A reader pointed out that the leaders of the advanced democracies earn modest salary when they were in public service, but received fat fees for public speaking after their retirement from politics. There is an article in the Straits Times about the speaking fees received by a former politician.
These fees were paid by the commercial conference organizers, who were able to get the participants to pay the fees to make it viable.
They also get big corporate sponsorships It is likely that the big corporations, which made huge profits from the free market policies, now expect to assistance of the retired politicians in their lobbying. This is unsatisfactory, but is quite unfortunate.
We need a world, and leaders, that are more honorable. They should take care of the ordinary people, rather than for personal enrichment.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Honesty and rationalisation
We think of honesty in terms of financial dealings. We also need to think of honesty in terms of speaking the truth.
If we make a mistake, we should admit it. We should not try to find some angle to explain it away. We should not "rationalise" our action, which is what smart but dishonest people are quite used to do.
If we do not know the answer, we can state the fact. We can seek advice. Or just give it a try.
In an artilce in the Straits Times today stating that Franklin Roosevelt was not sure about how to bring America out of the depression in the early 1930s. He took some bold steps, but admitted that he did not know if it would work. Barrack Obama is now taking the same approach to overcome the global financial crisis 80 years later.
There are some people who have never made a mistake in their lives, because they are able to rationalise it, and explain it away.
Tan Kin Lian
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