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So one of the things I did for my project was to scan headlines related to corporate ethics, so I could start listing overviews of a company's record in this ar

So one of the things I did for my project was to scan headlines related to corporate ethics, so I could start listing overviews of a company's record in this area. Needless to say, Wells Fargo has pretty much been filling its own page in ways that no other company has been able (with the exception of Uber): https://suitocracy.com/company/wells-fargo https://suitocracy.com/company/wells-fargo Seeing it all laid out like that really makes me wonder how it still gets by with so few consequences.

a3n 9y ago
> Seeing it all laid out like that really makes me wonder how it still gets by with so few consequences. Lobbying and campaign donations, combined with executives going through the revolving door between government and corporate employment.
diogenescynic 9y ago
>Seeing it all laid out like that really makes me wonder how it still gets by with so few consequences. Too big to fail. Check out the book "Chickenshit Club" if you want to see how this has all evolved since Enron and Arthur Andersen. The Justice Department is frequently paralyzed by politics and fear of causing economic harm to the country. Plus, several changes in legal precedents have made it much more difficult to prosecute companies and their executives.
- e12e 9y ago
  Or maybe start with Michael Woodiwiss: "Gangster Capitalism: The United States and the Globalization of Organized Crime" for a depressing look at the bleak history of corporate criminal behaviour... https://www.amazon.com/Gangster-Capitalism-United-Globalization-Organized/dp/0786716711 https://www.amazon.com/Gangster-Capitalism-United-Globalizat...
  - nsebban 9y ago
    I stumbled on that book a few days ago, but the readers' comments seemed to imply the whole book was a heavy dramatization. Is it, in your opinion ?
    - e12e 9y ago
      Not in my opinion, no.
samstave 9y ago
My mom worked for Wells, after it aquired Wachovia, which prior acquired the other bank she worked for... She said they were the most corrupt orgs she had worked with. Specifically, the Wachovia Construction Loan dept - then later Wells... All corrupt.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  Out of curiosity, did her org structure / leadership / messaging change at all after Wachovia was acquired? I've heard through the grapevine that that really wasn't a good acquisition for Wells, being very different wrt corporate culture.
- r00fus 9y ago
  Just imagine if this were just "how things worked at TBTF banks"? I would not be surprised at all.
  - samstave 9y ago
    I assume that it is
throwaway613834 9y ago
> one of the things I did for my project was to scan headlines Can I ask where you scrape them from? (Google News?) Is it possible to scrape past headlines from somewhere too, or do you just have to keep up with it every day?
- cknight 9y ago
  RSS feeds of various news websites give me a daily shortlist which I manually approve to prevent false positives and duplicate stories. Since that manual part essentially means I am using it as a feed reader, I assume that's not breaking any terms of service from those providers. For past news the only one I have been able to use is The Guardian's API, which is free for non-profits such as my Suitocracy project. It's... not great, but it's something. A start.
  - throwaway613834 9y ago
    Ah I see, okay thank you!
Steeeve 9y ago
That is very interesting. Can I ask how you discern whether an article is related to ethics?
- cknight 9y ago
  Simply by erasing stop words from a headline and then scanning the remaining terms for likely hits. The media has quite a few terms it likes to repetitively use in headlines for certain topics. I currently have about 100 terms to check a headline against. Think words like "environment", "bribe", "scandal", "accuse", "working conditions", etc... It's... not a sophisticated system. It misses some major stories, gives me a few false positives, and of course lots of duplicates from differing sources. But compared to what I had before (basically, nothing) it's a million times better.
  - Santzes 9y ago
    If you have enough training data I think a Bayesian filter might work well and be easy to set up
adventureadmin 9y ago
And meanwhile all my crypto is stolen by the gov at btce because of alleged fraud. They should do the same to wells Fargo.
- wolf550e 9y ago
  Don't call cryptocurrency "crypto".
  - LarryPage 9y ago
    crypto
deepGem 9y ago
What really baffles me is that the likes of Warren Buffett support WFC despite uncovering such wrong doing. I mean, what WFC did is completely unethical. Buffett, who practically epitomizes ethics, should have taken some action financially. He acknowledges that what WFC did was wrong, and he also acknowledges that more wrong doing might be uncovered. He still believes that WFC is a good long term investment. One possible reason could be that this malpractice stemmed from one or two individuals who are now fired. So there could be reason to believe that the bank as a whole is still fine.
- weirdstuff 9y ago
  Buffet talks a good talk, but I can't say he walks it much. I think he's great at PR and keeping a soft image to protect his massive portfolio. If you really dig down into his portfolio a lot of his investments create pollution, are ethically challenged, don't always pay their taxes "right", and so on. Which is fine, except he keeps talking out of both sides of his mouth, and I like to call that out for what it is. I'm no longer a moral fan of his, sorry to say. I know he goes on record as saying he "pays less in tax than his secretary" (not an exact quote) but I think that's just a smart tactic to avoid public critique of his actions (and instead distract with nice words).
  - deepGem 9y ago
    Yeah am feeling quite the same. Nevada Energy is another such suspect company in his portfolio. Oh well, I think it's time to take a bearish view on BRK. Their main cash cow - vehicle insurance is gonna get upended very soon, probably in the next 10 years.
    - bagels 9y ago
      Upended how?
      - mikestew 9y ago
        You must be new here: “self-driving cars”. It’s the answer to every problem you might have. “My commute sucks.” “Won’t matter in a few years. SDCs!” “I’ve had this rash on my genitals...” “SDCs!”

a3n 9y ago

> Seeing it all laid out like that really makes me wonder how it still gets by with so few consequences. Lobbying and campaign donations, combined with executives going through the revolving door between government and corporate employment.

diogenescynic 9y ago

>Seeing it all laid out like that really makes me wonder how it still gets by with so few consequences. Too big to fail. Check out the book "Chickenshit Club" if you want to see how this has all evolved since Enron and Arthur Andersen. The Justice Department is frequently paralyzed by politics and fear of causing economic harm to the country. Plus, several changes in legal precedents have made it much more difficult to prosecute companies and their executives.

e12e 9y ago
Or maybe start with Michael Woodiwiss: "Gangster Capitalism: The United States and the Globalization of Organized Crime" for a depressing look at the bleak history of corporate criminal behaviour... https://www.amazon.com/Gangster-Capitalism-United-Globalization-Organized/dp/0786716711 https://www.amazon.com/Gangster-Capitalism-United-Globalizat...
- nsebban 9y ago
  I stumbled on that book a few days ago, but the readers' comments seemed to imply the whole book was a heavy dramatization. Is it, in your opinion ?
  - e12e 9y ago
    Not in my opinion, no.

samstave 9y ago

My mom worked for Wells, after it aquired Wachovia, which prior acquired the other bank she worked for... She said they were the most corrupt orgs she had worked with. Specifically, the Wachovia Construction Loan dept - then later Wells... All corrupt.

hkmurakami 9y ago
Out of curiosity, did her org structure / leadership / messaging change at all after Wachovia was acquired? I've heard through the grapevine that that really wasn't a good acquisition for Wells, being very different wrt corporate culture.
r00fus 9y ago
Just imagine if this were just "how things worked at TBTF banks"? I would not be surprised at all.
- samstave 9y ago
  I assume that it is

throwaway613834 9y ago

> one of the things I did for my project was to scan headlines Can I ask where you scrape them from? (Google News?) Is it possible to scrape past headlines from somewhere too, or do you just have to keep up with it every day?

cknight 9y ago
RSS feeds of various news websites give me a daily shortlist which I manually approve to prevent false positives and duplicate stories. Since that manual part essentially means I am using it as a feed reader, I assume that's not breaking any terms of service from those providers. For past news the only one I have been able to use is The Guardian's API, which is free for non-profits such as my Suitocracy project. It's... not great, but it's something. A start.
- throwaway613834 9y ago
  Ah I see, okay thank you!

Steeeve 9y ago

That is very interesting. Can I ask how you discern whether an article is related to ethics?

cknight 9y ago
Simply by erasing stop words from a headline and then scanning the remaining terms for likely hits. The media has quite a few terms it likes to repetitively use in headlines for certain topics. I currently have about 100 terms to check a headline against. Think words like "environment", "bribe", "scandal", "accuse", "working conditions", etc... It's... not a sophisticated system. It misses some major stories, gives me a few false positives, and of course lots of duplicates from differing sources. But compared to what I had before (basically, nothing) it's a million times better.
- Santzes 9y ago
  If you have enough training data I think a Bayesian filter might work well and be easy to set up

adventureadmin 9y ago

And meanwhile all my crypto is stolen by the gov at btce because of alleged fraud. They should do the same to wells Fargo.

wolf550e 9y ago
Don't call cryptocurrency "crypto".
- LarryPage 9y ago
  crypto

deepGem 9y ago

What really baffles me is that the likes of Warren Buffett support WFC despite uncovering such wrong doing. I mean, what WFC did is completely unethical. Buffett, who practically epitomizes ethics, should have taken some action financially. He acknowledges that what WFC did was wrong, and he also acknowledges that more wrong doing might be uncovered. He still believes that WFC is a good long term investment. One possible reason could be that this malpractice stemmed from one or two individuals who are now fired. So there could be reason to believe that the bank as a whole is still fine.

weirdstuff 9y ago
Buffet talks a good talk, but I can't say he walks it much. I think he's great at PR and keeping a soft image to protect his massive portfolio. If you really dig down into his portfolio a lot of his investments create pollution, are ethically challenged, don't always pay their taxes "right", and so on. Which is fine, except he keeps talking out of both sides of his mouth, and I like to call that out for what it is. I'm no longer a moral fan of his, sorry to say. I know he goes on record as saying he "pays less in tax than his secretary" (not an exact quote) but I think that's just a smart tactic to avoid public critique of his actions (and instead distract with nice words).
- deepGem 9y ago
  Yeah am feeling quite the same. Nevada Energy is another such suspect company in his portfolio. Oh well, I think it's time to take a bearish view on BRK. Their main cash cow - vehicle insurance is gonna get upended very soon, probably in the next 10 years.
  - bagels 9y ago
    Upended how?
    - mikestew 9y ago
      You must be new here: “self-driving cars”. It’s the answer to every problem you might have. “My commute sucks.” “Won’t matter in a few years. SDCs!” “I’ve had this rash on my genitals...” “SDCs!”