That's the ethic that typically motivated executives across political boundaries. Even industrialists like Howard Hughes and Henry Ford, both of whom became virulently right-wing (Ford also became publicly anti-Semitic), were genuine engineering and business innovators. That distinguishes them from the executives in today's bloated financial sector, or predatory executives in non-innovative businesses.
So too did Steve Jobs' dedication to creating the best possible products for his customers. His offshoring practices brought him well-deserved criticism from me and others, but his success was built on creation and not predation.
It's unlikely that a new Steve Jobs could succeed in today's super-predator business economy. Today's corporate model is Mark Zuckerberg's: no manufacturing costs, no attention to detail or design, no bothersome concerns about quality. Just capture a market aggressively and protect yourself from all comers until you can really enrich yourself with a pumped-up IPO.
You're so vain, you probably think these words are about you
How "radically self-regarding" are today's super-predator CEOs? It's not enough to escape censure or conviction for their deeds. Like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, they demand adoration from the public that they've so badly abused, and they're furious if they don't get it. Like Dimon, they're capable of claiming they're far better than their peers, while at the same time arguing that none of them should ever be criticized.
(DeIulio: "Under some conditions they are affectionate and loyal to fellow gang members or relatives ...")
And, like Dimon, they're more than happy to propose cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits for the elderly in order to pay the costs for their own malfeasance and ensure that their own taxes are kept low. (DeIulio: ".... but not even morns or grandmorns are sacred to them.")
The self regard can become truly stunning, as when Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said "We're doing God's work." The apotheosis of corporate super-vanity may well have come when hedge fund manager Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone claimed that raising his taxes to the level paid by ordinary citizens was "like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939."
To a super-predator, being treated like other human beings is like being subjected to a war of extermination.
Super-predators Are Made, Not Born
How do people like this rise to positions of prominence?
My own business experience included a number of experiences that served as a training ground for predation: Corporate "team building" exercises that rewarded cynicism and idealized the abuse of customers. Tests of my willingness to bend ethically. Slang terms from my bosses and peers that fostered a culture of insensitivity toward other people.
And mine was a pretty mild corporate experience. The people I worked for and with tended to be moral, fair, and ethical people for the most part. There are many of them out there, and a lot of them are still running corporations. But the financial inequities between the 99 percent and the 1 percent are at play among the 1 percent, too. The wealthiest and fastest-rising corporate stars are those who display the characteristics of the corporate predator.
But the super-predators couldn't exist if government policy didn't encourage their rise: through tax policy, through deregulation, through a refusal to enforce and strengthen antitrust laws (it's hard for customers to avoid a predatory company if it has no real competitors) through lax enforcement of current laws, and through the unwillingness of our leaders to "name and shame" those who exploit their customers, their shareholders, or their society in pursuit of selfish ends.
Outsourcer in Chief?
Is David Axelrod right to describe Mitt Romney as the "Outsourcer in Chief," as he did in a recent press call? Yes -- provided that he's allowed a little poetic license. Axelrod was also right when he added that Romney's job at Bain Capital was maximizing value for his investors, not creating or preserving US jobs. Many corporate executives, including me, have been obliged to consider outsourcing when working in a for-profit environment.
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