Art Bushkin

Former Google Executive Paul Buchheit is preparing to donate funds to a cause he and YOU think is important. He has written, "I’m going to donate a bunch of money, but I want random people on the Internet to decide where it goes." In particular, Buchheit says that he would like to fund a cause that focuses on education, health, or freedom.

The nonprofit, Curriki.org, has suggested to Buchheit that he fund the development of a complete set of high-quality K-12 open source content. As you may know, Curriki’s mission is to eliminate the achievement gap by providing free access to high quality open education resources to educators and children across the globe.

Curriki has more than 80,000 registered members and reference sites in places like San Jose, CA and Nassau County, NY. Schools and districts are realizing that the open source community can do more than just eliminate costs, it can also serve to better engage teachers. With the support of Buchheit’s resource, educators could work individually or with colleagues to build a complete curriculum entirely out of free and open source resources.

The voting is taking place on Google Moderator at: http://tiny.cc/fkQus . Your support can really make a difference!

Share

On the morning of 9/11/2001, I was one of a very small group attending meetings that were to have included 34 Senators. The meetings were being held at a hotel on Capitol Hill, about a block from the Senate Office Buildings.

Like everyone else, we watched in horror as events unfolded on television, and rumors of other attacks on the White House and elsewhere in Washington spread rapidly from unknown sources. Those Senators already present were quickly whisked away to safer places, and the rest never came. We only learned later that, as noted in today’s Washington Post, “if United Flight 93 hadn’t left late, giving its passengers time to hear about the other attacks and retake control of the aircraft, its hijackers might have succeeded in the hitting the Capitol.” I will always be grateful to the true heroes on that plane.

One of my dominant memories of the day was the overriding calm and civility that I saw everywhere. From the crowd in the hotel lobby to the people on the street, virtually all I heard was silence. Not just no sirens, but no sounds. Even as I drove home hours later, there was no sound and drivers were courteous. From Capitol Hill, through the streets of Washington, and across the bridges into Virginia (not near the Pentagon), usually impatient Washington drivers made no sound and guided each other as I progressed on my 5-hour trip that should have taken 20 minutes. I kept thinking all that time that it was like driving in a library.

What a difference 8 years makes. The problem is not merely one Congressman calling the President a liar on the House floor, or the sniping from members of both political parties. It is the lack of civility all around us. Reasoned public debate has given way to shouting and even gun-carrying. Everyone seems to be unhappy about something, some possibly for good reason, and certainly everyone now has the technical means to let everyone else know their opinion on anything.

Eight years ago, we rallied and displayed our finest traits as a people: patriotism and the perseverance to proceed toward a better future. Yes, the world changed that day, but I do hope that we can regain some of that fortitude and civility. We’re going to need it in the days ahead.

Share

The media, both old and new, are lately full of stories and pronouncements about Twitter. Twitter’s impact; Twitter’s significance. Twitter in foreign policy; Twitter in journalism. Twitter is good (citizen expression and the free flow of information); Twitter is bad (anyone can start a rumor that a celebrity has died); and Twitter is silly and self-indulgent (does anyone care what you had for lunch?). No doubt Twitter is powerful, but Twitter is just one application, one service.

The real story of the day is the anniversary of the Apple App Store. On July 11, 2008, Apple released version 2.0 of its mobile software, enabling users of the iPhone and iTouch to download and use third-party applications (apps). Now, one year later, there are over 55,000 apps available on the App Store, with the number growing rapidly every week. And, there have been over a billion downloads.

While games get the most attention, roughly 7% of the available apps are categorized as educational. Think about it: tens of millions of people are carrying the power of a computer and the tools of education in their pockets or purses. And, the trend will only get better, rapidly.

The other device manufacturers are releasing smartphones with their own app stores. More than 4 billion people in a world of almost 7 billion already have mobile devices. And, the number is expected to rapidly reach 5 billion, well over half the world’s population. People are not only being empowered to speak and communicate; they are being enabled to educate themselves and lead better lives. And, we all will benefit.

Happy Anniversary Apple, and thank you from the rest of the world.

Share

It’s Time for Companies to Grant Social Bonuses . What if there was a way to produce billions of dollars for social causes at no cost to anyone?  A scheme, you might say, a gimmick?  Not so.  In this depressed stock market, there is actually a silver lining.  There is a way to harness Capitalism for the Common Good that avoids arguments about taxes, stimuli, and bailouts.  Instead of getting angry about corporate bonuses, we should be asking companies to grant Social Bonuses.  There is a way for companies to grant the equivalent of stock options that will benefit us all.

The basic idea is very simple.  Instead of a company only issuing stock options to its employees, management, and board members, a company can also issue warrants to a nonprofit public charity.  A warrant is essentially the same as a stock option, but unlike an option, it is not issued in relation to employment or service.  Now, instead of benefitting only insiders and general shareholders, the rise in the company’s stock price will also provide a nonprofit public charity with unrestricted working capital for social good.  Now, society will share the benefits.

For simplicity, assume that the warrant is issued at the prevailing price of the company’s stock.  If the stock price rises within a specified period of time (usually a number of years), the nonprofit recipient will exercise the warrant and receive the difference between the current stock price and the original warrant price, called the strike price.  If the current stock price is below the strike price, nothing happens and the warrant is not exercised.

But who pays?  Effectively, no one pays.  So, where does the money come from?  The value that is created comes from the growth (or the rebound) in the stock market, which means that the best time to issue these warrants is now, when the market is down.

There is no cash outlay required from the company issuing the warrant(s), and there is no debt that has to be repaid by the company, only public accounting, reporting, or bookkeeping requirements.  The existing shareholders do experience a minuscule nonmaterial dilution in the value of their equity, just like they do when stock options are issued.

Recent press stories report that many companies, like Google and Starbucks, are currently enacting or exploring programs to exchange some or all of their existing stock options for new options with lower strike prices (i.e., more generous terms).  In other words, not only do companies routinely issue options for their employees, and dilution is not an issue, but companies are now repricing those options to preserve the employee benefit.

Instead of getting angry over who gets the options, or now if they’re being repriced, let’s change the debate.  Let’s make it routine for companies to share the benefits of their growth with society, not just with their employees and their shareholders.  After all, it doesn’t cost them anything.  A groundswell of public support for this idea, just like other public campaigns (e.g., campaigns that encouraged companies to go green), can help make this a reality.

Broadly adopted, this would be a breakthrough model for funding critical social capacity with miniscule upfront impact.  No taxes, no stimuli, and no bailouts are required.  If enough companies participate, as the capital markets recover, this Social Capitalism will produce billions of dollars for socially beneficial causes, at no cost to the contributing companies, at no cost to the recipient nonprofits, and with negligible impact on the companies’ existing shareholders.

To get an idea of the enormity of this possibility, a former financial officer at a very large public company calculated that, in the third week of January, 2009, the average value for the top 25 companies publicly traded companies was roughly $5 trillion dollars, or 50% less than their traditional levels.  If nonprofit public charities had warrants for one tenth of one percent (0.1%) of these companies and their stock prices were subsequently to return to more traditional values (i.e., double), this would produce a $5 billion-dollar infusion into the nonprofit sector, with no direct cash outlay required!  This from just giving ten cents, one dime, out of every one hundred dollars of the upside growth of these companies’ stock prices to charity.

Is this something for nothing?  Yes, in a way it is; it is the normal workings of the stock market, only with no risk.  Instead of benefitting the fortunate few who are able to cash in their stock options, we can also provide similar benefits in the public interest.  Society is the beneficiary, not individuals.  It’s time for companies to issue warrants for social good!

No taxes.  No stimuli.  No bailouts.  No risk.  No upfront cash.  Just sharing the benefits of the stock market.  Just giving away something that doesn’t cost a company anything to give.  Beyond the administrative costs, which a company is already spending for its employee stock options, the company spends nothing.  Just Capitalism for the Common Good.  Just Compassionate Capitalism.

Why hasn’t this been done before?   The answer that most people give is that there is simply no incentive for a company to do this, other than “good will” or “public relations.”  There is no tax deduction or credit for the company.  It’s just a good thing to do.

Yet, with enough public support for this idea, a company’s participation in such a program could, and ultimately should, actually be a marketing advantage.  Wouldn’t you rather do business with a company that shared the benefits of its growth with society?

This is an alternative to taxes and government spending.  This is a way to fund socially beneficial goals without relying solely upon taxes or the generosity of donors.  It is a win-win situation that relies on our free market traditions.

Companies routinely give stock options to employees, management, and board members.  Hasn’t the time come to share the companies’ success directly with the common good?  This is different from paying corporate taxes.  This is more than a new kind of public/private partnership.  This goes beyond corporate social responsibility.  This is a new way of looking at looking the role of the corporation in our society.

Capitalism grows the pie. It produces wealth and makes people richer.  Isn’t it time to share that wealth with socially beneficial causes?  Isn’t it time to hold companies to a higher level of social responsibility than their just making donations?  Isn’t it time to say to companies, just as President John F. Kennedy said to his fellow Americans in his Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Share

According to the just published “nation’s report card,” the achievement gap between white and minority students has not narrowed in recent years. Also, while there have been general improvements in some areas, the average performance in basic math and reading skills for 17-year old high school students has not changed since the early 1970s.

But improving basic skills is not enough. We need to provide our students with the skills for 21st Century jobs. We need to take better advantage of already available technology to provide quality education for all. We need to Harness the Power of Technology for Learning. Learn more .

Share

There is a graduation gap in our public schools, especially in our cities. Only 53% of the high school students in the nation’s 50 largest cities are graduating on time, while nationwide only 71% graduate. Approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year – averaging 7,000 every school day or one every 26 seconds.

Those who drop out of high school are less likely to be steadily employed (only 37%), and are more than twice as likely to live in poverty. In the 50 largest cities, the median income for high school dropouts is $14,000 – significantly lower than the median income of $24,000 for high school graduates and $48,000 for college graduates. Read more about Closing the Graduation Gap at: http://bit.ly/GradGap .

Share