LONDON (AP) — Just a few months ago, Dow Chemical was hailed by the organizers of the London Olympics for saving a visual centerpiece — an artistic wrap around Olympic Stadium. Now, the Olympic sponsor is sparking the kind of controversy that no one wants.

Dow’s link to the company accused in the 1984 Bhopal gas leak — the world’s worst industrial disaster — has brought a cascade of criticism down upon the organizing committee. Protesters in the central Indian city of Bhopal burned an effigy Friday of Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organizing committee, and one Indian official has even uttered the word boycott.

Emotions in India are still raw, for the Bhopal disaster killed 15,000 people and injured half a million, according to the government, and is being blamed for major local health problems 27 years later.

More here.

To me, this is no different than the relationships lobbyists, congressmen and corporations have. Should there be an official values alignment between what the Olympics stand for, and the values of the companies offering sponsorship? 

The Olympics might be a very, very different event if it were sponsored by TOMs Shoes, (the original) Ben & Jerry, (the original) Aveda, (the original) Toms of Maine, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Anchor Steam, Amy’s Frozen Foods, Story of Stuff, etc.

What activities are you indirectly participating in?

On view October 15 - January 9, 2012 Location: Main Gallery, United Nations Visitors Lobby

Visit The Website

The groundbreaking 2007 “Design for the Other 90%” exhibition has been developed into an ongoing series that will continue to focus on design solutions that address the 90 percent of the world’s population not traditionally serviced by the professional design community.

“Design with the Other 90%: CITIES,” the second exhibition in the series, will examine the complex issues arising from the unprecedented rate of urban growth projected to take place over the next 20 years, primarily in the informal settlements of the global south. Organized by Cynthia Smith, curator of socially responsible design, along with a 10 person advisory committee, the exhibition will explore the multidisciplinary, overlapping relationships among urban planning and design, education, social entrepreneurship, climate change, sanitation and water, migration, public health and affordable housing in these communities. As part of “Design with the Other 90%: CITIES,” the museum will make the information it gathers in the field accessible through an online open-network database, which will enable designers, communities and other stakeholders to work together to develop design solutions to these challenges. This important dialogue will also continue through a scholarly catalog and robust education programs.

What is interesting to me, was the sponsorship for this project:

• Sponsored by: CitiBank
• Generous support: The Rockerfeller Foundation
• Additional funding: Procter & Gamble, Deutsche Bank…(and other research institutes).

This group makes strange bed fellows for a project like this. It’s good and important that they be involved; it tales both sides (1% and 99%) to work together for a solution that works for everyone. And, they had such a big hand in creating what we are dealing with today, I hope their contributions here amount to something significant.

The NYTimes seems to agree in their op-ed piece: Amazon’s Jungle Logic.

The article covered the predictable topics, but the comments were most interesting and ran the gamut.

There was the Statesmen’s Response from Raymond De Angelis in the Bronx:

Churchill once wrote that you could count on Americans to do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else. So not we will try a world without human interaction before we realize how precious it is. To the lady who browses books on the computer after the kids are in bed. I can empathize. But how about an alternative – introduce them to books, to the magic of a library or good bookstore with book on the shelves. My kids love the library and Bank Street Boookstore in New York; to them this is fun and something they look forward to. The New York public libraries recently installed automatic check out stations. Interestingly, most people still go to the librarians. People want an interaction. Amazon has a place, it should not BE the place. I use Amazon to read the reviews and then buy the product locally. After all, sauce is for the goose AND gander.

There was the Free-Market response from Govanni in Oakland, CA:

These are the risks of capitalism. Middle men are becoming less necessary, and unless they can compete they will not be in business…People who still use “c.c.” and have actually used carbon paper are not in the demographic.. Brick and mortar stores will not go away but what they sell and how they market it will change.. Amazon sells stuff cheaper and good service,and like Sears or Montgomery Wards used to do, delivers it right to your door. Get over it …eliminating the middle man except under special circumstances is a capital idea.

This article simply describes a new mechanism to perform what I’ve been doing for years: I carry my phone into bookstores, browse the books that look interesting, look them up on Amazon, find the predictably lower prices, and order. With Amazon Prime, I get them shipped to me for free and have them within 48 hours. Unless, of course, I Kindle the books right there on the spot. Brick and mortar shops cannot compete with this. Is this relationship between Amazon and brick and mortar shops parasitic? You bet. Do I care? No. Therein lies the deeper problem. The accumulation of these simple purchase decisions has a lasting, local consequence that I don’t account for in my myopic individual purchases. Unless there’s a way to present measurable impact to me along the way, there will be an unstoppable slide from my role as citizen (concerned with complex human and environmental values) to that of mere consumer (greedily seeking short-range optimizations without a view to the outside). The game needs to change. How do we implement consciousness raising in such a way as to seem natural to our deep-seated habits, yet become disruptive to them so that we keep what we naturally value in the horizon of our lives (and those of our children)?

Whether it’s Amazon, Walmart, or the local stores in your community. The discussion here is about stuff. The unrelenting need for Americans in particular to buy more stuff, to have more money to buy more stuff, and to collect more stuff than they know what to do with. While people may elevate books and music to some higher plane of stuff, I would bet that a year or two later most people won’t remember the books they read, other than some fleeting moment of pleasure. Each year hundreds of formalistic books, CDs are produced and sold that at best rise to mediocrity. How many of us have books on shelves that sit there year after year read or not read? In your pursuit of happiness, find another way that doesn’t involve stuff. Maybe watching George Carlin on Stuff will help: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=we…

Amazon has been in business for about 16 years. They offer the lowest price on everything, not just books. I do not believe their business model is sustainable. I believe Bezos knows his entire business is a con-job, so he is working feverishly to figure out angls that will actually make the company profitable. The “angles” mainly hinge on digital services, e-books being, ultimately, a small part of this plan.

Here’s the list of companies behind one of the lobbying groups pushing for SOPA.  As a Citizen-Shopper,what impact does purchasing from or owning stock in these companies have on your community, your ability to communicate or do business online? What part do we play here?

ABC
AFTRA – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
AFM – American Federation of Musicians
AAP – Association of American Publishers
ASCAP
BMG Chrysalis
BMI
CBS Corporation
Cengage Learning
DGA – Directors Guild of America
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
EMI Music Publishing
ESPN
Graphic Artists Guild
Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C.
Hyperion
IATSE – International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Kaufman Astoria Studios
Macmillan
Major League Baseball
Marvel Entertainment, LLC
McGraw-Hill Education
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
NFL – National Football League
National Music Publishers’ Association
NBCUniversal
News Corporation
New York Production Alliance
New York State AFL-CIO
Pearson Education
Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
The Perseus Books Group
Producers Guild of America East
Random House
Reed Elsevier
SAG – Screen Actors Guild
Scholastic, Inc.
Silvercup Studios
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Time Warner Inc.
United States Tennis Association
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Publishing Group
Viacom
Warner Music Group
W.W. Norton & Company
Wolters Kluwer

Recently I wrote a paper on the affects of debt on the public.

When debt becomes the way to gain access to basic goods it forces downwards the expectations and narrows the horizons of debtors (Gourevitch, 2011). Speaking from experience, student debt is a limiting factor on subsequent educational and professional choices; I am less likely to take risks on interesting classes, career choices with riskier or longer-term chances of having a payoff, or that are simply lower-paying. Companies behave similarly. Once public, they now have a responsibility to their shareholders and often develop “safer” product strategies that will more likely to be accepted by the press (who write about them, and in turn influence the market).

Being part of the .com ups and downs, I’ve always admired companies that are innovative, find a way to make life easier and continue to remain relevant. I’ve always been a fan of Jeff Bezos and Amazon from their early days. To me he represents a leader with a backbone, a CEO who is not playing “not to lose” but one capable of making tough decisions. Everyone knows things are different on the inside, but from the outside he appears to have retired products/services when he needed to, runs an analytical organization capable of remaining entrepreneurial, and in a market constantly finding new heights for the consumer–finds ways to continue to innovate. Most importantly, when introducing new services that didn’t quite fit what what the market expected, he told the analysts to back off.

An example of this was Jeff Bezos when introducing new services for Amazon. Like no other Internet or computer company Amazon applies efficiencies of online to assets like products and people.  But he wasn’t always supported by the market. Amazon warned the market that it would lose money as it spent heavily on key projects that may not generate quick returns. Bezos has an entrepreneurial mindset. “He settled on books initially because that’s where the biggest opportunity was” (ibtimes, 2011). In contrast, the Google founders do not like the way Wall Street works and they made that clear by running their IPO as a Dutch auction, depriving investment banks and big institutional investors their usual payday on such deals. “Wall Street has never quite forgiven them for that, Wall Street just doesn’t trust Larry and Sergey. They trust Bezos because he wants to make as much money as possible” (ibtimes, 2011).

So when I read this article I was saddened. Amazon is essentially paying customers up to $5 to go into a local store, scan an item, walk out, and buy the same item on the Amazon site.  Walmart has the decency to say “We Beat All Competitors Prices.” Their offer is:

“The great gift we can give our customers this holiday is great low prices on the things they want most, ” Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer of Walmart US, said in a statement. “Walmart is easing shopping stress this Christmas by allowing customers to shop when and how they want, all while guaranteeing low prices through the entire holiday season.”

Most places will match the price of an identical item found for a lower price in a printed ad.  But is reading the paper, clipping out a coupon, and educating the cashier on the latest price the same is physically walking into a store with a scanner and scanning the item in front of the shopkeeper?

What sort of citizenship and shopping behavior is being encouraged here?

Folks at MPI coded the list of Global 500 brands by location and charted them by country. The chart below shows the total brand value (in millions of dollars) of the top 25 nations.

I wonder if this is where our creativity, ingenuity, innovative thinking, and entrepreneurial efforts are being focused? In a marketplace era when brands and connection with brands matter more than ever, America has far and away the best portfolio. Though China may overtake the U.S. in economic output, it will be quite some time before its brands rival those of the U.S. That’s something that pundits who predict the U.S.’s imminent economic decline should keep in mind.

We can look at these sorts of charts and take comfort in the fact that we are still on top, somewhere….and, we should also shiver at the fact that we have illustrated “the how” on how to get to “#1″ (by prioritizing profit above all else), we should expect developing nations to follow the model.

How then should America model global citizenship? What is the citizen-shopper’s responsibility to this growth and development?  What would Coke, the most recognized brand in the world, look like if it were a B-Corporation?

Thanks to ground work by the U.S. Green Party, the wave of Occupy Wall Street empowerment and Human Rights Alert, today, Los Angeles became the first major U.S. city to vote against corporate personhood and call for a Constitutional Amendment asserting corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not  free speech. The vote was unanimous.

The action is in response to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that supposedly gave corporations same 1st Amendment protections as people and allows them to spend unlimited funds on campaign finance.

Mary Beth Fielder, Move To Amend - LA founder, who spearheaded bringing the resolution to the LA City Council said, “It’s a great day forLos Angeles and it’s a great day for theUnited States of America.”

“I hope this is the vote heard around the world and that it will inspire other who want to reclaim our democracy to begin organizing in their communities.  Together we can build the grassroots support we need to actually amend our constitution.”

Information about the amendment can be read at http://movetoamend.org/amendment

In the Breaking News article, “Corporations have no First Amend. Rights. Ruling invalid,” Deborah Dupré reported that Human Rights Alert challenged that corporations have First Amendment Rights, as ruled by the Supreme Court.  Furthermore, the rights group had proven the “corporate personhood” to be a bogus court ruling according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response that the human rights project received.

The ruling was a ‘decision holding that corporations and unions can spend unlimited amounts of money in election campaigns… a stunning example of judicial activism…” Dr. Zernik had said.

In Breaking News in May, Dupré reported that Dr. Zernik evidenced the Corporation Corporate Rights ruling “cannot possibly be a valid court record.”

Dr. Zernik listed the following four reasons for the impossibility:

1. It is a record dated January 21, 2010, whereas the online docket noted the issuance of a Judgment on February 22, 2010.
2. It is an unsigned record, which bears a stamp certifying that it is a “true copy” of an unsigned original record.
3. The stamp is signed, but not dated.  Moreover, the name and authority of the person who signed the stamp (Cynthia Rapp) were not printed below the signature line.  Therefore, the signature on the stamp, certifying “true copy” is of dubious validity as well.
4. It has no true and valid attestation/authentication by the Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States. Contrary to what was stated in the FOIA response letter [i], the record provided did not include true and valid attestation/authentication by the Clerk of the Supreme Court of theUnited States.”

Two days is a long time to talk about anything in America…that this has gone on for two months means it’s not going away–and that’s good. As part of the 99%, I share the frustrations of many who are tired of seeing our representatives bought by big dollars. I wish some bored engineer-design team would illustrate Congress a la Nascar to show what companies have bought which members.

The growing gap between the rich and the poor is more than troubling…it’s epidemic. Obama sums up the current situation in his latest speech:

For many years, credit cards and home equity loans papered over the harsh realities of this new economy.  But in 2008, the house of cards collapsed.  We all know the story by now:  Mortgages sold to people who couldn’t afford them, or sometimes even understand them.  Banks and investors allowed to keep packaging the risk and selling it off.  Huge bets – and huge bonuses – made with other people’s money on the line.  Regulators who were supposed to warn us about the dangers of all this, but looked the other way or didn’t have the authority to look at all.

It was wrong.  It combined the breathtaking greed of a few with irresponsibility across the system.  And it plunged our economy and the world into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover.  It claimed the jobs, homes, and the basic security of millions – innocent, hard-working Americans who had met their responsibilities, but were still left holding the bag.

Ever since, there has been a raging debate over the best way to restore growth and prosperity; balance and fairness.  Throughout the country, it has sparked protests and political movements – from the Tea Party to the people who have been occupying the streets of New York and other cities.  It’s left Washington in a near-constant state of gridlock.  And it’s been the topic of heated and sometimes colorful discussion among the men and women who are running for president

But this isn’t just another political debate.  This is the defining issue of our time.  This is a make or break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class.  At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement.

Similarly to how Cultivating Capital feels in their recent post in Big B v B Corporations, I too feel that some of the anger has been misdirected at business in general. I’ll extend that thought with: consumers have a citizenship responsibility here too. Simply put, in my opinion, if shopping is what keeps the pistons pumping, than how we shop should be a nationalistic activity. How we shop should matter as much as voting. Shopping is voting.  

From Cultivating Capital: Not All Businesses Are Created Equal

The truth is that not all businesses are created equal. Consider the following characteristics of Big Corporations:

• Legally required to focus first and foremost on maximizing profit
• Can operate largely without regard to how their business affects society and the environment
• Drive local, independent businesses out of business
• Take money out of the local economy and send it to shareholders and executives outside of the community

By contrast, consider the following characteristics of B Corporations:

• Legally required to make decisions that are good for society, not just shareholders
• Use the power of business to address social and environmental problems
• Often local, independent businesses that operate within and give back to their local community
• Help keep money in the local economy where it continues to circulate within the community

Their complete post is  here.

Cultivating Capital suggests the problem is not business in general, or even Big Corporations alone, but instead it is the way in which large corporations have prioritized profit above all else. I agree with this and would extend that notion to add that there is also some accountability on the consumer. Each transaction is a vote, in essence, that supports such prioritization. The citizen-shopper has an ever-increasingly important role in how the relationship between business and shopper evolve. Both B Corporations and more thoughtful spending are part of the solution.

Best Practices in Transparency and Accountability
As part of Open Chicago, we will highlight innovative transparency and accountability initiatives that other cities, counties, and states have undertaken.  We come across these initiatives as we review the practices of other governments, while doing research for investigations, audits, and program reviews.  By identifying what other governments are doing to enhance transparency and accountability, we can help ensure thatChicago’s efforts are being held to highest standards. View initiatives we have highlighted below.

If you have suggestions about initiatives we should highlight,  email them to openchicago@chicagoinspectorgeneral.org or submit them via our online suggestion box.

Transparency and Accountability Initiatives from around the Country

·         Kansas Department of Transportation’s T-Link Calculator

The Kansas Department of Transportation has developed an innovative budget calculator that letsKansasresidents and other interested users develop their own theoretical transportation program. The calculator provides a window for users on the competing concerns and goals that must be balanced when developing the budget of a large government agency.

·         New Mexico’s Sunshine Portal

The State ofNew Mexicohas designed a website to be the central portal for residents to view government spending and contracting information.

·         Manor, Texas’s Manor Labs

The city of Manor, Texashas created an innovation website that allows City residents to submit ideas for how to improve City government. The website allows users to vote on the best ideas and winning ideas receive “innobucks” that allow them to purchase items like being mayor for a day or a ride-along with the … [Read More...]