Restoring the Economy Is the Last Thing We Should Want

Douglas Rushkoff
medium.com
Originally published 27 April 20

Everyone wants to know when we’re going to get the economy started up again, and just how many lives we’re willing to surrender before we do. We’ve all been made to understand the dilemma: The sooner we “open up” American and get back to our jobs, the more likely we spread Covid-19, further overwhelming hospitals and killing more people. Yet the longer we wait, the more people will suffer and die in other ways.

I think this is a false choice. Yes, it may be true that every 1% rise in unemployment leads to a corresponding 1% rise in suicides. And it’s true that an extended freeze of the economy could shorten the lifespan of 6.4 million Americans entering the job market by an average of about two years. But such metrics say less about the human cost of the downturn than they do about the dangerously absolute dependence of workers on traditional employment for basic sustenance — an artifact of an economy that has been intentionally rigged to favor big banks and passive shareholders over small and local businesses that actually provide goods and services in a sustainable way.

In reality, the sooner and more completely we restore the old economy, the faster we simply recreate the conditions that got us sick in the first place and rendered us incapable of mounting an effective response. The economy we’re committed to restoring is no more the victim of the Covid-19 crisis than it is the cause. We have to stop asking when will things get back to normal. They won’t. There is no going back. And that’s actually good news.

The info is here.

Citigroup Has an On-call Ethicist to Help It Solve Moral Issues

Alana Abramson
Fortune Magazine
Originally posted March 17, 2017

It turns out that Citigroup has an on-call ethicist to handle issues around the intersection of banking, finance, and morality.

The bank has worked with Princeton University Professor David Miller for the past three years, according to the Wall Street Journal. His role includes providing advice to top executives and reviewing topics and projects they have concerns about.

Miller was brought on, according to the Journal, by Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat, who felt the role was necessary after learning about employees' hesitations to voice concerns about wrongdoings, and public perceptions of banks.

The article is here.

Why Can’t the Banking Industry Solve Its Ethics Problems?

By Neil Irwin
The New York Times
Originally published July 29, 2014

The financial crisis that nearly brought down the global economy was triggered in no small part by the aggressive culture and spotty ethics within the world’s biggest banks. But after six years and countless efforts to reform finance, the banking scandals never seem to end.

The important question that doesn’t yet have a satisfying answer is why.

Why are the ethical breaches at megabanks so routine that it is hard to keep them straight? Why do banks seem to have so many scandals — and ensuing multimillion dollar legal settlements — compared with other large companies like retailers, airlines or manufacturers?

The entire story is here.