Sunday Poll: Who Should Be On Future $20 Bills?

The group Women on 20s is seeking to get the US Treasury to replace Andrew Jackson with a female by 2020 — the 100th anniversary of their right to vote:

The group’s original list of 100 names was winnowed down to 60 through informal discussion, then to 30 via a two-part survey and to 15 by a group of outsiders that included women’s history experts. The public was then able to choose their three favorites from the list of 15 candidates, which also included feminist Betty Friedan, birth control activist Margaret Sanger, women’s suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony and conservationist Rachel Carson. (Washington Post)

The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote. So it seems fitting to commemorate that milestone by voting to elevate women to a place that is today reserved exclusively for the men who shaped American history. That place is on our paper money. And that new portrait can become a symbol of greater changes to come.

Let’s make the names of female “disrupters” — the ones who led the way and dared to think differently — as well-known as their male counterparts. In the process, maybe it will get a little easier to see the way to full political, social and economic equality for women. And hopefully it won’t take another century to realize the motto inscribed on our money: E pluribus unum, or “Out of many, one.” (WomenOn20s.org)

Their list is now down to four candidates:

• Wilma Mankiller — 1st female Native American Tribe chief
• Eleanor Roosevelt — former first lady
• Rosa Parks — civil rights activist
• Harriet Tubman — abolitionist, underground railroad

The poll today asks who should be on future $20 bills. I’ve included the current face, Andrew Jackson, for those who don’t want to see the $20 change. Please vote in the poll in the right sidebar but also vote for one of the four finalists at WomenOn20s.org.

— Steve Patterson

Benefit Corporations Make A Difference and a Profit

Business is all about making money, right? Except when money isn’t the only bottom line. This will confuse some of you: not all corporations seek to maximize profits for shareholders! It’s true, Directors must make sound judgment so shareholder value isn’t negatively impacted but there’s no legal obligation to maximize short-term profits — but other goals aren’t considered. Some for-profit corporations, however, have goals beyond profit and shareholder value.

First we need to review some terms:

Triple Bottom Line:

The phrase “the triple bottom line” was first coined in 1994 by John Elkington, the founder of a British consultancy called SustainAbility. His argument was that companies should be preparing three different (and quite separate) bottom lines. One is the traditional measure of corporate profit—the “bottom line” of the profit and loss account. The second is the bottom line of a company’s “people account”—a measure in some shape or form of how socially responsible an organisation has been throughout its operations. The third is the bottom line of the company’s “planet” account—a measure of how environmentally responsible it has been. The triple bottom line (TBL) thus consists of three Ps: profit, people and planet. It aims to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of the corporation over a period of time. Only a company that produces a TBL is taking account of the full cost involved in doing business. (The Economist)

Benefit Corporation:

Incorporating as a benefit corporation legally protects an entrepreneur’s social goals by mandating considerations other than just profit. By giving directors the secured legal protection necessary to consider the interest of all stakeholders, rather than just the shareholders who elected them, benefit corporations can help meet the needs of those interested in having their business help solve social and environmental challenges.

Additionally, the demand for corporate accountability is at an all-time high, with many consumers already aligning their purchases with their values. The benefit corporation status is a great way to differentiate your company from the competition and capitalize on these customers. (Forbes)

Certified B Corporation: 

B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to milk.
B Corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

Today, there is a growing community of more than 1,000 Certified B Corps from 33 countries and over 60 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business. (B Lab)

 

B Lab, a nonprofit organization, certifies B Corporations, the same way TransFair certifies Fair Trade coffee or USGBC certifies LEED buildings. However, all B Corps meet a wide range of comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards.

There are over 1,200 Certified B Corporations in 38 countries across 121 different industries. (MaRS Centre for Impact Investing)

This B Corp video explains:

http://youtu.be/V-VFZUFJwt4

Impact Investing:

And around the world, there are stories of how impact investments are meeting needs in areas as diverse as childhood education, clean technology, and financial services for the poor.

Last year, New York State, Social Finance and Bank of America Merrill Lynch teamed up to launch a “social impact bond” designed to cut New York City’s seemingly insoluble recidivism problem. The $13.5 million raised will extend the proven approach of the Center for Employment Opportunities. If the Center meets targets for reducing recidivism rates, investors stand to earn up to a 12.5% return.

Or take d.light – a company that manufactures and distributes solar lighting and power products to those without access to reliable electricity, transforming lives in the developing world.  Over eight years, d.light has reached more than 30 million people worldwide.

Recently, J.P. Morgan and the Global Impact Investing Network studied 125 major fund managers, foundations, and development finance institutions and found $46 billion in sustainable investments under management.  That’s up nearly 20% from last year.

Some estimate that the impact investment market could grow to $3 trillion. And as the more socially conscious millennial generation of entrepreneurs build impact-driven businesses, you can be sure the supply of impact investment opportunities will vastly expand. (Forbes)

All sound too abstract for you? Here are some examples you might be familiar with:

• Ben and Jerry’s — “Ben and Jerry’s produces a wide variety of super-premium ice cream and ice cream novelties.”
• Cabot Creamery Cooperative — “Cabot Creamery is a 1,200 farm family dairy cooperative with members in New England and upstate New York”
• Change.org — “Platform that empowers anyone, anywhere to start, join and win campaigns for social change”
• Etsy — “We are bringing heart to commerce and making the world more fair, more sustainable, and more fun.”
• King Arthur Flour Company — “America’s oldest flour company and 100% employee-owned”
• New Belgium Brewing Co, Inc. — “100% Employee owned brewer of fine Belgian inspired ales”
• Patagonia, Inc. — “Outdoor clothing, apparel and gear for climbing, hiking, surfing, running, travel”

780 of the 1,179 B Corps are located in the US — at least one in each state! Here are some examples, including both from Missouri:

• AE Works; Pittsburgh, PA — “AE creates social, environmental, and technical capital as a TBL design firm for the built environment”
• The Arnold Development Group; Kansas City, MO — “Mixed use real estate development and real estate services”
• Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods; Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada — “Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods is the world’s largest vertically integrated hemp foods manufacturer”
• Microgrid Energy, LLC; St. Louis, MO — “Microgrid Solar is a clean energy company committed to operating on a triple bottom line basis.”
• The Natural Baby Company; Bozeman, MT — “The Natural Baby Company builds and sells earth-friendly baby brands including GroVia and Ovolo.”
• Renewal Funds; Vancouver British Columbia Canada — “Social venture fund investing in environmental and social mission businesses in Canada and the USA
• Telesis Corporation; Washington, D.C. — “Planning, financing and building urban communities that are livable, beautiful, and safe”
• Union Kitchen; Washington, D.C. —  “Food incubator catalyzing small business growth by lowering barriers to entry for food businesses.”
• WasteZero, Inc.; Raleigh, NC — “WasteZero works with municipalities to deliver the most effective waste reduction programs in the US.”

You can search certified B Corps here. I can think of a number of St. Louis companies that could likely become certified.

There are now more than a thousand B corps in the U.S., including Patagonia, Etsy, and Seventh Generation. And in the past four years twenty-seven states have passed laws allowing companies to incorporate themselves as “benefit corporations”—which are similar to B corps but not identical. The commitments that these companies are making aren’t just rhetorical. Whereas a regular business can abandon altruistic policies when times get tough, a benefit corporation can’t. Shareholders can sue its directors for not carrying out the company’s social mission, just as they can sue directors of traditional companies for violating their fiduciary duty. (The New Yorker)

Missouri doesn’t yet have a Benefit Corporation provision, existing corporations can still become certified. Three neighboring states, Arkansas, Illinois, & Nebraska have Benefit Corporation legislation; four neighboring states have introduced legislation: Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, & Tennessee. Kansas, like Missouri, doesn’t have benefit corporation legislation or pending bills. For more information on states click here.

If you’re committed to social/environmental change, but also want to make a profit, consider working for, or starting, a benefit corporation.The fact so many people around the world are working for more than to line their own pockets is comforting.

— Steve Patterson

Second Downtown Dog Park: Serra’s ‘Twain’

Between the Arch grounds and the Gateway Mall downtown has an excess of public park land — land unlikely to ever see new buildings again. Still, some want to make more park lmd nearby — a dog park where the Cupples 7 warehouse once stood. See Temporary Dog Park On Former Cupples 7 Site Would Be Too Costly.

Meanwhile most blocks of the Gateway Mall go unloved. For a few years now I’ve been trying to build support for updating the block West of Citygarden — the block containing Richard Serra’s ‘Twain’.

Why turn a developable site into a dog & sculpture park when you can just fence in an existing sculpture? It’s already parkland, it needs more activity, it has a great location next to Citygarden. As a dog park a fence would be installed just inside new perimeter sidewalks, with at least two vestibule entry/exit points. Access would be limited to dog park members.

I still want to see a public restroom on one corner at 10th so the porta-potties at Citygarden can be retired. The restroom structure could be accessed from outside the dog park, with water for dogs on the inside.

— Steve Patterson

St. Louis’ Earnings Tax

In order to pay for collective services governments must tax citizens to get the money. Of course, we don’t all directly use all the services. For example, I don’t have kids yet I’ve helped fund schools. I don’t directly use this service, but I value what it does for the community I live in. So we all live here and we pool our money to buy shared services. If we were to take away a big chunk of that pooled money, by eliminating the 1% earnings tax, then we’d need to reduce services or tax ourselves some other way — or a combination of both.

The wealthiest among us seek to do locally what they’ve done nationally — reduce their tax burden. This shifts the burden to the rest of us — the lower we are on the economic scale the more we get squeezed.

Say you’re a partner in a downtown law firm who lives in West St. Louis County, with a base salary of $250,000/yr — this means you pay $2,500 to the City of St. Louis. But, if the earnings tax was replaced by higher sales and/or property taxes you’d still save money every year. You’d threaten to move the firm to Clayton unless it received huge concessions — offsetting the increased property taxes. Business lunches would cost a bit more with higher sales taxes but you could always scale back tips — besides that’s all deductible businesses expenses. Personal purchases are made in the county or online.  This individual now saves lots of money but begins to complain about potholes on the way into his office, smug in his decision to live outside the city.

I’m all for evaluating our revenue and expenses — doing so it wise — but we must be realistic about new revenues replacing old ones. Look at Kansas as an example:

In short, it’s easy to determine that by far the biggest single contributing factor to Kansas’ fiscal problems today are the income tax cuts — not bogeyman excuses cooked up by Brownback or any of his boosters. (No kidding: Facts show Brownback’s tax cuts caused Kansas’ revenue plunge)

Fantasy: cut the tax rate expecting the economy to boom as a result so total revenue would remain the same. Reality: cut tax rates make the wealthy even richer, economy stalls because less money is being circulated. Services are cut, further dampening the economy. Education & infrastructure funding are cut, making the state less and less attractive except to anti-tax types.

The results from the Sunday Poll:

Q: St. Louis’ 1% earnings tax… (PICK UP TO TWO)

1. revenue is too critical to eliminate 18 [34.62%]
2. should be left unchanged 11 [21.15%]
3. should be matched by an earnings tax in surrounding counties 8 [15.38%]
4. should be replaced by another tax 7 [13.46%]
5. should be reduced incrementally over the next 10-25 years 4 [7.69%]
6. should be eliminated at once 3 [5.77%]
7. should be increased 1 [1.92%]
8. should be reduced, but not eliminated 0 [0%]
9. unsure/no opinion 0 [0%]

Of course, one municipality in a highly-balkanized region is different than a state.  Still, the idea of slashing taxes to create a wave a new revenue from newfound influx of people and jobs is unfounded — especially with obligatory cuts in services.

Instead of eliminating St. Louis’ earnings tax we need to add an earnings tax to other counties in the region — though perhaps not 1%.  This would even up the playing field — reducing moves from one political jurisdiction to another. Use the revenue to make the entire region attractive to outsiders so we get real growth.

— Steve Patterson

IKEA Will Be Posting Jobs Soon

It has been a little over four months since IKEA officially announced they were opening a location in the St. Louis region — specifically in the City of St. Louis. The big blue & yellow box is now fully formed.

The St. Louis IKEA is supposed to open this Fall. In August we’re planning one last visit to the IKEA in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook on our drive back from a weekend in Chicago. When the store opens here we’re planning to get a new king-sized mattress & platform bed.

If you’ve never shopped at an IKEA before I recommend at least four hours to see it in full. Since I first walked into an IKEA in August 1990 I’ve wondered what it would be like to live close to a store. The visits to the seven locations I’ve been to involved either filling my vehicle or getting just a little something to fir in my carryon bag. For the first time I’ll be able to take public transit to an IKEA, maybe just for lunch and to browse their creative displays.

IKEA St. Louis is already hiring some managerial positions, they’ll be hiring for additional positions soon. If you’re interested, you can sign up to be notified.

Is it just me or have existing furniture stores increased their TV advertising?

— Steve Patterson