US Senator wants Wall Street executives to deliver Japanese-style apologies

Japan Tobacco execs bow in apology for importing pesticide-tainted dumplings (Feb. 2008)

US Senator Chuck Grassley (R Iowa) has told the press that he wants Wall Street’s failed executives to deliver Japanese-style apologies to the American people:

“I’ve suggested it wouldn’t be a bad thing that the leadership of these institutions would take a Japanese-style approach to corporate governance, and I’m not talking about going out and committing suicide as some Japanese do in these circumstances, but I am talking about scenes I’ve seen on television where in belly-up corporations the CEOs go before the board of directors, before the public, before the stockholders and bow deeply and apologize for their mis-management. Something like that happening among Wall Street executives would go a long way toward satisfying my constituents and many Americans that help might be needed and would more gracefully be given by the taxpayers of this county.”

{democracy:304}

[via FG]

16 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - October 3, 2008 at 8:14 am

Categories: General Japan Tags: bailout

http://www.rockinginhakata.com Deas

I don’t agree with the premise – Wall Street didn’t set this in motion. Congress did. The Congress should be the ones apologizing. Ahem, hear me, me Mr. Grassley? Go chat with Mr. DeMint on your side of the aisle – he’ll clear you up on that.
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http://blog.ruderetro.com/ Rude Retro

I’d like to see them bow but no it wouldn’t accomplish anything. Maybe self flagellation.
somegirl

I agree with the first comment by Nelore. Bowing isn’t something that will go over well in our culture though I think a heartfelt apology would be a good gesture and I think that’s what the main point of the article was. Though I do also agree that the source of the problem is not only the mismanagement on wall street but those of the government as well. Unfortunately those responsible will not admit to their actions.
JustanotherGaijin

Since greed and pride go hand in hand, I don’t think we will ever see the people responsible make any sort of apology. While the senator has expressed a good sentiment, he hasn’t said it well. We would all like to see the people responsible take some action (or have some action taken against them!) to express their regret. But what we would all like even more is for the problem to be fixed. In that sense, nothing that a CEO of a failed company with a $17 million golden parachute says is going to satisfy the general public. Until some legal action is taken to make this kind of behavior unprofitable it is going to keep happening. We all love capitalism to some extent, but sometimes a more socialist approach to controlling the banking system is appropriate. It may be time for some serious controls to be put back in place on the American banking system.
Dave

I’m not sure how great bowing would work, but seeing leaders apologize for a change instead of placing the blame on anyone else other than themselves would be impressive. Public apologies of any kind from business and government leaders would make me feel a little warmer and fuzzier as I watch my retirement account disappear.
Rob

I also don’t think that bowing is going to fly here. Bowing just isn’t American, and I don’t mean to phrase it in a Fox News-esque manner, but it really isn’t. The values that call for that sort of thing don’t exist here, and they probably never will.

And while I’m thinking about it, if you’re going to apologize, say it like you mean it and don’t feed the TV cameras the “if I did or said anything that might have offended anybody, I apologize” shtick and run off to hide under your golden parachute. You might as well not say anything at all if you’re going to halfass it like that.
http://relaxedfocus.blogspot.com Rob

Apologizing in the U.S. will never happen. Admitting culpability or responsibility in any way opens you up for all manner of litigious-ness.

Dave

That’s very true. I was involved in a traffic accident a few years back where I was hit and it was obviously the other party’s fault. Yet my asking if they were OK because I was worried they might have been hurt got me sued because it sounded like I was admitting responsibility. Witnesses saved me, but I’ll always remember now that if you care, it’s going to get you in trouble.
LB

Yup. I remember back when that US sub hit the fishing school boat and sunk it, people were so upset that the captain didn’t apologize. But when I explained to them “In the US, apologizing means admitting responsibility. If he apologizes we may never find out what really happened because the investigation will switch from an objective search for culpability into a subjective search for evidence to hang him with.”

Everyone could understand that – Japan is much the same. If a company president or politician apologizes, “takes responsibility” and resigns, that unfortunately is often seen as enough. It doesn’t matter if the person apologizing is actually to blame or not – something happened on his watch therefore he is “responsible”, which may only be partly true. In the meantime, those actually responsible for the problem may skate away.

Getting back to the sub case: ultimate responsibility was with the captain, however it came out that a sonar operator was largely to blame as he “saw” the ship but didn’t give that vital information to the captain or the helm. If the captain had apologized first, we might never have known that and a sub-standard sonar operator may have then gone on to cause another accident.

To his credit, the captain never tried to pass the buck during the investigation (he just kept his mouth shut), and he came to Japan on his own dime to apologize to the families personally after the investigation was over.

hadji

Pretty surprised to see an R by the Senator’s name!
Random

Seeing as these CEOs won’t be getting any jail time, the American people might as well get SOMETHING in return. Personally, I’d like to see them bow, so I can go around and kick them in the ass (steel toed boots!).
Darien Shields

I agree with others that bowing is not the important thing, so much as a public apology.

People at the top of these companies rake in ridiculous amounts of money, and in the majority of cases their company going belly up just means that they’ll only be able to afford *one* yacht this year. Some CEOs end up playing with the company, and the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people, as if it were some sort of game. When things go sour they can quickly distance themselves from the problem and pass the buck this way or that.

I think a public apology would do wonders for bringing CEOs closer to the public and the people who work for them, and giving an actual sense of responsibility to them and their position.

Of course, that’s not to say that it always works in Japan… *cough*Nova*cough*
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US Senator wants Wall Street executives to deliver Japanese-style apologies

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