What Should Wall Street’s Role In Society Be?

Today marks the second installment of Big Think’s new series on business sustainability, sponsored by Logica. For the next twelve Mondays (through June 8, 2010), we will release in-depth discussions with top European experts focusing on how we can better align the interests of business with the greater social good. Today we share a clip from an interview with the Chairman of Nestle, Peter Brabeck.

Peter Brabeck wonders if there is a fundamental problem with financial institutions dictating the framework of our outlook on the future. Wall Street’s real role in society, as he says, was “How on earth do you really put money in order to foster certain industries, or how to assure long-term development?” He continues: “What is sometimes more disturbing is that they try to impose very, very simple-minded monetary vision on the CEO’s or on the management of the real economy.  And it comes back to the quality of the CEO’s.”