I decided to rename this post add some comments and republish. The only way that we are going to become a fair and caring society is by embedding businesses back into our communities and making them accountable to us the customer. Big business has become global and lost its way. The profits don’t stay in the communities where they were generated and this removes a community good. The time has come to boycott big business and support community businesses where the owners live in the community they serve.
The original post was about Quaker Business practices:
Look at the Quakers - they were excellent business people that never lied, never stole; they cared for their employees and the community which gave them the wealth. They never took more money out than they put back in.
Anita Roddick
In a previous post I talked about big business greed and how it will look in the light of history. In this post I want to give an ethical counterpoint to big business greed. The Quakers live simple lives and have been honest business folk for hundreds of years. The key point in their business practice (besides honesty) is their attitude to the communities in which they have their businesses. They see the community as a supportive matrix for business where you have good stewardship and never take more money out of than you put in. That is they are net community contributors.
This is a far cry from the big corporates who display contempt for the communities that sustain them. They reap where they have not sown and take out far more money than they put in. Long term this is unsustainable.
Small business is what has made America great. We had community based businesses that stayed open for generations and made an honest living for their owners and a positive contribution within the constraints of the community. Eventually this is the model we will have to return to if we are to survive. Note: If small businesses in the USA payed as little taxes as the tax evading corporations we would be bankrupt.
Unbridled profits, like unbridled horses pose a danger to an honest way of business.
Be honest, support your community and prosper.
DK
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