I think that there ARE companies like this, like the guy whose polarfleece plant burned down in Massachusetts, and he kept paying his workers salaries until the plant could reopen. You can bet those people did everything they could to help him get that plant up and running. Don’t know how he’s doing today, but it just goes to show that you CAN make compassionate business decisions.

Thank you for saying so eloquently that we should and can run our business world with the values we’re always to quick to espouse on the campaign trail and ignore in the boardroom.

CF, so what kind of business shall we start?

There’s a really great documentary called “The Corporation” that addresses the pursuit of profit at all costs that has become so rampant. I think we also need to admit the fact that criminals exist at ALL levels of society. We seem to picture the criminal element as some poor person who robs a liquor store. Yet we have an overwhelming amount of criminal activity in the business sector that is perfectly legal, albeit completely immoral.

I just wish we could return to realistic profits. Does any one human really need to make billions of dollars? Reasonable profits allow for a more equitable distribution of wealth and an allowance for mission as priority. (That’s why I work in the non-profit sector. Mission comes first.)

I’d like to add that I believe it is the responsibility of each one of us, as consumers, to be conscious of how we “vote” with our money. I hate to bring it up, but Walmart is a perfect example. As consumers, each dollar we spend is a vote of support for the company to whom we give our business. It’s hypocritical to dream of socially-conscious, worker-friendly businesses all the while supporting companies with blatant disregard for those values.