20160207 (big crime)

So what was so wrong about Martin Shkreli's trying to make a  profit? Drug companies need money for research. Money comes from profits. And the opportunity for exorbitant profit comes when you have a monopoly. Doesn't anybody understand the system?

What manner of morality is

Taught in our colleges and

Universities to account for

Enron, the Big Short,  the

Deepwater Horizon disaster,

The huge salaries of CEOs,

The squirreling away of

Profits to the Caymans, the

Purchase of goverment central 

To the US plutocracy and the

Erosion of the middle class?

I have, as I’m sure everyone 

Has, a relative who responds,

“You naive boy! It’s always 

Been that way and it will

Always be that way. You’re

Seventy-three? It’s time you

Grew up. You are not going

To change anything.” She may

Be entirely right, for the system

Goes on as if energized by public

Outrage at crimes of enormity.

Enormous in the monstrous sense:

Poisoning the water of Flint;

Reckless engineering of the storage

Of natural gas in Alyso Canyon;

VolksWagen’s rigging millions

Of auto computers to evade US

Clean air standards; Political

Action Committees support of

Climate denial candidates. The

Profits to be had from cheating

So hugely outweigh the comforts

Of conscience company officers

Dare not refuse the opportunities

Lest shareholders unseat them

For not squeezing an extra buck. 

Whatever of ethics was taught is

Quickly undone by the cynical

Traditions of the practitioners.

“That’s good for the classroom; it

Won’t hang in the boardroom,”

Is probably their response to

Cautions. Commerce’s path is 

Lined with victims who played 

Fair. You needn’t look further 

Than the rubrics of competition

They learn on the playing fields,

“Winning isn’t everything; it’s 

The only thing.” “Second place

Is first loser.”  “Besides, everybody’s

Doing it. Why put yourself at a 

Disadvantage?” They honor a 

Morality—“Never give a sucker

An even break.” It’s the cunning

Of the con-man, one half of the

Biblical, “be wise as serpents,”

Forget about “the innocence

Of doves.” Adam Smith knew 

Relying on one’s self-interest

Alone could poison the intent

Of entrepreneurs so he strongly

Favored a court system to rule

Against the mean and the cruel.

And from where were we to 

Recruit the incorruptible angels

Needed for such a court? 

Certainly not from the universally

Self-interested masses of humanity.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016