It's seven days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
Usually during the week-long build-up to the anniversary of my husband's death, I stay away from television and newspapers. Too depressing. Too much of a reminder. Just too much in my face.
So with trepidation, I picked up my morning newspaper and started rifling through it.
Same old, same old. Economy in a deathspin. Obama a disappointment. Middle East in precarious transition. Wounded veterans being neglected. Education wallowing. Environment a mess.
And then I came across the full-page advertisement of Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company on page A15 of the NYTimes. And I read it.
Now, I don't know if Starbucks is perfect. If Howard Schultz is perfect. Or if the group upwardspiral2011.org is perfect. But I do know one thing: Schultz' idea is perfect.
Like many of us, Schultz is frustrated and fed up. He is done with partisan politics and useless leaders. He loves our country, still believes in the American Dream, and knows that we are better than this. And he is right.
What sets Schultz apart from the rest of us is two-fold: first, he runs Starbucks a multinational company that is responsible for employing many Americans in every state across the country. In other words, he knows what he is talking about when he talks about jobs and our faltered economy.
Secondly and perhaps most importantly given the current personalities appallingly exhibited by almost all of those in Washington today, Howard Schultz follows up his sensible, well-informed, and reality-based talk with genuine concrete, concerted action. How absolutely rare, refreshing, and revolutionary. And to think, this comes from a CEO?!? Aren't they the bad guys who got us into this mess to start with?
Schultz is not asking us to buy his coffee. Nor is he asking us to donate money to any cause. He merely asks us to pick up our telephones on Tuesday night to become a part of a new movement -- an upward spiral. A call to arms that starts with all of us who feel like we've been left behind, don't matter, can't make a difference, and/or can't have our voices heard.
Prior to the call, he asks everyone to visit www.upwardspiral2011.org to take a pledge with two principles: first, to withhold all political contributions to all elected officials until a "transparent, comprehensive, bipartisan dept and deficit package is reached that honestly and fairly sets America on a path to long-term financial health and security."
And second, "to do all we can to break the cycle of economic uncertainty that grips our country by committing to accelerate investment in jobs and hiring."
Sounds pretty simple and straight-forward to me. More than anything, it's a start and I'm grateful to Schultz for picking up the baton.
And as someone who's tried in the past to make a difference in Washington, I can say first-hand that the best, quickest, most potent way to get Washington to listen is to cut off their money and get 'em where it hurts.
I know I will be on the call on Tuesday, how about you?
(I haven't regularly drank Starbucks coffee in years and I've regrettably never met Howard Schultz. My agenda is simple: I have a 12-year-old daughter who has already grown up without a father, I'd like to ensure that she can still have an American Dream.)
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Is it all the low-paying jobs he's created?
But I do applaud a call for average citizens to get involved in their country's management. As long as Congress and the President don't see people out on the streets expressing their views, they're going to continue to take the political path of least resistance, which is what got us here in the first place.
It also ignores the fact of corporate money being funneled into PAC's and Super PACs. And who are the greatest recipients of those money machines? Republicans.
Sorry, I am NOT buying what this man is attempting to sell.
This seems like a complete and utter manipulative game by Schultz.
Is this just another cynical strategy to keep Democrats from donating to candidates like Elizabeth Warren who won't see a drop of corporate money, yet is one of the best people we could have in Congress. I suggest that people follow their best judgment and conscience on this and ask Mr.Schultz to do the same.
Where is his call to ask CORPORATIONS to stop donating to Pacs and Super Pacs? The Republicans are the great beneficiaries of those groups. The Dems get a great deal of funding from individual donors which this man is calling on to stop their donating.
Tell corporations to stop funding PACs and maybe I'll believe he is sincere.
Unemployment is the result of recession, not the cause. Fixing unemployment will do nothing but help the 4% that get jobs when we reduce current 9% to 5%, full-employment according to Fed. That will stimulate economy by maybe 2% since those won't be exec positions, doctors or lawyers we are adding. They will be low-paying jobs. Ending unemployment will not end recession.
Spending stimulus to give people pay is a waste. Less than half ends up as wages, rest is corporate profit and overhead. If you want to stimulate demand just give people the money, saves half. Extend unemployment benefits indefinitely. The purpose of jobs is to do something. The lack of jobs indicates a lack of things that need to be done, or people would be paid to do them.
When the global economy crashed in 2008, Germany mandated companies cut workers hours rather than lay people off. They compensated companies with funds they would have spent on unemployment payments. No one was laid off, economy recovered faster.
We in US work 20% more hours than in Europe, have lower standard of living. They have lower unemployment. The solution is shorter work weeks, 6-week vacations, full health care, all the stuff they have in Europe. Create jobs by reducing each workers output. Good for workers, bad for corporate profits, why it's not suggested as solution except by me.
Now we have this CEO telling us we should withhold contributions, and it could be his heart is in the right place. Certainly if all political contributions stopped, every candidate would take notice. But what if we regular people stopped sending in our tiny contributions, while the Koch brothers continued to buy the Scott Walkers of the world? Sounds like a tea party dream to me.
The people who support and vote for the kind of politicians who are part of the problem are not the people who will be getting onboard with this.
Your asking the good guys to go to a gun fight with only a knife and then throw the knife away.
that signed NAFTA into law. That screwed the American workers and you all know it. You all did well with all the laws into place and probably paid very little in taxes.
"Capitalist Industrialists" and the "People" BOTH, built our nation... together...into the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world, with the strongest middle class in the world. Neither one of them could have done it WITHOUT the others help.
A WAGON without WHEELS goes nowhere.
I think the main thing wrong with our country, is "DIVISION" Period.
UNITED we stand, DIVIDED we fall.
Back in the "good ole' days" as an industrialized nation after WWII, when our country's economy was growing, "people" were working hard, and had "job security" from their "employers" as a reward for their dedicated labor that had helped make the COMPANY be successful and profitable.
How many "employees" a company had, USED to be a sign of how successful the company was. "Putting People to work" USED to be a thing of pride for employers in America after WWII.
Now the ONLY goal of Corporations is to find ways to operate with as FEW employees as possible, and AVOIDING rewarding the employees they do have, as much as possible, to maximize the COMPANY'S PROFITS "only"
"ONLY" being the operative word.
"Profit" became the ONLY consideration, and "employees" became NOTHING MORE then DISPOSABLE TOOLS to be used and discarded,
American Employers just moved to ANOTHER COUNTRY and "TRADED" in "American" employees for CHEAP FOREIGN slave wage workers.
They weighed the Patriotism of America's success "United as one Nation" AGAINST "their" profit and they chose "their" PROFIT. ONLY.
Patriotism, SCHMATRIOTISM.
Divided we fall.
The main problem we have in our country is DIVISION.
United we stand, divided we fall.
Out of Many, ONE.
ONE Nation, under God with Liberty and Justice for ALL.
Divide and CONQUER.
Those words have meaning. They aren't just bumper sticker platitudes. They are Truth.
i know this must be a tough time for you, but please speak up again at this 10 year mark. More & more people are awakening to 9-11 truth. It's just a matter of time. Please help the mainly Liberal Huff post readers wake from their main stream media induced slumber.