Capitalism With a Conscience! - Howard Schultz of Starbucks

[ThirdChoice]

Run time: 09:57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VAmYJfArI   Posted on YouTube: October 04, 2011 By YouTube Member: ThirdChoiceVideos Views on YouTube: 2   Posted on DU: October 04, 2011 By DU Member: ThirdChoice Views on DU: 1239

 
OOPS: Fast forward to the :30 second mark...

Okay I don't want this to be a commercial for Starbucks, but we need more businesspeople that have ethics and morals like this guy, and understand the need for businesses to give back to the community that made them so successful.

[tk2kewl]

1. i thought he was a union-buster, no?

:shrug:

[ThirdChoice]

3. Hey, at least he is trying.

I don't think of him as my enemy or my friend, and I have severe problems with some aspects of Starbucks, but I like this part of it.

[salib]

2. Trickle down morality

Nice to wait for a piece (crumb or trickle) of the action, huh?

[ThirdChoice]

4. I see it as a good sign

It is a step in the right direction, and some good can come out of this. Can we do better? Of course! But lets appreciate and validate the very rare good things like this, and encourage more people to act responsibly.

At the same time we should be promoting co-ops and other alternatives to the current form of capitalism while we graft the new system over it. It will take time.

[PETRUS]

5. Actually

We need a structure that doesn't force us to rely on the occasional (and frankly, distracting) do-gooder gestures of the 1%.

[tomg]

6. Huzzah. Huzzah. Thank God

for Noblesse Oblige. Look, this is a good thing, and, generally speaking, and relative to other corporations, Starbucks is less fucked than others. But, finally, they are the Democratic Party of Corporations - 'at least we are not as fucked up as all the others." Since they know their real buyers ( disclaimer - I am one) - they will have 5% of their coffee fair trade, they will recycle and yaddah yaddah." They are the (relatively speaking, good guys, seriously, but still relatively speaking.

It is kind of like Google - remember "do no harm." -
By and large they don't - unless you are a Chinese dissident.

They are like so many of us ( including me) - they mean well, but the money/ power/perks/influence are soooooo good.

[EC]

7. What is this going to be another

"you give us a donation and we'll put in half a cent to match" type thing? Or like Boston Store, they'll give you coupons for 20% off inflated prices? When they totally pony up their own money without us donating it for them, I'll believe they have a conscience.

Can't play video, I'm at work.

[JDPriestly]

8. I don't know much about Starbucks and, although I love the taste,

cannot drink coffee (makes me too nervous), but I really like this plan.

I worked for a Community Redevelopment Agency project that was kind of in line with this concept of investment in people and opening opportunities for ordinary people to start businesses.

Great idea.

I contrast this with the public/private partnerships that I don't like, which are really just government contracts that give taxpayer money to corporations so that the corporations can hire labor at depressed wages and then pass on huge bills to the government. I also contrast this with public/private partnerships in which private companies "buy" taxpayer-paid-for public assets at fire-sale prices and make huge profits from what tax money built.

This is great. As with Solyndra, some of the investments will fail. But those that succeed will encourage others and so the idea of starting your own business spreads in a community.

We have a market here in our lower middle class area in LA that is family-owned. They specialize in the kinds of high quality foods that you can buy from Whole Foods in the wealthier areas -- except the produce is locally grown (much tastier) and CHEAPER. Hurrah. Plus they invite local artists and caterers and others to come and have tastings and play their music.

Needless to say, their customer base is growing by leaps and bounds. I have developed a friendly relationship with the owner who occasionally lets me take home the garbage for my compost bin. He is all smiles these days because his business is growing. The community loves it.

I was just thinking this morning that I have to go to our drab, dreary, over-sized local, cheap offspring of a big chain Brand X supermarket because the item I want is not available at the smaller store. Ugghh! I was thinking.

So, very small businesses can be quite successful and add a lot to a community. Thank you to Starbucks for starting this idea. Micro-loans for businesses are just what we need now.

Now all Morning Joe has to do is become a Democrat and we will put more cuts from his show on DU. He seems to be moving in our direction.

So, thanks to Morning Joe for featuring this item. I'm especially happy to see that Starbucks is working with local nonprofits to implement their plan. That is much wiser than trying to mix for-profit and non-profit projects. The concepts are really quite different.

[johnnyrocket]

9. Meh, weak corporate pablum. Remember Corps aren't pure evil...

...they just get away with as much as possible. We need a complete change of the system. Money out of politics would be a good start.