Archive for the ‘Ethics-general’ Category
September 13, 2011
Jack Marshall raises an interesting ethics issue here, as he does so often in his Ethics Alarms. This time it’s the conflict between empathy and justice. He explains how the Golden Rule can get us into some uncomfortable ethical conflicts. He writes,
‘Empathy is considered an ethical virtue for good reason: it is at the core of the Golden Rule. A person without empathy is less likely to put himself or herself in the other person’s place. The criminal justice process, however, is not a good fit for the Golden Rule. In the place of a guilty criminal, I would still probably want to be pardoned, set free, and given a second—or third, or fourth—chance to be law-abiding.”
Marshall defends Gov. Rick Perry’s answer at last Wednesday’s Republican debate to moderator Brian Williams’s question whether Perry was troubled by the idea that there might have been some innocents among the 234 people executed while Perry was Governor. After the audience cheered the grisly tally, Perry answered:
“No, sir. I’ve never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which — when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, (more…)
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Tags:Brian Williams, death penalty, empathy, ethical conflicts, ethics, Ethics Alarms, executions, Golden Rule, humanity, Jack Marshall, justice, leadership, Republican debate, Rick Perry, Supreme Court, Texas
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics | Leave a Comment »
September 1, 2011
You’ve no doubt heard that half of federal tax filers pay no income tax. That’s part of the argument that we shouldn’t raise taxes on the rich. It’s also part of a despise-the-poor argument, like the one made by Curtis Dubay, senior tax policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“We have 50 percent of people who are getting something for nothing.”
It’s true that the poor pay no federal income tax. But it’s also a lie—a big one.
The truth is the poor pay taxes at a rate nearly that of the rich—the reverse of the way we usually think of our tax system as “progressive.” They don’t pay federal income tax, it’s true. But they pay state and local taxes at a higher rate than the rich. (more…)
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Tags:Curtis Dubay, ethics, federal income tax, free ride, Heritage Foundation, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Social Security and Medicare taxes, something for nothing, state and local taxes, taxes on the poor, very rich, working poor
Posted in Ethics-general, Finance, Government, hypocrisy, Politics | 2 Comments »
August 30, 2011
I’ve discovered that many corporate ethics officers don’t really have time for ethics, because they’re up to their necks in compliance training and issues. As important as compliance is—and it’s vital, especially, to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and with Sarbanes-Oxley—it isn’t ethics.
Ethics is the Golden Rule, telling the truth, and other non-legal mandates. That’s my passion: ethics, to live it and to teach it. That’s what was behind the book that Mick Ukleja and I wrote, and it’s what I try to teach at the University Of Redlands School Of Business.
So here’s my proposal: if you provide the audience I’ll visit your place of business and do a one-hour seminar on ethics, really ethics. Here’s a brief synopsis:
The Ethics Challenge: Essential Skills for Leading and Living
This is unlike any mandatory ethics training: no talk about FCPA, SEC, or DOJ. It covers what it means to behave ethically, and how that differs from merely behaving legally or in compliance with the rules. I start with the basics: keep your word and follow the Golden Rule. I finish with three essential skills for living and leading. These skills are easy to describe, not so easy to live, but living them will sharpen one’s ethical sensitivity and make it easier to keep strong and to follow one’s good intentions.
I’ll do the seminar pro bono; if it’s out of the LA commuting area I’ll ask you to cover my reasonable expenses.
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Tags:Business ethics, compliance training, corporate ethics officers, ethics, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Golden Rule, good intentions, mandatory ethics training, Mick Ukleja, pro bono, Sarbanes-Oxley, The Ethics Challenge, University Of Redlands
Posted in Business ethics, Ethics-general, Organizational | Leave a Comment »
August 29, 2011
Americans believe in fair play. That’s why we’re outraged when a ballplayer cheats. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa went from American heroes to pariahs overnight when we discovered that they were juicing. That may be why voters switched from Kerry to Bush when we learned that The New York Times had used a forged document on the eve of the 2004 election to “prove” that President Bush had pulled family stings to escape being drafted for Vietnam.
Unfair play may account for some of Sarah Palin’s popularity, as we see her being treated shabbily by the media. And now the media seem set on building up sympathy for Michele Bachmann by distortions of her words.
Ironically, the disdain many rightfully feel toward Bachmann leads them to heap undeserved scorn on her, on top of the scorn her candidacy deserves. And this is helping her, not only with her right-wing base but also with moderate people who believe she’s being treated unfairly.
So some of the media are reporting that Bachmann blamed hurricane Irene on the big-government Democrats in—ugh—WASHINGTON, D.C. Here’s how it went at a widely covered campaign stop in Florida. (more…)
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Tags:2004 election, ABC, big government, CBS, CNN, D.C., ethics, fair play, forgery, hurricane Irene, Mark McGuire, Martin Bashir, media, Michele Bachmann, MSNBC, NBC-TV 4, President Bush, Sammy Sosa, Sarah Palin, St. Petersburg Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Nation, The New York Times., Time, Vietnam draft, Washington
Posted in Ethics-general, Media, Politics, Religion | 2 Comments »
August 28, 2011
Six days after the 9/11 attack on the United States, President George W. Bush went to the Islamic Center of Washington to publicly embrace Islam and, especially, American Muslims. He led Americans away from any idea of blaming Islam for the horror of 9/11. He repeated that theme over and over, making it a part of his second inaugural address, and returning to the Islamic Center for its rededication in 2007.
Bush’s healing message stands sadly in contrast to the ugly anti-Muslim rhetoric we hear lately from so many prominent Republicans, notably Newt Gingrich, Eric Cantor, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Peter King, and Frank Gaffney. To their credit Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have not joined in, but neither have they been very vocal in rejection of Islamophobia.
Ethics Bob never thought he’d be missing George Bush’s leadership, but on this issue he surely does. Bush’s statements are worth reading:
September 17, 2001, at the Islamic Center of Washington (complete remarks):
“Thank you all very much for your hospitality. We’ve just had a—wide-ranging discussions on the matter at hand. Like the good folks standing with me, the American people were appalled and outraged at last Tuesday’s attacks. And so were Muslims all across the world. Both Americans, our Muslim friends and citizens, taxpaying citizens, and Muslims in nations were just appalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens.
“These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it’s important for my fellow Americans to understand that. (more…)
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Tags:9/11 attack, American Muslims, anti-Muslim rhetoric, diversity, Eric Cantor, ethics, Frank Gaffney, George W Bush, Herman Cain, Islam, Islamic Center of Washington, Islamophobia. leadership, Koran, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Peter King, Republicans, Rick Perry, Rumi, Sermon on the Mount, Sinai, terrorists second inaugural address
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics, Religion, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
August 23, 2011
Athletic shoes used to be made in Massachusetts. Now they’re all made overseas; Nike’s come largely from Indonesia, where its workers* earn $4.00 per day, barely enough to pay rent, transportation, water, and two small bowls of rice and vegetables..
In the courses I teach on business ethics we wrestle with this question: is Nike’s behavior ethical? In Nike’s corner are those who believe what Milton Friedman wrote fifty years ago: that business’s only social responsibility is to increase profits while staying within the rules of the game. Their argument is buttressed by the fact that the workers take the jobs voluntarily, so they must think they’re better off than if they weren’t making Nikes.
On the other side of the argument are those who believe that it’s just not fair for Nike to sell a pair of shoes for $80 that cost roughly $16.25 to produce, including just $2.43 for labor. Were Nike to pay a decent wage to its Indonesian workers, say double the current rate, it would reduce its profit margin by only three per cent, from $63.75 per pair to $61.32.
One man, Jim Keady, has been hard at work for thirteen years selflessly trying to get Nike to treat its Indonesian workers decently. Jim has even lived in Indonesia on $4.00 per day to see if it’s really a “living wage.” It’s not.
Jim came by his passion to change Nike while studying theology at Saint John’s University, where he was fired from his job as assistant soccer coach (more…)
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Tags:athletic shoes, Business ethics, Christian charity, corporate social responsibility, ethics, Indonesia, living wage, Milton Friedman, Nike, Saint John’s University, swoosh, theology, Timberland
Posted in Business ethics, Ethics-general, International, Religion | 7 Comments »
August 21, 2011
Government ethics 101:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
These words of Thomas Jefferson are the core principle of government. Perhaps nothing defines being American so much as a belief in these three sentences. So every American must be joyful at the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
The bloodbath that the evil dictator promised hasn’t occurred. His troops defending his capital seem to have melted away as the rebel army drove, almost anti-climactically, into Tripoli.
What comes next no one can say. The people who united to oppose the dictator soon will have nothing so powerful to unite them. Qaddafi claimed—like Mubarak before him—that he (more…)
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Tags:al Qaeda, Assad, Ataturk, Castro, consent of the governed, Cromwell, Declaration of Independence, ethics, Idi Amin, Lenin, Libya, Muammar el-Qaddafi, Mubarak, Robespierre, Thomas Jefferson, Tripoli, U.S. military NATO allies, Washington
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, International, military, Politics | 3 Comments »
August 18, 2011
When the Council on American-Islamic Relations recently wrote Congressman Allen West (R-FL), urging him to cut ties with “anti-Islamic extremists, they explained,
“Muslims protect and serve our great country and are afforded equal protection under law. We shouldn’t have to defend our rights to worship freely or participate in the governing of our society.”
Congressman West responded with one word, in what the Miami New Times reporter wrote “might be the dumbest thing ever written on congressional stationery.”
Thanks to the Facebook page, “Americans Against Islamophobia,” for spotlighting this ugliness.
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Tags:Allen West, Americans Against Islamophobia, anti-Islamic extremists, civility, Council on American-Islamic Relations, equal protection, ethics, Miami New Times, Muslims, religious freedom
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics, Religion, Tolerance | 2 Comments »
August 15, 2011
The battle in Congress over America’s budget problem is both practical and ideological. People on the left argue that the budget can never be brought under control without a blend of tax hikes on the rich and spending cuts. On the right tea-party-fueled passions oppose any tax increase on the grounds that the rich are already paying more than their fair share and, moreover, that raising their taxes will stifle job creation.
Into this battle rides Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest person with assets of $50 billion. In an op-ed in today’s New York Times, headlined “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” Buffett demolishes both arguments against higher taxes for the super-rich.
First he explains how under-taxed the wealthy are: his tax rate of 17.4 % of taxable income is the lowest of the twenty people in his office, including his secretary. And that’s not uncommon for the super-rich. His summary:
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.
And as far as the argument that higher taxes will slow down investment by the super-rich in new jobs, America’s most successful investor puts it this way:
People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. (more…)
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Tags:capital gains, Congressional super-committee, deficit reduction, dividends, ethics, federal budget, income tax, job creation, middle class, New York Times, payroll tax, poor, Stop Coddling the Super-Rich, Sue Willett, super-rich, tax breaks, Tea Party, Warren Buffett
Posted in Business ethics, Ethics-general, Government, Politics | Leave a Comment »
August 13, 2011
Who would have thought that Fox News and MSNBC could raise us out of our funk over the hyper-partisan media and their destructive influence on political discourse in America?
First, Fox: As hosts of the Republican Presidential debate Thursday Fox might have been expected to throw fat pitches to the favored candidates. But reporters Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and Byron York* would have made the legendary Martha Rountree—creator of Meet the Press and no gentle tosser of fat pitches—proud.
Chris Wallace asked Gingrich about his entire campaign staff resigning, then asked Herman Cain about his claim that “communities have the right to ban Muslims from building mosques.” Byron York asked Bachmann to explain her statement that she was following biblical guidance to “Be submissive. Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands.”
And Baier may have settled the 2012 Presidential contest when he asked the candidates to raise their hands if they would walk away from a deal to balance the budget with a ten-to-one ratio of spending cuts to tax increases. I haven’t seen hands shoot up so fast since I asked in a staff meeting who could use my tickets to Sunday’s Redskins game. Every single candidate claimed absolute dedication to not raise ANY taxes, not even on the super rich, not even on Big Oil, not even on tax-exempt GE. And we know it because of Brett Baier.
And MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow turned away from hyper-partisanship to recognize the courage of four prominent Republicans who defied (more…)
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Tags:be submissive, Bret Baier, Byron York, Chris Christie, Chris Wallace, civil discourse, courage, debt ceiling, essential air service, ethics, ethics heroes, FAA shutdown, Fox News, global warming, Jon Huntsman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Martha Rountree, Meet the Press, Mitt Romney, mosques, partisan media, Rachel Maddow MSNBC, Republican Presidential debate, Sharia, ten-to-one ratio of spending cuts to tax increases
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Media, Politics | Leave a Comment »
Jack Marshall raises an interesting ethics issue here, as he does so often in his Ethics Alarms. This time it’s the conflict between empathy and justice. He explains how the Golden Rule can get us into some uncomfortable ethical conflicts. He writes,
Ethics Bob 