A C.E.O. Whos Scared for America
Capitalism, he says, is slowly committing suicide.
By David Leonhardt, March 31, 2019, NY Times

Peter Georgescu €” a refugee-turned-C.E.O. who recently celebrated his 80th birthday €” feels deeply grateful to his adopted country. He also feels afraid for its future. He is afraid, he says, because the American economy no longer functions well for most citizens. €œFor the past four decades,€� Georgescu has written, €œcapitalism has been slowly committing suicide.€�

Those are some strong words, so I want to tell you Georgescus story €“ and about what he thinks needs to be done.

He was born just before World War II in Romania, where his father was a businessman and his maternal grandfather was a politician opposed to both the Nazis and Communists. His parents were traveling in the United States in 1947 when the Iron Curtain came down, and American officials told them they would be killed if they returned home. Peter and his brother went to live with their grandparents in Romanias Transylvanian countryside.

One day a couple of years later, they found their dogs dead, from poisoning.. The next night, government agents entered their home and arrested Peters grandfather. €œWe never saw him again,€� Georgescu told me recently. €œThey killed him in prison.€�

Peter was 10 years old, and his brother, Constantin, was 15. The government moved them and their grandmother to a town near the Russian border. They slept on hay in a single room, inside an otherwise normal house, watched by a guard. Instead of going to school, Peter cleaned sewers. He was later promoted to a job turning off streetlights before dawn and digging holes for electric poles.

In the early 1950s, a Romanian diplomat approached Peters father in New York, where he was living with Peters mother. The diplomat brought a recent photo of the boys, both teenagers, and pressured the father to spy for Romania. He went to the F.B.I. instead, and the F.B.I. encouraged him to go public with the blackmail attempt. It would make the Soviet empire look bad.

The plan worked. The €œGeorgescu boys€� became a media sensation. Frances Bolton, an Ohio congresswoman, took up their cause and interested President Dwight Eisenhower in it. Romania eventually freed the boys, as part of a prisoner exchange, and they landed in New York at Idlewild Airport €” todays J.F.K. €” on April 13, 1954. (Their grandmother was not allowed to leave until years later.)
Online, you can watch the television clip of Peters mother running across the tarmac and hugging them as they got off the plane. She had not seen them in seven and a half years. She didnt recognize their voices, she told a reporter, because they each had a mans voice.

From there, Georgescus life moved quickly. The headmaster of Phillips Exeter offered him a spot at the school even though he spoke no English and hadnt attended any school for much of his boyhood. After college and business school, Georgescu joined the advertising firm Young & Rubicam. He spent 37 years there, the last seven as chief executive.

€œThe hero of my story,€� Georgescu said to me €œis America.€� Over and over, he said, people who didnt have any obvious reason to care about him helped him: the congresswoman who didnt represent his parents district; the headmaster whod never met him; the ad executives who mentored him.

All of them, he believes, were influenced by a post-World War II culture that (while deeply flawed in some ways) fostered a sense of community over individuality. Corporate executives didnt pay themselves outlandish salaries. Workers enjoyed consistently rising wages.

Things began to change after the 1970s. Stakeholder capitalism €” which, Georgescu says, optimized the well-being of customers, employees, shareholders and the nation €” gave way to short-term shareholder-only capitalism. Profits have soared at the expense of worker pay. The wealth of the median family today is lower than two decades ago. Life expectancy has actually fallen in the last few years. Not since 2004 has a majority of Americans said they were satisfied with the countrys direction.

€œCapitalism is a brilliant factory for prosperity. Brilliant,€� Georgescu says. €œAnd yet the version of capitalism we have created here works for only a minority of people.€�

In his retirement, when hes not spending time with his family, Georgescu has been trying to agitate other corporate leaders. He has published a book, called €œCapitalists, Arise!€� He has written op-eds and given talks. He talks about the signs of frustration, in both the United States and Europe. He has seen societies fall apart, and he thinks many people are underestimating the risks it could happen again. €œWere not that far off,€� he told me.
Some other business leaders are also worried about rising inequality. Warren Buffett is. So are Martin Lipton, the dean of corporate lawyers, and Laurence Fink, who runs the investment firm BlackRock. €œTheres class warfare, all right,€� Buffett has said, €œbut its my class, the rich class, thats making war, and were winning,€�

Georgescu believes that business, more than government, can solve the problem. He told me that executives should resist pressure to maximize short-term profits. Companies could make even more money if they invested in their workers and became more productive and innovative, he says. Costco is a favorite example of his.

Im skeptical that corporate America will voluntarily fix the situation, because the last four decades have been very lucrative for top executives and investors. To my mind, government action €” including higher taxes on the rich and more bargaining power for workers €” is necessary to bring back broad-based prosperity.

But I am grateful for Georgescus efforts, because the culture and values of corporate America have a big effect on society. Not so long ago, top executives made decisions that took into account not just their own bank accounts but also their workers, their communities and their country. Georgescu is asking them to do so again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/31/o...apitalism.html

"David P" wrote in message
...
A C.E.O. Whos Scared for America
Capitalism, he says, is slowly committing suicide.
By David Leonhardt, March 31, 2019, NY Times

Peter Georgescu €” a refugee-turned-C.E.O. who recently celebrated his 80th
birthday €” feels deeply grateful to his adopted country. He also feels
afraid for its future. He is afraid, he says, because the American economy
no longer functions well for most citizens. €œFor the past four decades,€�
Georgescu has written, €œcapitalism has been slowly committing suicide.€�

Those are some strong words, so I want to tell you Georgescus story €“ and
about what he thinks needs to be done.

He was born just before World War II in Romania, where his father was a
businessman and his maternal grandfather was a politician opposed to both
the Nazis and Communists. His parents were traveling in the United States
in 1947 when the Iron Curtain came down, and American officials told them
they would be killed if they returned home. Peter and his brother went to
live with their grandparents in Romanias Transylvanian countryside.

One day a couple of years later, they found their dogs dead, from
poisoning. The next night, government agents entered their home and
arrested Peters grandfather. €œWe never saw him again,€� Georgescu told me
recently. €œThey killed him in prison.€�

Peter was 10 years old, and his brother, Constantin, was 15. The
government moved them and their grandmother to a town near the Russian
border. They slept on hay in a single room, inside an otherwise normal
house, watched by a guard. Instead of going to school, Peter cleaned
sewers. He was later promoted to a job turning off streetlights before
dawn and digging holes for electric poles.

In the early 1950s, a Romanian diplomat approached Peters father in New
York, where he was living with Peters mother. The diplomat brought a
recent photo of the boys, both teenagers, and pressured the father to spy
for Romania. He went to the F.B.I. instead, and the F.B.I. encouraged him
to go public with the blackmail attempt. It would make the Soviet empire
look bad.

The plan worked. The €œGeorgescu boys€� became a media sensation. Frances
Bolton, an Ohio congresswoman, took up their cause and interested
President Dwight Eisenhower in it. Romania eventually freed the boys, as
part of a prisoner exchange, and they landed in New York at Idlewild
Airport €” todays J.F.K. €” on April 13, 1954. (Their grandmother was not
allowed to leave until years later.)
Online, you can watch the television clip of Peters mother running across
the tarmac and hugging them as they got off the plane. She had not seen
them in seven and a half years. She didnt recognize their voices, she
told a reporter, because they each had a mans voice.

From there, Georgescus life moved quickly. The headmaster of Phillips
Exeter offered him a spot at the school even though he spoke no English
and hadnt attended any school for much of his boyhood. After college and
business school, Georgescu joined the advertising firm Young & Rubicam. He
spent 37 years there, the last seven as chief executive.

€œThe hero of my story,€� Georgescu said to me €œis America.€� Over and over,
he said, people who didnt have any obvious reason to care about him
helped him: the congresswoman who didnt represent his parents district;
the headmaster whod never met him; the ad executives who mentored him.

All of them, he believes, were influenced by a post-World War II culture
that (while deeply flawed in some ways) fostered a sense of community over
individuality. Corporate executives didnt pay themselves outlandish
salaries. Workers enjoyed consistently rising wages.

Things began to change after the 1970s. Stakeholder capitalism €”
which, Georgescu says, optimized the well-being of customers, employees,
shareholders and the nation €” gave way to short-term shareholder-only
capitalism. Profits have soared at the expense of worker pay.

Thats bull****, most obviously with the
employees of Microsoft, Google etc.

The wealth of the median family today
is lower than two decades ago.

Unsurprising given the worst recession since the great
depression, but the effect of that was vastly better than
with the great depression. And there were lots of full
depressions in the century before 1929 and just one
severe recession since then.

Life expectancy has actually fallen in the last few years.

Only marginally tho and that has nothing to do with
capitalism, it mostly due to stupid druggys being stupid
druggys and the USA too stupid to have a universal health
care system so that those who dont get insurance paid
for by their employer dont get the best medical treatment.

Not since 2004 has a majority of Americans said
they were satisfied with the countrys direction.

Hardly surprising given the worst recession since the great depression.

€œCapitalism is a brilliant factory for prosperity. Brilliant,€� Georgescu
says.

And leaves all the other alternatives for dead on that.

€œAnd yet the version of capitalism we have created
here works for only a minority of people.€�

Thats mindless bull****.

In his retirement, when hes not spending time with
his family, Georgescu has been trying to agitate other
corporate leaders. He has published a book, called
€œCapitalists, Arise!€� He has written op-eds and given talks.

And hardly anyone has ever heard of him.

He talks about the signs of frustration,
in both the United States and Europe.

Corse nothing else like that has ever happened before, eh ?

He has seen societies fall apart, and he thinks many
people are underestimating the risks it could happen
again. €œWere not that far off,€� he told me.

Then he is a fool.

Some other business leaders are also
worried about rising inequality.

There is no rising inequality.

Warren Buffett is. So are Martin Lipton, the
dean of corporate lawyers, and Laurence Fink,
who runs the investment firm BlackRock.

Hardly surprising that some feel that way.

€œTheres class warfare, all right,€� Buffett has
said, €œbut its my class, the rich class, thats
making war, and were winning,€�

Mindlessly silly.

Georgescu believes that business, more
than government, can solve the problem.

There is no problem to solve.

He told me that executives should resist
pressure to maximize short-term profits.

Easy to say.

Companies could make even more money
if they invested in their workers and became
more productive and innovative, he says.

Plenty of them do.

Costco is a favorite example of his.

Nothing like as successful as Amazon,
Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google etc.

Im skeptical that corporate America will voluntarily
fix the situation, because the last four decades have
been very lucrative for top executives and investors.

And for the country too.

To my mind, government action €” including higher
taxes on the rich and more bargaining power for workers
€” is necessary to bring back broad-based prosperity.

More fool you.

But I am grateful for Georgescus efforts, because the culture
and values of corporate America have a big effect on society.
Not so long ago, top executives made decisions that took
into account not just their own bank accounts but also
their workers, their communities and their country.

Plenty still do. And as always, some dont too.

Georgescu is asking them to do so again.

Fat chance of those not doing that doing that just because he asks them to,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/31/o...apitalism.html

On Thu, 4 Apr 2019 10:20:49 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rot Speed,
the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH another huge load of stinking troll****

....and much better air in here again.

--
Kerr-Mudd,John addressing senile Rot:
"Auto-contradictor Rod is back! (in the KF)"
MID: