By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability, Frugality/Frugal Fun, Peace and War, People Helping People, Shel's Personal Life, Social and Economic Justice

By Shel Horowitz
This post is in three parts:

  • My Personal Poverty Story
  • What’s Wrong Right Now
  • Prescription to End Poverty

    • 7000 bloggers are joining together today to talk about one issue: poverty. I’m proud to be one of those 7000.

    My Personal Poverty Story
    Poverty is something I know something about, first-hand. In the 1970s and early 1980s, I was desperately poor, and for a portion of that time, on food stamps. I jokingly refer to those years as the “research phase” for my e-book, “The Penny-Pinching Hedonist.” But I didn’t just pinch those pennies. I squeezed them so hard it might have drawn blood, if pennies could bleed.

    When I got a job as a VISTA Volunteer community organizer, with the princely salary of $82 per week (and they let me keep getting food stamps), it was a major step UP the economic ladder for me; before that, I’d been working a single day a week in a neighborhood fruit store. I seem to remember that I earned $15 for those shifts, but that would have been below minimum wage even then, so it must have been more like $26.

    I do know that I thought long and hard about every discretionary purchase other than food; with the food stamps, I didn’t have to worry about that, at least. But if I could get around New York City by bike instead of subway, I did–all over Brooklyn, where I was living and where I was charged to build the local Gray Panther chapter, and lower Manhattan, where my community organizing office was. If I could find clothing at a thrift shop, I did–even if it didn’t fit quite right. I found entertainment like poetry readings, that didn’t cost anything. I read the books and listened to the records I already had, on a stereo I’d bought used while a college student.

    Even then, I knew I was lucky. All around me, I saw people who were trying to support a family; I had no dependents. I saw people being forced out of rent-controlled apartments so that landlords could quadruple the price under vacancy decontrol; I had found a small apartment in a warehouse district that I shared with a friend; my half was only $150, which meant that once I got the organizing job, I was able to earn back the cost of housing in less than two weeks and have the other two weeks’ pay to live on for the month. Before that, I’d been paying the rent out of small and precariously dropping savings since losing the entry-level corporate job that had brought me to New York. And even during that time of unemployment, I scraped by enough that I didn’t have to deal with the intimidating and humiliating welfare bureaucracy; the food stamp office was far more humane, according to my friends who’d been through the welfare system.

    Gradually, in the 1980s, I moved out of the city, started the business I still run, and eventually got to a living wage, and then out of poverty.

    What’s Wrong Right Now
    But I still get very angry when I hear politicians and toxic talk show hosts who have no first-hand knowledge of poverty ranting about welfare cheats while passing out massive subsidies to their friends and funders at the very top of the economic ladder.

    And it shocks me that we’ve allowed the disparity between the poorest and the richest to go totally haywire, much like the Latin American dictatorships we always heard about in the 1970s and 80s. CEOs take home nine-figure compensation packages, while poor and middle-class people lose their homes. This is not fair or just, and I’m hoping the current world-wide financial crisis will lead us to change those percentages. What would life be like if no CEO got more than 25 times the wages of a full-time employee making minimum wage, or for that matter, 25 times as much as the check that a welfare mom is supposed to live on while she supports her kids?

    Some companies manage to get by paying their CEOs much less than that! There are companies where the CEO makes only eight or ten times the lowest paid employee, and others, collectively owned, where every worker makes the same salary. Somehow, they survive and thrive and attract great talent. Because they have a mission they can believe in that’s not just about lining their own pockets.

    Okay, so I’m the one ranting now.

    Prescription to End Poverty
    But this is Blog Action Day. I’d like to finish with some action steps that we can take as a society, steps that address some (by no means all) of the systemic causes of poverty, and whose adoption will lift up the bottom. Changing these could take whole communities from poverty to abundance.

  • Switch to sustainable, renewable, nonpolluting energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and small-scale (non-invasive) hydro. Surely, if we can find $700 billion to pump into the financial system, we can find a few billion for a Marshall Plan-style initiative that would eliminate dependence on foreign oil, slash carbon emissions, create thousands of jobs, and put money in the pockets of rich and poor alike.
  • Retrofit all buildings with proper insulation, water-saving plumbing, and other sustainabiity measures. Again, this lowers costs, creates jobs, and reduces carbon as well as dependence on oil imports (and thus global warming).
  • Decriminalize the petty offenses that fill up our prisons, taking away income-earners, making it harder for them to get jobs again when they get out, and leaving their families with a huge financial burden. We have no business throwing people in prison for using drugs or feeling forced into prostitution. Dealing is one thing; it harms society. But using harms only the users and their families, as long as they don’t get behind the wheel or operate dangerous machinery.
  • Revitalize mass transit. Poor people get to work on buses and trains, and the more places transit systems reach, the more job opportunities for poor folks. Added benefits once again: reduced carbon, reduced foreign oil imports, reduced traffic congestion.
  • Urban community food self-sufficiency: an organic garden on every flat roof and in every vacant lot! Lowers food costs, boosts nutrition, freshness, and flavor, builds community, reduces carbon and more.
  • Adopt, finally, the sensible system of government-salaried doctors not beholden to insurance companies that has allowed almost every other industrialized country in the world to make health care a right, not a privilege. This is something we advocated for when I had the community organizing job with the Gray Panthers almost 30 years ago, and it’s still a good idea–and long-overdue.
  • Oh yes, and save poor and middle-class lives as well as vast boatloads of dollars by getting out of the illegal and unconscionable war the Bush administration lied its way into in Iraq. the $700 billion per year saved could provide seed capital to fund all the rest of it.

    • So there you have at least part of my prescription to create jobs, reduce costs, lower pollution, and shift our country’s trade and overall deficits. What are your ideas? Please post them, and let’s get started!

    While this post is copyright 2008 by Shel Horowitz of https://www.principledprofit.com, I hereby grant permission to reproduce the post in its entirety in any medium as long as attriubtion is included, and to link to the post without restriction.

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Frugality/Frugal Fun, Social and Economic Justice

    When I found out the other day that no sooner had insurance giant AIG accepted a huge bailout from the taxpayers–that’s us–that they had spent $400,000 on a posh weeklong retreat at the St. Regis Monarch Beach, a very expensive resort, including a $10,000 tab at the bar, and $24,400 on spa and salon services, I was too steamed to even blog about it. I knew that if I let my fingers loose on this one, I’d probably say something I’d regret. So I kept my mouth shut.

    Today, I found out that they’d planned to have a similar retreat a week later, at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California, but this one they canceled–not because they’ve come to their senses, but because of the very understandable public backlash about the first retreat. Meanwhile, they’ve got their hand at the public trough, asking for another $37.8 billion. And they have the nerve to complain about cancellation fees!

    “We’ll certainly lose some money in cancellation fees, but it’s just beyond the point of trying to conduct these meetings given the uncertainty that’s taking place.”

    Yes, there are usually cancellation fees when you cancel a large event at the last minute. These things are booked months in advance and the hotels can’t resell all that space on that kind of timeframe. But still–you pay the fees, grit your teeth, and at least pretend that you care enough about the taxpayers who are bailing you out that you don’t go on expensive and totally unnecessary junkets. And you sure as anything don’t stick the public with your bills at the bars and spas; those should be borne by the individuals consuming the services.

    Rooms at these hotels range from $400 to $1200 per night. The government should demand repayment of every penny spent at the St. Regis on this pig-in-a-poke. Can you imagine what Limbaugh and the rest would say if they found a “welfare queen” enjoying this kind of high life at government expense? Well, when corporate executives are the ones getting welfare, the standards should be similar.

    You want to run up big bills to reward your high performers? Fine–but don’t ask us to pay for it.

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    By Posted on Posted in Politics

    Yes, he’s sold his soul to the devil and gone back on everything we used to think he believed in (even opposition to torture). But a recent article in Huffington Post makes me wonder if it’s all a front. Apparently McCain thinks he can start assembling his government after the election.

    The Democratic nominee has enlisted the assistance of dozens of individuals — divided into working groups for particular federal agencies — to produce policy agendas and lists of recommended appointees. As evidence of their advanced preparations, officials provided a copy of the strict ethics guidelines that individuals working on the transition effort are required to sign.

    John McCain, by contrast, has done little. Campaign spokespersons did not respond to requests for elaboration. But one official with direct knowledge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed concern with McCain’s approach. The Arizona Senator has instructed his team to not spend time on the transition effort, according to the source

    Hey, John–if you want to turn an aircraft carrier, you start the process before you get to the place where you want to turn.

    Meanwhile, a very well-researched piece in Rolling Stone claims that the nasty, no-principles, and incompetent McCain we’re seeing is totally consistent with his history: that his goal all along, even in his Hanoi days, has always been McCain first, and never country first, and his competence was always in doubt. He may have been the only airman ever to wreck three separate aircraft. Most airmen who are not sons of admirals don’t get the chance to wreck a second, let alone a third.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Business Ethics, Ethics in Government

    Guest Blog By Lauren Bloom

    [Note from Shel: Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement and forgiveness, starts tonight, and I’m pleased to post this timely commentary on the economy, forgiveness, and Yom Kippur from my new friend Lauren Bloom]

    This week marks the observance of Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement,” the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur offers practicing Jews the opportunity to request and receive forgiveness for their mistakes and broken promises throughout the year. It’s a lovely tradition, and one that recognizes a fundamental fact about each and every one of us: We all make mistakes and, when we do, we need to apologize for them.

    Just this week, we’ve seen what colossal damage corporate greed and dishonesty can do. As Shel Horowitz observed in this blog less than a month ago, the financial crisis gripping America could have been avoided if Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and other investment banks had followed common sense ethical principles. But because they let avarice overcome their good sense, American taxpayers are out $700 billion that may never be recovered, thousands of people have lost their jobs, retirees have watched their pension assets dwindle, the credit markets have dried up, homeowners across the country are facing foreclosure, and there’s no end to the crisis in sight. Somebody – the greedy financiers who created this disaster, the regulators who let them get away with it, the corporate Boards who failed to ask tough questions -– owes the rest of us a huge apology.

    When a mistake is this enormous it can be tempting to say that an apology wouldn’t do any good, but nothing could be further from the truth. The bigger the mistake, the more an apology becomes a necessary first step toward healing. This week of Yom Kippur offers a wonderful opportunity for everyone who contributed to the financial crisis, regardless of their religious affiliation, to step forward and ask the American people for forgiveness.

    Thank you, Shel, for the opportunity to guest on The Good Business Blog.

    Lauren Bloom is an attorney who speaks and consults on business ethics and the author of The Art of the Apology – How to Apologize Effectively to Practically Anyone. Visit Lauren online at www.businessethicsspeaker.com and www.artoftheapology.com.

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    By Posted on Posted in Customer Service as Marketing, Ethics: General, General Commentary

    Lauren Bloom has a sweet new book, “The Art of Apology,” which I really enjoyed. She’s sending me a guest blog for posting on Wednesday–just in time for Yom Kippur (starts Wednesday night)–the Jewish day of asking forgiveness.

    Meantime, if you want a preview, she’s giving away a chapter at https://www.ArtOfTheApology.com/preview

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Politics

    These two items from the Center for Media and Democracy may leave a real strong “eeeewww!” taste in your mouth. At least they did for me:

    1. The US Food and Drug Administration let an industry front group do its new consumer-information website–and the front group calls the effort “EthicAd”

    2. A supposed poll was actually designed to spread very negative lies within the Jewish community about Obama, according to Politico.com. You’d think McCain, having been targeted by similar disgusting tactics in the 2000 election, would have killed this effort by the “Republican Jewish Coalition.”

    Aren’t we better than this? Yuck!

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Social and Economic Justice

    Michael Moore’s 10-point bailout plan is better than anything I’ve seen from an economist. Is it perfect? Of course not. Is it far, far better than anything being talked about in the halls of Congress (except by people like Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Dennis Kucinich)? I certainly think so.

    Here’s a piece I especially like:

    4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A “BAILOUT,” THEN WE OWN
    YOU. Sorry, that’s how it’s done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a
    house, the bank “owns” that house until I pay it all back — with interest.
    Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our
    government considers you a safe risk — and necessary for the good of the
    country — then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we
    will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked

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    By Posted on Posted in Politics

    For months, of course, the McCain campaign has been an embarrassing collection of blunders, bloopers, mean-spirited ad hominem attacks, and recantation of everything he used to claim to stand for. But the last few days make me wonder if he and his advisors could pass a sanity test administered by a competent psychiatrist:

  • This absurd and desperate ploy to cancel both the presidential and vice-presidential debates on the grounds that McCain wants to roll up his sleeves and save the economy–the same economy that he said just the other day ws fundamentally sound. Does anyone really believe this is not just a pathetic attempt to duck out on the challenge form a better informed and more articulate opponent who can clean McCain’s clock on the economy and seems to actually have a better grasp of McCain’s supposed area of strength: foreign policy
  • Acting like the press, once a strong sector of McCain support, is some kind of enemy to be starved of information–and then being surprised when the press turns negative
  • Claiming that an initiative Obama supported to help children differentiate between appropriate and abusive touch was “sex education for kindergarteners”

    Conservative columnist George Will today said that McCain has been acting like a “flustered rookie” and that he’s not fit to be president. And Will noted that McCain’s peculiar idea to replace SEC Chair Chris Cox with Andrew Cuomo even attracted the ire of the Wall Street Journal:

    “McCain untethered” — disconnected from knowledge and principle — had made a “false and deeply unfair” attack on Cox that was “unpresidential” and demonstrated that McCain “doesn’t understand what’s happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does.”

    But the best commentary I’ve seen was a scathingly hilarious piece by Bob Cesca on Huffington Post called “McCain’s foreign Policy: Blurt Out Random Crap.” I would not want to get on the bad side of this guy.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Business Ethics, Social and Economic Justice

    Yikes! Seven hundred billion of our tax dollars to bail out Wall Street–and that’s on top of what’s already been spent on Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG.

    That’s $700,000,000,000. Now, I might support a bailout if we got our money’s worth out of it–but not this bailout–not only doesn’t it give us what we want, it includes one of the most dangerous and far-reaching clauses ever included in any legislation in this country:

    “Decisions by the Secretary [of the Treasury] pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

    That’s worse than a mere blank check. It’s complete and total immunity from oversight.

    What on earth is the rush to pass such a bill? No one should have that kind of power.

    Then let’s look at the rest of the bill. As I understand it, it…

  • Passes bad debts and other liabilities to the taxpayers, but not good assets–or control
  • Sets no limits on CEO compensation, so the same people who wrecked the economy get to take home annual compensation packages in the tens of millions
  • Allows the government to subcontract out the management of these firms…probably to the same bunch of ethical midgets that broke them in the first place
  • Doesn’t do much to help homeowners facing (or already in) foreclosure

    In short, this is a free gift: break our economy and bring home a prize. Can you say, “corporate welfare”? And rather than paying for it out of general revenues, forcing those who never benefited to cough up the dough, let’s look at the bailout funding plan proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders, taking the revnue from a surtax on those who made their killing and now want to get off with no consequences–yeah, it was OUR economy that they killed.

    If it were up to me, I’d say the public should gain equity in the rescued companies, and any CEO compensation package should not exceed a percentage of the net profits to the company, and layoffs or bankruptcies mean automatic forfeiture of all bonuses. And salary, as opposed to bonuses, could be set at something realistic, say, $200,000-$500,000 (or as a reasonable multiple, say, 10-20x, of the lowest-paid full-time worker’s income). That’s still far more than most Americans have to live on. Bonuses beyond that should be based on performance: creating profitable companies, jobs, investments in renewable energy, etc. This system of rewarding the worst behavior and the worst performance is just plain crazy.

    I’ve already told my Congressional representatives. Have you?

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    By Posted on Posted in Politics

    Okay, so it’s bad enough that McCain picks a running mate who has only been out of the country once, visiting her state’s reservists–and has the chutzpah to claim Ireland as a place she’s visited because her plane paused to refuel there. And it’s horrendous that someone running for VP had no clue what the Bush Doctrine was and shows amazing ignorance of the situation in Iraq. Presumably she’d have a year or so to get up to speed before McCain’s heart gives out–or maybe he’ll be lucky like Cheney and actually live out his term.

    But McCain…McCain is supposed to be the big foreign policy hotshot. This is supposed to be his core strength. Well, I am not impressed! He’s made at least three HUGE gaffes this campaign:

  • Had to have Joe Lieberman whisper loudly in his ear that he didn’t really mean Al-Qaida, just extremists (even Fox News picked up that one!)
  • Actually said, with a straight face,“In The 21st Century Nations Don’t Invade Other Nations.” John, my dear–has anyone ever mentioned Iraq or Afghanistan to you? Both invaded in the 21st century–by the U.S.
  • When asked by a reporter if he would meet with Spain’s Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, McCain said no, and didn’t seem to know who the reporter was talking about, even when she clarified it. He seemed to think it was something in Latin America. Either he’s really ignorant or so arrogant as to start destroying relationships with Europe even before the election. Of course, he has a history of this sort of thing in the run-up to the war, as the citations in the above link prove.

    Maybe I should run my dog for president. He understands a few things about foreign policy that McCain and Pallin apparently don’t: Start a conversation with diplomacy: in a dog’s case, sniffing butts. Ask for what you actually want, and not what your pollsters tell you. Being friendly wins you friends. And in imitation of Theodore Roosevelt, speak softly and carry a big stick–he likes to run down the mountain with his mouth wrapped around logs of six or eight feet.

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