TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Doesn't Anyone Apologize Anymore?

ADVERTISEMENT

By BUD MORGAN Guest Column

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 24, 2008

The news has been filled with examples of taxpayer giveaways to banks, investment companies, giant insurance companies and the oil-rich country of Iraq. Now along comes a need to provide a $17 billion lifejacket to mismanaged auto corporations.

The numbers of dollars in these massive giveaways and loans are so huge that they are unfathomable. It is so difficult to imagine a figure of over $1 trillion just thrown into the wind. As billions of these dollars are given to the financial companies, they use a paltry $1.6 billion for bonuses and golden parachutes for the corporate big shots, the same big shots whose unadulterated greed placed this nation and the world into the mess in which we now find ourselves. Of course, they had a little assist from our past two presidents and members of Congress.

It should not be startling news to anyone that, while major corporations lay off hundreds of thousands of blue collar and mid-management personnel, they still manage to sweeten the coffers of those at the top of the corporate ladder. This practice is called rewards for failure. This sickening practice has been with us for decades upon decades.

Most of us have heard of hard-working families who are forced to choose between health care and food, between rent and gasoline and between warm clothes and a host of other bills. I read about a widowed grandmother who works 70 hours per week at two jobs, in order to support a grandson who was tragically wounded in Afghanistan. A manufacturer of auto parts in the Midwest recently placed 1,500 people in the unemployment lines. The employees came to work one morning, and the employer had posted a letter at the gate telling them not to report to work. Additionally, the letter stated that the identified employees were forbidden to enter the plant to retrieve their belongings. The plant is still operating. The CEO and all other upper management staff continue to work there, with no cut in their salaries or benefits.

Private enterprise is permitted to send American jobs to foreign countries in order to satisfy stockholders and enhance their bottom line. The millions of American workers, who have been cast aside to assuage the greed of the corporate board of directors, are more than mere numbers on spreadsheets. They are and have been the backbone of American industry. Who explains this "business rationale" to those unfortunate workers who have lost their livelihoods?

The aforementioned are not isolated examples. They have become the norm in our society. The powers that be, rule. The working class suffers. We are not moving ahead, at warp speed, toward a great and wonderful capitalistic society; rather, we are falling backwards into the abyss of the feudal society of earlier history.

Of course, those apologists for the upper class in private industry point out that many of these top corporate officers must make the hard decisions to ensure the success of these vital industries. No one can really disagree with such a point. However, is it necessary for these mega-corporate executives to have in their job descriptions a requirement to refrain from apologizing for the severe economic hardships that are foisted upon so many struggling people?

Not in my memory has there been a time when those in power are so unwilling to utter the simple words, "I'm sorry" or "I apologize." Neither has there been a period of our history in which those simple words were so profoundly justified. Members of Congress and the past two administrations have been more than "asleep at the wheel" during the period of time leading up to this colossal economic collapse they have betrayed the trust of loyal people. Contemporary politicians often use the famous quote by Harry Truman "The Buck Stops Here," but they daily avoid the practice of that famous statement. They have placed political power, greed and ideology above their constitutional responsibility to the voting public. In times past, they would have deserved to be taken behind the wood shed and introduced to the real collective will of the American people.

If I have led anyone to believe that the self-responsibility that I address in this column is limited to corporate executives or politicians, then I truly apologize. Each time a doctor gives the wrong treatment for a patient's illness or injury, an apology should be given. Each time a carpenter makes a construction error, an apology is warranted. Each time a lawyer gives faulty advice, and apology is appropriate. Certainly, each time a journalist misrepresents the facts, an apology is in order.

No one is perfect. Mistakes are part of being human. However, an important component of honorable human character is to take responsibility for one's actions. In these dark economic times where the basic ingredients of a society are being ripped apart, it seems to me that we need a healthy dose of self-responsibility. It may not improve our situation, but it surely gives us hope.

Bud Morgan lives in Avon Park.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT