Perhaps what makes our nation great is our dedication to freedom. Perhaps what makes our nation unique is our dedication to individual liberty.
What makes our nation powerful, though, is greed.
We are a capitalistic country, built on the tenants of free enterprise and the ability capitalism grants to each individual to move from one social class to another simply by working hard enough and thinking smart enough.
I do not intend this column to be solely bashing on capitalism, though the heart of the problems I speak about are the flaws of capitalism.
Capitalism is most decidedly a double-edged sword; it has provided our economy strength and allowed us to become the only super-power left in the world. It defeated Russian communism when it was shown we could spend farther into debt than a communist system could.
It has given us the money and power to develop the latest technology for both war and play, which has created more money and made more technology – you get the idea. This system has a dark side though.
It is greed which leads companies like Enron to over-inflate their profit statements and dodge taxes. Their stock rises and their CEOs benefit immensely, as most of their bonuses are in stock options primed to make millions if the company worth jumps on Wall Street.
The CEOs profit and the workers lose everything. Even if the story is not as tragic as Enron, the employees certainly do not see all the benefits of the company’s increased worth.
Over the past 10 years, the average workers salary rose just 2 percent above inflation costs. During the same economic boom of the ’90s, CEOs saw their pay rate rise hundreds of percentage points over the inflation rate.
In fact, if minimum wage rose at the same percentage rate as CEO pay over the past decade, it would now be well over $20. As the economy “slides,” employees are told their will be less benefits, less bonuses, less coverage – just plain less.
But, CEO pay slid a scant 2.8 percent on average. Many of the biggest CEOs “salary” pay was reduced, but their bonuses, intended to be a reward based on company performance, only increased.
Coke and CISCO systems are good examples of a company’s worth falling, where CEO bonuses grew.
It is greed that has slowly destroyed politics in this country. Whether it wears away at political integrity in a case like Dick Cheney who, before becoming the Vice President, sat on the board of many energy companies.
He was the CEO of Halliburton Oil, a company now up for investigation by Congress. Is there really a question of whether or not he would help them once elected?
The real way greed is slowly destroying America is not with the richest 1 percent, nor with the lying politician. Greed manifests itself as Americans obsessed with grande lattes and SUVs.
It shines through with our need to always have the most, the best, the newest, the fastest car, computer or toaster. It really doesn’t matter what it is, we all just know we need more of it.
We clamor for more wide-screen, digital surround sound, high-resolution, HDTV toys to make distractions more real than the ugly truth around us.
The truth being that greed has replaced freedom or liberty as the most important American virtue.
Vincent Venturella is a junior in philosophy. He can be reached for questions or comment at [email protected].
