Transparency and Limited Power Stop Corruption

"The Church committee (named for Senator Frank Church) looked at a period starting with Franklin Roosevelt and running through Richard Nixon...In every single administration you had failures of control by all the presidents and misconduct by the intelligence agencies...Under all the administrations—six different administrations, both Republican and Democrat—there were misuses of power...(that were) inconsistent with the law and the Constitution.

"The single most important finding of the Church committee was that, if during a time of crisis we ignore the wise restraints that have been put in our constitution and laws to keep us free and keep us strong, we are not only going to make ourselves less free, we are going to make ourselves less safe.

"We’ve slipped as a country into not being as open as we historically (have been) and instead into more and more secrecy, and I think that is one of the underlying root causes (of corruption) that needs to be examined and dealt with." -- Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. (Chief Counsel to the Church Committee)

"Deepest Global Recession Since the Great Depression"

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting the global economy will decline this year for the first time since the Second World War. On Wednesday, the IMF said the global economy would see a 1.3 percent decline in what it called “by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression.”

(Quote taken from DemocracyNow!)

A Business that is Run Like a City

"Most of the forces that shape the structure of business, including capital markets, business schools, economic theory, a variety of laws, and even our own upbringing trains us to assume that at work you're either an employee or a boss, but never a citizen. So at Equal Exchange we understand why workplace democracy seems such a novel concept. We simply don't accept it." --Equal Exchange President Rob Everts

Equal Exchange is a 23 year-old, $34 million employee-owned firm that is run like a small city where employees act as citizens and the employee-elected Board acts like a City Council.

Bribery is a $1 Trillion Dollar Industry

Daniel Kaufmann, the institute director of Governance at the World Bank, estimates that $1 Trillion of bribes are paid worldwide in both rich and developing countries; One out of every 30 dollars in the world is spent as a bribe.

The World Bank's research "shows that countries which tackle corruption and improve their rule of law can increase their national incomes by as much as four times in the long term, and child mortality can fall as much as 75 percent."

Interestingly enough, the most effective tool to fight corruption has been identified by the World Bank as transparency; ee.gg., freedom of the press, freedom of information, and asset disclosure.

Democratic businesses have found, like the World Bank, that being proactively transparent with all financial information fights corruption, creates efficiency, unity, & understanding, and causes employees to be paid for what they are worth and not for the amount that companies can acquire them for.

Now, if only we could force the World Bank to be transparent...

If you want to help democratize the world, and increase corporate transparency, visit http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm, enter your salary, and browse the salaries of others within your company and around the world.

(Quotation taken from http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?theSitePK=84266&contentMDK=64069844&menuPK=116730&pagePK=64148989&piPK=64148984)

Voters Champion Free Market But Want More Regulation

The American people intuitively know that there is something wrong with American capitalism, but they can't quite put their finger on it.

Rasmussen Reports released a seemingly contradictory report on December 29, 2008--just after the economic crisis began. It seems that 70% of voters believe that a free market is better than one managed by the government; yet, 52% of voters believe that there is a need for more government regulation of big business. However, 65% agree that government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

Intuition has brought the American people this far, but what are the facts. Nationalization is not democratic because government control is simply a new layer of management on top of the excessive, burdensome layers that already exist.

The way to maintain free markets and regulate corporations at the same time is to truly democratize corporations. Corporations that practice financial transparency, have few layers of management, and offer stock-ownership to all employees are held accountable by the employees themselves and have very little need for government oversight.

(Statistics taken from http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/voters_champion_free_market_but_want_more_regulation)

Do We Love Freedom as Much as our Founders?

90 Million People Will Die as the Result of an Economic Collapse

The world is on the edge of a economic collapse because of the lack of integrity of a few in our businesses. "A new report from the Overseas Development Institute said the collapse of the global economy would cost 90 million lives, lead to an increase to nearly a billion in the number of people going hungry, and cost developing countries $750 billion in lost growth."

In a world where corporations are given the power to determine the fate of billions of lives, is it not only logical that this power be in the hands of the majority that work in these businesses and not in the hands of a few executives.

(Quote taken from DemocracyNow.org)

Bailout Firms Owe $220M in Unpaid Federal Taxes

"A congressional probe has found the top thirteen firms to receive bailout money owe more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes. Congress member John Lewis of Georgia, the chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, says two of the companies owe more than $100 million apiece. The review only looked at the top twenty-three bailout recipients, leaving open the possibility of further owed taxes from nearly 450 remaining companies. The inspector general overseeing the federal bailout says he will investigate whether recipient companies misled Congress on their tax obligations."

Democratic businesses are proactively transparent with their financial information.

(Quote taken from DemocracyNow.org)

Politics & Democratic Business

If you ran the government like a democratic business, who would be correct? Conservatives or Liberals?

(1) Conservatives are correct that regulation is bad. It stifles progress, blocks creativity, hinders adaptation, and humiliates the majority that do the right thing.
(2) Liberals are correct that all centralized power should be regulated and limited by the people whos lives it impacts; ee.gg., banks and depositors, corporations and workers.
(3) Conservatives are correct that "government which governs least governs best" -- Ronald Reagan.
(2) Liberals are correct that workers make better decisions about business than their managers.
(3) Conservatives are correct that the disintegration of morals destroys every great nation. A study published last week shows that a record percentage of American high schoolers cheat. So much for putting political corruption behind us.
(4) Liberals are correct that direct democracy does not cause the poor to steal from the rich. When each person has equal political power, the poor do not care to steal from the rich and the rich are not able to steal from the poor. Which brings me to my next point...
(5) Conservatives are correct that redistributing wealth does not benefit the whole. The Soviet Union and Cuba have taught us this lesson.
(6) Liberals are correct that socialization--if it is at the local level--encourages progress; ee.gg., education, fire department, and health care. When people support their communities, the community supports the people.

14 of Fortune's 100 Best Companies Are Employee Owned

14 of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For are employee owned companies. This is especially impressive when we note that employee owned companies comprise only one percent of the total businesses in the United States.

The greatest obstacle to productivity is disunity. Many managerial layers, unions, and command-control decision making lead to disunity. Employee ownership, however, encourages employee participation, unity, and ultimately productivity.

Athenians Would Laugh at America's Claim to Democracy

To Athenians, an essential feature of democracy was the direct and full sovereignty of the majority of citizens. Appointment to important offices, a two-party system, unelected bureaucracies, a private federal bank, lobbying, judicial life tenure, terms for elective office of more than one year—all these would have seemed clear and deadly enemies of a sustainable democracy.

The prospect that someone could make a life-long career of politics was and is contrary to the principles of democracy. The Athenian belief that political freedom and power was the right of every male citizen created an unparalleled level of stability in the Greek world. The Athenian democracy survived two occupations, constant wars, maintained peace between the poor and rich, and only one Athenian politician was ever assassinated.

The Power of Stories: We Were Made to Be Free Cont.

Stories have the power to guide companies, organizations, and people to elevated levels of engagement. Here is a story that engages me to fight for democratic workplaces:

"Three stone cutters were asked about their jobs. The first said he was paid to cut stones. The second replied that he used special techniques to shape stones in an exceptional way, and proceeded to demonstrate his skills. The third stone cutter just smiled and said: "I build cathedrals."

How much more happy, and productive would our companies be if we made it our first priority to engaged people in a euphoric purpose.

(Quote taken from Ricardo Semler in the book Maverick)

"...We Will See the Day When We Live on What We Produce" -- Marion G. Romney

Every year, Americans import $731.214 billion of goods more than they export. If foreign trade stopped, we would be forced to consume less than half of what we currently consume. This is the root cause of our current "economic" problems.

In order to buy almost 60 percent more than we produce, we have accepted loan after loan from foreigners. Currently 45 to 50 percent of our federal debt held by the public (the debt issued to fund annual, federal deficits) is owned by foreigners. 70 percent of all our new debt is being purchased by foreigners. This is the equivalent of mortgaging a cow to a stranger to buy more milk.

What is the solution to our problem? Stop mortgaging the American cow, and drink less milk. It appears that foreigners will force us to do just that. For the first time, foreigners are curbing their appetite for American IOUs, and soon, we will be forced to consume what we produce and pay down our $56 trillion mortgage for many years to come.

(Statistics taken from government websites and former U.S. Comptroller David Walker)

Our Current Economic Problems Are Only the Tip of the Iceberg

A Company that Let's Employees Choose their Own Pay?

How do you turn a near bankrupt company around and make it one of the fastest growing companies in the country? How do you create one of Microsoft's "best schools in the world"?

The answer is high expectations and near unadulterated freedom (ee.gg., allow employees to choose their own pay, and allow children to choose whether or not they attend school)

Watch this clip and be AMAZED!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG3HPX0D2mU

We Should Learn about Democracy from the Chinese

There is very little authoritative difference between a government and a bank. To understand that all centralized power is dangerous and should be democratized is to understand that centralized economic power (like political power) must be democratized and must serve the entrepreneurs that create wealth.

In the same way that the Federal government and State governments are supposed to serve the people, the Federal Reserve, local banks, and Wall Street must serve entrepreneurs. The benefit of these institutions is to provide funding and diversify the risk to entrepreneurs. Arguing that free market policy should apply to Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, and local banks is as silly as saying that the Federal Government should be free to make it's own rules.

The best, current example of a democratic economy is the Chinese economy. While the Chinese are politically oppressed, their democratic economy is inspiring entrepreneurs and creating the fastest, sustainable economic growth ever seen. Maybe we can learn a thing or two about democracy from the Chinese.

Democracy & Valentine's Day

I know it is a stretch to find a link between democracy and Valentine's day. I decided I wanted to write a post about my wife and I needed a justification for putting it on a blog about democratic business--so bare with me while I attempt to link the two:

My wife is a lot of the reason I have an optimistic outlook on life. Spending time with her makes me realize that even though an oligarchical Wall Street is destroying our economy and will make a profit at the expense of individual rights, there is a lot of reason to have hope in humanity.

I have learned, from my wife, how important it is to nurture the goodness in people. I see her with our son and it is all too obvious to me how much greater this world would be if more women were given the voice they deserve.

My wife has taught me the importance of the democratic principle of keeping my sights fixed on a euphoric purpose. We have so much fun together. I can't think of a day of our marriage when we haven't laughed together at least once. Our common goals and ambitions inspire me to making our marriage great and not simply good.

Being married to my wife has taught me that the principles of democracy (i.e., transparency, limited power, ownership, and euphoric purpose) are just as important to every aspect of life as they are to government.

The Power of Stories: We Were Made to Be Free

Stories have the power to guide companies, organizations, and people to elevated levels of engagement. Here is the number one story that engages me to fight for freedom and democracy:

"That Satan...is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

But, behold, my Beloved Son...said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him...I caused that he should be cast down;

And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will..." (Moses 4:1-4)

High-Engaged Workers Are 7 Times More Profitable Than Low-Engaged Workers

In 2006, Gallup estimated that disengaged employees cost the American economy $350 billion per year. A study done by Kenexa Research Institute found that of 4,000 worldwide companies, the top 25 engaged workplaces outperformed the 25 lowest engaged businesses 7-to-1--based on shareholder return, on a five-year basis.

If engaging employees is the driver of productivity, what can a company do to engage its workers? Kenexa Research Institute suggests that there are four main drivers that help create engagement in the workplace:

(1) "Leaders who inspire confidence in the future of the organization."
(2) "Managers who respect and recognize employees."
(3) "Employees are inspired and engaged by exciting work that they know how to do."
(4) "Employees are inspired by organizations that demonstrate genuine responsibility to two critical stakeholders groups: employees and communities."

It may seem counterintuitive that putting engagement above productivity leads to greater productivity until you realize that engagement is what creates productivity. Maybe the answer to our economic crisis is not to create more money, but to engage the American workforce.

(Information from http://www.kenexa.com/getattachment/8c36e336-3935-4406-8b7b-777f1afaa57d/The-Impact-of-Employee-Engagement.aspx)

Glenn Beck: "This Is Real Trouble...Perhaps In The Next Year"