Tapsearch Com EditorIs it a human nature crisis more than a money crisis
January 15th 2009 23:32
By Ray Tapajna, Editor and Artist at Tapart News and Art that Talks - Summary of Articles
Human Nature on Trial !
Is Human Nature on Trial in the Economic Storms of our times?
Is it a money crisis or a human nature crisis?
Who said we had to compete like this in a global economic arena! Workers are "commoditized" and put on a global trading block to compete with one another for the same job. This is the essence of so called Free Trade. Some time ago there was a study made by a large church association and they reported that 70 percent of church members find it very difficult to match up their beliefs with their daily work.
Globalization and Free Trade have added to the problem with workers being exploited for the sake of greed. However, this breakdown is not only from the top down but from the bottom up too.
Deflating the real tangible value of workers and labor is a devaluation of the intangible money products too. In the process , the value of human nature has been degraded too.
Lets first start at the bottom to the top - Who really drives the degradation of workers and money
They say it is only human nature to shop for the lowest price, but is it human nature to ignore all the conditions behind the cheaper prices. Do we as consumers have a tunnel vision of what workers have to endure so that we can enjoy a cheaper price. Are we actually shopping our way out of our jobs with blinders on.
On the broader level, human nature has been affected by a business climate with Free Trade and Globalization being the scams of the century. Free Trade primarily is not about trading products but trading human beings as workers. Workers are put on a world trading block to compete with each other for the same jobs. And in business and international trade, bribery is treated as a normal part of business. Tapart News and Art that Talks features Ethical Corporation Magazine which covers the need for ethics in the business world. See Corporate Ethics Challenged
One current example of the failures of human nature in the business world is Siemens, who buget $40 million to $50 million dollars for their bribery fund. Bribery within Siemens was so common , company officials had a nickname for it - "NA" - shorthand translation for German word meaning "useful money". The bribery transactions reached across the globe including locations across the USA. Siemens has paid $1.6 billion dollars to settle charges that it routinely bribed public officials to win contracts worldwide. This is only one example of what is happening in the global economic arena where anything goes. Ethical Corporation Magazine covers more incidents relating to unethical actions by corporations.
Compare this to a single mother making only a $100 a month being considered as employed under current unemployment reporting methods. Christians business men are also noted in their contributions and good works but their success dependent on using the working poor in their enterprises.
We have heads of large corporations who are praised for their charities with many using impoverished workers for gain. In our city, we have the head of a large retail chain, working in a soup kitchen on weekends. Many of his workers do not make enough money to afford much of anything and most likely some are in a soup line on the other side.
Presidents of the USA refer to workers in the USA as if they are a separate class. Announcing his retirement a Senator says he now wants to get closer to the people and looks forward to serving in a soup kitchen. No one asks what part he played in making soup kitchens a necessity.
A few years back, there were several articles in a top high tech magazine about companies like Microsoft and Intel going from full time workers to contract workers. One article reported that workers were ready to strike like the UPS drivers did year ago but did not have the power to do it. It was also reported that many of the high tech companies were firing workers approaching age 40 in order to by pass all the regulations that apply to workers over 40. Many rave about the Silicon Valley but in my years of traveling there, I found it to be a philistine place where anything goes as far as doing business.
The companies that tried to do it the right way were betrayed by other U.S. companies and smashed by unfair international competition. Some had invested everything they had to produce new innovations only to have them stolen by foreign companies in the name of Free Trade. It was reported that one third of all micro computers going into China had to smuggled in.
Then we have the money people on TV reporting about investments and even have TV Evangelists writing books on how to invest but none say anything about workers getting fired instead of hired for the sake of stock values and investment money. They report job cuts as an increase in productivity. Nothing is said about the remaining workers doing the work of two people. None connect the deflation of labor as a part of productivity.
A few years ago, I was offered a well paid job as a regional manager for a thriving system house who was undercutting everyone and excelled in their systems support service to large corporations. I was going to take the job until I found that they had a large center in a mid west city where they employed green card workers who worked around the clock for about one third of what an American worker would be paid. After six months to a year, these workers would return to their native country with the money they made in the U.S. with them. To me this was a sin and I could not do it.
As a trouble shooter supplier to industrial computer manufacturers, I evolved into this specialty because most of the components coming from overseas had to be qualified. However, foreign manufacturers changed the inner components for any reason and did not even put an "R" behind the product code to show there was a change. So even if a manufacturer in the US qualified the product after a six month field test, the product they would then purchased most likely was different inside.
Yes Human Nature is on Trial during in our times.
This is why we explore philosophy and religion in the global economic arena.
Where are they?
It is time to join economics and social justice together as one discipline.
After all, the Free Enterprise system is supposed to make it easier for mankind to be good. We gather together in communities, states and countries for the sake of an ideal life in balanced geopolitical settings.
Only local value added economies work. The term local may apply to more than just a local community but the best in value added economies are as local as possible. There are about five to seven levels of added value from the raw product level up through five or more levels to the retail or end user level. The money spent at the retail level, should recycle an economy over an over again. If parts of the add value stages are somewhere else in the world, the money goes there and does not stay in place to regenerate the economy. This upset the balance and the geopolitical settings. Power then takes over to force feed the process. It fails because the process is chopped up into pieces. The old Biblical saying " do unto others as you would have them do you" is altered to a global economic arena where anything goes.
Human Nature on Trial !
Is Human Nature on Trial in the Economic Storms of our times?
Is it a money crisis or a human nature crisis?
Who said we had to compete like this in a global economic arena! Workers are "commoditized" and put on a global trading block to compete with one another for the same job. This is the essence of so called Free Trade. Some time ago there was a study made by a large church association and they reported that 70 percent of church members find it very difficult to match up their beliefs with their daily work.
Globalization and Free Trade have added to the problem with workers being exploited for the sake of greed. However, this breakdown is not only from the top down but from the bottom up too.
Deflating the real tangible value of workers and labor is a devaluation of the intangible money products too. In the process , the value of human nature has been degraded too.
Lets first start at the bottom to the top - Who really drives the degradation of workers and money
They say it is only human nature to shop for the lowest price, but is it human nature to ignore all the conditions behind the cheaper prices. Do we as consumers have a tunnel vision of what workers have to endure so that we can enjoy a cheaper price. Are we actually shopping our way out of our jobs with blinders on.
On the broader level, human nature has been affected by a business climate with Free Trade and Globalization being the scams of the century. Free Trade primarily is not about trading products but trading human beings as workers. Workers are put on a world trading block to compete with each other for the same jobs. And in business and international trade, bribery is treated as a normal part of business. Tapart News and Art that Talks features Ethical Corporation Magazine which covers the need for ethics in the business world. See Corporate Ethics Challenged
One current example of the failures of human nature in the business world is Siemens, who buget $40 million to $50 million dollars for their bribery fund. Bribery within Siemens was so common , company officials had a nickname for it - "NA" - shorthand translation for German word meaning "useful money". The bribery transactions reached across the globe including locations across the USA. Siemens has paid $1.6 billion dollars to settle charges that it routinely bribed public officials to win contracts worldwide. This is only one example of what is happening in the global economic arena where anything goes. Ethical Corporation Magazine covers more incidents relating to unethical actions by corporations.
Compare this to a single mother making only a $100 a month being considered as employed under current unemployment reporting methods. Christians business men are also noted in their contributions and good works but their success dependent on using the working poor in their enterprises.
We have heads of large corporations who are praised for their charities with many using impoverished workers for gain. In our city, we have the head of a large retail chain, working in a soup kitchen on weekends. Many of his workers do not make enough money to afford much of anything and most likely some are in a soup line on the other side.
Presidents of the USA refer to workers in the USA as if they are a separate class. Announcing his retirement a Senator says he now wants to get closer to the people and looks forward to serving in a soup kitchen. No one asks what part he played in making soup kitchens a necessity.
A few years back, there were several articles in a top high tech magazine about companies like Microsoft and Intel going from full time workers to contract workers. One article reported that workers were ready to strike like the UPS drivers did year ago but did not have the power to do it. It was also reported that many of the high tech companies were firing workers approaching age 40 in order to by pass all the regulations that apply to workers over 40. Many rave about the Silicon Valley but in my years of traveling there, I found it to be a philistine place where anything goes as far as doing business.
The companies that tried to do it the right way were betrayed by other U.S. companies and smashed by unfair international competition. Some had invested everything they had to produce new innovations only to have them stolen by foreign companies in the name of Free Trade. It was reported that one third of all micro computers going into China had to smuggled in.
Then we have the money people on TV reporting about investments and even have TV Evangelists writing books on how to invest but none say anything about workers getting fired instead of hired for the sake of stock values and investment money. They report job cuts as an increase in productivity. Nothing is said about the remaining workers doing the work of two people. None connect the deflation of labor as a part of productivity.
A few years ago, I was offered a well paid job as a regional manager for a thriving system house who was undercutting everyone and excelled in their systems support service to large corporations. I was going to take the job until I found that they had a large center in a mid west city where they employed green card workers who worked around the clock for about one third of what an American worker would be paid. After six months to a year, these workers would return to their native country with the money they made in the U.S. with them. To me this was a sin and I could not do it.
As a trouble shooter supplier to industrial computer manufacturers, I evolved into this specialty because most of the components coming from overseas had to be qualified. However, foreign manufacturers changed the inner components for any reason and did not even put an "R" behind the product code to show there was a change. So even if a manufacturer in the US qualified the product after a six month field test, the product they would then purchased most likely was different inside.
Yes Human Nature is on Trial during in our times.
This is why we explore philosophy and religion in the global economic arena.
Where are they?
It is time to join economics and social justice together as one discipline.
After all, the Free Enterprise system is supposed to make it easier for mankind to be good. We gather together in communities, states and countries for the sake of an ideal life in balanced geopolitical settings.
Only local value added economies work. The term local may apply to more than just a local community but the best in value added economies are as local as possible. There are about five to seven levels of added value from the raw product level up through five or more levels to the retail or end user level. The money spent at the retail level, should recycle an economy over an over again. If parts of the add value stages are somewhere else in the world, the money goes there and does not stay in place to regenerate the economy. This upset the balance and the geopolitical settings. Power then takes over to force feed the process. It fails because the process is chopped up into pieces. The old Biblical saying " do unto others as you would have them do you" is altered to a global economic arena where anything goes.
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