Why are politicians vilified but businessmen exulted?

The fundraiser I work on for the AHA is entirely dependent on what you would call big business people. They donate the lions share of the money, help with planning and recruiting etc. Without their donations, we would never be able to scrape by and would lose all relevance as an organization.

Some people get into business to help people. Not every big business type has the character of a Wal-mart heir.

it all depends what your goal in life is...

and just because you get into politics doesn't mean you're out to "make the world a better place." Same goes with non-profit organizations. I know some heads of NPO that have Ferrari's, Benz, Porsches, lined up in the driveway (guess where the money came from?).

I have some problems with the way corporations are run in this country (probably everywhere), and with the way corporations and government interact, but the idea that businessman=bad is insane. Why wouldn't you want to be one of the people who contributes to the world by producing products and, if all goes well, makes a profit from it? Doesn't the term "businessman" include the guy that runs the local indie bookstore, or the great Chinese restaurant, or Lion's Gate Films, or Graffix Bongs, or any of the other wonderful businesses that make our lives better every day?

How about a small chain of dry cleaners? How about a print shop? How about a glass shop specializing in repairing broken residential windows? How about a carpenter/contractor? How about a landscaper? How about roofers? Painters? Plumbers, for God's sake!

Devin, not every businessman is the Harvard MBA. The vast vast majority of Capitalists work right next to you. There's only a miniscule number of evil corporate slugs. To do good in the public eye doesn't require one work in the non-profit world -although I just happen to do so myself...ironically.

Small business is capitalism. And isn't it you who decry the decline of the small business to the conglomerate? Well I'm all for the small businessperson. It's what keeps this Nation rollin'.

and who are you to say what's shitty...

Oh...well...you know I can't stand them, so....

you're judging people without knowing them. just look at this way: MOST of those rich people you "evil" started out very poor in life.

for someone that preaches understanding, you have little understanding for megalomaniacs.

This is a capitalist country. Big business needs to exist for America to exist, to keep the world economy going.

As to the main question, I think its a very valid point that I need to think on more. Never thought about it.

I will say this, I am at the very least suspicious of the motives of "Big Businessmen". I am very pro-capitalism in the sense that I believe in a persons right to go and make their own living through ingenuity and hard work because they are doing something they love. I think that often in the cases of CEO's of mega-corps they are in it solely for money and power and not because they like their product.

I disagree. This country was founded and is still run on the blood of small business folk. And they are who we should support.

That's an interesting statement.

Do I smell a socialist?

in all fainess, this country isn't totally capitalist. Heck, we have welfare and income taxes.

Bill Gates always tops the list of Americans who give to charity.

His million dollars is a lot better for the charity than my one dollar, even if my motives are purer.

of course they are. On the other hand I'm not likely to be building a hospital wing or providing a computer for every citizen in a third world country.

Looking for a demon under every stone?

Who's more generous? The minimum wage guy who gives $100 to charity, or the multi-billionairre who gives $1,000,000? Like Devin said, there are tax breaks and PR benefits for a vast corporation to write off some spare change as "charitable donations". The man in the street does it because he wants to.

On the flip side, my wife works for a charity, and has worked for several more, and some of them have been the most poorly run, borderline corrupt institutions she's ever seen - to the point where they might as well be IBM or Exxon. The actual goal of helping people becomes secondary to maintaining the right image and meeting pointless internal targets.

I never said he was more generous. However, his generosity goes alot farther than the man on the street. Gates builds hospitals, man on the street buys rolls of toilet paper. Now, if you want to say his money is dirty... that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Regarding your second paragraph... I work for the American Heart Association... am still trying to determine if we're one of the "good ones" or similar to the above...

Sadly true.

Sadly true.

I think it's sort of interesting the way big business and small businesses are being separated. I think the small guys are out to make money too. They didn't open the store for their health.

My question would be, what's the appropriate amount of money someone should make before they're considered corrupt?

And I don't think big business gets a free ride moreso than politicians. I'd guess they take the same amount of flack. If you ever see a rich guy in an office in a movie, he's either heartless or evil. He can be cured of heartless if he decides to move to a small town and date a local girl who happens to look like a model though.

Small businesses are rarely in a position to let the pursuit of profits exceed a certain level. The guy with his hardware store making a living probably isn't defrauding millions in tax loopholes and taking advantage of thousands of workers.

I think that to achieve a certain level of wealth, and - crucially - maintain that level of wealth, the problem is that you have to be somewhat corrupted. The system will only let you get so far if you play by the rules. The quirk at the heart of capitalism is that honesty doesn't pay. That's why there comes a time when any growing business will be tempted to start to hide money in off-shore accounts, make use of tax loopholes, form and defend unfair monopolies and squeeze every last drop out of your workers while giving them as little as possible in return. The goal of the company becomes self-preservation, not providing a service or product.

There comes a point where the success of a business reaches critical mass, and to proceed any further they must start down the slippery slope of bending the law, cutting corners and generally loosening their grip on morals. I don't think they suddenly put on a cape, twirl their moustache and become EVIL but bit by bit, it's all too easy to head down that road, under the justification of maintaining or improving profits.

That's the movies. In society, every day big business gets away with things that would have any politician pelted with raw sewage in the streets. If a leader of a Third World nation did some of the things that giant corporations do without blinking, then they'd be pilloried for being evil bastards and hated by the world. Somehow, as long as profits are involved, we turn a blind eye to some of the worst crimes imaginable - entire communities ruined, towns poisoned, pensions stolen on a vast scale. But we read about it, tut under our breath, and forget about it the next day. The blinkers of capitalism.