- From Corporate To Nonprofit -

Once again Silicon Valley is driving the future, but this time not only introducing new technology.

A recent national survey found that half of Baby Boomers – often defined as U.S. residents born between 1945 and 1964 – said they would like to shift into careers in the social sector when they have retired from their positions in the for-profit world, giving them a chance to work on other causes they find meaningful and important.

In addition, millions of Americans in their 50s and 60s are reconsidering their retirement plans in light of the recent recession. To supplement their nest eggs, many are realizing that they need to continue working, at least part-time.

Meanwhile, nonprofits, which have typically focused their recruiting efforts on younger adults, are realizing they can benefit greatly from skilled and experienced older workers.

These trends are converging to create unprecedented opportunities for older Americans to use their talents to make a difference in communities, schools and the world at large. And in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hewlett Packard is helping support an innovative new program to help a number of executives and managers at or near the end of their midlife corporate careers transition to careers in the nonprofit sector.

- Listen to the KQED radio interview:
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R910070850/a

- Learn more about Encore Fellowships by visiting:
www.civicventures.org

- Read articles on Encore Fellowships and the Serve America Act in:

-- The San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/20/EDRJ174EDT.DTL

-- The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123863704304281321.html

-- The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/business/retirementspecial/02program.html

What about public lending?

Our BankItalia S.p.A is owned by the major banks of our country.
They print the money in the name of the Italian People, lend the money to the Italian People with interest and huge profit, with no accountability to the Italian People. The result is inflation, each year you loose 5% of your savings, no matter what.

What about Autostrade and toll road?

What about the carbon tax created to preserve the environment, yet the money goes to the IMF and not to environment preservation?

If a government takes your money for the public good, be certain that they will spend it for their own private good (villa in sardegna and semi private Alitalia jet). It is called modern socialism.

In a speech to his fans Italy's Prime Minister mentioned again Barack Obama's tanned complexion and, just in case Italians hadn't noticed, he tells them that the First Lady has also spent a long time in the sun. Of course, Berlusconi is predisposed to cliches, so his observations of the Obamas' skin tone aren't witty, funny or irritating to anyone: they're common racist observations. So common, in fact that one can bet the President of the United States and the First Lady took not the slightest umbrage. I mean they've heard worse racist epithets. But should they wish go tit-for-tat (which is usually the custom among the different ethnic groups living in the States) he, as an Italian, is a "greasy wop". Yes, I know the Obamas can barely see Silvio, never mind what he says. But there is a little moral to this story and it is that when it comes to mocking others we all live in glass houses.

• Incredible to think that with all the problems we face, the leaders of the world's most powerful economies sit around a table and argue over bank bonuses.
Our priorities have really gone adrift. At the UN President Obama spoke of his dream of a better, peaceful world with more prosperity and less poverty.
It is not bonuses that need addressing but the role of the financial sector in our economies. What should be a source of funding to help people purchase homes or businessmen to expand their companies for the benefit of the economy, has become a gigantic casino where a minority of greedy, selfish people use our money to speculate and make huge gains for themselves at the expense of everyone else. Corporations are bought and sold by Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds at huge cost to shareholders and jobs as massive fees are extracted by bankers, lawyers, and accountants. Take overs and mergers rarely produce synergy or benefits for shareholders or employees but rake in huge sums for the banks who charge extortionate fees and then double their income on corporate demergers. None of these financial activities are of any use whatsoever to the economy while they syphon off billions into the hands of the financial sector. Worse has been the spread of complex financial instruments such as derivatives and credit default swaps that Warren Buffett calls financial weapons of mass destruction. Their sole purpose is to make lots of money for speculators who take colossal risks by massively leveraging their bets. Now while nobody should worry or care if investors wish to pay Hedge Funds to gamble their money and extract huge fees for doing so, the problem arises when they place these funds in the world's stock markets. The amount of cash pumped into the markets distorts the value of shares. Ordinary long term investors cannot possible know or understand what is happening as prices fluctuate on a minute by minute basis to satisfy the speculators who have been allowed to operate in an opaque manner and often from the world's tax havens out of the control of regulators or Governments. This cannot be allowed to continue. A welcome move has been taken to control the tax havens and offshore banks and companies as Governments have to find ways to raise diminishing tax revenues caused by the thousands of company failures, loss of jobs and homes brought on by the crisis.
The banking sector has become a Frankenstein monster - out of the bottle - and Governments must act to put it back inside and bang down the cap tight.
There is no moral or economic reason for those at the top in the financial, or for that matter, any corporation, to be paid hundreds of times more than average salaries. Even less so to help themselves to multi million pension pots or bonuses for doing their jobs. . It is a culture that must be seen for what it is - pure selfish greed at the expense of the overall economies. Look at the job offers for executives that appear in the press and none reach six figures. The disparity between boardrooms and employees has reached unacceptable proportions. Corporations are managed for the short term gains of shareholders rather than long term growth.
Governments must find the courage to ignore the lobbies and powerful vested interests and bring the financial sector back to its prime role to serve the economy. And when it comes to finding new ways to raise taxes, instead of increasing the burden on the middle class, let the financial sector contribute more. Tax the excess earnings, rid the world of tax havens and secret offshore accounts and bring in the Tobin tax to benefit from the billions that are traded each day on the currency, stock and commodity markets. There has to be a redistribution of income to give more purchasing power to the middle class without who no economy can prosper and in order for the poor to raise their standard of living. The future of our societies depends on a more equitable and just share of the nation's wealth.

Peter Fieldman is the author of the novel
1066 The Conquest: visit web site:www.1066TheConquest.com

Yes – I agree that social enterprise should be promoted. What about the business schools and the Chambers of Commerce? Are they doing enough to encourage people to learn about and do research on social enterprise? Do children understand social enterprise?

But I was listening to a programme on BBC radio the other day. I think it was a speaker from the charity “Christian Aid” who said that powerful countries like the United States and Britain have an interest in maintaining “tax havens”. Yes – they said – the United States is attacking Switzerland as it feels that US tax dodgers are hiding their funds in Switzerland, but meanwhile the US economy is benefiting from their own tax havens. (I'm not sure where these are.) Great Britain has all sorts of tax havens. How about Italy?
If there were no tax havens anywhere in the world, and everyone paid tax on all the money they earned, would there be more chance for all economies to function more smoothly?