Sunday, September 27, 2015

Greed vs. Morality

This past week has seen two "scandals" brought to light.
First, we had the former hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical CEO Martin Schkreli increase the price of an important drug for patients with compromised immune systems upwards of 5000%.  Shortly after that story bombarded the media outlets, the Volkswagen news came out.  Rather than come up with technology that actually met EPA emission's regulations they came up with technology that cheated those regulations.  Software was installed to recognize when emission tests were being done, demonstrating regulation numbers when the rest of the time the cars emitted much much more pollution.
While I'm no Pollyanna, it's stories like these that deal a low blow to my faith in humanity.  I heard someone say in response to the Schkreli story that this is a byproduct of a capitalistic society.  If we support capitalism, we are supporting this type of behavior.  And that got me thinking, do capitalism and "being a good person" have to be mutually exclusive?  Since I live my life trying very hard to not harm or inconvenience other people, I would classify myself as a good person.  But I'm also not a capitalist.  If my life revolved around making money, would my views on humanity be skewed.  Would I screw someone else over without batting an eye?  It's easy for me to say I wouldn't, but does the need for making money just turn everyone who does so into an asshole?
This Schkreli guy is indeed an asshole!  If you haven't read about him yet, the list of jerky things he's done in the quest for wealth can be found here.  I wonder if this is a guy who has always been inconsiderate of others or if it's a byproduct of becoming a capitalist.
Then we have VW.  This is a company who had really come into its own here in the last few years.  It was thought of as a trusted company of mid-priced cars that were helping the environment.  And what blows my mind about the whole thing is that the time and money was taken to cheat the system. Now a half-million people could very likely not be allowed to register their cars again.  This company made billions on their lies and will most likely pay a pittance (as most companies do when fined by the government) while each of their customers could be out 35 grand each.
It seems like "we'd" have all the tricks and jerky maneuvers figured out and be able to regulate accordingly.  Instead, there's always a new trick - something else done to rig the system.  What a shame this ingenuity is so often used for evil instead of good.
Between the 2016 presidential election clown car and the rich jerks they "work" for, I'm going to need to start taking a Xanax when I watch/read the news.  It's just too much!

8 comments:

  1. Both stories are appalling, and I'm not sure which one I find worse. Probably the VW business. (but don't get me started on pharmaceutical companies, special interest groups, and all that goes with that).

    I guess for all practical purposes I'm a capitalist... and I don't think I'm an asshole. ;) It's all debatable (something I don't do well, and certainly not without being face to face), but I believe capitalism has its place and is not mutually exclusive of good. People (and corporations) that make money can do good things with that money, things that benefit others. Have you ever read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand? While I agree with her stance to some degree, it's her rabid ideas about profit at any cost that puts me off. It should never be at the expense of others.

    I'll stop before I get in too deep here, and find myself unable to clearly state my opinions. Let it suffice to say I do find both of these stories totally reprehensible, but I refuse to let them shake my faith in the goodness of humanity in general.

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    1. I think the "profits at any cost" idea is disgusting. But where is that line drawn? Who decides the line? There are different rules for different folks, and as a certifiable rule follower I am irked by this. Karma is something I hope will make it all work out in the end, but even that I'm not so sure of anymore.
      Social media on the other hand, might be the "new" karma. The hedge fund guy got nailed and, for now, brought the price back down. There's also this story I've been following via a friend in Asheville. http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/09/26/waking-life-public-shaming/72826726/

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  2. I'm afraid when I saw the politicians put in to solve the home loan and small business crisis of the last decade I realised we're not in fact dealing with capitalism at all.
    Classical capitalism was what Bush went about with Lehman Bro's when he let them fail. But at least Obama went about pumping money into the system and devalued all international debt in the process.
    What that gift to humanity did with the AIDS drug was utterly despicable, but the process that VW went about was far worse.

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    1. I won't even attempt to comment on the bail out vs. no bail out, because I don't know enough about economics to have an opinion other than hindsight is 20-20. But the things Lehman Bros did is in the same class with these other A-holes. And after the bailouts, did we learn our lesson? No, these mega financial institutions are stronger than ever, mostly on the backs of the people they are screwing. They're no better than the two this week.

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    2. What I'm saying is the little person be he/she a householder or small business who over extended themselves were allowed to go to the wall but big business were protected. They reversed the thing, they socalized the losses of big business and left the little person to the mercy of the markets.
      Or to put it another way. Not everyone is worse off from the recession, if you had money and lots of it, the effects of QE, which devalued the cash in your pocket by as much as 35% , actually increased it by 150%. For the usual returns remained and the devalueing effects were nullified. And so you get tools like that prick that upped the price of lifesaving drugs.
      Politically, this was done under Obama. He did more for big business than the entire cohort of Republican administrations since Ike.

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    3. I don't disagree with you. As I said, different rules for different folks.

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  3. whoa.. take a deep breathe.. i agree.. on all counts.. the world is a horrible place.. and I am horrified but the things that are done.. but then you drop a dollar and someone kindly returns it too you.. I lost my phone last month and got the call yesterday from someone who found it.. so don't doubt all of humanity.. there is a lot of good out there too.. unfortunately the bad more often than not over shadows it.. it's the two faced politicians.. and soulless billionaire CEO's that are booking themselves a flight straight to hell..

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    1. Yes, people are mostly good and you are right, we so rarely hear about the good and mostly about the bad. I think because I expect people are going to have compassion for others it floors me when someone turns out to be a rotten human being. And so blatantly, so smugly.

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