January 8, 2025 • 10 mins
Chris calls out the self-serving motives of many modern CEOs and leaders, emphasizing the societal consequences of short-term thinking and misplaced priorities. Drawing parallels to iconic films like Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and War Games, he argues against the notion of unwinnable situations, advocating for ethical, long-term leadership. Markowski explores capitalism's moral foundations, the pitfalls of financial bailouts, and the systemic issues within business and government that reward failure. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Reprobate CEOs, Reprobate Leaders originally titled it Spineless CEOs and
Spineless Leaders, But that's wrong. Okay, the word spineless means
many things. But he also, you don't have a purpose.
These CEOs, the leadership, they most certainly have a purpose,
(00:40):
and it's self serving, self serving, immoral and wrong. Not all,
not all, but many. Did a podcast today talking about
the auto industry, and I have long gone after leadership
in the auto industry for failing to stand up for
(01:01):
what's right. Many people say, well, wait, what are they
going to do?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
What are you know?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
They're they're in a no win situation. These these leaders,
these CEOs, you know, they've got to they have to
serve their shareholders, they have to listen to the government.
They you know, they're in a no win situation. And
I thought about that for a little bit, and he
(01:29):
had a bit of a sub reference for you. And
I'm not a truckie. I'm not a trekie, but I
do you know my favorite Star Trek movie starting, My
favorite Star Trek movie is The Wrath of Khan. The
Wrath of Khan came out in the early the early
(01:52):
nineteen eighties, and if you remember, The Wrath of Khan
also had remember Ricardo Montabon Kcarda Montan was a villain
in that movie. Do you remember how jacked he was?
There was like again, I'm getting off the beatn track.
There was like some sort of thing. It's like, oh
that his chest couldn't be real. No, it was real. Yeah,
(02:15):
Ricardo Montemon liked the gym man. He was jacked for that.
He was sixty two years old. Anyway, Anyway, the beginning
of that movie, it was a bit going back about
this this exercise for Starfleet. It was called the Kobyashu
(02:36):
Kobyashi may I couldn't remember the mayroo part, but I
looked it up Kobyashi may roam. Basically, it was a
test for Starfleet cadets where they were put into a
situation that was unwinnable, you couldn't win, and well, Captain
(02:57):
Kirk Captain Kirk eventually figured out a way to win
and he did it by program was a simulation. He
reprogrammed the simulation so he could end up winning. And
basically said he didn't believe and know when situations I
don't either. I don't either. The problem with these CEOs,
(03:23):
the problem with leadership today is an underlying problem that
we have with society. And again, you know this is ancient,
this is biblical. This is the worship of idols, not idols, money, money.
You got a lot of lefties out there. Money is
(03:47):
the root of all evil. No, no, no, money is
not the root of all evil. It's not love of money.
Worship of money is the root of all evil. Many
companies public companies. Again, they the CEOs of these companies
(04:09):
have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, have to put
their shareholders interests first. Many most of the CEOs as well,
They are judged based upon oh what do we do
last quarter? Got to beat next quarters? Earnings? Short sided,
short term thinking, that to me is always a recipe
(04:35):
for a disaster. Again, as my longtime listeners know, here
on the program, we have a get wealthy slow, get
rich slow type of mentality. Doing things the right way.
These CEOs and leadership people in government, people that hand
out checks, take taxpayer money. Their moral center is off.
(05:01):
It's or either that or they don't have one. Like
I talk about that ethical bypass at birth. That's a problem.
It's a problem. Several weeks ago, I talked about John Adams,
you know, Job Adams warning saying, you know, the United
States of America doesn't work unless you have that moral center.
(05:27):
And people will take a look and they'll say, well,
it's capitalism. There's no morals in capitalism. No, there are
if you want it to run properly. If you wanted
to run properly, companies that screw their customers and do
(05:47):
the wrong thing by their customers will go out of business.
Now that you know that are focused on short term thinking. However,
in our society, what do we do when companies do
the wrong thing? We bail them out. We bail them out,
(06:08):
we let them go if they're connected to government. And
take a look at what happened during the financial crisis.
The companies, the companies and many of the companies that
were you know, very much at a hand, and the
financial crisis became bigger and more powerful and stronger after
(06:29):
the financial crisis, and it was due to the taxpayers
and the laws and the rules that were written by
our leaders in Washington, d C. Then again, they love
going to these big banks and getting checks for their
campaigns paid off. And most of the small banks in
this country, mid sized banks couldn't handle the regulations, either
(06:52):
closed up shop or were bought out. And like I've
said here before, we have a new bank in this country.
I can't say how long. Can't do it, can't compete,
can't afford the regulations. Think about how screwed up that is.
(07:13):
We have a fiduciary duty to our shareholder, meaning that
we have to put our clients' interests above our own.
If you're the CEO of a publicly traded company, you
could run your business the same way too. You can.
You don't have to be so shortsighted. You can come out.
(07:39):
You could come out now. Oh yeah, the financial press
and see them. Oh you know, why did you make
this decision? Why did you do this? Why are you
taking on there? Why are you doing these things? This
is not good for shareholders, not good for shareholders maybe now,
but down the road it's going to be very successful.
We're doing this because it's the right thing to do,
(08:00):
and I'm concerned about where my share price is going
to be five ten years down the road. That's what's
most important. But we don't have that type of leadership
to thin because again, most of these people, they really
don't have much down so there's no real skin in
the game, especially for politicians, especially for journalists, people that
(08:21):
are involved in all of this. They can be wrong
again and again and again. CEOs can be wrong again
and again again, and they you know, they get their
their pay packages, they sell their stock, and they all
walk away fat and happy. You don't have to, Okay,
they'll be say again, oh, there's no way out. I'm
a sub reference another movie. You don't have to play
(08:46):
their game small business, big business, whatever it may be.
We don't. We don't do that here at Markowsikinfest. Never would.
In the movie the nineteen eighties film War Games, Matthew
Broderick and you shall we play a game and the AI,
(09:11):
the Whopper computer, you know, it takes over the nukes
here in this country and plays this global thermonuclear war simulation,
takes over the entire all the nukes, and everyone's concerned
that we're going to launch rockets at Russian. Obviously, Russia
is gonna launch back, and the computer runs all of
(09:36):
these simulations again and again and again again again again
again again before the right before the launch and then
the the AI, and the computer says, the only way
to win is not to play the game. You may
think that you have to abide by the rules, you
(09:57):
don't have to. Don't have to. May your road, you know,
the road the less traveled, be more difficult, be rocky. Yeah,
that's okay, that's okay. You'll you'll get where you want
(10:18):
to be without having to sell your soul to do it.
It's unfortunate that again we we just don't have enough
of enough people like this running companies here in this country,
and also as representing us in Washington, d C. And
(10:40):
our state capitals and even our our local local government
officials as well. It's a shame. Watchdog on Wall Street
dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Reprobate CEOs, Reprobate Leaders originally titled it Spineless CEOs and
Spineless Leaders, But that's wrong. Okay, the word spineless means
many things. But he also, you don't have a purpose.
These CEOs, the leadership, they most certainly have a purpose,
(00:40):
and it's self serving, self serving, immoral and wrong. Not all,
not all, but many. Did a podcast today talking about
the auto industry, and I have long gone after leadership
in the auto industry for failing to stand up for
(01:01):
what's right. Many people say, well, wait, what are they
going to do?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
What are you know?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
They're they're in a no win situation. These these leaders,
these CEOs, you know, they've got to they have to
serve their shareholders, they have to listen to the government.
They you know, they're in a no win situation. And
I thought about that for a little bit, and he
(01:29):
had a bit of a sub reference for you. And
I'm not a truckie. I'm not a trekie, but I
do you know my favorite Star Trek movie starting, My
favorite Star Trek movie is The Wrath of Khan. The
Wrath of Khan came out in the early the early
(01:52):
nineteen eighties, and if you remember, The Wrath of Khan
also had remember Ricardo Montabon Kcarda Montan was a villain
in that movie. Do you remember how jacked he was?
There was like again, I'm getting off the beatn track.
There was like some sort of thing. It's like, oh
that his chest couldn't be real. No, it was real. Yeah,
(02:15):
Ricardo Montemon liked the gym man. He was jacked for that.
He was sixty two years old. Anyway, Anyway, the beginning
of that movie, it was a bit going back about
this this exercise for Starfleet. It was called the Kobyashu
(02:36):
Kobyashi may I couldn't remember the mayroo part, but I
looked it up Kobyashi may roam. Basically, it was a
test for Starfleet cadets where they were put into a
situation that was unwinnable, you couldn't win, and well, Captain
(02:57):
Kirk Captain Kirk eventually figured out a way to win
and he did it by program was a simulation. He
reprogrammed the simulation so he could end up winning. And
basically said he didn't believe and know when situations I
don't either. I don't either. The problem with these CEOs,
(03:23):
the problem with leadership today is an underlying problem that
we have with society. And again, you know this is ancient,
this is biblical. This is the worship of idols, not idols, money, money.
You got a lot of lefties out there. Money is
(03:47):
the root of all evil. No, no, no, money is
not the root of all evil. It's not love of money.
Worship of money is the root of all evil. Many
companies public companies. Again, they the CEOs of these companies
(04:09):
have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, have to put
their shareholders interests first. Many most of the CEOs as well,
They are judged based upon oh what do we do
last quarter? Got to beat next quarters? Earnings? Short sided,
short term thinking, that to me is always a recipe
(04:35):
for a disaster. Again, as my longtime listeners know, here
on the program, we have a get wealthy slow, get
rich slow type of mentality. Doing things the right way.
These CEOs and leadership people in government, people that hand
out checks, take taxpayer money. Their moral center is off.
(05:01):
It's or either that or they don't have one. Like
I talk about that ethical bypass at birth. That's a problem.
It's a problem. Several weeks ago, I talked about John Adams,
you know, Job Adams warning saying, you know, the United
States of America doesn't work unless you have that moral center.
(05:27):
And people will take a look and they'll say, well,
it's capitalism. There's no morals in capitalism. No, there are
if you want it to run properly. If you wanted
to run properly, companies that screw their customers and do
(05:47):
the wrong thing by their customers will go out of business.
Now that you know that are focused on short term thinking. However,
in our society, what do we do when companies do
the wrong thing? We bail them out. We bail them out,
(06:08):
we let them go if they're connected to government. And
take a look at what happened during the financial crisis.
The companies, the companies and many of the companies that
were you know, very much at a hand, and the
financial crisis became bigger and more powerful and stronger after
(06:29):
the financial crisis, and it was due to the taxpayers
and the laws and the rules that were written by
our leaders in Washington, d C. Then again, they love
going to these big banks and getting checks for their
campaigns paid off. And most of the small banks in
this country, mid sized banks couldn't handle the regulations, either
(06:52):
closed up shop or were bought out. And like I've
said here before, we have a new bank in this country.
I can't say how long. Can't do it, can't compete,
can't afford the regulations. Think about how screwed up that is.
(07:13):
We have a fiduciary duty to our shareholder, meaning that
we have to put our clients' interests above our own.
If you're the CEO of a publicly traded company, you
could run your business the same way too. You can.
You don't have to be so shortsighted. You can come out.
(07:39):
You could come out now. Oh yeah, the financial press
and see them. Oh you know, why did you make
this decision? Why did you do this? Why are you
taking on there? Why are you doing these things? This
is not good for shareholders, not good for shareholders maybe now,
but down the road it's going to be very successful.
We're doing this because it's the right thing to do,
(08:00):
and I'm concerned about where my share price is going
to be five ten years down the road. That's what's
most important. But we don't have that type of leadership
to thin because again, most of these people, they really
don't have much down so there's no real skin in
the game, especially for politicians, especially for journalists, people that
(08:21):
are involved in all of this. They can be wrong
again and again and again. CEOs can be wrong again
and again again, and they you know, they get their
their pay packages, they sell their stock, and they all
walk away fat and happy. You don't have to, Okay,
they'll be say again, oh, there's no way out. I'm
a sub reference another movie. You don't have to play
(08:46):
their game small business, big business, whatever it may be.
We don't. We don't do that here at Markowsikinfest. Never would.
In the movie the nineteen eighties film War Games, Matthew
Broderick and you shall we play a game and the AI,
(09:11):
the Whopper computer, you know, it takes over the nukes
here in this country and plays this global thermonuclear war simulation,
takes over the entire all the nukes, and everyone's concerned
that we're going to launch rockets at Russian. Obviously, Russia
is gonna launch back, and the computer runs all of
(09:36):
these simulations again and again and again again again again
again again before the right before the launch and then
the the AI, and the computer says, the only way
to win is not to play the game. You may
think that you have to abide by the rules, you
(09:57):
don't have to. Don't have to. May your road, you know,
the road the less traveled, be more difficult, be rocky. Yeah,
that's okay, that's okay. You'll you'll get where you want
(10:18):
to be without having to sell your soul to do it.
It's unfortunate that again we we just don't have enough
of enough people like this running companies here in this country,
and also as representing us in Washington, d C. And
(10:40):
our state capitals and even our our local local government
officials as well. It's a shame. Watchdog on Wall Street
dot com
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