November 19, 1985
I'm beginning to believe that there is no such thing as
right and wrong in American business only illegality and even these last are
only important when you get caught.
and more important than any of that is the power derived from the whole experience.
A natural inclination to feel superior arises out of the acquisition of money much like the feeling that some Germans felt during the first 3rd of this century about their Aryan heritage, an economic fascism derived from the ability to hire and fire and sometimes spoil a person's life forever
The difference between Donald Gottheimer in 1974 when I first started working for him and in 1978 when I was fired is remarkable.
Just as the spread from when he started in his garage as an independent minded son of a Jewish working-class person affected his ego, too.
It was buying the building in 1976 that really turned him around, making him realize something about himself that had not been evident before: he was important.
This led to a roller system (manual at first then later motorized) from which he could squeeze more efficiency from his loyal employees.
Still later the computer and his new house added jewels to this industrial crown and further isolated him from the realm of his parents
He was above us common Folks
This newfound superiority had to be enforced, however, with middlemen.
It is not good for a man of position to deal with too many underlings which is why he hired Stanley.
But Donald was a bad capitalist. in spite of his effort to separate himself from the working class, he couldn't quite get away from his own roots. He always had to dirty his hands to feel real about himself.
Phil, the middle owner of the Dunkin in Willowbrook, is a better capitalist, rising in a similar way to Donald.
Only Phil lacks the ethics that Donald had or managed to shed them when Donald couldn't
This is not to say that Donald was right or even close to being ethical any more than Craig at the card company was before Donald.
We are simply talking about levels of competence and conscience
Craig was sometimes a jerk with a streak of kindness. He wanted desperately to be important, to act as vicious as normal capitalist might. But his basic good nature killed all his chances.
Frank, one of the original owners of the Willowbrook Dunkin, learned about capitalism the hard way. He latched onto a real shark named Yacenda, a man so lacking in conscience he was bound to go somewhere in this world.
Frank reacted with bitter admiration for this capitalist when Yacenda sold out the business under him – Frank was a minor partner – a true capitalist buying and selling small fries like Frank.
Yacenda knew this money-making game and its vicious rules that allowed one player to gut another player, paying attention for the most part only to the legalities, never wavering from the basic concept that small fries are meant to be eaten in a business various of evolution in which only the fittest survive.
This would not be bad if only the game players got hurt. But their actions often destroy other people’s lives in the process of change, the small people the people who do all the work.
and more important than any of that is the power derived from the whole experience.
A natural inclination to feel superior arises out of the acquisition of money much like the feeling that some Germans felt during the first 3rd of this century about their Aryan heritage, an economic fascism derived from the ability to hire and fire and sometimes spoil a person's life forever
The difference between Donald Gottheimer in 1974 when I first started working for him and in 1978 when I was fired is remarkable.
Just as the spread from when he started in his garage as an independent minded son of a Jewish working-class person affected his ego, too.
It was buying the building in 1976 that really turned him around, making him realize something about himself that had not been evident before: he was important.
This led to a roller system (manual at first then later motorized) from which he could squeeze more efficiency from his loyal employees.
Still later the computer and his new house added jewels to this industrial crown and further isolated him from the realm of his parents
He was above us common Folks
This newfound superiority had to be enforced, however, with middlemen.
It is not good for a man of position to deal with too many underlings which is why he hired Stanley.
But Donald was a bad capitalist. in spite of his effort to separate himself from the working class, he couldn't quite get away from his own roots. He always had to dirty his hands to feel real about himself.
Phil, the middle owner of the Dunkin in Willowbrook, is a better capitalist, rising in a similar way to Donald.
Only Phil lacks the ethics that Donald had or managed to shed them when Donald couldn't
This is not to say that Donald was right or even close to being ethical any more than Craig at the card company was before Donald.
We are simply talking about levels of competence and conscience
Craig was sometimes a jerk with a streak of kindness. He wanted desperately to be important, to act as vicious as normal capitalist might. But his basic good nature killed all his chances.
Frank, one of the original owners of the Willowbrook Dunkin, learned about capitalism the hard way. He latched onto a real shark named Yacenda, a man so lacking in conscience he was bound to go somewhere in this world.
Frank reacted with bitter admiration for this capitalist when Yacenda sold out the business under him – Frank was a minor partner – a true capitalist buying and selling small fries like Frank.
Yacenda knew this money-making game and its vicious rules that allowed one player to gut another player, paying attention for the most part only to the legalities, never wavering from the basic concept that small fries are meant to be eaten in a business various of evolution in which only the fittest survive.
This would not be bad if only the game players got hurt. But their actions often destroy other people’s lives in the process of change, the small people the people who do all the work.
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