Sept. 5, 2009 -- It seems unimaginable that one simple economic reform could bring about an era of honesty, equity, and trust between people and nations, but corporate financial transparency would do just that.
A mandate of absolute transparency in all financial transactions is the surest way to eliminate secrecy, lies, and manipulation at all levels of commerce and government. The idea sounds revolutionary, but if every citizen had the right and the ability to review the complete financial records of any commercial entity, the behavior and priorities of most corporate executives would soon reflect the ethical standards we expect from the rest of society.
The current state of corporate malfeasance is due in large part to the fact that money is so easily hidden and manipulated. Today many businesses still get away with paying workers different salaries for doing the same job because our culture protects that information. The boss doesn't want you to know how much he's paying your co-workers nor does he want to know about your financial difficulties for the same reasons that he doesn't want you to know how profitable his business is; to do so would expose the injustice we all live with every day.
In most business settings, discussion of corporate finances outside the "need to know" circle of management, or comparison of compensation between coworkers is grounds for immediate termination. Keeping employees in the dark about matters affecting their common interests is one way a wealthy minority maintains control over the majority of mankind that keeps the commercial universe functioning.
Today corporate money is too easy to manipulate and hide, just ask any former Enron employee. Most corporate executives are ultra-secretive about their finances, personal and professional, and go to great lengths in hiding the money trail. This is symptomatic of either fear, shame, or both. Fear that someone will discover and expose the full extent of their wealth compared to the relative squalor of the workers who make it possible, or shame of the immoral greed that such disparities in compensation reveal about such people.
What would be the result of a corporate transparency in our society?
To begin with, real wage equity would be much more common if all commercial records were open to public scrutiny. If every corporation in the world were legally required to publish the actual compensation paid to its employees -- from the highest-paid executives to the lowest paid workers; not just salary ranges, but each individual's total compensation, reform would be almost immediate.
If every employee of every business had access to the financial records of his or her employer and could know the true financial state of the business, it would be much more difficult for corporate executives to justify plant closings, off-shoring, and job cuts simply to protect their personal financial interests. Conversely, if economic circumstances required drastic measures to save an enterprise, a transparent environment would make it much easier for owners to rationalize painful business decisions.
The hourly wage earner in any business enterprise ought to have the right to know what the executives are doing with the wealth he or she creates. Without labor there can be no profit.
A financially transparent society would never allow the gross imbalances in the distribution of wealth and the unethical means employed by corporate executives to obtain it. Corporate transparency would create an environment of honesty and cooperation in stark contrast with the combative relationships that now exist between labor and management.
The simple truth is that in a financially transparent economy, the American people would no longer tolerate the pathological behaviors that now pass for acceptable business practice.
Humanity is interconnected in a global economy never before witnessed in history; an economic system guided and governed by insatiable greed and the unbridled lust for power. We have reached a point in our technological evolution where almost all human activities can and do affect the lives of our brothers and sisters around the globe.
Why should we continue to tolerate the level of secrecy that corporate executives now enjoy? We've tried their version of almost unfettered capitalism for roughly two centuries and what do we have to show for it: abject poverty for many while a few live like royalty, corporate executives with more political and economic power than several developing nations combined, and a working class that produces goods and services on a global scale while living in constant fear of shrinking profit margins and the greedy whims of an overpaid minority?
We need a new economic model that values all of humanity; from the least skilled worker to the most educated specialist. One that fosters honesty, equity, and trust between people as well as nations. Corporate financial transparency would do just that.
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Thurman James is an aspiring writer, artist and advocate for peaceful revolution. He seeks real world solutions to real world problems, even when the solutions he finds are far off the beaten American path. He believes in doing what matters, and encouraging others to do the same.
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