Are Nearly One Third of People Mean, Selfish or Insecure?

The news revealed nearly one third of teens are victims of cyberbullying. The most common forms of online bullying are publicly disclosing someone else's private e-mail or messages, sending threatening or aggressive messages and spreading rumors online. One could chalk it up to teens being teens but the nearly one third number pops up in an exclusive group of adults, corporate CEO's.

Nearly one third of America's top business leaders in publicly traded companies cheated on their stock option incentive compensation over a 10-12 year period. Already making 1,000 times the wage of their lowest paid employee, many CEO's wanted more and broke the law to maximize their total take.

Is executve pay the same thing as teen prestiege? What will people do to increase theirs and decrease others?

Freedom to Cheat Investors

President Bush personally weighed in with a "hook 'em" regarding an investor lawsuit for securities fraud. Bush cheered loudly for dirty corporate chiefs and Wall Street investment houses helping to defraud shareholders.

He stated it's important to reduce "unnecessary lawsuits" as he ignored the advice of 30 state attorney generals. Bush talked with the Soliciter General who represents the government's views before the Supreme Court about the case. Guess who stood down as the deadline to join the suit passed? I'm sure that saved the Soliciter a butt chewing.

So why would the President be concerned about whether investors can pursue lawsuits to recover investment losses if they can prove collusion between Wall Street institutions and scandal-ridden companies? Why shouldn't such groups get their day in court? Who does George W. want to protect?

The case Bush bullied the Solicter General "to remain mum on" sits before the Supreme Court. Their ruling will determine the future status of stalled Enron lawsuits.

State attorney generals are trying to look after the small investor. "Our system of monitoring and eliminating securities fraud would be severely undermined" if the parties who could have pulled the plug on Enron "get to walk away," the state attorneys general wrote.

Bush doesn't care about this system. The SEC currently is letting hundreds of companies off the hook for stock option backdating. Most CEO's who benefitted mightily at the expense of these same shareholders are walking away with fines at best. With no admission of guilt, the handful that loose their job are free to work again.

The other strategy is to work around the SEC completely. During Bush's term private equity firms have ballooned. By taking companies private they can avoid securities regulations altogether. The Carlyle Group grew from a $3.5 billion firm to over $58.5 billion in managed assets during the Bush Presidency.

Are we headed back to the roaring twenties? George W. seemed to like wearing that White Tie. Will he be the Great Gutsby, Clutzby or Dumby? No matter which way he covers for his rich friends, it all adds up to a PEU!

Yet Another Hand Holding Insurance Salesman

The images of the financial advisor lounging on the beach at your retirement home and attending your daughter’s college graduation will soon be joined by your health insurance agent taking high fat food off your kitchen table and imploring you to finish that 5K run with a sprint. That’s right, huge insurer WellPoint incentivized its employees to improve the health of the 34 million people it covers.

They picked 20 monitors and compiled them into a patient index. The various patient indexes are combined for an overall company score. If WellPoint meets its 2010 improvement goal then 42,000 employees will see the result in their bonus check.

The company’s chief medical officer said linking employee bonuses to care improvements will "get everyone energized about improving health care in our company.” Yes, but which way will this energy go? Corporate chiefs used 30% of their stock option energy to cheat by backdating. Some 700 Texas public schools had their No Child Left Behind bonuses held up due to suspicious test results.

Will the 42,000 work to rewrite their insurance products to cover the most effective treatment options? Will they simply choose not to write policies for even marginally unhealthy patients? A healthier patient to begin with brings “better outcomes”.

Will the 42,000 call you at breakfast to find what’s on the table? Will they meet you at the grocery store to monitor your food choices? Will they jog next to you at the gym making small talk like “how’s the weight?”

Or will 12,000 act like corporate big dogs by lying and cheating to meet their performance target?

Keep in mind other efforts to improve the quality of health care. One insurance company ranks and rates doctor performance in a manner similar to that called for by Medicare Super Chief Mike Leavitt. When one physician fell from the “best in class” status, he investigated why. The company cited his poor performance with diabetic patients. After a search of patient records, the doctor found 30% of his patients cited by the insurer didn’t even have the disease.

Who else will soon enter your living room based on inaccurate or erroneous information? Who is really looking to help you get healthier and who is looking to pad their personal compensation? This system (like all extrinsic motivation efforts) will be gamed. Watch as 2010 nears for the specific creative measures used by WellPoint employees as they spin the wheel faster to reach the cheese…