Political Discussions
Corporate greed and leadership
Posted by satijournal • 1/27/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Economy, obama
We've seen abuses in the past regarding corporate greed and it's been the opinion of most politicians that you can't do anything about it. Well, the president does have influence over events as we're seeing from President Obama.
The high-flying execs at Citigroup caved under pressure from President Obama and decided today to abandon plans for a luxurious new $50 million corporate jet from France.
The decision came 24 hours after the banking giant, which was rescued by a $45 billion taxpayer lifeline, defended buying the state-of-the-art Dassault Falcon 7X — one of nine to be flying in U.S. skies — as a smart business deal.
The jet, the epitome of corporate prestige and privilege, can carry 12 passengers in elegant comfort.
ABC News has learned that on Monday officials of the Obama administration called Citigroup about the company’s new $50 million corporate jet and told execs to “fix it.”
abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=6740011
User Comments
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Careful now Sati - or we'll be seeing angry mobs with pitchforks and lanterns and hearing calls of the dreaded socialism. All because the poor execs couldn't buy their pretty jet.
Well, it's a step in the right direction, anyway.-
It's corporate socialism if anything when our tax dollars are used for multi-million dollar bonuses and jets.
The president of the US is the most powerful person in the world. When you see things like people stranded after Hurricane Katrina with no food or water and the president acts like he can't do anything about it, it's BS. The president has a lot of power to influence events.
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Sadly, Sati, I don't think that the Obama administration will have time to hand-hold idiot execs everywhere.
Can the Feds mandate that the corporate boards of these companies go to their local business school for some courses in ethics before they become eligible for federal 'rescue' funding?-
You can't teach ethics. Either you're ethical or you're not.
As far as hand-holding execs, sometimes all it takes is a phone call, as we see in this case. -
No, but like any standard contract, you can have ethics clauses written in.
No ethical behavior, no money. -
True, but there was no contract. Like most republican economic policies, Paulson relied solely on the charitable nature of corporate execs, which never works. It was just a giveaway of our tax dollars with no accountability whatsoever.
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You can't teach ethics. Either you're ethical or you're not.
Have a look at this, Sati.
Kim Clark, the dean of the Harvard Business School, which was embarrassed by the role played by some of the school’s alumni in the scandals, has ordered a review of the school’s ethics curriculum. The mandatory ethics class, entitled “Leadership, Values and Decision Making,” has been extended from three weeks to the entire semester and has been updated to include examples from the past year’s scandals. The goal is to help future managers and executives understand their “obligations under the law.”
Similar efforts are underway at other schools. According to the Washington Times, schools across the country are looking for the best way to “impart ethics to developing minds.” Some are employing ethics courses tied to specific disciplines such as business or law. Others are requiring generic ethics courses. Some are teaching basic ethical principles. Others prefer case studies.
This all sounds pretty good until you realize that very little, if any, of this has anything to do with right or wrong. To understand why this is the case, we first need to be clear about what is meant by “ethics,” especially in a professional context. Ethics is a code of conduct for a particular discipline or profession. Physicians, accountants and lawyers, among others, all have ethics and codes of conduct that define their obligations to their patients and clients and seek to safeguard the reputation of the particular profession or discipline.
Here's the link:http://www.boundless.org/2002_2003/features/a0000672.html
If schools are trying to approach the concept of ethics, I say that's a good thing. But the article talks about ethics as being established standards of a particular profession.
Perhaps what needs to be done is to ramp up the standards themselves. The Obama administration, IMO, would do better to encourage that than babysitting executive boards and giving them a jingle anytime they're planning on doing something stupid. -
Okay... the dumb thing won't let me edit.
Here's the link again:
www.boundless.org/2002_2003/features/a0000672.html -
I realize this is a very generalized comment, but the shabby way that many of these banks and companies were administered is frightening. The hubris and the Marie Antoinette-like attitudes that some of the executives share is chilling. Their willingness to take bailout funds is swift, and their willingness to change the way they do business is not.-
and the Marie Antoinette-like attitudes
Oh, that is perfect, I might steal that
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It's the arrogance of the some of these execs and pols that kills me. It's that "I'm untouchable" refrain that keeps circulating among them. When one bites the dust, another doesn't seem to pay attention. No self-reflection, no concern for others.
When I watched Meet the Press this past Sunday, I was kind of disgusted with John Boehner who opposes Obama's stimulus package. He says the GOP will give the Americans a $3,200 tax break so they can "spend" and this will start to "fix" the economy. He's dreaming. Give Americans a tax break, and they'll pay the mortgage, or pay down credit cards, try to keep their kids in college, etc., but spend, I don't think so. It's not smart to spend in this economy.
What color is your parachute? How unmanageable is your greed? Would that ethics be seriously taken in both business and government. I trust that Obama will put his money behind his words. -
How about Nancy.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's home district includes San Francisco. Star-KistTuna's headquarters are in San Francisco, Pelosi's home district. Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a major contributor to Pelosi.
Star-Kist is the major employer in American Samoa employing 75%
of the Samoan work force. Paul Pelosi,Nancy 's husband, owns $17 million dollars of Star-Kiststock. In January,
2007 when the minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $7.25,Pelosi had American Samoa exempted from the increase so Del Monte would not have topay the higher wage. This would make Del Monte products less expensive than that of its competitors. Last week when the huge bailout bill was passed, Pelosi added an earmark to the final bill adding $33 million dollars for an "economic development credit in American Samoa " Pelosi hascalled the Bush Administration "CORRUPT" and many
other things!! ? How do youspell "HYPOCRISY" ? -
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If thats true then so be it but she is still a hypocrite.
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