1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,600
Speaker 1: Last August, the members of the business roundtables signed a

2
00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:07,520
Speaker 1: document promising to be kinder and gentler. The CEOs of

3
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: one eighty one large corporations vowed to run their companies

4
00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,200
Speaker 1: to benefit their employees and their communities, not just the shareholders. Now,

5
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:20,000
Speaker 1: the New York Times slamming those corporations for ditching their

6
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 1: promises of a gentler capitalism during the coronavirus shutdown. According

7
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,000
Speaker 1: to the Times, key signatories of the pledge are laying

8
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:34,360
Speaker 1: off workers, and they aren't adequately protecting the employees with masks. Instead,

9
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,159
Speaker 1: they're paying dividends to their shareholders while our planet is

10
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:42,000
Speaker 1: under assault from a pandemic. The Times quotes a worker

11
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,199
Speaker 1: who was furloughed by big hotel chain. He complains that

12
00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,920
Speaker 1: the hotel made billions and billions of dollars, but the

13
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,640
Speaker 1: money didn't go to the employees. Now he can't believe

14
00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,000
Speaker 1: the company told him we don't need you. There are

15
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,240
Speaker 1: apparently a lot of people that don't understand that the

16
00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,680
Speaker 1: first purpose of business is to make money. If a

17
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,920
Speaker 1: hotel chain doesn't have customers, the company can't afford to

18
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,040
Speaker 1: keep the staff employed to sit around and do nothing.

19
00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,320
Speaker 1: The same thing goes for media companies. This New York

20
00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,640
Speaker 1: Times article doesn't mention that The New York Times has

21
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,920
Speaker 1: laid off people many, many, many times for the same reasons.

22
00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,920
Speaker 1: Capitalism is not gentle and it isn't welfare. It is

23
00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:27,279
Speaker 1: viciously competitive, it's bloodthirsty, and it's what makes the world

24
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:28,080
Speaker 1: go round.