ccggenius12 said:
Currently enrolled in a business ethics course, so I'll leave these tidbits of knowledge for anyone who wants them.
1. Americans are far more likely to blame an individual's economic shortcomings on the individual, citing lack of skill/effort, poor work habits, etc. (71% of Americans, as opposed to 40% of Europeans)
2. Western Europeans are far more likely to blame the government for their economic shortcomings, citing a flawed system.
3. Because of the above, and because the majority believes that redistribution favors minorities, they support the current political system.
4. Because of this fact, an American is twice as likely to be poor than someone in Western Europe.
5. While there are in fact many jobs for those willing to work them, few provide a living wage, creating a situation where many full-time employees still cannot afford basic necessities.
6. Average salary for a Japanese CEO? 300k.
7. Contrary to beliefs about the comparative well-being of America's poor, 20 year-old US males rank 36th in the world for life expectancy. Women and infants rank 21st.
While all this is true, those protesters aren't exactly stepping up with solutions. Thus, it all comes across as an exercise in futility, as this is time that could be spent actually furthering their careers. Heck, if there truly are thousands of them, statistically, a few of them are bound to succeed.
For reference, my statistics were pulled from "Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases (Seventh Edition)", by William H. Shaw.
I want to add something about number 6.
All people earning more then 2,500,000 yen in Japan, and remember 1 yen is 1 cent, have to register with the government and their earnings are public knowledge. With that being said, there are a lot of CEOs we do not know the pay check of for one simple reason: They fall below this threshold and 'didn't make the list.' Even then, the CEOs of massive names, such as Sony and Nintendo, get paid only a few tens of millions (yen). Once converted you can count the millions using just one hand and often have a finger or two left over. Oh, and they took pay cuts of more then 10-15% when the recession started to make profits dip even slightly. You know, while the CEOs in the US where granting themselves millions in bonuses while their companies filed for bankrupts or received massive government handouts....
Yeah, I love to use the contrast between CEOs in Japan or even Europe when compared to their counterparts. Why? Number 1 on your list!
I am sick and tired of the US people seeming to believe that having lots of money means you are smart and talented and deserving of all that money. They just love to view everyone with money as 'self made millionaires' as each and every US citizen thinks if they believe it enough then it will happen to them. This mentality creates all sorts of problem, the least being that they are reluctant to do anything that might 'hurt the rich' because they believe they are either part of the rich if they make more then 100,000 a year or are just shy of creating the 'next big thing,' winning the lotto or some other fantasy that they will make millions with. Which is that thing we mistake for irony as the only place they will see that sort of money is in fantasies.
They defend these pieces of shit billionaire families that make our problems worse because... hell, money makes them better people, right?
Wow... you brought something out in me there.
In short, talent means squat when it comes to wealth. The vast majority with the most wealth where born into families already rich. Their family connections and wealth ensured they could slack off in the finest schools, do sweet fuck all with their lives and then be handed a job by 'a family friend.' These are far too many of these people in the upper class and yet people will defend the whole bunch of them with the argument that they 'earned' their position.
It really is not surprising these very same people then sign off on the largest pay hikes and bonus schemes. After all growing up with freedom to piss all over even the law and get away with it, with all past screw ups covered over by family connections or even rewarded for them, it only stands to reason these people turn out as they do. They simply believe they deserve those pay checks and bonuses, all because of their last name and blood line makes it so.
And the US people... cheer them on! They seem quite willing to say so-and-so family deserve the billions they have because they are 'skilled business people doing a hard job.' At least, they say that right up to the point they loose their homes and jobs in one scam or another, usually simply because the company needed to cut millions of jobs to artificially inflate the bottom line for a single quarter and stop the share holders from complaining about the CEOs new private 'company jet.'
Then the amazing thing happens, the rest of the people turn around and blame the person who just lost his job for being unemployed.