Money Versus Morality: A Nation in Need

For many years the upper echelon of society has functioned without hindrance in the top government positions and as senior executives within companies. These groups of people are relatively small and often interact with each other regularly. Year after year these groups have used the country like a personal business whereby outsourcing, tax breaks for the wealthy, and worker rights have eroded. The problem is that the foundation of the country has been so damaged that a fear of a depression is rising.

The public has little to no tolerance for self-serving wealthy individuals receiving all of the benefits at the expense of tax payers. Banks that were damaged due to their poor lending practices received "no questions asked" money from the government who stole this money out of the pockets of the citizens. Wall Street received benefit from the people of Main Street through the laws of the government enacted by likeminded wealthy individuals. Yet homeowners who are in default have their credit histories marked negatively for a decade while companies can simply write off bad debt with tax payer money. Something appears to be inherently wrong about this one-sided benefit.

Businesses and politicians have become removed from the needs of the people who put them in power. Capitalism only works well if all groups in society benefit. Yet study after study has shown that the value of wages earned by the average citizen is declining while wealthy individual incomes have been growing. The simple fact that banks lent money to people with poor credit and then received government money after these loans went bad indicates that pure selfish greed was the cause of the economic collapse.

Companies in the future should take into the account the needs of the average worker. No longer will businesses have public support for concepts such as outsourcing, laying-off, damaging employees, gutting retirement accounts, and producing products of inferior qualities overseas in order to earn more money. Scrupulous leadership practices will begin to incur serious public scrutiny as the general population becomes more skeptical and demands action.

A strong public image will mean taking care of the needs of the people. These public officials should become much better at balancing the will of the people with the needs of the organization to achieve homeostasis. They will have to find common ground where they have not found common ground before. Additional adherence to the concept of servant leadership will produce much more meaningful work relationships and worker loyalty.

In terms of organizational management, companies should focus more on aligning the worker's needs with the needs of the organization. Team work for corporate improvement and mutual interest will become more of the norm rather than a concept on the periphery. Likewise, leaders will adjust policies and procedures to better understand, listen to, and implement the will of the people within the organization. Both government and business elites will feel the pressure of the people who want growth as the economy moves forward.