The Earth Moved in Oklahoma

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

The Earth Moved in Oklahoma

The selection that I have posted at the bottom of this page is from the Guardian and it tells of a 4.2 magnitude earthquake is almost certainly related to the practice of fracking in that state.

This is a business ethics issue. In the past, companies have polluted severely damaging the water, the air and often the top soil. But this is new. We have companies whose disposal of fracking waste water by injecting it deep into the earth is undermining the stability of the land itself.

It’s a new kind of pollution. What do you even call it? – Foundational pollution? Instability pollution? Deep earth interference? Or maybe – earthquake enabling? That large bodies of water could cause earthquakes has been known for some time. The mental leap from the idea that moving water into a man-made reservoir could destabilize fault lines to the idea that directly injecting fracking waste water deep into the earth could cause similar instability is not big.

I have a strong suspicion that the risks were already understood back at the beginning of the Bush administration when Dick Cheney’s energy task force created a package of protective laws for the fracking industry many of which simply prevented the collection of information.

Should energy companies be liable for damages caused by earthquakes which result from the injection of waste water into known fault lines? That’s a good question that I am sure will be before the courts in the next decade. I am so confident of this that I am also confident that ALEC will have legislation preventing these kinds of lawsuits up on state legislative agendas before the end of 2017.

Inflicting earthquakes upon citizens of this country is wrong. It’s understandable if there was no perceivable risk but this is hardly likely to be the case since finding an oil company without highly reputable geologists is highly unlikely.

It appears to me that this problem is easily solvable. We do not allow the industry to inject waste water near known fault lines and to stop injecting should evidence of a fault line develop.

We have discovered how to play havoc with the pillars of the earth. Could anything be more arrogant than this Frankenstein like willingness to play God?

James Pilant

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/01/oklahoma-earthquakes-oil-gas-industry-wastewater-injection

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck north Oklahoma City early on New Year’s Day, the latest in a series of temblors in the area in recent days that has prompted state regulators to call for more restrictions on oil and gas operators.

No injuries and only minor damage were reported with the quake, which struck at 5.39am on Friday near Edmond, about 16 miles north-east of Oklahoma City, according to the US Geological Survey.

…

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission issued a statement on Friday saying its Oil and Gas Division staff were taking action in response to the earthquakes in Edmond and that details should be available on Monday.

“The issue is extremely complex, as the initial review of the data for the area in question has not identified any oil and gas wastewater disposal wells that are both high volume and in the state’s deepest formation, a combination that researchers have identified as being at the highest risk for inducing earthquakes,” the commission release stated.

My Mother’s Name is not Invalid!

On By southwerkIn business ethics

My Mother’s Name is not Invalid!

My Mother's Name is Not Invalid.
My Mother’s Name is Not Invalid.

By means of one of those routine IT e-mails, I got one of those announcements that I had to change my e-mail. A continuing unpleasant duty is changing the password every so often, and I often joke with my students that due to the frequent changes and the large number of passwords each faculty member has to master -that half the passwords on campus are written on something underneath or attached to the computers themselves. (I keep a word file with mine.)

Anyway, so I attempted to change my password and when I did, it said I wasn’t finished. There was an error. My security question was wrong. The question is – what is your mother’s middle name? And the answer was wrong. How was it wrong? My mother’s middle name is four letters long and there must be five.

That’s right. The IT people have decided all on their own that names less than five letters long are invalid. I am certain that my mother’s middle name appears on her birth certificate and I am certain as an attorney that under the laws of Oklahoma, the United States and under the law of nations, that name is valid. It also appears to me that under the customs of this nation, the name, a relatively common one, is acceptable to one and all.

Yet, it is invalid.

I like to think of IT people as normal people. Their children are apparently named things like John! or Ann&* or Jo^87 and they are probably a little more fascinated with Dr. Who than the average American but I still like to think that a human heart beats within them.

So, let us try reasoning with them.

TO Those in the Information Technology Department.

“People name their children sometimes on a whim and other times after a relative. Sometimes, they even name them after themselves. Many of them have pre-computer era names. They are all letters, and at the current time, whatever your insistence, while they do have a capital letter and a “small” letter, they do not have a number, a special character like an _ or a space.”

“Your insistence that people follow arbitrary rules that you have developed in an apparent cultural isolation chamber is unwise. People are likely to become angry and disillusioned that you are making important decisions in their lives just because you can. I do understand that you have reasons for these ideas. It is highly likely that if we use letters from the Cyrillic alphabet or perhaps even Japanese phonetic symbols, it will make our passwords and names more difficult to predict for those trying to break into the system. And yet, we must remember that computers are here to facilitate our work and that they are here to serve us.”

“And so are you.”

“So, let us who create the product at our joint enterprise continue with our and our relatives’ too short names and we will leave you in peace to do whatever it is that you do in your department.”

James Pilant

 

Steven Mintz Writes a Perfect Paragraph

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Steven Mintz Writes a Perfect Paragraph

The paragraph at the bottom of the page is from The Ethics Sage‘s latest post called – Bespoke Tranche Opportunity: It’s déjà vu all over again

The Ethics Sage
The Ethics Sage

I call it a perfect paragraph and in terms of business ethics, it is. The lessons of the 2007 financial crisis that would have made an intelligent man cautious about financial innovation have not been learned. The one lesson that has sunk in, is that if your institution is big enough and influential enough not only will the government prevent its failure, you will keep your job and with a little luck your bonus.

The Ethic Sage’s analysis is correct. There is going to have to be more government regulation. If not, we risk another global catastrophe.

The financial crisis and its aftermath created a hole in the moral ozone that is supposed serve as a check on excessive, risky behavior by investment bankers. It is a breach that, in my opinion, is irreparable absent any dramatic steps to better control the risk appetite of some in the financial services industry. This saddens me because the last thing we need is more government regulation. Unfortunately, it may be necessary because the very ethical standards that are supposed to protect the public under capitalism have broken down. Adam Smith in his iconic The Wealth of Nations stated that: By pursuing his own interest he [the capitalist] frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. His theory no longer describes the way our free market economy works and its breakdown explains, in part, the economic gap in our society.

As always, I recommend you to go to The Ethic Sage’s blog and read the entire post. Further, you should favorite the site and read it regularly. I do.

James Pilant

Visit the Blog, Word Journeys!

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

Visit the Blog, Word Journeys!

A fellow blogger said something very kind about my work and I went and looked at his. I like it. It’s reflective and intelligent. Below is a paragraph that I not only like but I have wondered exactly the same thing!

Back to the question.  I still have no answer for why work is so important yet so difficult to gain.  Perhaps all important things are (difficult to gain).  I sent somewhere between 100 and 200 job applications while un and under-employed.  Too many people told me during that time and since that I should have been more proactive.  I should have gotten out there face-to-face with employers, and called them again and again after applying.  But why?  If I’ve made the effort to register my interest in working for them, most often without them having even advertised a position, then haven’t I made things easy for them?  It seemed to me that by simply emailing them my resume and cover letter, from that point on, the ball was in their court.  And if I was to hassle them repeatedly for work then, to continue the tennis analogy, all I’d really be achieving was running over to their side of the court and hitting the ball back to myself.  A waste of their valuable, and my much less (or so it felt) valuable, time.

i_150So, just maybe, you can take a minute and go see what a struggling fellow blogger thinks.

James Pilant

Paycheck to paycheck?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

Paycheck to paycheck?

One of the strangest phenomenon I see in dealing with wealth in this country is the bizarre dichotomy between the view of what is enough for “them,” and what is enough for “me.” In a Koch brothers interview, one of the brothers pointed out that if you put a 30K workers salary on an international scale that put the worker in top one percent of the planet’s income earners. Apparently this made him feel that Americans should be content and maybe consider themselves a little fat and happy.

On the other hand we have this from the short selection below where a man struggles from paycheck on an annual salary of 450K.

There has to be some kind of conflict between these two points of view.

When people run businesses they don’t come in neutral in regard to how the feel about what is and is not an adequate income. What does a person who feels that 450,000 dollars a year is a week to week struggle do in regard to paying the workers? And what does it say when a multi-billionaire can statistically analyze away income inequality by simply increasing the sample size to encompass the entire planet?

If you believe that 30k is a worthy and fully adequate income, what kind of business ethics are you likely to practice? Are you more likely to sell payday loans?  – attach some new fees to your banking practices?

If you believe that 450k is so little money that you have to struggle paycheck to paycheck what kind of business are you likely to run? I have to acknowledge here that I have no concept what that would look like mentally but it is still troubling.

Income inequality is a wound on this country driving us apart and it by its very nature is an ethical problem that drives business wrong doing.

James Pilanti_296

The short passage below is from the Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/25/wealthy-americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-income-paying-bills

Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth, has a client in the Washington, DC area who makes $450,000 to $600,000 a year but lives paycheck to paycheck. He spends a lot of it on keeping peace with his ex-wife.

Close to half a million a year sounds like a lot, but he has to pay $8,000 per month to his ex-wife and both of their kids are in private high school. Four years of private high school cost $150,000.

“He basically uses his bonus to cover the private high school tuition,” Cheng said. “I understand that this is an extraordinary situation. I’ll share a saying that my dad taught me: ‘Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy peace.’ In this situation, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to keep an ex-spouse happy.”

Cheng’s client is not alone. Many Americans struggle to make-ends meet on six-figure paychecks – which by some are considered “upper income” or even rich.

Big Oil, Big Cover-Up – A Guest Column by Lyndsey Algee

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics
Big Oil, Big Cover-Up – A Guest Column by Lyndsey Algee

illus-catwater-tnSince the late 1970’s Exxon and other big oil industry players have worked to extensively research, and cover-up, their knowledge of the effects of fossil fuel emissions on global climate change. Previously considered industry leaders in climate study and innovation for sustainable industry, Exxon executives used money and power to hide unfavorable research findings and began fostering belief in climate denial across the nation. These encouragements took place via big think tanks, lobbying and ideological organizations to help create confusion and division regarding the legitimacy of the existence, and consequences, of climate change. Exxon officials knew that if the public understood the dire and irrevocable effects of fossil fuel emissions on the planet that a call for more regulation and control of those industries would be made and Congress would be forced to act. Furthermore, they knew that the fossil fuel industry would be made obsolete as more technologies surfaced. Knowing that such a dominating industry in America’s foundation could cease to hold such power and prominence led Exxon and other big oil to hide their dirty secrets. Rules do not apply when Congress and the Nation take your money and bend with cowardice at every beck and call. This is a world where the truth is often for sale, even at the expense of an entire planet’s well-being. Though some believe businesses should not be regulated by the government, the importance climate change and Exxon’s illegal and unethical activity should be addressed by government officials.

As scientists began studying global climate more, the consensus that climate change is real and caused by human activity grows. The public outcry has become a mumbled rage, as those who believe and understand try desperately to show others the obvious facts of modern scientific work. Though money, efforts and awareness is raised, not enough people individually participate to affect large enough impacts, make necessary changes and reverse the damage done. This perpetuates the problem because of the concept of the tragedy of the commons; in this case the tragedy is the idea that if what one does has effectively no impact, then why do it at all? Strides such as recycling, littering, buying “green,” and other helpful micro-actions have all the appeal of a grassroots movement, but not enough buy-in or momentum to achieve the next level of success. These advances in being environmentally friendly are sometimes seen as the next generation of hippies, or pretentious hipsters, especially as the perception of the cost of helping the environment is seen as more expensive or too expensive. The price of common household cleaners, makeup or food that has the label of “Green” or “Environmentally Friendly” are about one and a half times the cost. This price extortion also extends to solar panels, electric cars, and architectural design.

Companies equipped with extensive, cutting-edge knowledge like Exxon could have been working to help combat negative connotations, and reduce the costs of alternative sourcing for energy and other consumer-driven industries. Further, there should have been a well-thought out, earnest initiative working to educate the public instead of turning people against each other.

The revelation of scientific truths has been complicated by a hostile environment for amicable conversation as Big Money’s rather successful attempts at squashing facts by pitting science and religion against each other. For what was once a middle-of-the-line topic, we now see a sharper, more dangerous divide as climate change believers are often painted as scientific atheists and climate deniers as religious enthusiasts. This polarization of fact and dangerous generalizing is disturbing and leaves many moderates forced to pick between fact and ideological beliefs. Such extremism leads to dangerous rhetoric, and leaves no room for solutions-based dialogue.

The distasteful, immoral behavior by Exxon has infiltrated our people at every level, and damage may be irreversible. Even if by miracle we are able to correct life’s likely annihilation, the impact on the thought process of the general public may be considerably more difficult to change, especially as the “dumbing down” of Americans continues to be the brunt of current popular culture. Reversing the framework for underdeveloped thought processes of generations will be no easy task.

Perhaps one of the biggest concerns raised by Exxon’s maneuvers is this: Exxon was allowed to become the chief innovator and industry leader while conducting their own research internally, which while respected at the time, ultimately led to a complete lack of accountability of disclosure of findings, some important to the future of life’s survival. This was the breeding ground for the massive cover-ups, and is ethically repugnant.

Legally, this case is a law or ethics teacher’s play day, especially if charges are filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which I fully believe charges could and should be filed. I previously was taught by a biology professor, whom I very much respect, that would speak of his days as a biologist in Big Oil, and why his conscience forced him to leave the large salary behind. His story is not unique, but to hear him tell it in person was an experience a young student will not forget. It will be interesting to watch the Exxon’s Climate Change Story unfold in the coming months, especially as more congressional leaders and presidential candidates begin to chime in on the topic, which thrusts it to the forefront of the average citizen’s mind.

Despite the potential for new and breaking news coverage, the Department of Justice will have its work cut out, if an investigation is approved. Other government agencies that have been struggling with climate change validation include the Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Weather Service among other branches and sub-branches. These government organizations collect data, work to find ways to adapt human life, raise awareness, and incentivize the public for change though programs such as ENERGY STAR or tax rebates. Each agency has a stake in correcting misinformation and raising awareness. Each agency spends our tax dollars to help combat what a major corporation and industry did to continue their profitable business despite turning their backs against their fellow Americans and their fellow human beings across the world. We spend our tax money to help correct these atrocities while we remain dependent on these outdated, outmoded energy sources as corporations like Exxon continue to participate in tax breaks and are incentivized and subsidized by government programs created by our publicly paid, publicly elected officials during deal makings that are not in the best interests of constituents. These type of merry-go-round antics are why America needs more pressure from world organizations. If we wanted to make our country great again, as one presidential candidate urges, we should consider becoming a leader in climate issues and sustainable technologies.

As government agencies form and begin working together, more conferences are held nationally and internationally to help bring ideas and people together. Social media and alternative news sources are gaining influence, so perhaps legislative and societal change will follow the shrieks of the people over the money of Big Industry. Exxon’s cover-up has been exposed. This summer the Pope spoke all over the world, including in the United States’ Congress, about the importance of climate change. Right now the 5th annual World Climate Summit is being held in France. Weather authorities say that the most intense El Niño ever is sweeping the globe. These types of changes extends beyond what Exxon can control, buy or otherwise cover-up. These are the actions of the dawn of a new era. Now it is do or die.

The Ethics Sage Talks About Price Gouging

On By southwerkIn Corpoorate Social Responsibility
The Ethics Sage Talks About Price Gouging

The Ethics Sage latest post deals with price gouging in prescription medicine. He discusses the social responsibility of business and goes into some detail about his preference for a free market solution.

i_454I am more and more convinced as time has gone by that the pharmaceutical companies have failed in serving the public and that some kind of government intervention to prevent price gouging and selling prescription medicines for other than their FDA approved uses is going to necessary.

However, the Ethics Sage is worthy of reading. You should put him in your favorites, visit often and perhaps, even sign up as a follower.

Below is a selection from his latest essay. I recommend you visit his web site and read it in full.

James Pilant

http://www.ethicssage.com/2015/11/big-pharma-where-is-corporate-social-responsibility-with-high-drug-prices.html

Recently a group of 118 oncologists came out in an editorial in the Mayo Clinic medical journal to support a grassroots patient effort to push for fairer prices from drug companies. According to the editorial, many cancer patients are bankrupted by the high cost of care even for insured patients for treatment that costs $120,000 a year. The proposal is to get it down to $30,000 in out-of-pocket expenses – more than half the average U.S. household income. According to the editorial, the drugs are so high that as many as 20% of oncology patients don’t take their medication as prescribed. I believe it may be better to mandate catastrophic insurance coverage. Under Obamacare, if you are under 30 or obtained a “hardship exemption” you qualify for a high deductible, low premium, catastrophic plan. What about those over 30 who are more in need?

Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works. These are the words spoken by Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. We could say this is the mantra of greedy CEOs of pharmaceutical companies. In a 2014 survey by Fierce Pharma, a news outlet for the industry, the average pay of the 10 top CEOs of big Pharma was about $30 million. None of the companies were in the Fortune top 100. Celgene was number 369, the highest in the industry. The CEO of Celgene earned $36.61 million. This seems out of line given the relatively small size of most pharmaceutical manufacturing companies.

Teaching is a Calling

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice
Teaching is a Calling

“If you don’t like the money, you can find another job,” A college administrator once told me.

lotr_09thThere was no concern about the process of de-professionalization of college teaching. There was no concern about an adjunct salary slightly above a fast food worker. There was no concern about the likelihood of having to rely on the charity of food banks and government services when you possess a terminal degree.

Do something that pays more. That’s the answer to any complaint, anywhere in the society, anytime. Such is the prevailing conventional wisdom.

If the free market produces just and perfect results and it must by the nature of its neo-religious believers, than the status and pay that you receive must by the very nature of a competitive society be just and honorable.

It isn’t. It is neither just nor honorable, and it is not based on any known concept of fairness. It is simply a matter of the strong taking from the weak in pursuit of a set of policy objectives.

This process takes its toll on those of who try to work in this profession. I tell my colleagues that just as soon as the students understand our actual salaries and our relative importance to administrators and legislators, they are going to treat us with the same contempt we receive from them. They’re going to wonder that since they paid good money to be taught, why a glorified fast food worker should have any authority to question them as to their understanding of the subject matter. For after all, if your salary is the primary indicator of your value, we’re only worth a fraction of the likely salary of our students while our lack of salary is a clear indicator that our work has little importance and that in a capitalist society, we are over-educated failures.

Why do we hold on in the face of the contempt of the politicians, the beltway media, the “very serious” people and every sort and breed of businessman? Because we care about our students. Because when we teach we feel important and empowered. And that feeling is legitimate because as teachers we are in a real way, the creators of our nation, the shapers of the next generation, and the architects of a democratic society.

It is highly likely that in the times to come, history books will discuss education in the United States in this period as the last candle light before the darkness, the last time in which significant academic freedom existed before college and universities became testing centers based on a purely standardized set of programs dictated by corporate needs.

Read below the thoughts of one teacher as she struggles to teach in a difficult environment. –

http://academeblog.org/2015/11/09/and-this-is-why-i-teach/

I’ve often said that the classroom is my “happy place.”  The one place where I can be present; where I can forget about Wisconsin politics, committee meetings, campus and departmental bureaucracy, and just do what I love.  It’s that time of year where most of us are exhausted.  Where we have students who may just now be realizing they’re failing a class and asking for extra credit.  Where we’re already burnt out and we’ve still got 7 weeks left in the semester.  Where we’re counting the days to finals week because we are all so tired.  I’m in that space, too.  I’ve been there before.  But I am grateful, and always will be, to the students now and in the past who remind me why I teach.  Who remind me how much I love doing my job.  And who have clutched me out of the depths of sadness, especially this semester.

Progression of Women by Casey Dye

On By southwerkIn Editorial

(This is a guest column by Casey Dye, a colleague.)

i_005Women, since the 19th century, have seen a dramatic increase in the quality of life in most parts of the world. Oppression of women in the form of equality began to subside as women continued to prove they were not inferior to men on an intellectual standpoint. Women were once looked at as property, then as females who couldn’t own any property, to being able to own their own property and have the ability to have their voice heard. The culture of domesticity has faded from today’s society almost entirely, and leaving women to venture after their dreams. Many of these dreams included the furthering of the power of the women’s voice whether it be a movement to end the drunkenness of the American man (Prohibition), or the ability to vote. With the right to vote came the possibilities of a woman being able to divorce their drunk abusive husbands and save their children. From here women began to take control of their lives from who they married, to where they worked, to what they wore. Fashions began to change to create more sensible attire for women in the work force. More than fifty years after the American government freed the slaves they gave women the right to vote showing this was no easy task, but with this new freedom women are now able to enter the public sphere for the first time. This continued to chip away at the idea the women belonged in the home. Social reform through freedom of press and speech for women, along with the increase in capitalism, gave them the opportunity to prove their equality rather than just preach it. Now women hold leader positions in fortune five hundred companies and in those circumstances are getting paid better than most men.

To say women’s fight for equality is over is far from the truth, but for as far as they’ve come they have just steps to go in hopes for true equality. I for one believe in this movement whole heartedly. My mother is a strong independent woman who raised me with respect for women. With this message being passed along we might see true equality in our lifetime.

Economic Immigrants?

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics4 Comments
Economic Immigrants?

McGraw Hill has decided that slavery wasn’t all that bad. According to their new textbook, millions of “workers” were brought to the southern United States.

Here’s a passage from an article on this unfortunate choice in nouns:

Roni Dean-Burren was also disturbed by the language, and posted about the book online. Her comments went viral and the publisher swiftly decided to rewrite the section.

The offending passage was in pages titled Patterns of Immigration in McGraw-Hill Education’s World Geography book. A colorful map of the US was adorned with a speech bubble which said: “The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.”

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/05/mcgraw-hill-textbook-slaves-workers-texas

From the 16th through the 19th centuries, more than 12 million blacks were brought to the United States in what is called by less neutral observers than McGraw Hill, the Holocaust of Enslavement.

064-1
Economic Immigrants?

Why not write American history so it’s easier on our feelings. Let’s feel good about ourselves! Why talk about slaves as if they were slaves? Let’s just bend a noun a little bit and they become workers. After all, they did work? Of course, millions were murdered, tortured and raped, and some may feel that calling them workers might imply that they weren’t murdered, tortured and raped. But weren’t slaves often treated kindly by their masters? Weren’t slaves valued members of their “families?”

I teach business ethics. Every day I read the words of people spouting incredible nonsense and lies. But the sentence, “Weren’t slaves often treated kindly by their masters?” occupies a special place in my heart. You see when you slap the words, slave, master and kindly into a single sentence, you are just talking nonsense. Slaves are not legally human beings. They are things like cattle or sticks. Masters are owners with the right of life and death over these possessions. That a throat isn’t cut on a particular day doesn’t mean it won’t be cut later. That a slave’s chastity is respected for a few hours or a few days does not indicate safety from rape.

Slavery is a crime.

The people who captured the slaves were criminals. The people that shipped the slaves were criminals. The people that bought the slaves were criminals.

What McGraw Hill should have said was this –

The African Holocaust between the 1500s and 1800s brought more than 11 million slaves from Africa to the southern United States to be used on agricultural plantations. Millions died on the journey and afterwards of mistreatment and disease. The Africa Holocaust in terms of numbers ranks as one of the greatest modern crimes against humanity, and is a stain on the history of the United States.

You don’t write textbooks to make people, even Southerners, feel good about themselves. You write the truth. People can’t make good decisions about the future if they don’t understand their past.

It is elementary business ethics that a historical work be accurate. If you are in the business of selling textbooks to build up national myths and legends and feed national self-esteem, you have embarked on a perhaps profitable but immoral pursuit.

And here we come to a basic issue in business ethics. Who deserves the loyalty of the company? If the shareholders and their profits are the only concern of a corporation, then the textbooks should read anyway the customer wants. Slaves were treated kindly, the Wild West was peaceful, the Great Depression not that big a deal, etc. etc. But if the company even a corporation has an ethical backbone, then the customer is not always right. Facts are facts and history is not just a matter of opinion.

James Pilant