First Blog

The modern corporate board of directors is comprised of business leaders to help the company succeed.   But how are those boards formed?   Typical scenario: CORP A CEO to CORP B CEO: I will place you on my board of directors if you place me on yours. CORP B CEO to CORP A CEO: I will place you on my board of directors if you place me on yours CHORUS: Then we vote each other outrageous salary packages no matter how poorly we perform. The brotherhood of CEO’s is more than a fraternity or sorority.   When their stock goes down, their salary still goes up; when their stock goes up, their salary goes way up. This is the ultimate back-scratching machine.   Their world is protected by process, by institution, and by tradition.   They become too big to fail.   Nice work if you can get it.

From Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1834) we note both the left (e.g. Marx) and right have used his philosophy in their own interests. Here are two paraphrased quotes and applicable today. ---Freedom under law is a constructive force.   Freedom from law is impossible in nature and destructive in society.  ---Morality must be a common bond, not an individual preference. An amusing anecdote about Hegel, famous for his opacity, is this. When asked what a particularly difficult paragraph in one of his books actually meant, Hegel responded, "When I wrote it, only God and I understood its meaning.   Now only God does." ------------ Another quote but not from Hegel: The embers of enlightenment may glow for centuries before catching fire. ------------- Speaking of philosophy, I could give a course on Immanuel Kant***, a philosopher difficult to understand.   I could, in my lectures, give 50 of his philosophical issues with appropriate responses. I could