Capitalism, withering on the vine.

I once worked for a fairly wealthy man. A man who had come to this country from Uganda as a refugee when he was a child. His family had been in Uganda under the horrible reign of Idi Amin, and had fled. After his arrival in Canada, he worked hard and amassed a fairly impressive empire. That is the opportunity a capitalistic democratic society offers, and he took it. Unfortunately, this individual became so obsessed with wealth and power, it changed him. It changed him to the extent that he forgot the hardship of Uganda and dictatorial rule. He ran his company like a dictator, cold and heartless. Where anything was justifiable if it translated into profit. He looked down at people around him as inadequate. If they were not wealthy, they must be. He degraded and belittled them. The problem he experienced (and the problem all successful entrepreneurs must face) was greed and the lust for power. It is a powerful adversary, and tempts even the strongest person. That is why we are seeing the implosion of Capitalism. Greed has reared it's ugly head. From Enron to the sub-prime mortgage, it is all collapsing and it is getting dangerously close to causing far worse problems than we know. It is cascading from bank failures to governments on the verge of bankruptcy. In Europe, the "PIGS" situation is a classic example, with Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. All these countries are teetering on insolvency. Expect increase rioting, as has already happened in Greece. Even Great Britain is in serious trouble down the road, but that isn't talked about much. The United States' economy has stalled (some analysts believe it never has moved), obviously pointing to the fact that the economic bail out by the government has not worked. What to do. Well, history has shown that when the gap between the rich and the poor becomes too great, the poor will take what they want (and need). Essentially, it is called a revolution and I expect to see a few over the next few years as economies wither and fail.
Ethical business is a rarity today, with ruthlessness outnumbering decent, ethical business strategies. Capitalism has lost it's way and we better come up with an alternative.