Greed

Yes CJ, its story time with Gerry again.

A number of months ago, some of my old chums suggested I write about greed, after my post on the HST. One really can’t discuss greed without quoting from “Wall Street” the immortal words of Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gecko;

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

Johnny Silver (Hood) started the conversation saying he would love to see something about corporate greed. Jim Grant followed that comment with the opinion that there is no corporate greed, only greedy people within these corporations.

Although it may seem like I disagree with my buddies, I am taking their point and moving it along further, much like Jim did with John’s original thought. I do agree with Jim that only persons can be possessed of human foibles or virtues, but I think he would initially disagree with my postulating that basic greed, wanting, is a virtue.

Wanting to be swifter, higher, stronger is good. It was good enough for Pierre de Coubertin. You see, this is the Olympic motto, proposed by de Coubertin in 1894 and adopted for the Paris games in 1924.

One can also make the argument that fame is also a good motivator. Wanting to be famous has given us some great politicians; Obama, Trudeau, Lougheed, Bourassa. Unfortunately, with politics some bad comes with the good. It hurts not to, but I won’t delve into the bad politicians list. I do not, and will not, ever say that fame is the only motivator for those who attain fame, but it is one of them.

Wanting becomes greed when it becomes an obsession. Greed is one of the 7 deadly sins when it is blind or uncontained wanting. When our ethics (knowing and choosing between good and bad) are overcome by our wanting, you have greed.

My experiences that have left their mark and have me made what I am because I have responded to them. These choices now shape me and allow me to demonstrate to my staff what I think is the right way to behave. As well, my superiors are afforded the opportunity to reward or recognize behaviors they approve of, or conversely admonish me for behaviors they do not support. Not all of these signals are overt; body language and intonation are a large part of how we communicate.

So John & Jim, Enron was not greedy, but Kenneth Lay et al were. Enron, its board of directors, and its management were responsible for fomenting bad corporate ethics, and promoting to their upper management levels, people whose judgment allowed their wanting to become greed; Ken Lay et al.

Ethics, or the lack thereof was responsible for the fall of Enron. And it was infectious because it spread to their audit firm , Arthur Anderson, at the time one of the top 5 audit firms in the US. Once exposed to the light of public scrutiny, neither could survive. There are many other examples, even some north of the 49th parallel, but I only need one to make my point.

The US sub-prime mortgage was/is rife with thousands of other examples to make my argument, but boiled down to the catalysts, we have greedy bankers, credit rating agents, investment advisors, and legislators. All these greedy individuals directed their companies, and their lobbyists to change the rules. Unfortunately, Alan Greenspan, George W Bush, and their administrations allowed themselves to be duped. Greed? Pride? Who knows.

In recent weeks, Canada’s banks were concerned that we might experience our own bubble in real estate. Although none were brave enough to be seen as the voice of reason, and thus the decliner of mortgages, they implored the Minister of Finance to change the rules, and be the bad guy.

This resulted in a win-win-win situation. We have reasonable qualifications for a mortgage for both down payments and interest rates. The banks are not seen as the bad guy because they manipulated the government into enacting the changes. And finally, the Minister of Finance gets to appear ministerial by doing exactly what the banks told him to.

Bloody good thing our bankers’ ethics more closely match our own, instead of the ethics of the bankers south of the border. Pity that our politicians are so easily manipulated on either side of the border.

So Mr. Gecko, greed is not good. Wanting is good, but needs to be guided and marshaled by our ethics. Our ethics are only of use if we are capable of knowing the difference between good and bad AND do not cross that line. Then we are in company of Abraham Lincoln and not Kenneth Lay. Right Tiger?

Cheers folks!