“We,” that is the royal we, are apparently in no mood to put up with politicians, greedy executives and big bankers on Wall Street. Main street, as the saying goes, “hates” Wall Street. No leader of big organizations (including religious and other not-for-profits) or small business owner is exempt from this disgust with the rich and powerful. How did all this happen?

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By now we’re used to it. The self-righteous politician who loudly preaches the dire consequences for the country’s failure at family values and then is caught in extramarital affairs; and who none-the-less believe they should still hold their office. Or the politicians and government officials who scream about government waste while feeding themselves at the public trough. And of course, the “fat cat” bankers who (even though their jobs exist today only because the taxpayers bailed them out) believe they are somehow entitled to obscene bonuses. Power, it seems, does in fact corrupt. Worse, the perpetrators are so damned hypocritical and arrogant!

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You have to wonder what the insurance companies were thinking. Many, maybe most, small businesses are struggling with cash flow issues; and we all know that. One might expect the insurance executives to be sending out the word to agents and brokers that in light of the “predatory government regulatory atmosphere,” there shall be no premium increases for small business clients. Apparently that hasn’t happened. Instead monumental premium increases are hitting small businesses.

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I spent about two-and-a-half days in a weekend training session with my colleagues this month. The topic was Understanding Company Financial Statements. The training was excellent, as is usual with Vistage, and it was well worth my time. To make things even better, we “saved the company.”

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A friend volunteers a the local public library where he sorts and prices the donated books for the used bookstore portion of the library. He knows I speak on Business Ethics and so he called the other day to announce that he had a “really old book” titled “Ethics in Practice.”

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