“You can’t legislate morality.” Benjamin Franklin
What accounts for the change in CEO pay isn’t any market imperative. It’s cultural. At a time when average workers are experiencing little or no income growth, many of America’s CEOs have lost any sense of shame about grabbing whatever their pliant, handpicked corporate boards will allow them. Americans understand the economical damage as an unethical torment of politician greed. In a recent survey in the USA Today, Americans ranked corruption in government and business with greed and materialism, as two of the three most important moral challenges facing the nation. Of course, raising kids with the right values ranked first.
And yet every parent, liberal or conservative, complains about the coarsening of the American culture, the promotion of easy materialism and instant gratification, and the severing of sexuality from intimacy. They may not want government censorship, but they want those concerns recognized and their experiences validated. Fearful, parents start listening to those leaders who may be less sensitive to constitutional constraints and more direct in their concerns. Conservatives however, have their own blind spots when it comes to addressing problems in the culture. Take executive pay. In 1980, the average CEO made forty-two times what an average hourly worker took home. By 2005, the ratio was 262 to 1. Conservatives outlets like the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, try to justify outlandish salaries and stock options as necessary to attract top talent, and suggest that the American economy actually performs better when America’s corporate leaders are fat and happy with cash. But the recent explosion in CEOs pay has had little to do with improved performance. In fact, some of the country’s most highly compensated CEOs over the past decade have presided over huge massive layoffs, and the underfunding of their workers’ pension funds. Conservatives may be right when they argue that the government shouldn’t try to determine executive pay packages. But conservatives should at least be willing to speak out against unseemly behavior in corporate boardrooms with the same moral force, the same sense of outrage, which they direct against dirty rap lyrics.
Obama, B. (2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream
Most of the other sins of politics are derivative of this larger sin of cash in hand. One of the other political sins includes the need to win; but also the need not to lose. Prevention of losing at any cost is a clear demise of our American government. Certainly that’s what the money chase is all about. There was a time, before campaign finance laws and snooping reporters, when money shaped politics through outright bribery. A time when a politician could treat his campaign fund as his personal bank account and accept fancy junkets; when the shape of legislation went to the highest bidder. If recent news reports are accurate, these ranker forms of corruption have not gone away entirely; apparently there are still those in Washington who view politics as a means of getting rich rather than gaining the richness of the American culture. Some politicians however, money isn’t about getting rich. In the Senate, at least, most members are already rich! For them, it’s about maintaining status and power. Although, money can’t guarantee victory and cannot buy passion or charisma, without it you are pretty much guaranteed to lose.
So what is the solution to corrupt politicians and securing the American economy back to its feet? The last time we faced an economic transformation as disruptive as the one we face today; President Roosevelt led the nation to a new social compact. President Roosevelt bargained between government, business and workers that resulted in widespread prosperity and economic security for more than fifty years. This was conducted by conveying to the average American worker, a security rested upon three pillars:
1st: The ability to find a job that paid enough to support a family and save for emergencies
2nd: A packaged health care system and retirement benefits from employers
3rd A government safety net of guaranteed Social Security, Medicaid & Medicare benefits, Unemployment Insurance and Federal Bankruptcy & Pension protections
Why is this important: Check out this URL for “Did you know” and see why.
What accounts for the change in CEO pay isn’t any market imperative. It’s cultural. At a time when average workers are experiencing little or no income growth, many of America’s CEOs have lost any sense of shame about grabbing whatever their pliant, handpicked corporate boards will allow them. Americans understand the economical damage as an unethical torment of politician greed. In a recent survey in the USA Today, Americans ranked corruption in government and business with greed and materialism, as two of the three most important moral challenges facing the nation. Of course, raising kids with the right values ranked first.
And yet every parent, liberal or conservative, complains about the coarsening of the American culture, the promotion of easy materialism and instant gratification, and the severing of sexuality from intimacy. They may not want government censorship, but they want those concerns recognized and their experiences validated. Fearful, parents start listening to those leaders who may be less sensitive to constitutional constraints and more direct in their concerns. Conservatives however, have their own blind spots when it comes to addressing problems in the culture. Take executive pay. In 1980, the average CEO made forty-two times what an average hourly worker took home. By 2005, the ratio was 262 to 1. Conservatives outlets like the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, try to justify outlandish salaries and stock options as necessary to attract top talent, and suggest that the American economy actually performs better when America’s corporate leaders are fat and happy with cash. But the recent explosion in CEOs pay has had little to do with improved performance. In fact, some of the country’s most highly compensated CEOs over the past decade have presided over huge massive layoffs, and the underfunding of their workers’ pension funds. Conservatives may be right when they argue that the government shouldn’t try to determine executive pay packages. But conservatives should at least be willing to speak out against unseemly behavior in corporate boardrooms with the same moral force, the same sense of outrage, which they direct against dirty rap lyrics.
Obama, B. (2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream
Most of the other sins of politics are derivative of this larger sin of cash in hand. One of the other political sins includes the need to win; but also the need not to lose. Prevention of losing at any cost is a clear demise of our American government. Certainly that’s what the money chase is all about. There was a time, before campaign finance laws and snooping reporters, when money shaped politics through outright bribery. A time when a politician could treat his campaign fund as his personal bank account and accept fancy junkets; when the shape of legislation went to the highest bidder. If recent news reports are accurate, these ranker forms of corruption have not gone away entirely; apparently there are still those in Washington who view politics as a means of getting rich rather than gaining the richness of the American culture. Some politicians however, money isn’t about getting rich. In the Senate, at least, most members are already rich! For them, it’s about maintaining status and power. Although, money can’t guarantee victory and cannot buy passion or charisma, without it you are pretty much guaranteed to lose.
So what is the solution to corrupt politicians and securing the American economy back to its feet? The last time we faced an economic transformation as disruptive as the one we face today; President Roosevelt led the nation to a new social compact. President Roosevelt bargained between government, business and workers that resulted in widespread prosperity and economic security for more than fifty years. This was conducted by conveying to the average American worker, a security rested upon three pillars:
1st: The ability to find a job that paid enough to support a family and save for emergencies
2nd: A packaged health care system and retirement benefits from employers
3rd A government safety net of guaranteed Social Security, Medicaid & Medicare benefits, Unemployment Insurance and Federal Bankruptcy & Pension protections
Why is this important: Check out this URL for “Did you know” and see why.
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