Does anyone else see a corollary here?
When I was a much younger man, I made my living, working for a company that made paper. Very good paper! The company was a highly preferred employer in my area. It was a "family" owned company and it soon became evident that every time one of the "kids," graduated from College, high school, Jr. high school, or was successfully potty trained, he was made CEO or chairman of the board of directors.This company was originally in timber and lumber. It branched out into pulp, paper, Millwork (doors, windows, sashes and the like), plastic pipe, and finally investments!
For a lot of years we were told that the company was trying to decide what business they wanted to be in. In the decision making process, while trying to improve their position in the global marketplace, we were told that we needed to be "retrained," to fit our comming role in that world marketplace. Our re-education was begun by a visit from the corporate home office, by a vice president, a facilitator they called him! In our first session he introduced himself, gave us a bit of company history, and then amazed us all with several magic tricks! With nothing "up his sleeve",nothing in his heart, and very little more in his head, with a simple snap of his fingers and a few magic words, he transformed each and every one of us from drone, grunt, rotating shift working, hourly paid, clock punching, EMPLOYEES, into CORPORATE ASSOCIATES, who worked rotating shifts, punched a clock, and got paid by the hour! He then produced a brightly colored handkerchief, dried his forhead, maybe even a tear and with another snap of his fingers and more magic words he instantly FROZE our wages for another seven years! Being the "showman" that he was, he then, right before our eyes, in the blink of an eye, shrunk our insurance coverage AND! At the same time,with no assistant, raised our premium! He made a couple of "floating holidays" disappear, along with "summer employment for "the children of corporate associates"! Knowing now, that he had amazed and mystified us beyond our wildest dreams, he then asked a question. "What is the purpose of our business?",he queried. Dumfounded we all looked at each other and replied in unison, "To make the best paper in the world!" "El wrongo new corporate associates!" he countered, "The purpose of our business is to make MONEY! And it is my job here, to change that paradigm!"
And with that, the paradigm was changed! The company no longer produced "very good paper," The company produced money! Selling off spec, job lot junk. As much of it as dilapidated, unmaintained equipment and stressed out "corporate associates" could push across a machine! The people who wanted "very good paper" went elsewhere. So the company went into the industrial real estate business To make money! Sold all the mills, with inventory, for much less than they were worth, to people who raped the mills, made a bundle and shut them down!
The corollaries of which I speak, concern our government and our church. It seems to me that our government is no longer mindful of the fact that it is in the buisness of governing people like you and me. In governing the likes of you and me, I consider that it(government) should protect us from the likes of the "fourteen" year old (I think he was shaving!) who changed my paradigm! Instead they curry favor with people who want to change all paradigms (or is it paradigmi), to fill corporate pockets amd preserve it's elected aristocracy! When my mill finally closed, I was not too worried because my retirement was protected by the U.S. Government! As it turns out the Pension Benefits Garranty Corporation is just that! Pensions have a way of shrinking when Corporations are "minded" by corporations. More magic?
It would seem that the church has "changed it's paradigm" also! "Go ye forth and teach ye all nations!" Has changed to "Lets go see if we can amass a large enough body of "believers" to make a difference in our tax liability in that area! Maybe we can even form a political body large enough to msrket some of our more profitable tenets and precepts. Dispensations and indulgences should be the hot movers with the right spin!
"Peter, thou art rock! And upon this rock I will build My church!" That changed to, Upon this rock I will build My Sovereign State! My private army to send to all nations to capture and hold, for My Sovereign State, any and all real estate it (My Sovereign State) shall deem "Holy".
"Render unto Ceasar, that which is Ceasars! And to God, That which is Gods!" is now! "Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasars, as long as it supports the corporate image! Don't worry about God! Our branch offices assure them He's on our side!"
"Whatever sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them. What ever sins you shall retain they are retained!" This one never came with a caveate pertinent to "self absolution" or recidivism!
Does any body else see this stuff? Or should I be praying for a cure for my insanity?
Sylvester, 7up, I realize
Sylvester, 7up,
I realize that I should stick with the issues at hand, forgive me, I have a story to tell!
I have a dear friend. A quite brilliant fellow, with a Masters in Electrical Engineering, who was a research scientist at a National Laboratory for more than a decade. He is also the victim of a TBI. (Traumatic Brain Injury) Subsequent to a motorcycle accident about 20 years ago. He suffers ataxia,(walks funny), aphasia(talks funny), poor fine motor control, ADHD, low executive function (organization of any thing)! This man wrote his Masters Thesis during his recovery period!
Of late, he has begun to experiment with magnetism, subsequent to his discovery of the existance of the TOE (the "Theory Of Everything). for his experiments he purchased a large number of very powerful magnets. Neodymium, I think they are called. He called me upon reciept of these magnets and exclaimed great joy at their power. I counseled him t be very careful! One was a metallic block about 3x2x1/2" It was stated that upon attachment to ferrous metal, approximately 560 lb/ft would have to be applied to free it.
I took him to the Dr. the other day and when I arrived at his apt. he was ready to go, in a tank top, shorts with big cargo pockets and tennies. His living room,usually a mass of computers wires and hard ware now contained a small lathe, a drill press, a bench grinder and open tool boxes. As we walked to the front door I heard a distinct "snap" and "clink"! I followed the "audible" to find a fourteen inch weed popper and an eight inch pair of pliers hanging on his left cargo pocket. Inside which was the 2x3 magnet wrapped in a paper towel! I helped him remove the tools and we got into the car and went to the Drs. office. When he got into the car he slid in from right to left! At the Drs. office he slid out left to right and stood up turning to his right. The magnet in his pocke grabbed the door and would not let go. When I got there he looked like he was doing a very proper "curstey", holding at least the left side of his shorts out! We got him loose and he saw the doctor. On the way back to the car I told him, "If that magnet "sticks you to the outside of the car, I'm just gonna "drag you home!" He gave me the magnet!
He is my friend!
The company man... You are
The company man... You are right in a way. We make our own idols and I do detect a new idol emerging. Look at the respect given to the deaths of Mother Teresa,JP11, and to a lesser extent Tim Russert and Paul Newman.. these people were respected for the quality of their lives. Bill Gates.T Boone Pickens,Bono, and the Oracle of Omaha are now getting more respect since they started adding quality to the measure of their lives. Unfortunately the media still tries to hold out Paris Hilton,the Donald,The CEO who earns [steals] millions and present them as idols.
Yes, I absolutely see "this
Yes, I absolutely see "this stuff". You are not crazy, you have a conscience formed in the belief and expectation of integrity, the integrity that puts people first, not money, not institutions.
From the time of the de Medici popes, the Roman Catholic Church, our Church, has gone the whole way of corporate mercantilism. Feudalism, colonialism, and corporate consumerism are cut fom the same expolitive cloth.
The collapse of Wallstreet should be a sign and wake up call also to Church, a call to change from its complicity in the corporate consumerist paradigm. Oh yes, I expect there will be righteous, indignant response that defends the Church; so much for talk, where is the walk?
I definitely see "this
I definitely see "this stuff." I've lived long enough to see that a company in the 1970's provided health care with no additional cost, life insurance, a pension, sick days, vacation time, regular breaks and a lunch break. Now one is lucky to just find a job at an acceptable hourly rate. Forget about the benefits, breaks, sick days, vacation time, medical insurance. The new motto is "less is more." But it doesn't mean less stress or less responsibility or accountability for people at the bottom and middle of corporations or small to medium sized family run businesses.
I've also encountered the situation in which whole sections of companies were laid off n the early 1990s from corporate reorganizations and take-overs in which businesses rolled over their assets like speculators in the real estate industry in order to make a huge profit. Essentially for about every FIVE people that were let go they were replaced by ONE person who had to do the work of FIVE people. Let me tell you, that's a lot of multi-tasking and paper shuffling. Talk about stress. Oh, you could take a break or lunch, at the risk of getting a lower performance appraisal, hence no annual pay increase. All the while the fat cats at the top are swimming in money, squandering the profits in speculative investments while the employees wonder when the next "reorganization" will take place. We'd hear rumors all the time before something actually happened.
This past week Washington Mutual – “WaMu was seized by federal regulators and sold to JP Morgan Chase & Co. Sept. 25.� The CEO of WaMu was new to his position for only a few weeks. He “would be entitled to $19.1 million in severance and bonus pay.� That’s about $1 Million a day for his services. Nice job Mr. CEO. Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/09/29/daily24.html
Business has become less about business to provide a worthwhile service to being all about the "almighty dollar" for those only at the top. This country has become a nation instead of BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE, to a nation that is by the Corporations and for the Corporations. So yes, I see "this stuff." You are right on the money, so to speak. What is crazy is that it has been going on for way too long and getting increasingly greedier. The bubble has burst and the bailout will only serve to put air in a flat tire that has no treads left. All we need is a snow storm and these businesses will flip over and crash again.
I guess we'll see what's in the "bail out" package tonight, if one is passed. It will reveal whether or not there is some semblance of sanity left in government.
As for the Church, aside from some words in some paragraphs in the Catechism written in favor of workers and some statements by Popes, in this country the action we most hear about in the election process from our Church leaders is not about the immoral activity or immoral direction of corporatization, or militarization, or war, or poverty, expensive and deteriorating medical care, but a few noisy bishops whining about the abortion issue and wanting to deny Communion to VP candidate Joe Biden and anyone who votes for him. I've written about this in another thread that I wrote yesterday. Now, in light of the reality politically, it could be said that is what is truly out there on the margins of political "insanity."