Why ethics is important – again!

Quite a while ago I wrote a short piece about the importance of ethics. The importance of ethics today seems to be ignored, forgotten or, being charitable, it could be said that the idea is misunderstood. I now revisit this subject.

Just think about it – the basis of unethical conduct is usually injustice and dishonesty. This is often (in a corporate sense) covered by layers of “spin” – a public relations version of events. It is therefore sometimes very difficult to distinguish falsehood from the truth. And individually we all try to justify our actions in some way or another – no one over wants to be seen as “not good”. Companies, organisations and governments are no different.

As I pointed out in an earlier post a Melbourne court has heard explosive allegations from the whistleblower at the centre of foreign bribery allegations against senior officials at the two bank note printing subsidiaries of Reserve Bank of Australia (the RBA).

The whistleblower, Brian Hood, claims long-held concerns about kickbacks were steadfastly ignored and that the RBA was aware of them as far back as 2007. His statement also raised questions about the ethics and business culture of management and of his (unethical) treatment by the RBA – which I might say is typical of that visited upon all whistle-blowers

Then there is some recent news about Macquarie Bank employing “rubbery figures” in its financial statements! Banks never learn do they? I suppose that the temptation with all that money around is too great for many to withstand!

There is also some disquiet about the accounting practices at the ANZ Bank (one of Australia’s “big four” banks). Dear, oh dearie me!!

Now there are new allegations about more priestly paedophilia and child abuse in both the Catholic and Anglican Churches in Australia and in a former (now closed) Government run child hostel in Western Australia.

Recently there have been comments made by those who should know better – comments that cause anguish, cause anger, distress or just disbelief that any sensible person could make them!

•  Gina Rinehart (Australia richest woman, the heiress of Hancock Prospecting) said recently that Australians must become more productive to compete with “African mineworkers who will work hard for $2.00 per day” – now some of those mineworkers are striking (and dying) for more pay and better conditions!! Go figure.

• Then there is the appalling Florida pastor Terry Jones (he who caused uproar some time ago when he tried to conduct a public burning of the Koran) who said recently that he supported and promoted a film criticizing Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (this is the movie that has caused so much violence in the Middle East and around the world). He said the outbreak of violence should be rejected and is an example of the "true nature of Islam." If he thinks that Christianity has no history of extreme violence he must be delusional! Just think about the shocking cruelty perpetrated by the Crusaders; just think about the extreme violence in Northern Ireland; just think about the Spanish Inquisition; remember the “Final Solution” visited upon European Jews by the Nazis (who were at least nominally Christians – the Pope did not condemn them); remember the “ethnic cleaning” perpetrated by (presumably) Christian Serbs on Muslims in Bosnia  – all this in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace!!

Of course there is also money. Many people will go to the most extreme lengths to acquire and/or protect the money they have. And by extreme I mean extreme – abuse, slavery, injustice, theft, fraud and murder – unethical conduct all for the sake of money! People, institutions, organisations and governments will all, at times, seemingly do anything for money.

When it comes to religion there is no one, of any religious persuasion, who will not resort to violence when so moved to do so. When people think or believe they are given licence by God they willingly perpetrate the most extreme violence against their fellow beings! They believe that “my religion is better than yours”, therefore “I must be better than you”, therefore “God will approve of whatever I do”. Injustice, abuse, unethical conduct and the perpetration of extreme violence are all acceptable if it is believed that “God is on my side”!

Why, apparently, is it so difficult for us human beings to accept that we are all part of the Human Family? After all we all came out of Africa some five million years ago! All our imagining, thoughts, desires and attachments are all similar in that we all have a basic need for food shelter and clothing; this is the prime influence in our need for self expression and self-perpetuation and which gives, in fact, the evolutionary impetus for life itself.

We have to be forced to accept the fact that no one can achieve anything on their own. We need our fellow humans; nature forces us to include others in our plans and schemes. This is what our ego finds so hard to accept – this is what our ego resists – that we are no better (or worse) than millions of fellow wayfarers on our life’s journey.   

This is why it is so important to consider our fellow human beings FIRST; to always treat them in the same way that we would like to be treated. Failure to do this causes untold (and unnecessary) misery and is very definitely unethical.

Private School Funding

I have never understood why, in the Australian context, private (also known as independent) schools should receive tax payer’s money to support their students. Surely private/independent means just that? Surely someone who can afford the fees to send their child to a private/independent school does not need the support of tax payer funds? Parents (or guardians) of a student would, I presume, decide to send their child to a particular private/independent school because they agree with the philosophy, the status this may provide or the teaching methods of their chosen institution – and therefore agree to the entry conditions AND the fees charged.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Australian Government’s avowed aim that every child should receive a good education. This is as it should be. This is why there are government, or in the Australian vernacular – public schools, funded by tax payers.

So why add to the taxpayer’s burden by providing additional funds to private/independent fee charging schools from taxpayer’s money? The logic of this is beyond me – and also I might add, to my one loyal reader!

An alternative view of capitalism.

Having grown up and lived all my life within a Democratic, Capitalist System I know no other and am the beneficiary of the System in many respects but this does not mean that I am blind to its faults. Not at all! As my one loyal reader has pointed out there is much in a capitalist system that creates injustice – great disparities in income between the “rich” and “poor”, for instance. And greed. While greed is certainly not confined to the capitalist system it seems to offer greater opportunities – just recall the antics of Wall Street brokers and financiers in 2008. This was just pure greed – and look what happened! Millions of people forced out of work; millions of people forced out of their homes as (greedy) banks and mortgage providers foreclosed loans.

Then there is the globalisation of Capitalism. This is where my one loyal reader is greatly puzzled. Why, he asks, should Australians, as an example, be paying more for their bread just because there have been poor wheat harvests in Russia, Ukraine and the USA forcing world wheat prices to record levels? There is (currently) no shortage of wheat in Australia. There is (currently) no drought in Australia.

I agree. Our Australian (domestic) wheat price should not be set by financiers in Chicago or where-ever.

I know I will be told that the “free market” will set the price and that it will all balance out in the end. But the thing is that the market is not “free” and it never has been. Many American farmers receive subsidies; French farmers are paid not to plant crops; the Chinese Government keeps the value of the Yuan artificially low to encourage exports; God knows what the Russians and Ukrainians do but I am sure it is not strictly legal; dumping products (selling produce at below cost) happens world-wide; subsidies and other currency manipulations are common throughout the world and distort the “free” market. So the “free market” is not free at all.  

The same argument applies to the general price of any food product. It is never that there is an actual world-wide shortage of food. It is just that we waste so much and store so much that food is not available where it is needed most – mainly sub-Saharan Africa.

Food is often stored – removed from sale – by unscrupulous (greedy) “free-marketers” who will keep the food until the price has increased to a level that they feel is appropriate. This is wrong! To withhold food from starving people because the price is not high enough is immoral, appalling and plain wrong! Food is a basic human right and should never be withheld. To withhold food because some poor people cannot pay the price demanded is obscene.

This happens in a “free market”. This is “allowed” by the Capitalist system but still does not make it “right”.

Bank bashing is serving its end!

It is a pleasant change to have my beliefs and ideas vindicated! As my one loyal reader will know I have been hammering away for years about the culture fostered by bank management that serves shareholders before their customers.

I have always maintained that profits should be the result of “service” and not the other way around. It seems that some banks are waking up to this fact. For instance the CEO of Citigroup, Vikram Pandit, was recently reported to have said that, "Banks have to start serving clients and really serve them, rather than serving themselves." At last some good sense and vindicates what I have been saying for years!

This “novel” concept has received support from a very surprising source, Elizabeth Murdoch (daughter of Rupert of recent newspaper notoriety) has recently said “Profit must be our servant, not our master," adding that colleagues needed to accept that they had a responsibility to each other and not just the bottom line.She also said that "It's increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose - or of a moral language - within government, media or business, could become one of the most dangerous own goals for capitalism and for freedom”.

Wow! Well done Elizabeth. I could not have expressed it better myself!

When all is said and done how many banks actually know what providing a “service” really means? Using my old standby the Oxford English Dictionary “service” in this context – is defined as, inter alia, “An act of helping or benefiting another; an instance of beneficial, useful or friendly action; the action of serving, helping or benefiting another; behaviour conducive to the welfare or advantage of another.”

In the context of a bank I believe that a bank should look to helping and benefiting customers - and I do NOT mean shareholders. By customers I mean people like me – a depositor, someone with a mortgage or a loan. I do not believe that any bank actually understands the need for or promotes a culture of “service” (certainly not in Australia at any rate).  

A “customer” is locked into whatever they have signed up to, regardless of changed circumstances. The bank  is not interested in anything but the money – the “bottom line” – and the customer can go hang. This may be legally “correct” and according to the letter of the law but is it according to the “spirit” of the law? Is such a legalistic approach providing a “service” to the customer? It may “serve” the bank and please the shareholders but does it engender good will with customers? Does it engender a feeling of trust with customers? Does it promote the welfare of customers? Does such an approach actually help customers?

Of course not! Banks have a lot to learn. This is why I continue to bash banks.

Whistleblowing has its roots in Injustice!

As always I rely on my one loyal reader and the support I receive. I know that this reader is concerned about the increasing injustice reported daily. Injustice affects us all and has a toxic and corrosive effect on society generally.

People know when they are doing  wrong – lawyers, accountants, real estate agents milking Trust Accounts, for example. So do businesses. So do banks. So do Governments. So do religious organisations. They are all aware of wrong doing but they keep doing it!

As I have stated many times before the root of injustice is unethical conduct – people, businesses, governments either for personal gain, trying to gain unfair advantage or to avoid scrutiny or to cover-up some dubious conduct. This applies to all levels of human conduct.

Now we have the serious allegations (they are still just allegations) that a commercial subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia  has been offering bribes to encourage sales of the bank notes that it prints. This is the banker bank and is owned by the Australian Government! If the allegations are proved this will be a REALLY serious affair.

Also just recall the recent Olympic Games – taking drugs to gain an unfair advantage. Then there was the Tour de France – more drugs. Also of course there is the unethical conduct of banks and financial institutions – greed, manipulating interest rates, money laundering, betting on credit default swaps and fraudulent practices; the Catholic Church and paedophilia; businesses – poor customer service, greed, price gouging, squeezing suppliers to lower prices and general anti-competitive conduct; individuals involved in crime – be this “white collar” fraud, violence, sexual or physical abuse. Then there are the breaches of human rights by ALL governments (think Guantanamo Bay, Abu Graib and “renditions”; China and the Falun Gong and official corruption; the basket case that is North Korea; Russia with endemic corruption and Putin’s attempt to crush all dissent; Australia and the “stolen generation”, the treatment of asylum seekers and the Defence Force sexual abuse scandal – and so on and so on. The list is unfortunately endless).

This type of conduct, which hurts people either physically or emotionally, is often carried out by people who show a complete lack of empathy – an inability to feel what another person is experiencing. They show no remorse, are callous, have poor behaviour controls, are impulsive and fail to accept responsibility for their own actions. This evidence of anti-social behaviour is typical of people who usually would have high scores on the relevant clinical checklist for psychopathy.

On the face of it, psychopaths are often highly intelligent, charming, outgoing people, who are eager to make a positive impression. But this behaviour is a façade and an imitation of what they know to be socially acceptable: the so-called “mask of sanity”. The clinical checklist for psychopathy refers to "glib and superficial charm, grandiosity, need for stimulation, pathological lying, conning and manipulating ", and such like.

You may think that sounds like some of the businessmen and politicians we know!

Research shows that high-functioning psychopaths are often very successful people. On the surface they appear to be confident and calm and seem to have their act together. The Human Capital and Management Library says: "High-functioning psychopaths...tend to rule the world. They rise to the highest levels of power in politics and business."

Research also indicates that about ten per cent of CEOs could be diagnosed as psychopaths compared to about one per cent of the general population who show this same tendency. What allows these people to manipulate and control others is their ability to do so on a very rational, logical level with no feelings of emotion or empathy for the other person.

The importance of whistle-blowers stems from the fact that most of the unethical, unjust and downright criminal behaviour in government and in commerce that has been exposed, has been exposed by people with a conscience – whistle-blowers! Without whistle-blowers how would we know, truthfully, how any government, of any country was actually governing? Without whistle-blowers how would we know truthfully, as tax payers, how our money was being spent in any jurisdiction? Without whistle-blowers how would we know, truthfully, how our law enforcement officers were performing? Without this knowledge provided by whistle-blowers how could there be any trust in the performance of any branch of any government or any company or corporation? Every one of them has something to hide. Every one of them has a skeleton hidden somewhere (as do we all as individuals).

Whistle-blowers perform the very important function of shining a light into the dark corners where these activities are normally hidden and exposing the perpetrators of injustice for what they are.

Remember the advice Polonius gave to his son Laertes:

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–82.

Long live whistle-blowers!