A growing body of research shows that the corporate rate cut has delivered large gains to top earners but done little for everyone else.
Policymakers and the public should understand that the 2017 Trump tax law was skewed to the rich, was expensive and eroded the U.S. revenue base, and failed to deliver promised economic benefits. A 2025 course correction is needed.
Not in my term of office, or Not in my election year occasionally referred to as NIMTOO and NIMEY, are an acronyms referring to the habit of elected officials for postponing projects that may be unpopular like a new power plant.[1] This is similar to the often stated 'not on my watch', which politicians use to mean: "as long as I'm in charge, this...
The buck stops here
Buck passing, or passing the buck, or sometimes (playing) the blame game, is the act of attributing to another person or group one's own responsibility. It is often used to refer to a strategy in power politics whereby a state tries to get another state to deter or fight an aggressor state while it remains on the sidelines.[1] The expression is...
When you train people to be good in learning the rules, it is harder to have a rebellious spirit ... people who are not afraid to break the norm, to fail a little
SINGAPORE — They have hopped around countries to build up businesses, before settling on Singapore to sink their roots more than 10 years ago. To them, there is no better place than Singapore for entrepreneurs, so much so that one of them, fish farm Barramundi Asia’s managing director Joep Kleine Staarman declares
culture of defining success a single way
people grow up trying to thrive in school, which, here, focuses on structured learning, and systematic and logical thinking; less on creativity and risk-taking
the education system produces workers good in thinking about structures and algorithms, besides being highly efficient.“But it is still a workforce that is not highly innovative
the results-driven, exam-centric approach in Singapore’s education system does not require students to think creatively
most of entrepreneurial nature is about people
There is this whole obsession for people to be similar to other people
/what needs changing first is for society to be less critical of those who fare less well academically. “If people are not good in school, don’t write them off. Work on their specialties. Oftentimes, they may be the ones with the potential to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow/
“double damage” inflicted by the wealthiest corporations and individuals who disproportionately contribute to climate breakdown through their outsized carbon emissions and who rob governments of the funding needed to address the fallout from climate breakdown by abusing tax
“Double damage” inflicted by wealthiest corporations and individuals highlights twin crises of climate breakdown and inequality The amount of tax lost every year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens is on par with the amount of money needed each year to cover the estimated cost of climate-induced loss and damage. In a […]
amount of tax lost every year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens is on par with the amount of money needed each year to cover the estimated cost of climate-induced loss and damage
The holiday season is upon us, which for the millions of dust-covered board games that have spent the year hibernating in cupboards and cabinets means making the annual pilgrimage to the family dinner table to collect the biscuit crumbs and greasy finger stains they need to sustain themselves for another a year. In honour of […]
"It’s instant replay of the same old crap. The first time they went to jail. The second time, nobody went to jail, but there were some significant financial penalties. And the third time, it was a complete pass that allowed people to get the idea that if you’re big enough and important enough, you can get away with anything. And that, I’m afraid, has permeated the society."
The latest Corruption Diaries episode is out! A new podcast episode every Wednesday: "It’s instant replay of the same old crap. The first time they went to jail. The second time, nobody went to jail,...
their wealth has grown three times faster than the rate of inflation ... The wages of nearly 800 million workers have failed to keep up with inflation and they have lost $1.5 trillion over the last two years, equivalent to nearly a month (25 days) of lost wages for each worker
The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire...
Fortunes of five richest men have shot up by 114 percent since 2020
The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer
the world could have its first-ever trillionaire ... within a decade
Monopolies harm innovation and crush workers and smaller businesses
148 of the world’s biggest corporations together ... a 52 percent jump compared to average net profits in 2018-2021
"war on taxation" by corporations has seen the effective corporate tax rate fall by roughly a third in recent decades
seven out of ten of the world’s biggest corporations have a billionaire as CEO or principal shareholder. These corporations are worth $10.2 trillion, equivalent to more than the combined GDPs of all countries in Africa and Latin America
Share ownership overwhelmingly benefits the richest. The top 1 percent own 43 percent of all global financial assets. They hold 48 percent of financial wealth in the Middle East, 50 percent in Asia and 47 percent in Europe
This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else…… through squeezing workers, dodging tax, privatizing the state, and spurring climate breakdown
analysis of World Benchmarking Alliance data on more than 1,600 of the largest corporations worldwide shows that 0.4 percent of them are publicly committed to paying workers a living wage and support a living wage in their value chains
But they’re also funneling power, undermining our democracies ... No corporation or individual should have this much power over our economies and our lives
Bernard Arnault is the world’s second richest man who presides over luxury goods empire LVMH ... He also owns France’s biggest media outlet, Les Échos, as well as Le Parisien
領導人堅定信念貫徹始終與重視傳承，團隊的經營與群策群力才能走得長久
我們常遇到一開始很多人表達有興趣參與，但能夠堅持到底的人是少數，有時讓人感到孤單，甚至還要面對生態旅遊發展太慢、經濟上無法立竿見影的質疑。當滿懷理想想要協助社區走向永續的旅遊發展，但又是快不得，雖是居民的信心危機，但也在考驗著團隊的信念與決心
人事的問題最磨心，而一個社區總是需要一些「石磨仔心」。磨到現在，即便彼此曾經有過多次意見不合，甚至爭吵，至今還是很重視珍惜著彼此。「 十六年前，因為觀念不合，幾乎吵了快一整年」……曲折磨合
「社區的工作很磨人，更磨心。」「沒有傻子般的傻勁與執著，大概就做不了地方的工作。」
人事關係複雜，既勞心又勞力……很多次都想直接放棄了……除了與地方一起打拚的決心毅力之外，社區工作者有一定的的人格特質，視野高遠，也還需要有柔軟身段，才能低下身段、捲起袖子
高EQ，以及柔軟的身段
社區工作首先必須與地方做溝通，這是一個很大的挑戰。「如果想要將理念實踐，必得要透過溝通，有這一層功夫，概念方能轉譯成價值。」 但也唯有取得信任（信任是一種社會資本），居民聽得懂，社區才動得起來，否則美意到了地方，反而變成爭奪資源的戰場，更遑論還有因為工作分配不均、頭銜、意見不合等其他問題……
「社區工作，太笨或太聰明的人都做不起來的。」
做好社區工作可以養活自己，但是肯定不會賺大錢
現在的社會氛圍仍很『速食化』
「很多社區工作最後會『走鐘』”，主要是因為初衷的改變，如果志工的初衷從『為人民服務』，之後傾斜成『為人民幣服務』，最後自然不會有好的合作結果。」
可貴之處是在計畫形成初期，社區和公務同仁一起溝通討論形成共識的過程。另一個值得一提的是，社區林業計畫非常重視人才培育…巡護……長期下來累積社區的社會資本與環境資本
「夜間遊程是社頂部落生態旅遊一個很關鍵的里程碑，給了鄉親很大的信心，讓居民看到了希望與目標，從過去開會時的三三兩兩，轉變成大夥兒積極參與投入，凝聚了當時幾乎要瓦散掉的團隊。」陳美惠回憶道。
過程中的磨合，有時候因爲價值觀念不同，或有意氣之爭，反而形成小團體或甚至造成分裂
生態旅遊操作方式（總量管制、單一窗口、環境教育、培力造人、生態資源監測與保育、社區回饋 ）
社會面，制度面，文化面，環境面&經濟面
Socio-Ecological Production Landscape and Seascape
社會—生態的生產地景與海景
社經地位不高、人民剽悍，曾經是……一個化外之地
為什麼台灣政府相關單位仍故步自封？……政府在口頭上鼓勵山村發展微型經濟之餘，是否也能在法規上實際給予支持…協調，修訂出跟得上民間[小型創新企業]腳步的合理政策……？
地方創生最重要的在『人』，這個『人』代表的也是政府官員的思維
社區解說員很多原本可能生活沒有目標，但在接受訓練後整個人都變得有自信
臺灣最缺願意做事的人，談到做事，大家都會說好，「好、好、好！」「你去做就好！」但多年的社區經驗讓他發現，只要參與者覺得透過這樣的工作自己會有所成長，大多數的人還是會繼續再來參與。
