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CSRwire President: A Call to All Enlightened Capitalists

CSRwire President: A Call to All Enlightened Capitalists

Published 09-30-08

Submitted by CSRwire's Video, Commentary and Research

The free market ideology is dead. Those that have espoused that the market is efficient enough to be left alone without any conscience, regulation or transparency (they say all the important information is available) cringe at the thought of the government 'bailing out' business.

A void has been created. Temporarily the United States government has come to the rescue and introduced us to 'Socialism.' Unfortunately, our government and budgetary process is not aligned with this thinking. How can we afford to bail out banks, insurance companies, money market mutual funds, engage in two wars, attempt to provide health insurance for everyone and keep the basic government services going? And, give the automakers a $ 25 billion dollar loan fund at 5% interest for up to thirty years to pay us back? It really is crazy!

It's moving so fast that today's Wall Street Journal has an article on the front page about Citigroup 'rescuing' Wachovia at the same time on page 5 Wachovia has a 3/4 page ad saying they are "caring for $1.1 Trillion dollars in client assets." Wachovia couldn’t even get the ad out of the paper in time!

For those of us in the Corporate Social Responsibility movement, silently some are happy to see the 'free market' crash, hoping for a revolution. There are others that are hoping for a more orderly process of "Enlightened Capitalism."

For me, it's a time to really gather together and formulate a strategy that establishes a new code of conduct that includes incredible transparency for the standards and principles measuring a company's social and environmental impact as well as its financial impact. Not some 'green washing' or p/r stunt; but a real effort to create an economy that's different.

Most of what I see and hear talked about are the 'credit crisis' and the 'political' nature of the 'bailout.' There is little talk about 'systemic change.'

If you're reading this, you know what I mean. If you're reading this for the first time, come together with those of us that want to effectuate change and tell us what you're doing and bring others into the movement. Put your stuff on http://csrwire.com, that's where we're having the conversation with over one thousand companies.

Its really time for a change.

About CSRwire.com

CSRwire is the leading source of corporate social responsibility and sustainability news, reports and information. CSRwire members are companies and NGOs, agencies and organizations interested in communicating their corporate citizenship, sustainability, and socially responsible initiatives to a global audience through CSRwire's syndication network and Weekly News Alerts. CSRwire content covers issues of Diversity, Philanthropy, Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Environment, Human Rights, Workplace Issues, Business Ethics, Community Development and Corporate Governance.

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