2002 Soap Box Archives

Greed

The last time major league baseball went on strike I almost lost
interest in a sport I’ve been following all my life. I was so incensed
to think that these millionaire players who live in a world that few on
this earth will ever know, would turn their greedy backs on the millions
of fans who have to watch their pennies just to pay the inflated price
for a ticket to a game.

No playoffs, no World Series, no climax to the abbreviated season and
that’s like taking a bath with your clothes on. One good thing came out
of the strike however. I learned, as I’m sure many other Americans did,
that I can live without baseball if they go on strike. This year
baseball could well fade into the mishmash of soccer, arena football and
other such sports with limited audience and TV coverage. One could say
it would be poetic justice, this killing off of the golden goose by a
bunch of spoiled, overpaid little boys who are no longer motivated by
their love of the game, but by greed and petulance.

In recent days we have watched corporate fat cats put into handcuffs and
carted off to jail. These arrogant pigs, and that’s what they are in my
book, ran their companies into bankruptcy, lining their own pockets to
the tune of more millions than they would spend in their miserable
lifetimes. They put thousands of hard working people out of jobs and
drained the savings plans that their employees had planned on having to
see them through their golden years. They have fostered a nervousness
in the stock market, causing even the stable companies with honest
executives to be distrusted by those who would invest their hard earned
money in the market. They have decimated retirement portfolios and 401K
plans held by good people who have worked all their lives only to find
that their retirement money has been eaten up by these greedy leeches.

What should we do about it? I say we take every cent these culprits
have stolen, everything they have in fact, their stocks and bonds, their
limousines, their mansions, their corporate jets, their crystal martini
pitchers and their gold cigar lighters. Take it, sell it and divide the
money between the employees they defrauded.

The government has finally decided to make some effort at prosecution
but as usual they are a day late and a dollar short, closing the barn
door after the horse is in the next county. But I guess better late
than never.

The problem with baseball, big business and so many other things in
America and the world for that matter is nothing but pure old evil, hell
inspired greed. The “let me get mine” and “the heck with you” attitude
which permeates this nation from the board room to the locker room.

It’s greed that makes the drug dealer sell his poison to 12 year old
kids, it’s greed that makes the mechanic pad the repair bill, it’s greed
that motivates some low life to charge an old person way too much to fix
their roof or pave their driveway. It’s greed that causes manufacturers
to use inferior components in their products. It’s greed that causes a
board of directors to put so much pressure on their executives that they
sacrifice their honor and integrity just to add a few points to the
almighty bottom line.

For too long corporate raiding and buying companies just to split them
up for profit with no thought of the effects on longtime employees has
been accepted as the norm in this country. When cold hearted executives
fire a person just before they are eligible for retirement benefits,
it’s nothing short of stealing.

I believe in capitalism. I believe in making money and getting ahead in
life, but not by stepping on the heads of other people. It’s not
necessary to hurt other people to get ahead. It’s possible to conduct
your business treating your employees and your consumers fair. It may
not pay as well but at least you can sleep at night.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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