From Shattered Faith
"As GM goes, so goes the country." If that old saying is true, the country is in bigger trouble than we thought.Our faith in our blue-chip businesses has been shattered by bankruptcy (United Airlines, Winn-Dixie, Delphi), pension deficits (San Diego, US Airways, Delta Air Lines, Bethlehem Steel, Kmart), and illegal and fraudulent practices (Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen). But as we look at other bastions of American life, we see similar problems. Our kids are not being educated to compete globally; the number of illegal immigrants has soared to over 11 million; our infrastructure -- power grids, dams, roads -- is in disrepair; we are long on need and short on energy sources; we can provide the best health care in the world, but it's unavailable to too many; and it's becoming clear that everyone cheats -- the government (Homeland Security rip-offs in the Gulf Coast), the media (plagiarism), sports (steroids), and the CEOs who rake in millions of stockholder dollars as they float away in their golden parachutes. The message to our kids is that cheating is a perfectly acceptable practice because "everyone does it."
If that's not enough to make you think we need to fix things, add the ongoing problems of an endless war in Iraq, a gigantic deficit and two major threats -- terrorism and global warming. But we can't solve things by eating comfort food and hiding under the covers.
Instead, we have to do what Americans have always done: take charge of our future and our fate. So we're devoting this special report to the ideas and solutions that can restore America's greatness and, in the process, reignite the American Dream for all of us.
What Government Can Do
- Launch a "No Cheating Allowed" media campaign, featuring celebrities, moguls, former Presidents, and others (if they qualify as role models!).
- Work with AmeriCorps to devise a mandatory national service program, with a menu of options.
- Ban pork-barrel "earmarks" for special interests.
- Reform campaign financing so that legislators can actually do their jobs instead of raising money for their next elections.
- Put a halt to out-of-control torts. Have losers pay all legal costs.
- Create a Web-based ledger of how our tax dollars are being spent so that scandals like the absurd payouts from Homeland Security never happen again.
- Create a national ID card that cannot be digitally duplicated.
- Penalize offshore corporate tax cheats.
What Business, Sports & Media Can Do
- Put a compensation cap on CEOs that aligns with revenue and performance.
- Stop winking at the use of performance-enhancing drugs and steroids.
- Create and review standards and practices in all media -- TV, print, radio, Internet -- to avoid plagiarism, favoritism, nepotism and other toxic "isms."
- Make boards of directors as well as CEOs accountable to shareholders of publicly traded companies.
- Treat workers like owners.
- Define "cheating" (beyond expense accounts) and institute a zero-tolerance policy.
- Join the Hope Street Group, a bipartisan network of businesspeople who help small businesses and improve education.
- Slap harsh penalties on students who cheat.
- Adopt efficient business practices in order to spend tax dollars and donations on the mission, not the managers.
- Know when to merge or fold. If other not-for-profits are doing it better, call it a day. If merging with them makes a stronger organization, do it.
- Teach civics and automatically register high school graduates to vote.
- Teach ethics in grade school and high school.