Archive for the ‘Ethics-general’ Category
August 6, 2011
I love Amazon.com. I buy all my books (electronic, of course) from them to read on my Amazon Kindle. I buy excellent coffee, all presents for grandchildren, electronic gadgets, and just about anything else. And thanks to Amazon Prime, after a yearly charge I get everything shipped for free.
Their customer service is amazing, too. Easy returns, and if you click on a link on their customer service page you’ll get a phone call from a person in seconds. Their prices are great. They don’t charge California sales tax, but California residents are liable anyway, so I estimate my on-line purchases and send the state a check.
But most people don’t. California estimates that it will lose $83 million this year in unpaid taxes on Amazon purchases, and $200 million from all on-line purchases. And the loss will grow as on-line sales continue their dramatic growth, crowding out traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.
I also love the University of California. Three of our four kids got low-cost, top-quality educations there. But today’s California kids don’t have it as good—the university is (more…)
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Tags:Amazon, Amazon Prime, ballot initiative, budget cuts, California sales tax, customer service, ethics, internet retailers, Kindle, on-line purchases, on-line sales, University of California, unpaid taxes
Posted in Business ethics, Ethics-general, Government, Retail | 1 Comment »
August 4, 2011
The only people happy about the battle over the debt ceiling are the pundits, because it gives them an audience and an opportunity to display their insights. Oh, and people close to the President, because they know he won.
Months ago, when John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were assuring everybody that whatever happened they wouldn’t allow the nation to default, President Obama stated his position: he wanted a clean extension that would carry the country past the 2012 election. He didn’t ask for a tax increase on zillionaires, or a deficit reduction—these should be tackled aside from the debt ceiling increase, which after all is only needed to allow the United States to pay its obligations, every dollar of which had been authorized by the Congress.
But Boehner and McConnell couldn’t control their members, especially the Tea Party members who wanted to use the debt ceiling as a bludgeon to smash government. The ceiling had been raised without controversy dozens of times before under Presidents and Congresses of both parties. The Republican threat was a repudiation of ethics, duty, and the Constitution. Still, the threat came.
In the end, and just in the nick of time, the President got what he had asked for: a clean bill that simply raised the limit enough to carry the country past the 2012 election.
You could be confused by the words about a super-committee to identify trillions in savings, or about triggers to force cuts. Here are the facts: (more…)
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Tags:2012 election, ” financial crisis, clean extension, debt ceiling, default, deficit reduction, ethics, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Obama, out years, pundits, super-committee, tax increase, Tea Party, triggers
Posted in Ethics-general, Finance, Government, Politics | 3 Comments »
August 4, 2011
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) has been criticized for appointing Sohail Mohammed, an American Muslim, to a New Jersey superior court. Yesterday he defended Mohammed, using words like ignorant, crap, baloney, and crazy to describe Mohammed’s critics. His statement was strong and inspiring for its passion and plain English.
Defending Muslims as patriotic Americans, and ridiculing the notion that Sharia law is a threat to America, is sadly rare in today’s Republican Party. Christie is an up-and-coming Republican politician, and his spirited defense of an American Muslim appointee will cost him many friends on the Republican right. America badly needs leaders who will stand up—like Christie—to the extremists in their parties.
Thanks to Jack Marshall and his Ethics Alarms blog for anointing Christie an ethics hero.
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Tags:American Muslims, Chris Christie, ethics, Ethics Alarms, Ethics Hero, extremists, Jack Marshall, New Jersey superior court, plain English, Republican Party, Sharia law, Sohail Mohammed
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Religion, Tolerance | 1 Comment »
August 3, 2011
As I read about the massacres in Syria–many hundreds, perhaps thousands of Syrians murdered by tanks, machine guns, helicopters, and artillery fired by their own Army, this picture keeps coming to mind–in March I was framing a photo of the National Museum in Aleppo when these little girls raced into my picture and posed. To me they’re the face of Syria.
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Tags:killings, Syria
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
August 2, 2011
Everybody talks about ethics but it seems nobody cares about it. The “ethics” talk is all about rules: bribery, conflict of interest, financial disclosure laws, nepotism, and the rest of the litany of rules of conduct that you can be fired or prosecuted for breaking.
If you subscribe to a Google alert for “ethics” you learned today that a key aide to the governor of Illinois was fined $500 and forced to resign for sending a campaign email on his state-issued cell phone. Or that the former Massachusetts State Auditor was fined $2,000 for by putting his unqualified 75-year-old cousin on the state payroll. Or that lobbyists are buying meals for Oklahoma lawmakers. That’s not about ethics, that’s about rules
Moreover, corporate ethics officers are so concerned with preventing criminal violations that they don’t have much (…any?) time for such things as the Golden Rule, arguing with the boss, or keeping one’s commitments. This became depressingly clear to me after I attended a meeting of ethics officers and academics. The meeting had focused on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for American companies to pay bribes overseas.
After the meeting I made an offer to the attendees that I thought they couldn’t refuse: (more…)
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Tags:bribery, campaign email, conflict of interest, corporate ethics officers, ethics, FCPA, financial disclosure laws, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Golden Rule, Google alert, lobbyists, Massachusetts State Auditor, Mick Ukleja, nepotism, Oklahoma lawmakers, Redlands School of Business, rules of conduct, Sarbanes-Oxley
Posted in Business ethics, Ethics-general, Media, Organizational | 9 Comments »
July 29, 2011
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) yields to no one in his determination not to saddle future generations with government debt. This is from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.
“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.
Walsh starts the video by saying, “President Obama, quit lying. Have you no shame, sir? In three short years, you’ve bankrupted this country.”
Walsh joins the ranks of family values politicians who have no family values.
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Tags:Chicago Sun-Times, child support, debt limit debate, ethics, family values, fiscal responsibility, hypocrisy, Joe Walsh, Obama, Tea Party
Posted in Ethics-general, hypocrisy, Politics | 1 Comment »
July 21, 2011
It’s hard to root root root for the home team when it’s led by bums. Like Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers. Back in May, in the closing minutes of the playoff game in which the Dallas Mavericks eliminated the Lakers, 122-86, Bynum committed one of the ugliest fouls in the history of the NBA.
The giant Bynum, seven feet tall and listed at 285 pounds, flattened the smallest player on the floor, J.J.Barea, six feet and 175 pounds, as he was going up for a shot and in a completely vulnerable position. The non-partisan announcers pronounced Bynum’s behavior “disgusting” and “bush league.” Bynum later apologized for the incident, and Laker fans were inclined to give the talented 24-year old another chance.
Yesterday NBC television cameras caught Bynum parking in a handicapped spot, in a parking lot that was half empty. The $15-million per year athlete wouldn’t walk a few extra feet, so took a parking space that was reserved for people who couldn’t easily walk the few extra feet.
High crime? No. Behavior that’ll encourage me to yell, “Hooray, Andrew”? No. How about “Go, Lakers!” Not while Bynum is on the team.
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Tags:Andrew Bynum, Dallas Mavericks, ethics, handicapped parking, J.J.Barea, Los Angeles Lakers, NBC television
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | 3 Comments »
July 19, 2011
The Pig, if I am not mistaken,
Supplies us sausage, ham, and Bacon.
Let others say his heart is big,
I think it stupid of the Pig.
This old Ogden Nash poem keeps rattling around my brain when I think about Christian Lopez, a 23-year-old, the Verizon Wireless salesman. Lopez caught New York Yankee Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit, and big-heartedly gave the ball to Jeter.
In return Lopez got from the Yankees four luxury suite tickets for the rest of the season, and three bats, three balls, and two jerseys, all signed by Jeter. There has been talk of the Yankees helping Lopez pay off his several hundred thousand dollars in college loans, as well as the tax bill the IRS is likely to present, since the IRS considers Lopez’s catching the ball to be taxable income.
What’s wrong with this picture: a young man, struggling to pay off college loans and support himself with a minimal-paying job, gives a gift—estimated to be worth $300,000 on the open market—to a baseball superstar whose salary for 2011 is $14,729,365?
While others may say Lopez’s heart is big, I think it stupid. But is there a pig in the story? How about Jeter, the gazillionaire who accepts a $300,000 gift from a fan who could only afford one of the cheap seats to see his Yankees play?
Jeter is widely considered classy. No sign of it in this story.
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Tags:3000th hit, Christian Lopez, class, college loans, Derek Jeter, ethics, IRS, New York Yankees, Ogden Nash, taxable income
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | 4 Comments »
July 18, 2011
The USA women’s soccer lost to Japan in the World Cup final on penalty kicks, but what a show they put on! It really seemed like watching a game, complete with sportsmanship and good feelings all around. No diving, no faking injuries, lots of smiles, and a helping hand whenever an opposing player was knocked down.
They played with incredible energy, outplayed the Japanese except when it came to the important area of getting the ball into the net, and were as gracious in losing as they had been earlier in winning. Megan Rapinoe’s speed and passing, Hope Solo’s goal-keeping, and Alex Morgan’s shooting, bode well for next year’s Olympics.
We hated to lose on a penalty shootout, but we were glad enough to get by Brazil on PKs, so maybe we shouldn’t complain. And if the USA team had to lose, who better to lose to than Japan. See you next year in London.
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Tags:Alex Morgan, Brazil, diving, ethics, faking injuries, Hope Solo, Japan, London., Megan Rapinoe, Olympics, penalty kicks, sportsmanship, USA women’s soccer, World Cup final
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Sports | 1 Comment »
July 18, 2011
Ethics Bob is always on the lookout for fake apologies, so when CNN reported that News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch had made a non-apology my senses sharpened: who better to nail than Murdoch, the genius behind Fox News’s right-wing propaganda machine. I wanted to disbelieve Murdoch’s acceptance of any responsibility.
Here’s the ad he ran in British papers last weekend:
The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account.
It failed when it came to itself.
We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred.
We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected.
We regret not acting faster to sort things out.
I realise that simply apologising is not enough.
Our business was founded on the idea that a free and open press should be a positive force in society. We need to live up to this.
In the coming days, as we take further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused, you will hear more from us.
(signed) Rupert Murdoch.
One could quibble with Murdoch’s use of “wrongdoing that occurred” rather then “wrong that we did,” or “hurt suffered” rather than “hurt we caused,” but that’s only a small quibble. It looks to me, and I think will look to most people, that Murdoch is accepting responsibility. And by not putting the corporate name under his signature he’s signifying that the responsibility is personal. Hooray (gulp) for him.
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Tags:apology, CNN, fake apologies, Fox News, News Corp, News of the World, non-apology, phone hacking, police bribery, Rupert Murdoch, We are sorry
Posted in Apologies, Ethics-general, Media, Politics | Leave a Comment »
I love Amazon.com. I buy all my books (electronic, of course) from them to read on my Amazon Kindle. I buy excellent coffee, all presents for grandchildren, electronic gadgets, and just about anything else. And thanks to Amazon Prime, after a yearly charge I get everything shipped for free.
Ethics Bob 