Why I don’t want to work for the finance industry

My email response to a recruiter who was looking for an experienced software engineer (like myself) for a bank in Zürich…
***
(10. of December, 2019)
Dear Tunc
I hope you are well.
This project would be at a Bank and I would like to know if you are still interested?
The rate would be CHF 560.- all-inclusive daily.
Thank you for your reply in advance.
Best regards

***
(on 10. of December, 2019)
Dear …

As I wrote in my CV and in my software profile: “I don’t work for socially and environmentally irresponsible sectors like defense, finance and chemistry (see below, why I left the Swiss CFA society).”

Did you think, I don’t mean it seriously?

I responded to your contact request because you wrote “globally operating Zurich based company in the IT sector.” (i.e. it wasn’t clear that you were looking for someone for a bank).

So, I wouldn’t work for a bank, unless it has an absolute ethical and green investment policy.

You may find below more information about this issue of work ethics.

You may contact me anytime for decent projects (i.e. at least not so harmful as the most exploitative sectors like defense/aerospace, finance, industrial agriculture and industrial healthcare).

Best regards
Tunc Ali Kütükcüoglu

About me (software): https://software.tuncalik.com/about-me
About me (person): http://tuncalik.com/about-me/

About work ethics and black-money businesses

That a bank invests only in “legal” businesses doesn’t mean it doesn’t invest in harmful (destructive, exploitative) businesses, because such harmful investments are still legal for most governments of the world. The reason is, vested monetary interests (i.e. global finance and big corporations) hijacked governments along with representative democracies and regulatory justice systems all over the world.

That’s why we see today so many ministers and presidents like Trump, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Johnson and Morrison. These are not real governments that represent people, they are mere corporate agents.

You can make a google search with the phrase “how corporations hijacked democracy” and find lots of information about this issue. The history of Pinochet and Chile is a very demonstrative example of such exploitative neoliberalism.

I recommend anyone the following speech of Noam Chomsky to understand, how serious and imminent these dangers are to humanity: (1) Nuclear weapons (arms race) and (2) climate change:

Noam Chomsky at St. Olaf College – May 4th 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4FZFldaFbg&t=610s

Both dangers are recklessly escalated by a handful of money moguls and corporate interests.

All the myths and illusions of mainstream (neoclassical) economics like “economic development & growth, free markets & competition, technological progress, job creation, higher living standards” are systematically used to deceive societies, in order to suppress mass reactions against exploitative & destructive business practices.

Due to such economic myths and illusions (mass media + corporate-friendly industrial education), most people sincerely believe, if a business is legal, that is, if a business is earning money in legal ways, it must be producing something useful for the well-being of the society. This is in fact the cover-up ideology of extractive business: Legal money justifies everything (!)

Because I had an extensive education, reading and research in fields like politics of economy, economics, ecology, history of civilizations and history of economic thought, I personally don’t believe in such myths anymore. In fact, I wrote some blog articles myself to debunk some of these cancerous myths.

Other recommended resources:

What is industrial paradigm?
http://tuncalik.com/2019/08/what-is-industrial-paradigm/

Ecosystem Mutilation (and Patching) Business
http://tuncalik.com/2019/05/ecosystem-mutilation-business/

Auf Kosten Anderer (imperiale Lebensweise)
https://aufkostenanderer.org/download-dossier/

Why does mainstream (neoclassical) economics ignore ecology? (my last PhD progress report)
http://tuncalik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/PhDProgressReport_Tunc_3_20190826_online.pdf

A Guide To What’s Wrong with Economics (google e-book)
https://books.google.ch/books?id=623uBgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&hl=de&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Time is Running Out: Ecology or Economics? – David Suzuki – May 6, 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wtUMM8SDws

Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2013: Vandana Shiva – Growth = Poverty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M3WJQbnHKc

J is for Junk Economics, Michael Hudson
Small is Beautiful, E. F. Schumacher
Debunking Economics, Steve Keen
The Wealth of Nature, E. F. Greer
The Growth Illusion, Richard Douthwaite
Economics and the Ecosystem, edited by E. Fullbrook & J. Morgan

About tuncali

I began keeping aquariums as early as I was nine years old. Since then, I kept many aquariums and lots of fish, plant and invertebrate species. My favorite fish family is of course cichlids with their fascinating behaviors. My relatively new area of interest is low-tech natural aquariums as almost self-sufficient ecosystems that are I think ideal models for sustainable life.
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