If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Equally, if not more, disturbing, is that other than the investigation of this handful of groups, the IRS hasn't actually taken the steps needed to ensure that sham non-profits are not abusing the tax code to flood our elections with secret money.
There is little doubt that the IRS' approach to determining whether to grant tax-exempt status should be politically even-handed, without regard to partisan affiliation. But this kerfuffle is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
We are passing our bad habits down to our kids. They see us spend but not save, pay bills or give to charity. You have to get your child involved in all of it. The only way to get money is to earn it. Make sure your handling of money is visible and simple for them to understand.
The bottom line is, people are not willing to be cuckold again, and so they are very, very reluctant to trust, particularly those same companies that hurt them. One can hardly blame them (us). So here's my prescription for restoring a healthy relationship between businesses and the public.
What has happened in Bangladesh could happen in many other countries that enable powerful politicians and their business cronies to act all too often as if they are above the law.
In American politics, the rigorous subjecting of political statements to fact-checking is a relatively recent phenomenon. Promoting accountability is never an easy task, particularly in countries just emerging from authoritarianism.
D.C. Council corruption -- legal and illegal -- is endemic. Rare candidates like Elissa Silverman are the antidote. A win by her will show other candidates, black and white, that they can win without the influence of landed wealth and conflicts of interest,
The repatriation of $28.8 million of Ben Ali's stolen assets is a victory for the people of Tunisia. Now, let's try to keep it there.
"Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing," Obama declared when he first took office in 2009. "My administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use." By almost any measure, that has not happened.
Health care is the only product or service we purchase without any idea of the price. Often, you don't even know your portion of the price. But would knowing prices up front make any difference in our behavior?
This year, in an unprecedented shift away from transparency, the General Government budget legislation allots two bulk sums of money, totaling nearly $240 million, to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. I believe this is bad governance.
Successful relationships are characterized by, among other things, emotional transparency and sexual pleasure. Fifty Shades of Gray provides one example from an infinite number of possibilities of what that can look like.
Having returned from speaking at a conference hosted by the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on the issue of constituency feedback, I have re-learnt that important lesson: citizens always know better than the government or the market what works for them.
The Obama administration has turned "transparency" from a buzzword to a fuzzword. The latest examples come from the Environmental Protection Agency.
I don't think I've ever seen such a gathering in China before. Nearly one hundred people met in Beijing recently to discuss their efforts to promote environmental transparency and public disclosure of pollution data.
While crowdsourcing pulls in ideas and content from outside the organization, crowdscaling grows and scales its impact outward by empowering the success of others.
About Transparency
This page in partnership with the fabulous folks at the Sunlight Foundation. Learn more and join the fight for a more transparent, accountable government at Sunlight's web site.
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