“It’s nothing personal… it’s just business.” — Stringer Bell on “The Wire.”
Actor Idris Elba acquired a lot of deserved fame for his role as Stringer Bell in David Simon’s iconic TV series, “The Wire.” Too many people have described his character as a two-bit drug dealer, second in command to Avon Barksdale’s drug cartel in Baltimore. Yet what made Elba’s portrayal so startling and compelling was that he was a businessman.
Stringer Bell showed up regularly weeknights as a student enrolled in a college-level business course and he lived in a very nice upscale apartment, drank the finest and most expensive alcohol and had a healthy taste for classy ladies. Even when Detective Jimmy McNulty inspected his apartment after his shocking death, he declared that perhaps police officers had a very poor understanding of the criminals with whom they were dealing.
One of my favorite lines in the series came when Bell had to tell Avon Barksdale’s sister why he had his nephew killed while in prison. He explained to the victim’s mother that her son was weak and probably would give up incriminating information under duress.
He told her, “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.”
That reminded me of an incident not long ago when my boss of 19 years at J-Ad Graphics, Fred Jacobs, got even with Hastings Schools Superintendent Carl Schoessel. The school district decided to use a different printer than J-Ad for programs for the senior play because the other printer was cheaper.
Schoessel told Fred, “It was a business decision.”
Not long afterward, neither the Reminder nor the Banner showed up for a perky and positive photo op and feature story about the schools. When Schoessel asked why the no-show, Fred replied, “It was a business decision.”
I covered a lot of stories 
in my journalism career about local industries and businesses shutting down and moving to areas where the labor was cheaper and the taxes lower. Corporate officials, echoing Ranger Rick’s contention that money goes where it is treated best, explained that it was “a business decision,” an attempt to remain competitive in the global market place. Forget about the ruined lives in the community.
I thought about all of these stories recently when the Detroit Tigers polished off their “fire sale” by trading veteran stars Justin Verlander and Justin Upton, not long after parting ways with J.D. Martinez, Alex Avila and Justin Wilson. It appears that the Tigers’ organization was getting rid of high-salaried stars whose contracts might be coming due soon and had decided to give up on Detroit’s chances for playoff possibilities now.
In other words, it was a business decision.
I have to laugh when I recall those prominent Fox Sports Detroit advertisements, “Who’s Your Tiger?” With the moves they’ve made this summer, it’s likely virtually nobody. So much for that practice of developing a favorite ballplayer, who could be here today, gone tomorrow.
I suppose we can blame greedy owners and greedy ballplayers for this unpleasantness. This sort of thing didn’t occur very often in days long ago, before free agency, the days when Curt Flood and others maintained they were slaves.
The real culprit here is greed, the love of money, which is at the root of all evil. And as Stringer Bell seemed to believe, you can do virtually anything you want, even commit murder, as long as it’s “a business decision.”
Everyone must realize business owners are not in the business to provide jobs, they are in business to make a profit. If jobs are created from those activities that go into making a profit, everyone benefits. You can’t provide jobs if you aren’t making a profit – something Liberals (and government officials, especially Democrats) never understand.
Of course, these are the same people that can’t balance budgets or control spending that they are responsible to do so. Fiduciary responsibility doesn’t seem to fit federal, state and local government officials.
However, as a business person, you must pay your taxes (however more taxes paid to government, less to employees, expansion, and providing more goods and services customers want) and run in the black, with little or no debt. Banks frown on carrying large debt loads. Employees expect to be paid for their labor (as they should) and suppliers like to be paid on time.
If owning a business was as easy as being in the federal government where they print money if they don’t have any, the world would be rosy for everyone! The business owner has to earn it.