Marc Benioff: We Need a New Capitalism The current system has led to profound inequality.

[BeckyDem]

The current system has led to profound inequality. To fix it, we need businesses and executives to value purpose alongside profit.

By Marc Benioff

Mr. Benioff is the chairman and co-C.E.O. of Salesforce.

Oct. 14, 2019, 6:00 a.m. ET

Capitalism, I acknowledge, has been good to me.

Over the past 20 years, the company that I co-founded, Salesforce, has generated billions in profits and made me a very wealthy person. I have been fortunate to live a life beyond the wildest imaginations of my great-grandfather, who immigrated to San Francisco from Kiev in the late 1800s.

Yet, as a capitalist, I believe it’s time to say out loud what we all know to be true: Capitalism, as we know it, is dead.

Yes, free markets — and societies that cherish scientific research and innovation — have pioneered new industries, discovered cures that have saved millions from disease and unleashed prosperity that has lifted billions of people out of poverty. On a personal level, the success that I’ve achieved has allowed me to embrace philanthropy and invest in improving local public schools and reducing homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area, advancing children’s health care and protecting our oceans.

But capitalism as it has been practiced in recent decades — with its obsession on maximizing profits for shareholders — has also led to horrifying inequality. Globally, the 26 richest people in the world now have as much wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion people, and the relentless spewing of carbon emissions is pushing the planet toward catastrophic climate change. In the United States, income inequality has reached its highest level in at least 50 years, with the top 0.1 percent — people like me — owning roughly 20 percent of the wealth while many Americans cannot afford to pay for a $400 emergency. It’s no wonder that support for capitalism has dropped, especially among young people.
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To my fellow business leaders and billionaires, I say that we can no longer wash our hands of our responsibility or what people do with our products. Yes, profits are important, but so is society. And if our quest for greater profits leaves our world worse off than before, all we will have taught our children is the power of greed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/opinion/benioff-salesforce-capitalism.html

[Farmer-Rick]

1. It really annoys me when these billionaires after getting theirs.

Suddenly stick their heads up and notice the world is falling apart and may become uninhabitable.

I can't articulate why this bothers me so much. I can't access the NYT to read his full explanation so I leave it for better minds than mine.

[BeckyDem]

3. You're right. It is annoying as hell.

Here is what he says: How, exactly, is our country going to pay for all this?

That is why a new capitalism must also include a tax system that generates the resources we need and includes higher taxes on the wealthiest among us. Local efforts — like the tax I supported last year on San Francisco’s largest companies to address our city’s urgent homelessness crisis — will help. Nationally, increasing taxes on high-income individuals like myself would help generate the trillions of dollars that we desperately need to improve education and health care and fight climate change.

The culture of corporate America needs to change, and it shouldn’t take an act of Congress to do it. Every C.E.O. and every company must recognize that their responsibilities do not stop at the edge of the corporate campus. When we finally start focusing on stakeholder value as well as shareholder value, our companies will be more successful, our communities will be more equal, our societies will be more just and our planet will be healthier.

[Raven123]

2. So what does he propose as a solution?

[2naSalit]

4. You know what?

Capitalism fucking sucks for everyone BUT the wealthy and we would all be better off if it died.

[Scoopster]

5. No, we need ORIGINAL textbook-definition capitalism.

The kind that Marx created, which properly balances worker rights, & govt regulations against the corporatists.

[RicROC]

6. Democratic Capitalism?

The words Socialism and Democratic Socialism seem to be mental blocks for some voters, in their view of Democratic Candidates. But what about 'Democratic Capitalism' like we used to have 50 years ago? That is, capitalism with reasonable restrictions or controls and addresses the needs of the community as a whole.

In Germany, by law, a Union member representative must sit on the Board of Directors of a capitalist corporation. That's an example of Democratic Capitalism.

Another example would be portable health care.

[JudyM]

7. He's following the crowd in a good way.

The Business Roundtable stunned many of us with its similar pronouncement his summer.
https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans

He is speaking more of wealthy individuals than corporate charters, but it’s a similar call to finally stand up and be members of society ... to give back and not just suck everything out of society.

The conscious capitalism movement, B-corps, corporate social responsibility, whatever form or nomenclature, this needs to pick up steam FAST.