Where are the Hank Reardens?

I’ve read Atlas Shrugged. In the book the business owners are portrayed as hard working honest people who want to add value to the world through their labor. They create wealth through their labors. They raise up themselves and those around them through hard work.

Where are those honest good business leaders? I look around and all I see is unrestricted corporate greed at the expense of others for short term gain. The entire financial sector is built of white collar crime as a business model. Many fortune 500 companies get away with negative tax rates while taking advantage of publicly educated workers, publicly funded roads, firefighters, and police. Executive pay is through the roof and workers are getting shafted.

One of the latest and clearest examples is Catepillar corporation. Catepillar makes hydraulic construction equipment. Times are tough and Catepillar has decided to freeze all of their worker’s pay for six years, including their pensions. So for the next six years, worker’s wages will remain flat, regardless of the increase in gas/food/housing/education/you name it costs. Consequently, the amount workers will take home for their savings after living expenses are taken care off will plummet.

But times are tough, what are you going to do right? Except they’re not. Times are great! You know how much Catepillar made last year in profits? Not revenue, profits.

4.9 Billion dollars.

You know how much they’re on track to make this year in profits?

6 Billion dollars.

Catepillar is rolling in money. They have money up to their eyeballs, but no, the workers need to take a pay freeze for six years to help keep costs down. That includes the CEO too right? Hahahahahaha, you’re joking right? Pay freezes are only for little people like the workers that make the company run.

Douglas Oberhelman, the CEO of Catepillar was given a 60% pay increase over the course the year. He now makes $17 Million Dollars a year.

But I’m sorry, the little people need to tighten their belts during these great times.

Where are the Hank Reardens? Where are these virtuous business owners? Where are the CEOs that want to make the world a better place by enriching themselves AND those who help them create wealth?

Instead it seems that the current business model is to leech as much out of society as possible, to squeeze your workers for every possible ounce of productivity you can get out of them while paying them the absolute minimum you can get away with. When workers fight for an decent pay it’s class warfare, when corporations screw them out of every penny possible, it’s business.

 

Waste your life, be an artist….

So the other day I came across this website. At first I didn’t get the joke and was pretty pissed off.

I am completely pulling this out of my ass, but I get the feeling a lot of people don’t take art seriously. I mean, sure there are plenty of people who love the arts, and support them, but then you have school districts trying to cut art programs to focus on math and science, the only “useful” subjects…bullshit. The humanities always struggle for funding, most of which is allotted to those “useful” programs. Colleges and universities are even raising the prices for programs that are more “useful” than the humanities.

I feel some people really do think “Go ahead, waste your life and be an artist….” Ok, so what is not “wasting your life”? Getting a degree in business, making money, buying a beach house, getting a hot trophy wife, and retiring on a golf course where you take Viagra to fuck the golf cart attendant? Congratulations you bland worthless prick, you’re just like every other faceless asshole who will die un-noticed.

Yeah math and science are important for making new discoveries and products, but the humanities is our soul. It’s what gives existence meaning. Our experiences as human beings, all the emotions that go with life, that’s what art represents. Artists and those who enjoy art are enriched by those shared experiences and memories. They truly experience life.

So I hope you’re happy on that golf course you nobody….