taking someone’s car that is actually paid for.

Watch and enjoy. Also, be sure and when someone remarks about how the great corporations function like finely tuned watches, that you giggle quietly and politely for one does not disturb the mind’s quiet repose.

James Pilant

Benjamin Franklin, Business Ethics, And A Whistle

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Paul Elmer More’s biography of Franklin is one of those books designed to draw moral lessons at every possible point. Nevertheless, on occasion he does well in his almost manic pursuit of moral virtue.

Franklin had a rule – “Don’t give too much for the whistle.” This is why.

When ten years old the lad was taken from school and set to work under his father. But his education was by no means ended. There is a temptation to dwell on these early formative years because he himself was so fond of deducing lessons from the little occurrences of his boyhood; nor do I know any life that shows a more consistent development from beginning to end. There is, too, a peculiar charm in hearing the world-famous philosopher discourse on these petty happenings of childhood and draw from them his wise experience of life. So, for instance, at sixty-six years of age he writes to a friend in Paris the story of “The Whistle.” One day when he was seven years old his pocket was filled with coppers, and he immediately started for the shop to buy toys. On the way he met a boy with a whistle, and was so charmed with the sound of it that he gave all his money for one. Of course his kind brothers and sisters laughed at him for his extravagant bargain, and his chagrin was so great that he adopted as one of his maxims of life, “Don’t give too much for the whistle.” As he grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, he thought he met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle,—men sacrificing time and liberty and virtue for court favor; misers, giving up comfort and esteem and the joy of doing good for wealth; others sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind and fortune and health to mere corporal sensations, and all the other follies of exorbitant desire.

I think the author is a little over enthusiastic in his assessment of the effect of overpriced whistles, but the sentiment is accurate. We often give too much for the wrong things.

James Pilant