Comments on: Jack Welch or Mother Theresa?

By: Edward Eugene Baskett

Edward Eugene Baskett — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:49:48 +0000

FRIENDS - Think you will enjoy this regarding General Electric and Jack Welch. I am rapidly becoming his legacy. GO TO: http://www.edwardbaskett.com. The music is beautiful, too.

By: betsy

betsy — Tue, 12 Nov 2002 16:22:13 +0000

i also am trying to work in the venture philanthropy area, which is a nice/interesting mix of venture capital plus philanthropy - obviously, it carrier both the good sides of philanthropy as well as good ol capitalism….i would like to discuss this more, especially with John who posted the comment regarding Mother Theresa and Welch - I live in Tokyo, Japan where venture philanthropy is still rather ‘undiscovered’. Can I please discuss this with some of your readers/commenters??

By: julian

julian — Fri, 20 Sep 2002 14:16:41 +0000

Teresa’s probably a bad point of comparison: her reputation is grossly inflated. Friends with families in the developing world tell me she’s widely hated there, actually. Among other things, she’d offer life-saving aid only to those who renounced their religions and converted to Catholicism, and spent huge sums of money doubtless intended for the poor on aggrandizing her order. Christopher Hitchens wrote a book blowing her saintly cover called “The Missionary Position.”

By: john

john — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 20:54:15 +0000

I posted the original comments quoted by Mr Balko making the comparison between Jack Welch and Mother Theresa. I am sorry to be the source of some confusion. No sarcasm was intended, I was being deadly serious. I honestly thought your column was impeccably reasoned and dead on target, but any column that starts with a quote from Isabel Paterson’s “The God of the Machine” has got a lot going for it. I also considered suggesting some kind of thought experiment along the lines you mentioned, -cloning these two individuals, dropping them in India and then coming back later to see who has made a more positive contribution - glad you actually did . But to ask this question is really to answer it and anyway a similar experiment has been carried out in real life on a much larger scale, compare North and South Korea, East and West Germany. Unfortunately the results come with millions of ruined lives and an ocean of spilled blood.

My definition of humanitarian is quite simple; someone who through their efforts, whatever their motive might be, selfish, altruistic or whatever, improves the general lot of humanity. By that definition capitalists are right up there with the best of them, alongside the other obvious candidates , e.g. discoverers of antibiotics, new technologies etc.

I concur fully with Mr Mecklenburgs comments.

By: Dave Mecklenburg

Dave Mecklenburg — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 18:51:48 +0000

I disagree that the Jack Welch vs. Mother Theresa comments were intended to be sarcastic. The writer was simply making the point that the world’s capitalists and superstars do more for the world than people whose fame and power is derived from the lowest common denominator.

The inherent problem of the left is its focus on the lowest common denominator. This is why so much money is wasted on welfare, and why public schools are a failure. Society spends too much time congratulating people for helping losers instead of making winners. America doesn’t need more people with GED’s; America needs more Bill Gateses.

The most ironic part of the left’s and media’s focus on people who help losers is these people can get filthy rich pretending they care about people who supposedly can’t help themselves. Bill and Hillary Clinton have made $40 million since they left the White House. Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle’s immense power are derived from building a coalition of the bottom 50%. Democratic senators and representatives make a killing as Washington lawyers and lobbyists after they leave office. Michael Moore and media whores make millions writing books. It’s a good thing they care about us little people.

By: Chip Taylor

Chip Taylor — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 14:44:38 +0000

Did you ever see John Stossel’s special entitled “Greed”?

I remebered Cypress Semiconductor CEO, T.J. Rodgers making similar comments.

Tracked this down at http://www.inequality.org/newsspring20002.html

After Stossel talks with Ted Turner about his $1 billion gift to the United Nations, he interviews T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor and the toughest boss in America, according to Fortune magazine. Turner’s gesture is “patently stupid,” Rogers says. “What he should do is take his money and invest it. He can’t help people any other better way than to invest it and to have the companies and buildings and plants that are created with his investment create jobs and wealth and products for other people. So running around giving his money away is a way to maybe make himself feel good, but it sure as hell isn’t a good way to help people.”

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 14:17:53 +0000

Interesting thing about humanitarianism, it usually requires spending the dollar that someone else earned. Greed begets philanthropy.

On the subject of Mother Theresa v Jack- one cannot forget that she might be feeding, administering medicine, or clothing someone who might otherwise cease being without this type of immediate intervention.

Niether is better than the other- they are complimentary. Each performing the extrordinary service for the betterment of humankind in the areas of interest to them.