Category Archives: Corporate Responsibility

Mar 17 2010

Bankers Bonuses – Do they deserve it?

I remember interviewing Rev Jesse Jackson back in Oct 2008.  The Rev Jackson was on-route to India and encouraging Equanomics through the Rainbow Alliance. He was due back in December 2008 to lead a demonstration on Wall Street to help demand fairer terms for people who had been leant money and were in imminent danger of having their homes repossessed. The Reverend said something interesting. He suggested that creativity seemed to be alluding the Bankers all of a sudden. Where is the creativity they (the bankers) demonstrated when initially lending money, especially to vulnerable people ?

In recent years we have seen the Banking crisis being averted by governments propping them up with Public money. In return very little can be seen as awarded to us, Joe and Jane Public.

Back in the 1980s, Endowment mortgages were all the rage. Unfortunately, 25+ years later the vast majority of these schemes have resulted in a short fall of their potential. Instead, another industry grew-up where endowments could be sold, leaving the public with losses. Frustratingly, the bankers who created such schemes or brokers who sold them probably still got paid their bonuses. Bonuses for doing a bad job!?

It does appear wrong that a bank can record a profit based on an external cash injection and still award a set of high bonuses to its staff. There needs to be more transparency as to who is being paid and what. NB In most industries, for example Teaching, there is public awareness of pay scales and performance targets. Are the bankers immune. Or, should we accept that to retain them we need to pay them more?

A good article from the BBC news portal, implies that bankers bonuses are:

free market driven across the world. Unless the politicians globally get together and find a solution that gives bankers fair and reasonable pay for the work put in, makes the global financial system more stable and reduces the risk of another crash – then its all going to happen again one day.

Maybe we need more creative people like the Rev Jesse Jackson to suggest lateral thoughts to change how banking works. The politicians appear to be strangely silent, especially in the UK where the expenses scandal continues.

What is fascinating is the following graph:

It appears that if we stay out of wars and quickly jail greedy bankers, we could dramatically change the face of our global economy for good.

What we really need is a world-wide initiative to harmonise the world. No more fat cats, instead an even distribution of wealth.

No more haves and have yachts!

Sep 18 2009

Fascinating Interview with the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Spendid suns.

I think we are all living in a war torn world,  just because it is not called World War III, should not mean that we do not take seriously the need for greater peace in the world and an initiative to start harmonisation.

Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video</a>

I talk about the latter a lot. Maybe harmonisation can be the key to reigniting the economy, especially as it has been ravaged by a banking situation and the greed generated by the perpetual motion of capitalism.
Has humankind learnt nothing about not repeating mistakes or becoming enveloped in materialism?

Yesterday’s news of the closure of a camp between France and the UK also rams home the point of the need for solutions in worlds where people flee for their lives of a better existance.

We need multi-nationals to use their power for change.

Feb 24 2009

Oscars 2009

In ’05 I wrote: http://www.saviarora.com/oscar-fright/. Then in ’07 I wrote: http://www.saviarora.com/oscar-wild-2/

Interestingly, It has been a while since I said anything about the movies and ironically with all my thoughts in recent years about the unnecessary lavishness of the Oscars I did buy a monthly season ticket for my local theatre. Could it be that the older I get the more I want to view and appreciate the effort involved in any movie project?  Or, is it that since the success of the film Slumdog millionaire I feel a sense that art can change the world? Not sure yet as I know that the £200M that has already been recorded at the box office for the latter mentioned film will certainly raise some capital for trust funds for the actors et al. However, what about the situation today and all those who continue to struggle for survival?

The raising of awareness has to be one thing that has come out of the ’09 Oscars, i.e: honouring the film with an avalanche of awards. I hope that this momentum will continue to raise an air of conciousness.

Over the last month it has been difficult to find time to update my blog. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, being away for a few days in the early part of Feb ’09 – in the Subcontinent (India), getting sick on the last couple of days there and then returning back to London to the cold!

During the trip I remember a child who approached me at on an auto-rickshaw, the one time that I took one from Noida to Central Delhi. We were stuck at a traffic light and the child held out his hand and repeating over and over again a request for money. Above me was one of the many fly-overs being constructed for the Commonwealth games to be held I believe next year. We had also just passed a number of recent construction sites for new offices all showing sign boards of many recognisable western organisation’s – probably keen to pursue their cost containment strategies.

I wondered why this world is full of double standards. In one part of the world we have barefeet rag clothed children, the women who work on   Highway construction sites under the sweltering sun – carrying rocks on their heads on trays and make shift tents for thousands of families. In Hollywood we see the press hoovering around the bold and the beautiful people (actors) trying to pretend to be real people.

In 2009 some of the real people (Actors selected from the 19 million who live in the slums in Mumbai) turned up to the ceremony, will the world wake-up and ask for change or simply wait for the next premiere as life passes us by…?

Check out the double standards on the following vid. As the interviews are taking place with the kids of the Slumdog Millionare movie, a not so subtle shot of SJP ‘kicks in’ showing the array of frocks and celebs. What about the question at the end, would you rather be at home playing video games!! I believe that question was for one of the 2 little ones who live in the slums,  enough said!