American Greed

As I ponder my future and the best way to achieve the goals I have yet to clearly define, I often look at the examples of others both in my life and in the public eye. I work at a wine shop in a wealthy suburb so I see my share of folks who have the income to live a very comfortable life. On the other hand, I read about the Enron boys, Tyco, WorldCom etc. and people whose greed became so all-consuming, I can't even understand what drove them to do what they did.

My early conclusion is that it all comes down to power and a pathological greed. You can make a comfortable living doing lots of things. All it takes is fundamental intelligence, hard work and a bit of luck. You can multiply each of those factors and make a fortune to the extent that you and your family and the next generations of your family can live without fear of poverty with basic wealth management. At the next level, you can strive to make more money than God and do whatever it takes to get more.

It's at this last level that I lose track of what motivates people. I just don't understand how someone with so much money can be dumb enough to do something illegal to make more. Take Bill Gates as an example of how to properly be that rich; he made kajillions as a result of smart (and maybe a little aggressive) business practices. By the time Microsoft was in full swing, he was sitting at the top of a huge moneymaking machine and amassed a huge fortune because he created something that almost everyone needed. He retired (sort of) at an early age and spends his time donating money to worthy causes. This is admirable--he's set for the rest of his years in extreme luxury if desired as a result of his ingenuity and hard work but quit when the time was right and has donated millions to people around the world who could use some of his luck.

Contrast that to Ole Kenny Boy and you see a marked difference. Lay, Skilling, Kozlowski etc. couldn't stop themselves from taking advantage of whatever scheme they or their cohorts could think of to add a few more bucks to their already vast pile of money. Their greed ran rampant and as a group, they propose the notion that they aren't the exceptions but merely the symptoms of a perverted business culture.

Many of those indicted also felt entitled to take ridiculous perks from the companies they ran even though the boards were more than willing to pay them too much already. In other words, they didn't want to even spend any of the money that they already had too much of. Even the more admirable business leaders of the day, for instance, Jack Welch, have a large number of expenses taken care of by the company. Welch's retirement package from GE included travel on the corporate jet, an apartment in Manhattan, tickets to sporting events and full use of company resources. Okay, that's nice, he made them a lot of money, he should have access to these assets since he is a high profile dude who is still of value to them. However, the list continued and included country club membership, restaurant expense and banal items like dry cleaning. He's Jack fucking Welch! He can pay for his own goddamn dry cleaning! His speaking fees for a single engagement would easily cover his dry cleaning for 5 years!

In the 1970's, executives made an average of 25-30 times what the lowest paid employee of the same company earned. Today that figure is closer to 750 times. And guess who gets to use the company expense accounts for "business lunches" and entertainment? This element of our culture is harmful and unnecessary. I'm all in favor of capitalism but this isn't it. Rigging the system to make it this top heavy goes against what it's all about. When the board is chummy with the CEO, the shareholders suffer. When a company cuts benefits to the bulk of employees because income is down, the CEO shouldn't get a bonus. This has to stop. Enron may be put to rest now that the verdict is in but that was only a chapter. We can't let the resolution of that one instance lull us to sleep thinking that the mess is cleared up. The bright lights of the Enron affair caught our attention but now that they are off, we stand blinking in the darkness, unaware of the malfeasance in the dark corridors.

UPDATE:
Warren Buffet announced that he will donate a kajillion dollars to the Gates Foundation. Good for him. He basically gave away the amount of money he made that he, nor his heirs, will ever need. Here are his words on the topic:

"Neither [late wife] Susie nor I ever thought we should pass huge amounts of money along to our children," said Warren Buffett, who said he plans to give away his remaining stock holdings after his death but that he has "quite a bit of cash" he still plans to leave to those close to him. "Our children are great," he told Fortune. "But I would argue that when your kids have all the advantages anyway, in terms of how they grow up and the opportunities they have for education, including what they learn at home - I would say it's neither right nor rational to be flooding them with money."