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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 11, 2009 at 6:48am

If the companies buy or subsidize housing for employees (hospitals have provided subsidized housing for some medical staff for some time), I suspect that people would shout out, "Give me an Amen!!" but if corporate taxes were used to do the same thing, many would be up in arms. "Socialism!!"

Obviously most corporations have not added to their balance sheets as a result of some unethical behavior; I know some people believe all corporations are evil and that no one is worth millions of dollars each year and as a result these executives must be cheating. Many of these people also wear jerseys of their favorite professional sports teams who pay players millions of dollars to play games we played as children...

I'd rather see a payback subsidy program because the devil I know is simply hideous at managing money whereas I know corporations have demonstrated they can make hence manage money. It would also inject life into companies' community relations programs which for the most part are lip service.

I read this article yesterday and was thinking about writing a piece on how homelessness is a recruiting issue because it is entirely probable that someone you recruit is homeless. How would you react to this scenario: A great person who is homeless? Would your biases kick in? Or would you find ways to make it work?

Now be honest?

Maureen - if you want I'll take this to a new post....

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 11, 2009 at 7:01am

No, I don't want you to take this to a new post. Great question you ask:
"...it is entirely probable that someone you recruit is homeless. How would you react to this scenario: A great person who is homeless? Would your biases kick in? Or would you find ways to make it work?"

I think it's high time we all reassess why some things are as they are...one reassessment many of us could use a barometer on is our race to judgment...if someone is homeless does that mean they're unworthy? Flawed? Not responsible? Unreliable?

There are people who are and will become homeless through no real fault of their own - times they have a'changed - and the solution I propose above - though it may call down harshly on the tax privileges American companies have been afforded (I've seen it written that if corporations paid taxes at the rate the average worker does there would be NO NEED for worker taxes!) - would be one way of finding a great homeless candidate "a way to make it work."

As you're fond of saying, Steve, "It is what it is." America is faced with a great challenge at the moment and this is one fast action that could really make a difference, as I see it.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 11, 2009 at 8:00am

You may or may not agree with this but nonetheless, this is interesting reading.
Working people were not just abandoned by big business and their ideological henchmen in government, they were exploited and humiliated. They were denied the productivity gains that should have rightfully accrued to them. They were treated ruthlessly whenever they tried to organize. They were never reasonably protected against the savage dislocations caused by revolutions in technology and global trade.

Working people were told that all of this was good for them, and whether out of ignorance or fear or prejudice or, as my grandfather might have said, damned foolishness, many bought into it. They signed onto tax policies that worked like a three-card monte game. And they were sold a snake oil concoction called “trickle down” that so addled their brains that they thought it was a wonderful idea to hand over their share of the nation’s wealth to those who were already fabulously rich.

The right-wingers were crafty: You smother the dream by crippling the programs that support it, by starving the government of money to pay for them, by funneling the government’s revenues to the rich through tax cuts and other benefits, by looting the government the way gangsters loot legitimate businesses and then pleading poverty when it comes time to fund the services required by the people.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on March 11, 2009 at 8:24am

Having kids, it takes me a while to see movies, but I saw this the other day. I'd like to think I'm a pretty hard nut to crack, but as a Dad this moved me.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 11, 2009 at 8:37am

This was a WONDERFUL movie, I agree.
I HATE the fact that children in this country go to bed hungry (or homeless) at night. I just HATE it.
THESE are the kinds of things that deserve our wrath, not each other.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 11, 2009 at 9:05am

Herbert is as far left as Limbaugh is far right; so who is more center? Neither...and herein lies the problem. Politicians also align themselves to one of the pols with one common trait - their inability to say NO to lobbyists. Browbeat corps if it
Ames you feel alive but they cu ctiom according to tax codes and business codes written by members of both parties in return for...stuff.

Change this practice and other reforms will fall in line. I would love to be a political rep but given the system I'd end up slugging some entrenched political bureaucrat with a penchant for lobbyist supplied scotch, filet mignon, and interns.

Just remember how Dr. King inspired change - this is the only way to make it happen.

Maureen Sharib said:

You may or may not agree with this but nonetheless, this is interesting reading.
Working people were not just abandoned by big business and their ideological henchmen in government, they were exploited and humiliated. They were denied the productivity gains that should have rightfully accrued to them. They were treated ruthlessly whenever they tried to organize. They were never reasonably protected against the savage dislocations caused by revolutions in technology and global trade.

Working people were told that all of this was good for them, and whether out of ignorance or fear or prejudice or, as my grandfather might have said, damned foolishness, many bought into it. They signed onto tax policies that worked like a three-card monte game. And they were sold a snake oil concoction called “trickle down” that so addled their brains that they thought it was a wonderful idea to hand over their share of the nation’s wealth to those who were already fabulously rich.

The right-wingers were crafty: You smother the dream by crippling the programs that support it, by starving the government of money to pay for them, by funneling the government’s revenues to the rich through tax cuts and other benefits, by looting the government the way gangsters loot legitimate businesses and then pleading poverty when it comes time to fund the services required by the people.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 11, 2009 at 9:10am

Tell us how Dr. King inspired change, Steve.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 12, 2009 at 5:25am

Foreclosures up 30 percent in February
Despite halts on new foreclosures by several major lenders, the number of households threatened with losing their homes rose 30 percent in February from last year's levels, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.

Nationwide, nearly 291,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month, up 6 percent from January, according to the Irvine, Calif-based company. While foreclosures are highly concentrated in the Western states and Florida, the problem is spreading to states like Idaho, Illinois and Oregon as the U.S. economy worsens. More here.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 12, 2009 at 6:24am

Civil disobedience, pride (not of the deadly sins variety), compassion for others...but at the same time unerring belief in the common cause. Look at Claudia's Struggling thread - you can be rich, successful, and compassionate; it requires a balance.

The problem comes as a society when we have to decide how we help others; to some level, it is our responsibility but on the other hand personal responsibility has to come into the equation. Where in the stimulus plan have we seen any mention of personal responsibility?

The families profiled in the article - I would most definitely interview the parents because it seems they're trying to make thing work. I don't sense any handouts...

Maureen Sharib said:

Tell us how Dr. King inspired change, Steve.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 12, 2009 at 6:38am

Sarah remarked, in response to this post over on the Edge, and she's right:
This is an idea from the past. Many of the North American business moguls from 1900 to 1930 built housing for employees. Timothy Eaton and Company, General Motors, Hershey's Chocolate, all of them built entire neighbourhoods to provide safe and sanitary living conditions for their workforces. In a time when epidemics threatened the stability of the workforce, these housing areas were a boon to public health and raising the standard of living in many cities.

The economic collapse is an epidemic feeding on itself. This would be one way of slowing the tide and turning it. Let's remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi:
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

It seems like a simple equation to me.

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