"Does Greenspan really believe that banks, brokerages, rating agencies and insurance companies act of their own accord? Even he has to understand that people who run them decide how they respond to market forces."
"Did Greenspan really believe that the people in power, presented with a chance to make a killing, would put the interests of institutions and stockholders ahead of their own?"
Rutten then moves on to tarnish everyone in business:
"The idea of loyalty -- or just a sort of reciprocal obligation, for that matter -- simply doesn't operate on Wall Street or much of anywhere in American business any more. The notion that CEOs and other executives would forgo a chance to enrich themselves to keep their institutions solvent or their stockholders' investment whole seems quaint in today's environment."
Rutten says "there's something wrong in the economy and financial system that new regulations on trading and disclosure won't correct." "The corrosion didn't begin at the top but at the bottom -- with the renunciation of any corporate loyalty toward working men and women." U.S. companies have long "been encouraged to treat their workers like any other 'expense.' Wall Street has rewarded -- indeed lionized -- companies 'tough enough' to treat workers like the electric bill. Presto! Layoffs became 'cost managment.'"
Nobody "blinks when a CEO throws people out of work for an uptick in the stock price or to ease the service of ill-considered debt." "It's immoral for a profitable firm to deprive families of their income and health insurance, to strip hardworking men and women of labor's dignity." "Societies in which the few are allowed to fatten themselves on the labor of many are not just." "Countries -- like companies -- that cling to notions that allow some to pursue their own interests by behaving indecently towards others come to bad ends." "There is no recovery from moral bankruptcy."
From what he's written, one would have to assume that Rutten believes there are no good people in business anywhere in America. They have no morals, he seems to say, and they will do anything for a buck. CEOs throw people out of work without good reason, or sometimes just for the fun of it, Rutten seems to believe.
Rutten's charges are so extreme that they disqualify themselves from being considered rational. There are many honest and moral people in American business; arguably, a very high percentage of people in American business are. Just to name two, consider Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Both are wildly successfuly and extremely rich yet both are giving away their wealth. Would Rutten claim that either is morally bankrupt?
Some people in American business and economics are good people who make mistakes, as human beings often do. Alan Greenspan is one. He has admitted to at least one mistake and people charge him with others. Is he morally bankrupt? Did he make a killing in the market? Did he steal or deprive people of their income or health insurance to make a buck?
Rutten would do well to consider the morals of people in his own profession, journalism. Columnist are often irrational and uninformed; only a few know anything about business or economics. Nearly all are biased. Reporters often report not news but their view of the news, often in a biased way. Plagiarism is not uncommon. News reports are sometimes mere fiction, imagined by the reporter -- saving a lot of shoe leather. Unliked business men and women, journalist produce nothing -- no jobs, no profits, no return on investment.Rutten seems to argue for socialism, where people keep their jobs and health insurance after they have become non-productive and where companies are owned by the government and run by bureaucrats. Socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried. Socialism produces products no one wants to buy and doesn't produce products people want and need. Shortages and long lines to buy nonexistent goods are characteristics of socialism. Socialism turns countries into economic basketcases.
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