The Moral Crisis Of Modern Capitalism

This article is about the moment of silence that the OWS protesters gave in response to the news that Steve Jobs had passed away. Conservatives had a hard time understanding this because they did not understand that the protest was not about envy of the rich. It is really about fairness. In fact, William Buckley, who was a leader among conservatives, was irate about the rise in CEO compensation. He claimed that it was not based upon an equivalent rise in performance. Therefore, it was not consistent with his model of capitalism. The protesters may not share Buckley's desire for a purer form of capitalism but they sense that the system is rigged. They believe that Jobs earned his money and that many with similar wealth have taken advantage of a system that they have shaped to their advantage. Warren Buffet has been on many corporate boards and he claimed that they never let him on the compensation committee. He expected CEO's to earn their income by providing value to long term shareholders. Most corporate boards operate as if they were members of the CEO's family. Moreover, CEO contracts are pretty similar. Most have been developed and blessed by a small number of compensation consulting companies working in consort with lawyers that represent CEO's. Everyone would like to have similar employment contracts blessed by members of their family who fill in the numbers.