December 2012
Local Progress on Eliminating Systemic Poverty
Work for All has some exciting news! With the launch of Work for All in the United States, we have become an International Public Foundation. The two foundations are separate entities and follow different guidelines, as dictated by their respective countries, but both organizations share common goals. This month we also launch our new web site address: www.workforall.com, which was provided by one of our generous donor companies. Now workall.org; workforall.com; workforall.com; and workforall.us will all lead you to our website.
Here are some points on our progress:
1. We have been operating as a charity in Canada, since 2009. As a Canadian charity, we work with the United Nations Development Program, Plan International and WaterCan. As a Canadian Public Foundation, the number of charities we can support is severely restricted by the Canadian government.
2. As a Public Foundation in the United States, we can contribute to a greater number of charities. This allows us to work with and support more programs and projects that are working towards our mission.
3. In Canada and the United States, we can now approach more businesses, get more donations, and build a larger group of businesses with more skills and experience to share with others, as we mature.
4. Work for All is also laying foundational groundwork to start branches in the United Kingdom and Brazil.
Even though the contributions our businesses make are not disruptive to our families, business plans, or lifestyles; together we can make a difference. If you would like to become a part of Work for All, sign up at www.WorkforAll.com, or email us at subscribe.
– Melissa Lopes
INTERNATIONAL PROGRESS ON ELIMINATING SYSTEMIC POVERTY
Dear Reader: We are seeing results in the world. The number of people trapped in poverty is going down. Growth in China, India and Asia is continuing. Africa is growing faster than any other continent. The world is getting more efficient. Having said that, there is still a lot of work to do.
Here are some points to ponder: Over and over, countries succeed when political leaders choose capitalism over the other alternatives. Over and over, countries fail when political leaders stifle their economies by forcing planned economics on their people. This is not some sort of political statement supporting Republicans or Democrats or Communists. Break open a history book. This is just the way it is.
We do not just need jobs, we need the right kind of jobs. We do not need more door to door piano salesmen or newspaper print setters. Capitalism provides the mechanism for allocating resources, including people, to the right job. Our governments can minimize the pain of allocation by providing unemployment insurance or other temporary means of assistance. Ultimately, the more the government interferes, the longer it will take our capitalist economy to sort itself out.
The world is embracing new technologies and getting more horizontal (in distribution of products and ideas) every day. Computers and the internet enable usto share knowledge and recreation virtually instantaneously from one corner of the globe to the other.
My family lives across the world and yet we can talk and converse through live streaming video – from South America to Europe to North America to Hawaii – for free. I can order products made elsewhere in the world and have them delivered to other places, neither one being close to where I am at the time. The market for technical services (like drafting) is international, where comprehension and ability are rewarded and location of the draftsman is irrelevant.
People can get wealthy by many different means, but the most meaningful way to create personal wealth is by making the rest of the world better off. Rob Walton is wealthy. But millions of people are better off because they can buy merchandise for less money at Wal-Mart. Michael Dell is wealthy. Yet millions of consumers benefitted by buying computers directly from his company, for less money than the alternatives. Both these men were part of driving the economy to be more horizontal and improve distribution.
I am looking forward to a white Christmas, traveling as soon as the kids get out of school on Saturday, December 15th to Edmonton, Alberta. We will be uniting with friends and getting more of the family together at the same time than we have managed for quite a few months. I wish everyone the best of the festive season. The profile of Work for All is increasing. Please encourage other businesses to go to our web site and support our organization.
– Jeremy Leonard