Meg Whitman
In my adventures in journalism, I once met a brother who told me that the most important lesson he had learned in business school was the number one goal of a corporation is to maximize profits. And corporations are supposed to do this, even it means discarding employees, engaging in immoral practice or selling deadly products
Now, understanding that philosophy is it surprising how Corporate America treats employees? Wake up American workers, your corporate bosses don’t care about you. Actually they really despise you, because unfortunately American workers demand half-decent salaries. They need them to pay back those huge college loans and keep buying those products that drive America’s consumer economy.
But over the last decade or so, Corporate America has made a concerted effort to drive down wages or limit worker benefits. First it was retirement, which morphed into the Ponzi scheme called 401ks, then it was health care benefits, which are sinking faster than Lindsey Lohan’s reputation. Now it’s actual salaries, which have been either stagnant or going down for years.
The recent trend is to fire employees and use those savings to reward share holders. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, “In many cases, bosses told panicked workers who were still on the job that they had to take pay cuts or cuts in hours, or both. And raises were out of the question. The staggering job losses and stagnant wages are central reasons why any real recovery has been so difficult.”
Some companies have even taken this one step further by turning former paying jobs in to internships, where they don’t have to pay employees anything. What could be better than having an employee who works for free?
Considering the many sins of Corporate America -- outsourcing, cutting benefits, age and racial discrimination and dishonest accounting, as done by Goldman Sachs, Enron and Tyco -- how can we be expected to trust these people to run the government?
However, there seems to be a move, led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, towards electing former corporate titans to office. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is running neck and neck with former California Gov. Jerry Brown for the job of CEO of California. And Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is challenging Sen. Barbara Boxer for her seat.
Those on the right argue that CEOs will bring a business-like attitude to government and help get the state running more efficiently. But having seen Corporate America’s practices why would we want to let this people near the halls of power? Consider budding California politicians Fiorina and Whitman.
Whitman has poured $90 million of her personal funds into the race for California governor and she says she is prepared to spend $150 million. All this for a job that pays $200,000? If Whitman is the smart business woman she claims to be, I can guarantee that she intends to recoup that money. She has also said she plans to help get California out of the red by laying off up to 40,000 state employees. (Whitman also settled a physical abuse case for $100,000 while she was at eBay.)
Corporate America’s solution to a problem is to privatize it and outsource it. This also turns out to be a great new side business for those close to the politicians. If Whitman plans to outsource California’s government services, you can bet that some of her pals are lining up to get those contracts, much like Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who passed a tough, new immigration law, that would result in hundreds of new prisoners. She also has ties to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a company that operates private prisons, which would get millions of new federal dollars from housing detainees. This is crony capitalism at it’s worst!
As bad as Whitman is, she is streets ahead of Fiorina, who was fired from her job as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, where she slashed 30,000 jobs. CNBC listed Fiorina as one of the worst CEOs of all time. According to MarketWatch, Hewlett-Packard stocks plunged 50 percent under Fiorina and increased after she was fired. Fiorina walked away from Heweltt-Packard with a $20 million severance package.
Unfortunately Fiorina and Whitman are not the only two CEOs who have thrown their hats into the political arena. Former Columbia/HCA CEO Rick Scott is running for governor in Florida. Scott’s former company made it’s money denying patients’ health care, stiffing doctors and ripping off the government. According to Politifact, Scott was forced to resign after Columbia/HCA was hit with 14 felonies and charged a $1.7 billion fine for over billing the government for Medicare and Medicaid. Scott’s reputation is so bad that even the local GOP is trying to encourage him to stay out of the race.
So compared to this motley crew of conmen and abusers, isn’t your average slick-talking politician looking good right about now?
Now, understanding that philosophy is it surprising how Corporate America treats employees? Wake up American workers, your corporate bosses don’t care about you. Actually they really despise you, because unfortunately American workers demand half-decent salaries. They need them to pay back those huge college loans and keep buying those products that drive America’s consumer economy.
But over the last decade or so, Corporate America has made a concerted effort to drive down wages or limit worker benefits. First it was retirement, which morphed into the Ponzi scheme called 401ks, then it was health care benefits, which are sinking faster than Lindsey Lohan’s reputation. Now it’s actual salaries, which have been either stagnant or going down for years.
The recent trend is to fire employees and use those savings to reward share holders. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, “In many cases, bosses told panicked workers who were still on the job that they had to take pay cuts or cuts in hours, or both. And raises were out of the question. The staggering job losses and stagnant wages are central reasons why any real recovery has been so difficult.”
Some companies have even taken this one step further by turning former paying jobs in to internships, where they don’t have to pay employees anything. What could be better than having an employee who works for free?
Considering the many sins of Corporate America -- outsourcing, cutting benefits, age and racial discrimination and dishonest accounting, as done by Goldman Sachs, Enron and Tyco -- how can we be expected to trust these people to run the government?
However, there seems to be a move, led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, towards electing former corporate titans to office. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is running neck and neck with former California Gov. Jerry Brown for the job of CEO of California. And Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is challenging Sen. Barbara Boxer for her seat.
Those on the right argue that CEOs will bring a business-like attitude to government and help get the state running more efficiently. But having seen Corporate America’s practices why would we want to let this people near the halls of power? Consider budding California politicians Fiorina and Whitman.
Whitman has poured $90 million of her personal funds into the race for California governor and she says she is prepared to spend $150 million. All this for a job that pays $200,000? If Whitman is the smart business woman she claims to be, I can guarantee that she intends to recoup that money. She has also said she plans to help get California out of the red by laying off up to 40,000 state employees. (Whitman also settled a physical abuse case for $100,000 while she was at eBay.)
Corporate America’s solution to a problem is to privatize it and outsource it. This also turns out to be a great new side business for those close to the politicians. If Whitman plans to outsource California’s government services, you can bet that some of her pals are lining up to get those contracts, much like Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who passed a tough, new immigration law, that would result in hundreds of new prisoners. She also has ties to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a company that operates private prisons, which would get millions of new federal dollars from housing detainees. This is crony capitalism at it’s worst!
As bad as Whitman is, she is streets ahead of Fiorina, who was fired from her job as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, where she slashed 30,000 jobs. CNBC listed Fiorina as one of the worst CEOs of all time. According to MarketWatch, Hewlett-Packard stocks plunged 50 percent under Fiorina and increased after she was fired. Fiorina walked away from Heweltt-Packard with a $20 million severance package.
Unfortunately Fiorina and Whitman are not the only two CEOs who have thrown their hats into the political arena. Former Columbia/HCA CEO Rick Scott is running for governor in Florida. Scott’s former company made it’s money denying patients’ health care, stiffing doctors and ripping off the government. According to Politifact, Scott was forced to resign after Columbia/HCA was hit with 14 felonies and charged a $1.7 billion fine for over billing the government for Medicare and Medicaid. Scott’s reputation is so bad that even the local GOP is trying to encourage him to stay out of the race.
So compared to this motley crew of conmen and abusers, isn’t your average slick-talking politician looking good right about now?
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