Greedy Leaders and Perverted Rewards.

The CEO of General Electric, told the West Point Military Academy, Wednesday, that we've come to the end of an era of excessive greed and meanness.

"We are at the end of a difficult generation of business leadership, and maybe leadership in general. Tough-mindedness, a good trait, was replaced by meanness and greed, both terrible traits. Rewards became perverted. The richest people made the most mistakes with the least accountability. In too many situations, leaders divided us instead of bringing us together." -- General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in a speech at West Point on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, as nice it is to hear these words coming from a corporate chief amongst chiefs, Mr. Immelt's words will only echo hollow in the vast emptiness that exists between the ears of his peers.

Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.
We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property.
We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society. -- John (Fire) Lame Deer Sioux Lakota - 1903-1976 .