Corporate Greed

After reading Liar's Poker and Predator's Ball, which depict the rise and fall of Salomon Brothers and Drexel Burnham respectively, one would think a definition of ethics in corporate culture equates to something that limits profits. Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker, worked for Salomon Brothers during its heyday of bond trading, even being admitted to the upper-most echelon of the corporate world � the Big-Swinging Dick club. Lewis takes a humorous view of the rise and crash of Salomon Brothers, one that ended with $290 million in fines, the banishment of its CEO from running a brokerage, and jail time and fines for bond trade Paul W. Moser. In Predator's Ball we see a business climate where corrupt corporate executives are often in league with high ranking political figures. This analysis will compare and contrast the business climate portrayed in each work, and then relate this climate to the business climate in contemporary corporate America.

The environment at Salomon Brothers resembled a bunch of milquetoast Harvard graduates thrust into a world of kindergarten bullies. Brilliant little boys were in charge with a Big Swinging Dick mentality during a bull market, one that Congressional legislation helped paved the way for enormous creation of wealth at the expense of investors. Such a mentality was fostered by the corporate culture that used the symbolic ritual of the game Liar's P

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ond financing to areas completely outside the boundaries of ethics or law. Bruck does an excellent job of showing Milken's fascination with the big deal and junk bond financing that would eventually land him in prison and bankrupt Drexel Burnham. In so doing we see the same lust for gambling in Milken that was commonplace in the business climate of Salmon Brothers described by Lewis: "No matter how much research you have done regarding a particular stock, you don't have a contract as to what the future price will be. But with a high-yield bond there is a date certain in the future when it matures, and if you hold it to maturity and your analysis is correct, you will be correct" (Bruck 28). The penalties and sentences on executives at Salmon Brothers appear as paltry as the ones handed out to Milken once his unethical and unlawful securities practices came to light. It is estimated that Milken profited through commissions by as much as $24 billion in his decade with Drexel Burnham. His penalty for doing so illegal and in a manner that bankrupted many including his own company, Milken served 24 months of a ten year sentence in jail and paid a $1 billion fine (Bruck 1989). Salmon Brothers fines and punishments pale in comparis

Category: Business - C