Why we tolerate corporate greed and why we are often the willing co-conspirators. by Bill Gee
(centrist)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
We have all heard this statistic before - the top 1% of the population controls 60% of the nation's wealth, the top 5% controls 80% of the nation's wealth, and the rest of us controls about 20%. Those individuals at the top of the economic latter do not have superhuman abilities; they need an army of people to help them rule their empires. This army must not only be willing to do their jobs without question, but they must also do their jobs with such enthusiasm as to make their masters richer.
A friend of mine was recently commiserating about an email he had recently gotten from the CEO of his company. In the beginning of the letter, the CEO thanked everyone for their hard work and dedication to the company. The employees for this company often work on the weekends during crunch times, they work through their lunch breaks, and often stay at their desks or in their offices long after the evening rush hour. Because of their hard work, the company had a very successful year. Unfortunately, due to the "uncertain economic climate", the annual bonuses to employees under the management level would need to be cut this year, and annual salary increases would be no more than 1/2%. Next year, if everyone keeps up the good work, then they may see a raise of 3 to 5%, but that is subject to change depending on "economic conditions". In the meantime, the company's stock paid out a generous dividend to its investors and the upper management of the company got extra bonuses for increasing company productivity.
To sum it up, with inflation at about 4% this year, all employees at this company got a 3.5% pay cut despite the fact that the company itself had a very profitable year due in large part to the fact that many employees have given up spending time with their families. In the meantime, the upper managers who already have salaries in the seven digits, received a king's bounty off the labor of their minions.
The next day, everyone came to work and re-dedicated themselves to finding new and better ways of doing their jobs in the hope that next year their efforts will be noticed by management.
The employees of this company are not stupid. Most have college degrees and/or MBAs. They understand the rules of the game and can quote "line and verse" of what upper management is doing to them, yet they put up with it.
Debt Slavery
The reason why most of us are willing and active participants in this cruel treatment by upper management is because we are convinced that we have no choice. The choices we had to make to put ourselves into our cubical careers have made us into de-facto slaves of our upper management masters.
Student Loan Debt
The average student debt load is $20,000 to $50,000 depending on the level of education the student received. For doctors, the debt load can be as high as $100,000. Since student loan debt is protected from Bankruptcy laws, this is a debt you will carry with you for the rest of your life. If you refuse to pay it, your wages can be garnished, your tax refunds can be withheld, and your heirs can be held liable for the debt after your death. In order to pay that debt off, you need to have a job.
Home Debt
A home is more than a place to live. If you are paying a mortgage on your home, it's your biggest liability. If the roof leaks, you need to pay to get it fixed. If the water heater goes, or termites are found in the basement, it is your responsibility to get it fixed. Home Equity "lines of credit", reverse mortgages, and other home re-finance products ensure the economy that you will remain in debt to your home long after the terms of the original mortgage is passed. In order to pay for all of that, you need to have a job.
At-Will Employment
With the decline of unionism, most of us are what are called "At-Will" employees of the companies we work for. In other words, we work at the "will" of the employer, and our tenure of employment can end without prior notice. In practice, it is a lot more complicated than that, but its impact on the culture of the workplace is that it promotes a climate of fear that prevents employees from voicing ethical or legal concerns about how they do their jobs for fear that by doing so they will be fired.
Financial-Based Performance
Every six months or every year, most white collar employees must undergo a stressful performance review by their superiors. On the top of most management's list of priorities are financial performance factors. Were you able to do your job at a superior level of performance despite a decreased level of compensation or resources at your desk? Were you able to find ways to reduce the company's overhead expenses by increasing productivity or cutting back on customer service? If you answered "yes" to both of those questions, you will receive a "favorable" or "outstanding" performance review. This will have little or no impact on your annual raise because that was determined months before your review began, but what you hope it will do for you is that if a layoff is coming, your superiors will view you as a "good worker" and they will decide to lay off your "not-so-good" co-workers instead.
One of the major casualties of Financial-Based Performance reviews is customer service and ethics. If an employee's annual bonus is measured entirely on financial benchmarks, then they have a disincentive to provide superior customer service to the company's clients. Another casualty is a disincentive to work as a team with your co-workers. If your goal is to "outshine" your co-workers, why would you want to share your innovational ideas with them? In many cases, employees will "throw under the bus" an employee they feel is underperforming in the hope that management will punish that employee and reward them for bringing the unproductive worker to managment's attention.
Rule By Fear
In short, we do the bidding of our corporate masters because we fear the consequences of refusing to do so. Despite advanced degrees and specialized knowledge our jobs demand, we believe that we are easily replaced if we should step out of line. If we step too far out of line and become a "whistleblower" to state or Federal authorities, not only will we be out of a job, but we will need to find another career altogether as we spend the next six to ten years of our lives fighting in the courts to restore our reputations and receive our lost compensation.
It is far easier to simply do your job, not to question your superiors (except for ways to do your job more efficiently) and hold onto the vain hope that you will earn enough to pay your bills and pay down your debt, which you know in your heart is difficult, if not impossible to do.
Your Little Secret
Despite the culture of fear that surrounds most workplaces, your corporate masters cannot do what they do without you. As a white-collar worker, you possess specialized knowledge and training in the inner workings of your organization. If you work to educate yourself about the industry, you will also gain an understanding of how your knowledge and experience can benefit society as a whole. Your secret is that if you are no longer afraid, and that if your co-workers are no longer afraid, then perhaps things can be changed for the better.
We'll just leave it at that.
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The views expressed
in this article are those of Bill Gee only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Bill Gee is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Of course, none of this would be a problem any longer if we changed the financial system to allow competing currencies to exists side-by-side, including precious metal currencies competing with fiat currencies.
