I asked my friend Rinaldo Brutoco founder and president of World Business Academy to guest blog here on practical suggestions to reverse the trend we are seeing in our financial security. Rinaldo Brutoco is a leading international executive, writer and keynote speaker for over 25 years, widely recognized as a practical visionary, change agent and futurist who assists executives and organizations in adapting to change with breakthrough ideas. I believe his suggestions would be helpful for our next President as well.
The fundamental problem with Wall Street is not greed, but rather that it forgot the reason business exists.
The origination of business was likely started a individual who saw an opportunity to be of service by offering to bring the excess crops of one farmer to the other and to receive as payment a portion of what he conveyed. That is the fundamental role of business in society: to be of service to society. The World Business Academy has been publishing it's belief that the purpose of corporations is not to make a profit. The purpose of any business enterprise, and that would include business organizations that populate Wall Street, is to provide some service or material goods that society needs. Profit is there as a necessary component of the transaction, but when it is seen as the only reason, we inevitably lose our way as we have today. Gambling and speculation may be something that society can afford to tolerate, but not something society can afford to have as its central economic model.
Success in life as well as success in business lies in the conscious participation of the expression of abundance and creativity, not merely for one's own sake, but for others in society. This model of reward primarily through service rather than money is rooted in the truth that there is enough for everyone and that no one is better than, nor lower than anyone else.
The question is how we live this definition of success while watching our material world implode. If the answer lies in investment in green technologies, education and infrastructure, then the next question is: How will you pay for all this when so much money has already been committed to rescuing the financial institutions and credit markets? In fact, by intelligently leaving Iraq and reducing the military budget, along with judicious investment in wisdom-based economies, investment in education, universal healthcare, and our infrastructure, the American economy can actually create more money than these investments will cost us in initial outlay.
Re-creating our economy along the lines of this definition of success will generate a level of wealth in the US that will be a hundred times greater than the explosion of wealth that the US has experienced since the end of World War II.
It is ironic that greater material wealth will be created by adopting a non-greed definition of success but that is exactly what happens as a direct result of our collective decision to put important matters of humanity and the planet first. How does this happen? It happens as a direct result of making better choices so that we see our economic activity as being in service to each of us and to society as a whole. When we make better choices, business will begin to serve those choices as the most efficient way to thrive. Business in service to society.
For years I have stated publicly that I have never heard of, read about, or personally experienced any problem that human society faces for which we don't already have all the resources and technology at our disposal to resolve. All that is lacking is our individual and collective will to resolve the challenge. This applies to overpopulation, global climate change, poverty, disease, and war. All that is lacking is our will to bring about this different paradigm of abundance and mutual success. And that begins with each of us accepting a new personal definition of success from which to experience all the difficulties we confront.
The time to do this is now.
The current bailout, is a band-aid. It is very important that we adopt it or something like it or society will bleed to death before we can make the fundamental changes to our society that will actually heal the broken economic system that we have. The pending bailout only buys us time. As soon as it becomes law we must put ourselves immediately to the task of re-building our entire economic system from one that was characterized as "trickle down" to one that I would characterize as "trickle up." In a "trickle up" system we take care of ourselves and our neighbors by putting affordable housing, education, healthcare, meaningful employment, peace as a core commitment, and true success as our goals.
The speed at which the economic system is unraveling is mind numbing. This much speculation has to be brought under control carefully. We need to let the air out of the balloon slowly rather than have it pop. Adopting the bailout bill by itself will solve none of the fundamental, underlying, structural flaws in our economy. It will, however, buy us the time to address those flaws from a new level of consciousness and social policy. That is the short and long-term solution.
Rinaldo will be joining Deepak live on Sirius Radio tomorrow (October 4th) to discuss the economy.
Visit www.intent.com to read more from Deepak Chopra and other prominent voices.
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Dear Mr. Chopra;
I appreciate you posting this blog from Rinildo. It is very interesting to read. I am one who is not an expert in "business." Basically, I took two courses in accounting and one in Macroeconomics, and I ran the other way screaming. I saw a world that was built on the "trickle down" philosophy where those at the top were mutli-millionaires while those who actually DID the work made barely enough to support their family.
As I read about the $700 billion going to corporations to bail them out, I have had really mixed feelings. I've wondered if giving them this money would simply be rewarding them for their greed. Would it be doing them and the American people a service or telling executives that it's ok if they give themselves huge bonuses if they fail. When the American people faced the beginning of the mortgage crisis, it appears that the US government lacked both the foresight and ethical principles to offer any real help. I apologize to state that $600-$1200 a household really is not help.
It could be argued that the people who borrowed did so unwisely. It still can be contended that those who did so didn't realize that their jobs would either disappear or be sent overseas. It became almost commonplace to hear about thousands of jobs being cut or sent outside the US, but having an executive take a cut in pay before cutting jobs was unheard of. In fact, many still managed to give themselves hefty raises.
While they have said that there are safeguards in place in the new bailout package, I can't help but still feel doubtful that it would really do much to help the everyday American or to prevent executives from making obscene salaries while their corporations go belly up.
I agree that there has to be a change from a greed oriented society to one of service. Corporate Darwinism really must give way to a more compassionate, open and transparent system. While this bill might be a band-aid, I still wonder if throwing billionaires more money would be a solution.
The economy has not disappeared due to one problem, but several problems. The main problem is the same problem that will revive the economy.
USA jobs, mainly in the manufacturing sector. I won't waste breathe or your time with too many details of this solution that MUST be instituted int he private sector now. There are so many "experts" out there who come up with bad ideas.
This plan I worked out was done so to replace the fuel taxes that Mealer American Motors Corporation automobiles would eventually do away with. *MealerAMC autos also act as home power sources...
So the gov't would lose hundreds of billions in fuel tax revenue.
If you can grasp the reason why I researched this plan, you can read on, if not.. Start over and read slowly.
All communities nationwide would gain immediate revenue from these training programs and local community colleges would benefit as well.
The Mealer (aka McCain) 3R Economci Energy Plan entails utilizing the millions of vacant buildings (like old Walmart and stores that were put out of business by Walmart) as hands on training in USA MFG. America has thousands of '3R teachers' looking for jobs and many of them from old union killed businesses that are now in China and Mexico.
Huge tax write offs for building owners do differ payments or donate buildings or years of lease amounts, plus fair write offs for equipment that is purchased and deferred. (I have spoken with several USA tooling companies and they are thrilled to work this way!)
Paid Schooling is a great moral booster and means even more American jobs. Paid? Sure.. the students are paid to learn as per federal and state higher education/school programs, PLUS they earn a percentage of the products that are sold. Once again, I checked.. Even evil Walmart will stock these goods and if some slave labor communist or child can build the Chinese junk we buy today.. A skilled (and learning) adult American can do better.
Another huge revenue source is packaging these small private businesses as commodities (checked... it's legal) and selling them to the thousands of "Speculators".. You know, like the crude oil specualtors who helped destroy the economy we are now saving? Packaged in groups makes these businesses much less likely to fail, and I am certain teams or memberships will be formed to help one another when certain manufacturing is slow in demand.
These small businesses DO NOT NEED TO COMPETE with the Walmart made In China craze that really killed the economy. They do not need to make billions of widgets... only thousands. There is no monopoly in the deal, just a great job. This of course is after the trainees are out of the schooling stages and several of them past the advanced business schooling 'quick classes' (they can learn as they grow the companies)... These people with the proformas would find the huge new class of investors looking for huge profits, take their packaged team of loosley collected USA MFG companies as one LLC or Corporation and put a lot of people to work.
For every USA MFG position, a new economy around that person would be created in food services, clothing, etc... including housing and local government. THIS IS HUGE.
Go ahead, find the problems... I know I already have the answers and they are well researched and legal answers. There is no tother way to save the economy. NONE, NOT A SINGLE VIABLE PLAN...
If you can find it, I will buy it!
Just like Mealer Companies products and our non-fossil fuel, non-EV automobiles, this economy saving plan is IT. No.. We make nothing from this plan, I refuse to.
HOWEVER, I want to sell every American one of my cars and take them off the grid...
Give me the current economy, and I will return to you prosperity.
We better do this before I come with even more of these types of quotes!
John Lewis Mealer
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