Forum Post: I am the CEO of a company thats been in business almost 15 years and here's what I tell my business buddies when they criticize or make fun of the movement

Most involved in Occupy Wall Street are not advocating getting rid of the profit motive / free enterprise.  What we do realize is that capitalism can't be unfettered.  It needs guardrails.  If you asked the son or daughter of a former slave in America whether their father or mother thought the free market can do no wrong, I'd venture a guess they'd say no.  Being on the auction block has a way of bringing things into focus.  If you asked the average citizen if they thought it was fine that their area has some of the worst air quality in the nation and fine that his or her young son was suffering from breathing disorders as a result, I think he or she would say no.  He or she would most likely want to see some common sense guidelines that regulate air quality.

Here's the problem:  us business assholes (as George Carlin referred to us) can be real single minded pricks.  Some of us would sell our own sisters if it would make us a buck.  And the results of our prickishness don't just hurt us (like a high speed driver on a Montana road only hurts himself).  They also hurts others.  Often these collateral damages hurt them a lot.

That's where regulation comes in.  We need that. Don't let us business assholes run free.

This is not to say we can't do some good and get the country jamming.  We can.  You just need to check our baser instincts.  We like to privatize profits but nationalize the expenses, externalities and the debt. But only if you let us. And trust me, we'll take it if you'll give it to us but the nation doesn't depend on us getting all sorts of breaks the way some of us claim. We can make money in all sorts of ways and the public extras are really just gravy we can do without if need be.  

We business assholes (again, George Carlin's term for the likes of me) like to use public roads, we cry about needing good public education for our future workers and then we help politicians who defund public roads and schools.  We're just wired that way.  We're pricks.  

You know how dogs aren't supposed to soil their own crate when they're puppies.  Well, us business assholes are the one mammal that will soil his own crate.  We'll fondle that $20 bill in our hand as we lay in our own excrement and think with a smile how great and mighty we are.

The head of Interface Carpet (one of the largest carpet manufacturers in the world), Ray Anderson has woken up to this and you'll hear him quoted often saying to business colleagues at conferences: 'They're going to put people like us in jail soon if we continue to behave this way." He's aiming for zero carbon footprint for his firm. Here he is speaking at TED conference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9QF_lBOyA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

He's right by the way. They are going to start putting business assholes in jail soon if they harm the environment and other citizens in their pursuit of more profits.  That's not a matter of opinion.  It's just a practical matter that those who are business assholes should factor into the equation when they decide to do things like bet against their own clients (Goldman Sachs) etc.

All that said, I like the profit motive, know it has huge upside (no need to convinxe me of that) and know that 99% of business people won't ever cross these bad lines. I know profits can be made without doing harm.  The problem is that 1% of businessmen can ruin the nation for the rest of us. They can also ruin the environment and really screw up world economies.

The widely acclaimed award winning documentary "Inside Job" (impeccably researched) lays out exactly what happened with this financial crisis.  And it was a bunch of business assholes that did it dude.  You can deny it all you want.  But that's how it went down.  Watch the documentary.  It's a mainstream title available on Netflix or Amazon.  I am being very honest here.  It will completely change your perspective on government regulation.  These guys in the smoke filled rooms are laughing their asses off man.   It was very nearly a heist.  The guys at the top knew they were crashing our system but knew two other things:

A) They could make money on it.

B) They could get the 99% to think it was the fault of consumers.