In olden Chinese society, the respected occupations were the government officials, teachers, doctors, farmers and craftsmen. The merchants were considered to be near the bottom of the ranking. Why were the merchants given so low a ranking in the past?
Today, the merchants (i.e. businessmen, entrepreneurs, traders, bankers) are the most lucrative occupations. They earn large amounts of money, especially in financial services and corporate dealings.
Even the professionals (i.e. doctors, lawyers, accountants and teachers) want to be converted into businesses to make more money.
The drive to "make more profit" has resulted in a deterioration of business ethics. Nowaways, businesses find it all right to "skim off the consumers" to increase their profits, so long as they do not break the law. It has become an acceptable business practice to take advantage of the ignorant or weak consumers to maximise profits. .
I believe that there will be a backlash. I hope that the business community will understand that fair treatment of consumers is for the long term benefit of the free market system.
BUSINESS GOAL:PROFIT MAXIMUMXATION
ReplyDeleteEarly 19th century, UK export opium to ancient China (清代).
My grandfather was suffering !
Now, USA export "mad cow" to Korean!
Offshore Investor export hot money to Vietnam, profit it and withdraw from the market in recent months. Poor vietnamese are suffering under double digit inflation rate and currency depreciation. Such incident had happened in Thailand and Malaysia in 1997.
"Why were the merchants given so low a ranking in the past?"
ReplyDeleteIs it true that those rich merchants were given low ranking in society?
In this society, I know there are three (not two) things that make a person being highly respected:
1. MONEY, e.g. Bill Gates, etc.
2. POWER, e.g. Lee Kwan Yew, etc.
3. GREAT & TRUE LOVE (beyond family), e.g. the late Mother Theresa, Buddha, Jesus, and many others who gave their lives for others without seeking money & power in return..(not sure if Bill Gates can be considered under this category or no, as he indeed has given almost all his wealth back to society)...
I wonder how many of us feel the same as Mr Tan, I for one have the same thoughts just a few days ago when talking to my wife. The common people are more or less, accepted this a part of modern life as we know it and some may feel helpless and in any case, those in control fo the resources are so powerful and smart they probably be able to overcome any sign of backlash - there seem to be a race to see who among the professional and businesses squeeze the most out of any deal, screw the consumers, this is how our society works.
ReplyDeleteGovernment and politics are also no exception. This is done in 2 ways:
ReplyDelete1. Sky high official pay (but with some political cost) so as to be seen as transparent and no corruption and to attract talent. High pay = high talent.
2. Low official pay ( to be politically acceptable to the masses) but unofficially is what really matters.
Even some religious and charity group heads are no exception to this "make big money" mentality. Makes one wonder what on earth is going on!
I have high respect for Bill Gates. He made his fortune the honest way, by offering an excellent products that people buy willingly.
ReplyDeleteHe does not cheat people by offering inferior product and then locked them up and fleece them for 20 years or longer.
After making his huge fortune, he decided to donate most of it to charity to help the poor people of the world.
Unfortunately, there are so few "rich merchants" who are ethical and generous.
After Sichun (China) Earthquake, Singaore government and Red Cross has donated to the victim. This is morale good. Thank you.
ReplyDeletePRC has US$1.73 trillion of foreign reserve. Top 3 richest government in the world. PRC government promised to give RMB10
(S$2) per day for each survival victim. On the other hand, it is a nation at the bottom of the corruption list . Why so many Singapore local MNC raise fund for this good cause and sucke away the charity dollars from volunteer welfare organisation (VWO) in Singapore ? Is this an issue of Business Ethic?
Dear Kin Lian,
ReplyDeletePeople like Bill Gates who made billions made donations to charity to reduce/avoid taxes. By donating he enjoys huge reduction in taxes and at the same time people sees him as a nice guy who help the poor. So he kills two birds with one stone.
There are few ethical and generous "rich merchant" in this world because to continue being rich and powerful the only formula is to exploit the poor and dominate their mind, soul and cheat them of every cents they have in their pocket so that the poor will perpetually depends on the rich and the powerful for their survivals.
I totally disagree with siewkhim that Bill Gates donate his wealth back to reduce taxes. This argument is very illogical. The amount given out is much much bigger than the taxes saved..
ReplyDeleteDear Singasoft,
ReplyDeleteLet me give us a simple example:
Suppose Bill Gate's taxable income before donation is US$100m.
At that level let supposed tax rate is 50%. Hence tax is US$50m
Suppose Billy donated US$50m. Therefore taxable income is US$50m.
Supposed tax rate at that level is 40%. Hence tax is US$20m
From this example, the donation enables Billy to reduce his tax from US$50 to US$20m (more than 50%).
By donating US$50m he also looks very good.
Do you agree with me that Billy reduces his tax and enjoy being called a good guy at the same time.
People like him has all the money in the world and they want fame.
I am surprised that Singasoft does not know about progressive taxation and how it works.
ReplyDelete$100m - $50m tax = Billy gets $50m.
ReplyDelete$100m - $50m donation - $20m tax = Billy gets $30m.
Therefore, Billy is better off not making a donation.
I guess Singasoft is talking about absolute amount ($30m saved vs $50m donated), not percentage amount.
SiewKhim, going by your own example:
ReplyDeleteyou donated $50m to save $30m. Nett-nett you still came out with $20m.
That's why I said it is just illogical for people to donate with the main purpose of saving taxes.
Will you donate for the main purpose of saving taxes? I won't, because that is just illogical to me.
Every time I hear such argument, I feel sad because that shows me how flawed we are...we are so suspicious and negative about each other....to donate or no, we are always the bad guys....
I believe there are good people in this world.
Dear Guys,
ReplyDeleteIf you sincerely want to donate for whatever amount, you don't have to tell the whole world Just do it quitely and avoid publicity.
But donating and getting your story in the mass media, you are trying to gain attention.
Those who do that are really the good people.
Of course there are good people in this world, just as there are bad ones. Just because singasoft don't eat chilli, does not mean other don't. Singasoft appears to have a one track mind and a stubborn streak in him. All men are sinners, so what is there to be sad about flaws in us? Of all people, singasoft is one of the most suspicious, he is suspicious of other people being suspicious. LOL, his posting shows how juvenile he is compared to Bill Gates, so he will never know why Bill Gates do certain things for he is still waiting for permission from his BOSS!
ReplyDeleteSiewkhim, I do agree that in principal doing good things no need to announce.
ReplyDeleteBut, Bill Gates' donation is quite a different story, because it is not $100K..it is in billions, plus he will be involved actively his missions...it is not difficult for some reporters to find out what's happening...
not trying to "saka" bill gates, as he will never know me...but I'm just trying to put things into correct perspectives...
Last point, which I think is equally important is that Bill Gates & Warren Buffet have set good examples, for the rest of us...
Dear Singasoft,
ReplyDeleteTQ for correcting my overzealous generalisation.
Regards