For a much-needed parody about the failure of corporate capitalism, check out this article in the Monthy Review. If you don’t think unregulated corporate capitalism has a lot of problems, how do you explain the sad fact that Trump became a billionaire?
This is a clever, much-needed light parody about the danger of unregulated, corporate-dominated capitalism. More businesses, especially executives and managers, should read the Monthly Review since it provides an alternative viewpoint about what we see on cable news and in the corporate press.
The popularity of Bernie Sanders (who I contend could easily have beaten Trump were he not derailed by the DNC) and the rise of nationalistic populism are explained in the alternative press (like the Monthly Review.)
It also explains why Millennials and younger workers are privately disgusted with their jobs and job
prospects over their working lifetimes. The sad fact is that millions of young workers will not be able to retire, or if they do, they will face a massive drop in their quality of life.
As someone who has been writing about retirement for over 35 years, I can say there is no good news for future retirees on the horizon. Cuts in all types of benefits and less savings mean bad future outcomes for future generations.
As expected, elected officials are ignoring the impending retirement crisis. The reason is they don’t care. This complicated, depressing topic is at the heart of income disparities, low-wage jobs, the decimation of pension plans, and shifting all the investment risk to people who are ill-prepared to manage their own money for the next 35-plus years of their post-working lives.
So, if you are a corporate manager working with Millennials, find out why they will never be able to retire or afford a home (Hint: they don’t have the money for a down payment, or they have bad credit scores from substantial college loans.) Find out why they don’t consider their jobs a career. The reason is that the corporation has no loyalty to its employees, so why should the workers have any loyalty to their employer?
But if you want to be an innovative manager, let me know. I may have some ideas for educating workers if the company wants to change its corporate structure, such as converting to a co-op. Don’t consider this if you work at GE, JP Morgan, or Wells Fargo.
But if you are a severely small company, be an innovator. You’ll become more profitable, have lower employee turnover, be a better community member, and have higher productivity. You won’t become Gordon Gecko, Jack Welch, or Jamie Dimon, but you can have your self-respect. And you won’t have to waste money on macho motivational speakers (I’ve seen many at sales meetings, and they all suck) who excite your employees by clapping, telling war and sports stories, and then collecting their daily $4,500 speakers fee (plus expenses) that changes nothing.
So, if you want to follow the corporate pack, keep doing the same things in these transitory times. If you do, you will be ruining the American Dream for millions of Millennials.
