Insecurity

The Olympic Games begin in London in less that two weeks and G4S, the multi-national security corporation, was chosen to provide security.  They have fallen somewhat short.  At the last possible moment, they confessed that they were unable to secure the 10,000 guards for which they had been paid, and could only manage fewer than 5,000.  British military and police will have to make up the difference.  Apparently they could have hired the full compliment of guards, but that would have meant hiring and training in advance, and that would not have been cost effective.  So they chose to simply wait and hope for the best.  I think it's worth mentioning that G4S is the largest supplier of private security in the US, including their work at nuclear and petro-chemical facilities.  How surprised will we be when their incompetence results in a disaster at home?  The G4S web site includes a list of its corporate values.  You can see them below.  

      CORPORATE VALUES

      Customer Focus – we have close, open relationships with our customers that generate trust and we work in partnership for the mutual benefit of our organizations

• Expertise – we develop and demonstrate our expertise through our innovative and leading-edge approach to creating and delivering the right solution
• Performance – we challenge ourselves to improve performance year-on-year and to create long-term sustainability
• Best People – we always take care to employ the best people, develop their competence, provide opportunities and inspire them to live our values
• Integrity – we can always be trusted to do the right thing
• Teamwork & Collaboration – we collaborate for the benefit of G4S as a whole

This debacle strikes me as a perfect metaphor for our current economy.  When I saw the recent headline, "City of San Bernadino declares bankruptcy," I thought, where were they six months ago?  A year ago?  How does bankruptcy "sneak up" on you?  Isn't it a question of simple math: Running the city costs this much, our revenues are this much and ... uh oh!  Shouldn't they have seen this coming?  

I don't buy the surprised looks on the faces of the San Berndino city counsel any more than I buy the mea culpa from the CEO of G4S.  This is a top-down society, and those at the top should all be held criminally responsible for the actions of their organizations.