Posted on 05/14/2012 10:04:12 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
THERE is an ongoing debate in this country about the rich: who they are, what their social role may be, whether they are good or bad. Well, consider the following. A recent study found that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are “clinical psychopaths,” exhibiting a lack of interest in and empathy for others and an “unparalleled capacity for lying, fabrication, and manipulation.” (The proportion at large is 1 percent.) Another study concluded that the rich are more likely to lie, cheat and break the law.
The only thing that puzzles me about these claims is that anyone would find them surprising. Wall Street is capitalism in its purest form, and capitalism is predicated on bad behavior. This should hardly be news. The English writer Bernard Mandeville asserted as much nearly three centuries ago in a satirical-poem-cum-philosophical-treatise called “The Fable of the Bees.”
“Private Vices, Publick Benefits” read the book’s subtitle. A Machiavelli of the economic realm
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Entrepreneurs aka the job creators or the workers aka the wealth creators?
I dare them to conduct the same study at the New York Slimes.
Capitalism my big hairy butt. Wall street has been in league with the government as of late. That is not capitalism at all.
It’s capitalism, just now the government has control of more of the capital.
Columbia, Yale, The Nation.....quite a resume this flaming pinko has.
The author either has not read The Fable of the Bees or is perhaps being dishonest here.
Mandeville was an influence on Keynes. He promoted the idea that prosperity comes from spending money, not saving/investing money.
Mandeville's book was scandalous in the early 1700s because he argued that drinkers, lechers, gamblers, etc. all helped the economy by freely spending money and basically redistributing wealth. Vice, he said, is good for society -- it gets money moving.
In today's world, Mandeville would surely be an Obama voter. It is a huge stretch to say that Mandeville was a capitalist.
Republicans need to distinguish between multi-nationals, foreign owned, anti-American corporations; and Main Street USA.
Corporations are killing our culture.
A recent study found that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are “clinical psychopaths,” exhibiting a lack of interest in and empathy for others and an “unparalleled capacity for lying, fabrication, and manipulation.”
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My ex daughter in law does not work on Wall Street, but the rest of the description matches her perfectly.
“Wall street has been in league with the government as of late. That is not capitalism at all.”
Exactly right. Until people recognize that fact and quit tying it to capitalism, there will be no long term free enterprise in this country.
This sums it up really, really well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dwz_Z62e0s
The money quote as it applies here:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. - Adam Smith
That is the secret of the free markets. Build a better mousetrap and live in a nicer house.
And yet, this evil, psychopathic system has generated more wealth and pulled more humans out of poverty and misery in the countries that tried it than any other system in the history of humanity. "Shafting your workers" -- and yet workers today in Capitalist countries have better living standards than workers in any other country and vastly better standards than workers had before Capitalism took hold. "Product safety violations" and yet, there are more products on the market that have materially benefited humanity than at any other time in human history.
This writer has absolutely no historical perspective. No understanding that, before Capitalism, people were literally dirt poor. They lived miserable subsistence existences. Now most people don't and its as a result of Capitalism.
politicians “are more likely to lie, cheat and break the law”
Read “Snakes in Suits”. For some areas of finance, it would be reasonable to expect this. The high risk, high reward nature of the work would attract them, along with the rather unstructured environment at many firms.
Gee, this sounds like the current resident of the WH.
. . . And, as compared to those who work in government? Do we have those figures too?
“Well, consider the following. A recent study found that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are “clinical psychopaths,” exhibiting a lack of interest in and empathy for others and an “unparalleled capacity for lying, fabrication, and manipulation.” (The proportion at large is 1 percent.) Another study concluded that the rich are more likely to lie, cheat and break the law.”
AKA - Obama Donors
I dare them to the same study on Congress, the Obama cabinet and the Obama “Czars.”
Only 10 percent?
I would hazard a guess that 10% of any given population would fit the definition of “clinical psychopaths”.
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