The short answer to the question is the Bible has no influence whatsoever regarding ethics in business. I'm sure it's been around a while, but it wasn't until the mid-nineties I heard "He who has the gold, rules." When coming from the lips of working people, it carries the resigned tone of inevitability, that the wealthy do indeed control the rest of us. When spoken by the wealthy, the tone is patronizing, condescending, and arrogant, but still intended to convey the same and supposedly unchangeable reality. But since those having wealth and the pretense of power have seen fit to take poetic license with wisdom that predates us all and try to make it sound "cute," it's only fitting the two notions be compared to see who really gets the last laugh.

The real "Golden Rule" is, of course, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And it really is good, solid advice. But what if there's more to it? Why must it be limited to just that? Here's what I mean, and it's just basic grammar.

"Read the book" is a simple imperative sentence. The understood subject is "You." I'm talking to you and I'm telling you to "read the book." The emphasis is on the verb, the action: Read.

Hear how differently it sounds this way: "You read the book." The emphasis immediately shifts from the verb, the desired action of having you "read" the book, to you, the person whom I want to do the reading.

"Do unto others" is also a simple imperative sentence and as such the focus is on the verb, the action, the do of "Do unto others." At this point, it's about not only the what, the action, but also the person's motive for doing whatever the action is.

The admonition is to consciously consider the consequences of your actions before doing anything. If you don't like people lying to you, for example, then don't lie to them. On the other hand, if you don't mind having people pour lighter fluid on your testicles and set them on fire, then please, by all means, go right ahead and do that to others.

But now read it again, this time with the subject "You" actually stated. "You do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It no longer sounds like "friendly advice," does it?

So not only can it be read this way, quite frankly there's no reason not to since we're all just playing by the "rules," in this case, the rules of grammar, and we all know how important it is to "obey the rules," right?

When expressed that way, it becomes a simple declarative

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