OUTSIDE VIEW
FERIAL HAFFAJEE: Will business leaders chew on Obama’s words?
Obama’s lesson about what is enough is worth thinking about, as is his view on inclusive capitalism
In former US president Barack Obama's majestic Nelson Mandela lecture on Tuesday, he spoke about wealth in a section of his speech that got some of the loudest applause at the Wanderers and which resonated across social media. Here's what he said: "Right now, I'm actually surprised by how much money I got ... There's only so much you can eat. There's only so big a house you can have. There's only so many nice trips you can take. I mean, it's enough." A week ago, the PwC study of executive salaries came out, and it was, as usual, a ceremony of the grotesque. How much, I wondered, do our executives have to eat? How much is enough? The remuneration committees of boards here think South Africa is Switzerland or New York or London, not the country with the widest wealth gap in the world. It's not beyond morality or social justice or simple common sense for them to remunerate for the country their companies operate in. Our economy is tiny, but blue-chip profits are often stratospheric, no...
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