Posted: Feb 08, 2014 1:20 pm
quas wrote:Doctors and nurses often get away with medical negligence, just as CEOs often have to declare bankruptcy and start all over. I think if there is any unjustice, it is our skewed perception of value that allows an attention-whore "celebrity" without any discernible talent (including Donald Trump) to earn more than food-producing farmers.Darwinsbulldog wrote:quas wrote:-Lives are important. While the nurse is responsible for only 10-20 lives at a time, the CEO could have thousands of people and their families who depended on him for livelihood.
Yaabutt but the vast, vast majority of nurses actually do care for their patients. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for CEO's to announce multi-billion dollar profits and the layoffs of thousands of workers in the same breath!
So? You can announce yesterday's profits and, in light of today's rising costs, simultaneously anticipate reduction in tomorrow's production costs. How do you know for sure that's not caring? Maybe the layoff conducted resulted in more profit which could be used in more investments elsewhere (another business venture) which in turn could provide even more livelihoods than before.
Yeah, the "investment elsewhere" is the real con in this.
Take Detriot. The city was 18 billion in the red before it declared bankrupcy. Hardly anyone has a job there. The fire brigade don't put out fires.
Remember 1929? The world economy was strong-fundamentally strong. Not this futures shit they have got today. There is always this fiction that people will find new jobs. They retrain, are retrenched again, and have to retrain again. That is the lucky ones.
Very few have a steady job, which is why the GFC happened. yeah there was greed, but most of it was bad loans. Why bad loans? Because although most were employed, it was on short-term contracts. Or people doing two jobs. Or three jobs, just to pay off a mortgage. A sniff of a downturn, and virtually the whole workforce gets the sack. No body can pay mortgage, no consumer spending except essentials like foods.
I am not blaming just the corporations, because as you correctly point out, the CEO's duty is to the shareholder, and no one else. it is the system that is fucked.