On Principles
When was the last time you made a conscious decision knowing it would cost you money? It’s an increasingly rare practice, as far as I can tell.
We all like to think of ourselves as highly principled. But then we come to that crossroads, (and it is a crossroads, make no mistake) where it might behoove us to “rethink” our position a little bit. Maybe we were too hasty to say we’d never bend or compromise. Well, what’s changed? Maybe we’ve just matured….. more likely, we just didn’t think about how following our principles might call for a little sacrifice.
The actuarial profession lectures all its members endlessly about the importance of ethics - about doing the right thing - and yet, when our profession’s reputation is really put on the line, the powers that be mysteriously turn a deaf ear. Well, it’s OK for the actuarial bodies to come down hard on the little guy - I mean, how else you gonna make sure he stays little? - but when a really difficult situation comes along, such as the one we now face in California - being muscled by the state retirement systems and by the unions that control them (and practically everything else) - those actuarial bodies simply aren’t anywhere to be found.
Blame it on East Coast bias - if it happens West of the Mississippi, and nobody hears it, does it really make a noise?
Anyway, like the Jayhawkers who crossed Death Valley in 1849 in search of a better life in California, we’re finding out now just how “on our own” we really are. And we’ll either find that better life in California, or leave our bones scattered along the way, but as long as we keep our principles, as Jesus Jones said, “there is no other place we’d rather be”.
LF