The Worship of Mammon (the false god of greed) by Evelyn De MorganI received an interesting email from Australia yesterday. It was from someone talking about structure – or current restructuring – of the company they work for.
Recently, a new CEO was appointed who is based in the US. The new CEO has decided to implement what’s apparently called, ‘The American Model’, at the company. The effect of this new implementation has so far included:
• Several retrenchments
• Accepting a drop in pay or face the axe
• Accepting a drop in work hours or face the axe
• Swapping from full-time positions to consultancy or casual contracts
Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? It’s also important to keep in mind that the positions in question are pretty much all very highly skilled, as is the industry.
What it also means is that these staff members will now enjoy no real job security.
More than that, the Australian manager, who has always been regarded very favourably – indeed I thought so myself – has now become not only quite disliked for what he’s done but apparently changed markedly and embraced this ‘new regime’, espousing its merit to those who are, unfortunately for them, affected by it.
At first, I didn’t think much of him either but then I realised in this current climate, he’s a husband and a father with a family of his own to maintain. I guess he really doesn’t have a choice because he needs his job. But then from what I’ve discovered, he has used terms like, ‘now that we’re embracing “The American Model”’, which doesn’t make it sounds like he’s losing much sleep over it. Who knows? Maybe it has something to do with self-preservation.
Certainly, the American CEO couldn’t care less. He’s only interested in the bottom line, which is what life has seemed to be about up until now anyway.
What I do find remarkable is that it’s CEOs like this dickhead who, in my opinion, have helped bring the world to the state it’s in anyway. And not just American ones. They’re a global breed but you rarely see them suffering even if the company they run strikes difficulties. For some reason for which I don’t have the answer, they quite often end up resigning with enormous, actually obscene, handshakes. It’s criminal.
But that’s what our Western World is like. There’re great elements to it and there are also very ugly elements to it. We’ve become obsessed with materialism – and I’ve not been immune to this at times – and now the party’s well and truly over, especially for those who’ve over extended themselves.
I read this week where in Australia there is a glut of used Ferraris and Aston Martins for sale, selling for far under the price they were formerly worth. Suddenly, all these hotshot guys – and maybe gals – have crashed into a wall and the seams of their affluent (on paper) lives have become unstitched. It’s utterly humiliating and terrifying for them and I really do feel for them and their families if they have them.
The trouble is we place so much value on the material things we have in life. We’re wanters by nature maybe and, like sport, it’s very often a competition to see how much of it you can grab. I don’t know whether that is right or wrong but I know that when you read about fathers committing suicide because the money is gone it’s both tragic and ridiculous. I suspect they do it for a few or reasons: the personal humiliation, the failure and the desperation of not knowing how they’ll go on – not just for themselves but for their families.
While you can argue that the effect of losing everything material is worth ‘totalling’ yourself over, the ludicrous and frightening point is this particular act suggests, directly or indirectly, that we value money over humanity.
12 comments:
Troubling and very on point. I watched a video of McCain giving a Republican rallying speech and he essentially said "We don't want to redistribute wealth... we want to create more wealth." to a deafening chorus of cheers. It's amazing how much of our lives is simply boiled down to values. As much as I would like to live comfortably - I would also downgrade my lifestyle if I knew it could mean that the whole world could have water, food, shelter, and health care. Put in its simplest math - that is what the west has to do; sacrifice for the sake of the larger world community if we want to eradicate extreme poverty. But there are those that just want MORE. They just don't get that more equals taking something from someone else. CEOs with golden parachutes/handshakes take and take and take and leave the employees in shambles in the era that we live in. They are exemplars of the western economic policy approach towards developing nations (ex: IMF and World Bank) I wonder if that will ever change. Though I hope against hope...somehow I doubt it.
I quite agree Indra. I never used to think of it much at all but I had a reasonably fortunate life. It wasn't until the last few years I was in Australia that I noticed the middle class split in two, adding an underclass. At the same time, others were getting richer and richer and I definitely don't begrudge success and people making money. But I'm against stepping over homeless people to open the door to their luxury abodes - which is what seems (or seemed?) to be happening. Plus, I don't know how people can do that and live with themselves, at least not in the 21st century.
This is actually my main motivation for remaining in Denmark. The 'dog eat dog world' concept has never really been my cup of tea.
you hit the nail on the head...
all these ideas of consumption at the expense of PEACE OF MIND and your future are so sad...
I was very used to seeing gigantic mansions all over north Dallas, with hardly any furniture in them..the people had spent all their income on "the right house in the right neighborhood" (that they had no business buying) ...with empty rooms... and then a few years later, the bank has to take it. What patterns are they teaching their children?? I know DK is not a perfect place to live, but the difference in how the Danish community approaches "stuff" and contentment is SOOO refreshing...
wish my home country could get the message...
paula: Nor me paula!
kelli: Wow that just reminded me of the same thing in Melbourne - people buying/building HUGE houses but not being able to fill it with furniture such places deserve. Kinda defeats the purpose IMO. And you're right. What does it teach their kids...
Kelli: BTW, Americans are not on their own in this respect - it's Australia, Britain and I dare say other places as well :(
Sadly, the most materialistic people I know are also the unhappiest and discontented.
It may be my Danish upbringing, but I never saw the logic in having 5 cars or living in a 500 squaremetre mansion, not to mention having to work 70 hours a week to achieve this.
Right, in general I agree with this point of view. I think we must strive for balance in everything we do.
The problem with Denmark is that it doesn't achieve this balance, it is tilted too much towards socialism.
Having 5 cars, a 500 sq meters mansion and working 70 hours per week is too much.
BUT, not affording a car, living in an apartment that doesn't have a bathroom and taking to the street if the goverment wants to raise the workhours in a week from 37 to 38 ... that's tipping the balance too much on the other side.
Just my two cents.
the artist: it's definitely about striking a balance. In rural Jutland, living in an apartment with no bathroom sounds like something belonging to the 1940s, but I know there are places like that in Copenhagen.
There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the Danish model and I could never imagine living permanently in a place like the U.S. for example. On the other hand, while living in Switzerland, I found that certain things worked better than in Denmark and that Denmark could learn something from the Swiss system and vice versa.
I also found that the Danes are in general a spoiled, coddled and argumentative people and it would do many a world of good to spend some years abroad.
Basically, opening one-self to other cultures goes for most, if not al nationalities, to learn different ways of approaching things and compare what works and what doesn't, and then bring what you've learned back home and try to implement that knowledge to improve matters, but now I'm going off on a tangent and hogging NQD's comments space. :)
the artist: Not that I don't believe you but I just want to clarify 'no bathroom' as NO bathroom and not a hand-held shower attachment over the toilet?
I also agree that the socialism part can go too far and end up being quite depressing and not inspiring. I don't find it so in Denmark but then I am a relative newcomer. I have heard it said that Denmark's 'system' thwarts determination because people are content to live the lives they lead and aim no higher. I thought this had some credence until I discovered, per head of population, DK has a high number of individuals and families, such as the Grundfos Jensen? family and the Møller (Mærsk) just to name two of the more well known. How they manage to do it, with 50+% tax, I don't know, but it's obviously possible.
For a transplanted antipodean, can you explain what you said a bit further?
Australia used to be rather similar to DK, especially when I was a child but it started following the US economic system to a larger degree and I can't say that it's really worked for us. All it's done is slightly lower taxes but you end up paying for things like university which leaves everyone with a dreadful debt that takes years to pay off.
May: You can never use up too much space :) What did you like about the Swiss system? My grandfather's family were/are Swiss but from the Italian part, so I dunno whether the same renowned Germanic reliability part applies!! :)
may: Yes you hit the spot right on with Switzerland! It's the country I will move to next year. You say you could never imagine living permanently in the US, well I could say the same thing about Denmark. Of course it depends on one's personal situation ; I can see you all have families here in Denmark.
I don't have any strings attached to a particular country and I am under 30 so for me it's more a time of exploration and finding the right place to live in permanently.
I think one can learn something useful from every person and culture he or she is exposed to. It's also true that coming as a foreigner in a country, you see the cracks in the system much easier than the locals.
For me the one major thing that makes Denmark not desirable long term is that, aside from being a foreigner here there is no real way to differentiate myself from others. We all have to earn the same. We all have to take the public transport. We all have our 2 friends from high school and we are not supposed to try to make new ones.
I am not comfortable with the fact that a 25-year old hairdresser earns almost the same as I do. Why did I went to school for 18 years, why did I spent years and years in front of a computer learning all this stuff? So a girl who just finished high school and went to a 6-month course can earn the same as I do? That's not right ... and the worst thing is that I have absolutely no motivation to work harder or to go for a promotion. For what? Another 1000DKK per month? Two dinners for 2 at a restaurant?
There are quite a lot of people in this country that are abusing the system. God knows how many Danes I've talked to that are 30 and still going to college. Why? Because it's not only free, they get money from the state and they pay ridiculously low rents. And guess what? Overall they have the same amount of resources to spend as I do. That's wrong.
Again, it's about finding the balance. And it's not here.
Of course there are people like Moeller and so on but they are only a very small percentage, just like the small percentage of very poor people in Denmark. Like you say, it's obviously possible, but the problem is that 90% of the population earns along the same lines while 5% are extremely rich and 5% extremely poor. There is almost no variation inside the 90% segment.
Oh and to notquitedanish: Yes, I am talking about apartments that do not have a bathroom at all. They have a common bathroom on every building. This includes showers and toilets. Over 20% percent of apartments in Copenhagen are this way. I wish I could post the link to the source but I can't find it now, I've read it in a Danish newspaper some time ago.
NQD: I'm happy that you're so relaxed about the space hogging. For some reason, I just can't seem to make it brief these days!
Well, of course I like the taxes in Switzerland, and the cheap cars. :)
No, seriously, the one thing that stood out to me was the non-exsistent waiting lists in the Swiss health care system. Of course this comes at a price, as health care is run through rather expensive insurances and also the medicine is more expensive than in Denmark. I paid up to 5 times more for meds in Switzerland than I do in Denmark, but I do think it's a small price to pay, especially comparing that to the situation many cancer patients in Denmark find themselves in.
In general, I am against health care insurances, as the only means of getting health care, because of the whole health versus money set-up, but at least the insurance is obligatory in Switzerland and the government will go in and help low-income families/individuals, so that all are guaranteed treatment.
the artist: I have heard the "Danes are not allowed to befriend anyone except the people they grew up with" before, and while I can see why it could seem that way, it's a cultural misunderstanding. Of course we are not raised like that. :)
If the above is one of the issues you have about Denmark, then I am afraid you will most likely encounter it to a much larger degree in Switzerland - all depending on which part of the country you will be living in. The same with individualism, although you are absolutely right that the salaries in Switzerland reflect the education level. I don't want to sound too negative, though. Overall, I was happy in Switzerland, it's a lovely country and I met some lovely people, but there are parts of my living experience there that I hope you will not encounter.
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