“I went to Starbucks recently for a cup of coffee,” writes Adam Stover, “and noticed a small sign and some "Create Jobs for USA" wristbands for sale. If you want to, you can donate $5, get a wristband, and support the Opportunity Finance Network, which is a nonprofit, private community-development financial institution. The $5 donation will help poor entrepreneurs start or maintain a business in typically underserved areas with the idea that this will help create or sustain small-business jobs. This sounds quite noble but mischaracterizes what jobs are and where they originate.
He continues: “Furthermore, Opportunity Finance Network’s website invests in businesses that are "profitable, but not profit maximizing. They put the community first, not the shareholder." Implicit in this statement is that turning a profit hurts someone, which is patently false. This is exactly what we as a society do not want.”
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Could you explain how that is “implicit in this statement”? It doesn’t seem implicit in the statement at all. Clearly if these businesses are “profitable”, as the sign says, Starbucks isn’t under the impression that profit hurts people. It’s just a trendy way of saying “this money goes to firms with social goals”. That sounds reasonable to me. I don’t see anyone claiming profits hurt people.
My wife and I saw those bracelets too… I didn’t go to the trouble of reading the sign, so I asked her “do you think ‘Create Jobs for the USA’ means ‘this money goes towards opening another Starbucks shop’.”
Three points:
1 – The shareholders *ARE* the community. This is what leftists continually fail to comprehend.
2 – A “create jobs campaign” will work quite well for the company selling the wristbands. I’m sure that company will create a couple of jobs if the campaign proves successful.
3 – Isn’t it bizarre how begging has become a major income stream for whole sectors of the economy now? When society decides that profit-seeking is evil, only beggars are virtuous. Rand was quite prophetic.
I wouldn’t invest in a company that was half-assed in profits, but focused heavily on socialist programs. I’m tired of and alarmed at the demonizing of the word profit, as if it is some version of slavery or oppression…it is time for people to understand that without profits we would NOT be enjoying the technology, health and overall well-being we enjoy in this country. It seems the entitlement era is bent on dragging everyone down to the lowest common denominator. Be careful what you wish for.
We need to divide the population by thirds.
First third digs holes all day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, tens hours a day. Including paid 2 hour lunch break.
The second fills holes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Same thing hours.
Then the third group makes shovels for the first two.
To ensure worker safety all used shovels shall be burned on Sunday.
Everybody gets 2 months worth of vacations.
Then all the government has to do is lower the workweek from 40 hours to 30.
Then we will get 100% employment and a perfectly functioning economy!!!
Who ever said running the world is difficult? It’s easy!
Which coffee shops take donations that go towards creating LESS jobs?
I don’t want to work more, I want my work to be worth more. I’ve never understood people wanting more jobs for themselves or society. I can always get a “job” – cleaning windows, delivering pizzas, selling handcrafted trinkets – but these pay too little right now.
The demand for “more” jobs is misplaced, and should be a demand for less inflation, more private research, less bailouts, and, in essence, less “jobs” (in terms of man-hours demanded).
iawai,
So really, what you’re saying is we need a stronger dollar. A currency with more buying power essentially accomplishes the task of making a job “worth more”.
I believe there’s a theory that states there is a job for everyone who wants to work but minimum wages, regulations, and other assorted gov. imposed responsibilities create a risk premium on whom employers hire…thus, a job shortage.
So in essence you’re right…we really don’t need more job creation. We need to free the market and allow those invisible jobs (jobs that are needed but not available due to a risk premium) to become visible.
Sound money, freed market…problem solved.
Forget jobs, really, with so many locations all over the place, can’t we just get a decent ristretto at Starbucks instead?
This whole scheme is silly. Instead of donating a tiny $5 to some poor entrepreneur who will turn around and pay it to some state or local agency, how about really helping them. Eliminate the Triple Towers of Entrepreneurial Dream Destruction in order of their destructiveness: 1. Minimum Wage, 2. Occupational Licensing, 3. Local Zoning. And if you are among the really poor then change 3 to 3. War on Drugs, 4. Welfare and 5. Local Zoning. And by far Minimum Wage and Occupational Licensing are the two biggest entrepreneurial dream killers.
It is beyond the scope of man to compute the lost opportunity because of these regulations. There is simply no way to know what would have happened absent these regulations.
And then instead of giving that $5 to not so poor entrepreneurs, how about eliminating their Two Towers of Entrepreneurial Destruction: Inheritance and Capital Gains Taxes. These taxes more than anything keep the poor entrepreneur from making it into the middle and worst of all, keep the middle from entering the top.
An awesome scam. I need to get one going myself. How about a wristband for justice? Or for equality between the species? The possibilities are unlimited! This really is the United States of Awesome Possibilities.
“Furthermore, Opportunity Finance Network’s website invests in businesses that are “profitable, but not profit maximizing. They put the community first, not the shareholder.”
In other words, the customer is in second place, while some vague group considered “the community” is more important. But if you’re not trying to maximize your profits, then you’re not maximizing your service to the customers or the community.
“They put the community first, not the shareholder.” Wonderful all ye anti-capitalists, especially the Ivory Tower Baby Boomers with shareholdings in 401(k)/403s and moneymarket accounts. Negative equity returns and <1% money market returns… Government intervention? Howz that workin' for ya?
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