The Business Roundtable released an overarching purpose of a corporation, intended to soften the several decade old myth that capitalism solves all societal problems. Workers experienced income erosion as captains of industry personally took every piece of the growing economic pie. The statement included language to counter this longtime phenomena.
Three private equity underwriters (PEU) inked their signature, representing The Carlyle Group, Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners. The greed and leverage boys symbolize the worst of management and their ilk has exploded in the new millennium. Many were founded in the 1980's and 90's but their impact has been widely felt under the Presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack H. Obama and Donald J. Trump.
Wall Street, the original greed and leverage boys, is well represented on the Business Roundtable statement, as are the accounting firms that enabled off balance sheet obligations.
Paying taxes was not listed as a corporate responsibility. Many companies that paid no federal income taxes in 2018 were signatories to the Business Roundtable statement.
I smell a public relations effort to spin corporations as worthy of government bailout money should the economy tank. I've been wrong before and will be again but my nose is often accurate.
Update 9-1-19: The last year under a healthcare PEU affiliate punched huge holes in the Business Roundtable's narrative. Employees were treated badly and customer service significantly eroded.
Update 9-5-19: Big Four accounting firms sold their standards to the greed and leverage boys and paid a pittance for bad audits. 808 defective audits turned into a mere 18 enforcement actions
