Business Ethics – Reconciling Faith with The Everyday Bottom Line

I was somewhat taken aback the first time around when I saw the breaking news about the Agriprocessors Plant in Postville Iowa being raided by immigration officials. My first thought had been, why are they not doing the same at IBP? Why picking on the Kosher plant and not the Treif one?

Yesterday, while with a friend, we discussed libertarianism and the issue of human predation. How one needs to find a medium between the “Nanny State” and the “Laissez-faire’ extremes… in the following case – there should be no need for a Nanny State – Yirat Shamayim (Fear of Heaven) should suffice – or does it?

Today while at the gym, the New York Times lay in a basket waiting for my wandering eyes… there I read in a column on the left side with more recent developments concerning this particular case – Former workers allege 13 hour days… being overworked with sharp knives, unsafe conditions….It reminded of me of a friend who worked at a restaurant for 13 hours shifts and as well for a G-d fearing man…

- Agriprocessors moving fast to address the situation
- Change in Management at Agriprocessors

Note – I won’t honor Peta’s axe to grind – they are the same PETA that protested against Palestinians for using donkeys to carry explosives that would kill people. PETA-philes should have been born vegetables. End Note.

it donned on me that I had avoided commenting about this case, as I know the owners, and was always an object of their kindness. They employ over 800 people directly, have built a community around them (Non-Jewish as well, and have prospered). It pains me to read these allegations in the NYT, not because I do not believe they could be true – slaughterhouses seems to have these same recurring themes – but because it lends credence to those looking to vilify Jews because of the actions of a few misguided entrepreneurs. A friend of mine always stated – “If the business is not profitable legally, it is not a business” – here it holds true. Using illegal labor to lower operating costs is a widespread practice in Iowa, Georgia, Colorado and anywhere slaughterhouses hang their hat. To the point that immigration raids have affected the economies of many states – is it a coincidence that we have gone downwards in our “productivity” after the Bush administration started to crackdown and allow crackdowns on illegal immigrants? I digress – but in any case, the Agriprocessors case is one that hits home. It is not the first time this company has been in the news – there was concern in the past over their shechita as well (in 2004) – then effective April 15, 2008 KAJ (Kehillat Adath Jeshrun) or the “Washington Heights Heksher” pulled its supervision out owing to other issues there. Quoting a respected Rabbi: “If you ever have a doubt about kashrus, just look for the KAJ seal, no matter what hashkofa you hail from, they are to be trusted, even above our own!”.

My comments won’t be many more – except that If a person is going to use G-d as a partner, as the kosher businesses do, they would do well to go back and review the Chofetz Chayim’s works concerning Business Ethics and practices. Illegal aliens are humans too – and the halacha applies to “bein adam le chavero” – between a man and his neighbor, and this applies to each and every human. If the river is loud, it’s because it has rocks – scoff at Hebrew National’s kashruth, but how is your stuff even kosher?

Part of the appeal of kosher products is the elimination of pain in the slaughter process, (the animals toxins are not released into the flesh you will eat)) yet when human suffering is involved, how can you allege that the morsel you are eating is still kosher?

Obama playing to the crowd

So he asks the USA and Europe to stop terrorism – yet he had no balls to ask Iraq and Iran to help out. A Useful Pawn for the Iraqi leader who of course agrees to a timeline arbitrarily stated by a man with no military service… interesting. Somehow now Obama, not even a Senator that has been in service for 5 months to his state before MIA on the campaigning trail actually has the gall to contradict General Petraeus. How is that backing the Army? Backing your Country?

Is Obama now a Con(servative?) – Saber rattling in Afghanistan seems to indicate so

I read the Dreams From My Father, and in spite of its blandness, at some point embraced the idea of Barack Obama as President of our Country. Somewhere along the line Barack’s voice started to sound like Lyle Lanley’s… I kept thinking, he is like the “Monorail Guy” in the Simpsons…

The Monorail was embraced by the Springfielders; Lyle just told them what they wanted to hear

Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there’s nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!
What’d I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What’s it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: That’s right! Monorail!
[crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]
Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud…
Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.
Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: You’ll be given cushy jobs.
Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I’m on the level.
Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.
I swear it’s Springfield’s only choice…
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What’s it called?
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: Once again…
All: Monorail!
Marge: But Main Street’s still all cracked and broken…
Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
All: Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[big finish]
Monorail!
Homer: Mono… D’oh!

Barack Obama seems to have the press and his duped followers chanting the same song as he waltzes around the world. His words in Afghanistan were disturbing. I was expecting to see the “Candidate for Change” speak about withdrawing from Afghanistan, speak intelligently about his “Change”. He seems to look at this War like a Risk board. “Okay, so I will move the troops on the next turn to Afghanistan since I need to be right about Iraq”. We are talking about human lives here, but for Barack it is again about winning at all costs. He pummeled Hillary Clinton by creating stark differences where he could, and her “surge” failed and that is material for a different post; he basically allays right-winger and military industry fears by assuring them that he is not an “Anti-War” candidate, just looking to correct errors… More proof that Mr. Obama does not stand for Change, he stands for those that have propped him up. Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware!

Naples: DeHumanization and Trash

For a people that tolerates living in one of the dirtiest cities on the planet with piles of refuse mounting on the streets and the concomitant disease and strife this brings, a people that are unable to maintain honest officers in government as they will get rubbed out by the Camorra… a city run by goons and that the Italian government has been unable to touch. They have lived so much among the trash that they consider themselves trash. That might be the explanation for allowing two dead human beings to lay on the beach with a towel over them and just go about your business of frolicking on the garbage strewn beach.

When this fails to bother you, you are but another rat in the dump. Naples sucks.

Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, like so many before him just looks the other way. President Bush actually got something right. This man is a political amateur and heads a corrupt government. Is it a corrupt government or a corrupt society? It is appalling and a disgrace that Italy cannot get such a small geography under control. It is true that the Roma Question needs to be addressed by Italians and the European Parliament, but it is also true that Italy needs to address itself.

I am equally appalled by the amount of callous beings that comment on news on the CNN website for example. Many just say well… “what should we have done, mourn the victims?” “ruin my day in the sun”. Yes. That would have been adequate. To act is to be human.

Mass Transit- Addressing Limiting Factors

I still do not see a massive use of the trains in the Boston Metro area. One issue is that parking lots are brimming with cars and those that want to use it cannot find a space. Building more lots is not a great idea.

While not the most ideal – I suggest that feeder buses be established to bring people from their homes to the stations. Routes established along the main streets in neighborhoods can be established to ferry people from (for example) Shrewsbury, Holden, West Boylston to Worcester; Wayland, Natick, Wellesley to the Framingham Station and so forth – adequate schedules, regular service will cut down on the amount of cars on the road. Rising fuel costs are having an unexpected environmental benefit and this is great. I certainly hope that the MBTA is hopping on this opportunity and should rightfully contemplate a way to recoup investments be it through advertising revenue as well pricing the service in a way it makes sense.

DART-ing in Dallas!

I had a chance to ride the DART train (It’s electric!) in Dallas and truly enjoyed the quiet ride and the incredible on-time scheduling. I took the DART from Richardson TX in the north, was able to jump on the connecting bus to Love Field and make my flight on time. No stress, only about $3.00 total!!! I was the ONLY person on this bus. It was definitely a loss to the transit authority. We have such a long ways to go. A taxi would have cost me $50.00 plus tip.  (It was about 35 miles all told). With the amount of traffic in Dallas, I am surprised more people are not using DART. We need to invest more in these solutions that will make cities more livable and free us from our cars.

More Trains - Expanded Schedule Must Contemplated

UK: Benefits Reform – Could this make it across the puddle?

Benefits Shake-Up

Not a chance. Not in an electoral year. I cannot picture Senators McCain nor Obama telling welfare recipients unemployed for over 2 years that they need to clean grafitti, pick up trash and basically “make themselves busy or useful to society”. LBJ’s gift to those needing assistance has long been abused by scores of people that simply are unwilling to work. People that are unable to pay the rent but have a Nintendo Wii prominently positioned in the living room, people that sit around all day listening to music on expensive sound systems that I cannot afford to even look at – oh, it is not anecdotal, I happen to own rental units and have seen it all through the lives of my tenants.  Some have used this to simply stay home and pursue their favorite hobbies. Those of us that pay taxes and incidentally work and create benefits for our society really do not take kindly to this. Part of the “immigration reform” message has been that immigrants come to the U.S. to get on welfare. B.S. I realize some of the locals do not want the newly arrived to cut in on their action, but the ones playing that game are hardly from across the border, rather smarter Eastern European immigrants (for instance) used to being on the Soviet dole, and those numbers have dwindled or generations of welfare recipients born and bred in the USA. Most of these gremlins are not hopping the fence my friend.

I have not had a chance to examine what is being called “the increase of middle class entitlements” by Senator Obama were he to be elected, but cringe at the thought of an already bloated system going beyond heartburn and into cardiac arrest. I demand accountability for my dollars, and bums need to be put to work. The truly disabled and indigent do not need these leeches sucking their funds. I like the idea of community service in exchange for the free ride. It won’t be free, they might find some self respect and we get some value for the taxes we pay.

Amtrak: Part 2

I was berated by a reader as irrational for attempting to “scrap Amtrak”. I am not that powerful my friend, if I were, I would focus on more pressing issues, but since you brought it up, I wanted to engage in an analysis of Mass Transit. First off, Amtrak is more intercity transport, than mass transit, so dear reader, get your definitions straight. Just to head off a stupid argument foisted by this well meaning moron: “Amtrak lacked adequate funding from the beginning”. Who defines adequate?  When is enough, enough? Certainly, the inability to meet rising ridership will be conveniently blamed on the lack of funding from the get go. I blame a flawed business plan that must be changed.

The premise for sustainable business is profit. Reducing the scope of Amtrak or breaking it down like AT&T was broken down, into more manageable units might be a solution. Re-formulating routes, analyzing better routes to serve the Northeast for instance could be a start. One thing to bear in mind, less available land exists now to create more tracks. A friend has since pointed out that there are abandoned tracks that could be rehabbed. Any idea on the miles of track available for rehabiliation? Yet, just looking at the Boston area, it is sad to see how underutilized our Mass Transit is, and then when you try to leave your car in the garage to go to NYC – you find that using Amtrak is expensive, inefficient and takes longer. This is on the closest destination. A linear route like Boston-Syracuse takes only 6 hours by car (ok, I can be done in 4.5 if you choose not to stop and eat power bars on the way!), but by train it is excruciating and can take up to 12 hours. So what do you do? With the increase in fuel prices train travel becomes a viable alternative, yet one cannot pour money into the entire system. It is called, getting spread thin. Rather you focus on a section of the country that would be using it more often, the Northeast comes to mind, and even then you break it down: New England, Central New York, NYC, Philly, DC-Baltimore and work on making each administrative area profitable, viable and desirable.  As the adage states, “success leaves clues”, why not look at how the Europeans are able to manage their rail transit and integrate some of these solutions into our own country?

Geography - Here is an issue that will thwart us. Not the physical features of our beautiful New England territory as much as what we suffer from around the country: Sprawl. If you fly out of Frankfurt, Germany and many other European cities, you will notice that the cities actually have stopping points. Farm land pops up!. I noticed it in London too – there is no continous view of buildings and highways and streets like here in the USA. The transition in some cases is abrupt. This allows for the creation of more spurs/rail routes to accommodate vaster geographic regions. Then it is the vastness of our country vs Europe. We are huge. So we need to bite off the cake one bite at a time. The error with Amtrak was to stay set in the wrong set of paradigms and attempt to solve the issue for the entire country. This will not happen in a year and probably not in a decade. But something needs to begin - action, not just pretty words. We have wasted over 40 years waiting for the solution to improve, but cheap air tickets and gas seem to have lulled Amtrak into just being the idiot cousin of the Transportation Family, sitting on the rocking chair twiddling their thumbs instead of improving the system. By now we should have been able to hope on a train in South Station and expect to get to our destinations in the Northeast quickly and at a fair price. There should have been a thriving ridership along these rails.

Part of the delays through the NYC area are due to the fact that it is shared with MetroNorth – the commuter line that serves that hub. I recall having the train slow down on my trip between NYC and Boston owing to MetroNorth and it gets irritating, yet better schedulling and laying some track that would allow to bypass these slower commuter trains might be a solution. There are Express tracks, but it just seems that getting through NYC is excruciating. That brings me to another point – we need soften our expectations in the beginning if this is going to work – we need to be able to accept that rail can not always be the fastest way to get to a point, but if the timeline is within business acceptable guidelines, why not try it? I can take 4.5 hours to NYC from Boston if it means not bringing in my car, putting up with high parking and tolls – but the price needs to be fair.

For example, if I were to travel to NYC tomorrow for a business trip, the first train out is at 6:05 AM and it would get me in at 10:20 AM. Not bad, but the price for the one way ticket is $89.00. Acela can shave an hour, but it is $135.00 so let’s not use that example.

I want to return the same day, it is just a meeting, the return can happen at 6 PM on the Acela and it will set me back another $89.00. That is $178.00 for the day.

If I take the Boston Limoliner to New York so that I can avail myself of similar seating and a business like environment (connections for my laptop, WiFI – and if I choose, I can watch news on the tv’s) I end up spending $160.00 for the day and will get home in the same time ( a bit shorter).  In both cases I need to retrieve my car at a parking lot. No biggie. But what would you choose? Some will say – choose Fung Wah!!! For $30.00 round trip you get in and out same schedule. I do not want to compare this, but it is a good point – Fung Wah is still profitable at 30 bucks round trip. The carbon footprint of a bus vs a train is much larger. Amtrak wins hands down on that one. (www.carbonfund.org) , yet explaining carbon footprints to people and business is still and arduous task owing to the WIFM factor (What’s In it for Me).

Now, if I drive with my car, the trip is about 370 miles round trip, that is 18 gallons with say $72.00 of fuel and my car’s wear and tear, parking in the city would set me back around $50.00, so that is $122.00. Not too efficient in my opinion owing to my car’s wear and tear.

My employer would reimburse me and the trip would actually be $216.45 at the new reimbursement rate. Parking would still be $50.00 – or $266.45 total. The other alternative, renting a car, would be $39.00 for the day (My discounted rate), and add in the $72.00 gas plus my $50.00 for parking that is $161.00 depending on the rental rate.

 So far LimoLiner is winning in terms of less stress with the car,  unless my boss is looking to torture me with some Fung Wah action. I must also state that Amtrak starts to make GOOD sense at this point (for this route). Now, why is this not publicized? Same problem – inept complacent management. The issue will be capacity and facility conditions at this point….

Tributary Reform: Where to Begin?

Wouldn’t it make sense to reward companies creating large revenues? Wouldn’t it make sense to stimulate our economy through re-investment?

I believe that a tax that works with steps on the hind end might bolster productivity and the desire to re-invest in the United States. It would hinder the temptation to create shelter corporations and other off-shore structures to funnel revenues into as a way to bypass excessive taxation.

Defining how much is enough is difficult, but is an issue that should be tackled. As an individual, I would be more tempted to spending more as a consumer if I had more money left. These days I scrape to save and invest knowing that even those profits will be taxed. It’s like having a non-productive partner in my business transactions!

In looking at a business – perhaps taxing 35% up until a certain dollar amount would make sense, then backing off after that threshold is reached to say 30% and so forth until they reach the no tax zone. In theory companies would be inclined to make to that no tax zone but pay their taxes in full up to a certain amount. Currently, accountants are employed to find ways not to pay taxes from dollar one.

I am not a tax expert – just an observer of human nature. I believe that a windfall tax is foolish and will hurt our country. It is punishing excellence and enforcing mediocrity. Our land was built on free enterprise. Stifling re-investment is certainly not the way to go!

An Obama victory in December may trigger huge sell offs of stock and stifle any desire to reinvest – what is more urgent than hedging against a Democrat victory in December is to address issues NOW. The Dollar is tumbling, and little is said about the effects this is having on our economy. You may argue that we can export more – the issue is that we also import supplies and corporations being in the business of profits are also less likely to invest in the United States if they can preserve the value of their capital by parking surplus funds overseas buying Euros. This will hurt us badly and for the first time in many American’s lives, currency exchange rates may have a meaning.

Increased taxation, i.e. FICA and repealing the Estate Tax phase out is simple tomfoolery. The Candidate for Change will have us asking for change!

Argentina: Kirchner Abrogates Measure, VP Cobos Shows Gumption

Standing up to his own President, Julio Cobos broke party ranks by disagreeing on Kirchner’s warpath with Argentine farmers concerning the export tax. This willingness to follow the path of honesty has earned him immense respect in Argentina and the World. Televised images were proof that it was a heart wrenching decision for him. Bravo Julio, te la comiste!!!! Idolo!!!!!

One can only hope that our own Vice Presidents would show this type of independence.

Julio Cobos, Vice Presidente de la Republica Argentina

Premio – Prize: Paladin de la Mediocridad/Palladin of Mediocrity

Ganador del Premio 2008 de la Mediocridad Daniel Ortega

Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua has earned the 2008 Palladin of Mediocrity Prize. Ortega’s unconditional support of FARC terrorists has earned him the distinction.  He is also known as prominent member of the Hugo Chavez Bolivarian Buffoons. Attempts to reach President Ortega have been rebuffed by his goons.