That the last years have seen obscene sums of money being made by a few, corporations losing their focus on fundamentals of running a company, banks losing their way and what a bank is supposed to do, etc. etc. is nothing new anymore. All too sadly most of the world, is now paying for unchecked profligate and outrageous business practices.
In all of that mix is, of course, were the values [?] the people involved, brought to bear in their actions. Most were distorted, irresponsible and plainly motivated by bare-faced greed.
It is a theme Frank Rich takes up in his weekly column in the NY Times "Awake and Sing":
"The question then arises: What, if anything, have we learned from this decade’s man-made economic disaster? It wasn’t just trillions of dollars of wealth that went poof in the bubble. Certain American values also crumbled and vanished. Making quick killings by reckless gambling in the markets — rather than by investing long-term in new products, innovations, technologies or services that might grow and benefit America and the world — became the holy grail in the upper echelons of finance"
And:
"[The] same note was hit a month earlier by the commencement speaker at Wesleyan University, Barack Obama. “The big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy,” he said, amount to “a poverty of ambition.” He wasn’t speaking idly. As America knows, Obama turned down the lucrative career path guaranteed to the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review to pursue the missions of service and teaching instead. The potential rewards for our country, now that that early choice has led him into the White House, are enormous."
In all of that mix is, of course, were the values [?] the people involved, brought to bear in their actions. Most were distorted, irresponsible and plainly motivated by bare-faced greed.
It is a theme Frank Rich takes up in his weekly column in the NY Times "Awake and Sing":
"The question then arises: What, if anything, have we learned from this decade’s man-made economic disaster? It wasn’t just trillions of dollars of wealth that went poof in the bubble. Certain American values also crumbled and vanished. Making quick killings by reckless gambling in the markets — rather than by investing long-term in new products, innovations, technologies or services that might grow and benefit America and the world — became the holy grail in the upper echelons of finance"
And:
"[The] same note was hit a month earlier by the commencement speaker at Wesleyan University, Barack Obama. “The big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy,” he said, amount to “a poverty of ambition.” He wasn’t speaking idly. As America knows, Obama turned down the lucrative career path guaranteed to the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review to pursue the missions of service and teaching instead. The potential rewards for our country, now that that early choice has led him into the White House, are enormous."
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