"Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire... leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists."
Thomas Aquinas
Gluttony is “Greedy or excessive indulgence” as per the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Gluttony has been described as one of the seven deadly sins. Gluttony can be equated to over consumption to the point of waste.
The big investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Bear Sterns, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Bros. awarded their employees in excess of $130 billion in bonuses between 2003 till 2007.
“Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/17/executivesalaries-banking
Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com states the following:
``Wall Street has created this mindset that most people find obscene, which is that it's hard to live on just half a million dollars a year.''
By replacing Pluto, the Greek God of wealth, with ADEPHAGIA, the Greek goddess of gluttony, we see a sea change in attitude.
Does this mark a dangerous trend in business philosophies, in that executive’s lifestyles are paramount, irrespective of fate of their organizations, shareholders and executives?
Does this mean that on Wall Street, gluttony has been a way of life?
Thomas Aquinas
Gluttony is “Greedy or excessive indulgence” as per the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Gluttony has been described as one of the seven deadly sins. Gluttony can be equated to over consumption to the point of waste.
The big investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Bear Sterns, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Bros. awarded their employees in excess of $130 billion in bonuses between 2003 till 2007.
“Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/17/executivesalaries-banking
Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com states the following:
``Wall Street has created this mindset that most people find obscene, which is that it's hard to live on just half a million dollars a year.''
By replacing Pluto, the Greek God of wealth, with ADEPHAGIA, the Greek goddess of gluttony, we see a sea change in attitude.
Does this mark a dangerous trend in business philosophies, in that executive’s lifestyles are paramount, irrespective of fate of their organizations, shareholders and executives?
Does this mean that on Wall Street, gluttony has been a way of life?
2 comments:
I feel all across the globe there is a trend towards becoming very transactional with employees. It might be to do with the fact that people who make policies themselves view their tenures in a single company as 2-3 or 4 years long. Therefore, they make policies in such a way that during good times they end up doling out lavishly to their employees, which may not be required like gourmet meals in offices or a swimming pool. Quickly people get used to such benefits and when these are pulled, they are missed sorely and resentment against management starts breeding. The question remains why in the first place is company money being wasted(?) on such initiatives? Maybe these times of trouble is an opportune time for companies to rethink their strategy towards engagement with employees rather than focusing on the transactional aspect only.
I called it "avarice" rather than gluttony, reserving the latter term for physical overconsumption.
I believe the line is crossed when your intentions go beyond besting your competition in a fair & square manner.
When you steal intellectual property, impoverish employees, squeeze suppliers, shortchange customers, cook the books, do things you know are unsustainable, lobby for legislation that's better for your company than the country, subvert the legal process, commission faulty academic research, or otherwise cheat, then your healthy greed has turned to avarice.
As to whether any particular executive's pay amounts to gluttony, an examination must be made with respect to the disposition of the money. Does it go to lifestyle, his church, his other causes, his ex-wife, or his children?
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