cartoon by katherineelizabethtaylor

The main ingredient to the economic recipe for success is people.   In the past the emphasis was on increasing the productivity of people.  This has lead to a decreasing  pool of qualified individuals available in the workforce. However, all is not lost.  There has been a recognition that a nation of educated people creates a strong economy.  There has been a recognition that an educated work force creates a stronger foundation which strengthens the nations ability to confront the ills of the economy. There is the recognition to use the skills and assets of government and its policies to promote positive change.  There is a recognition that health care costs, education costs and reliance on foreign fuel hurt the economy.

Regulations and investments by government enables businesses and individuals to participate in the economy in a fair manner.

Nonprofits as one of the largest employers in the country needs to continue to be accountable to the public.  As businesses exempted from paying taxes on income nonprofits need to stop complaining about why they should pay high compensation to compete for talent.  Nonprofits need to modify their behavior on compensation policies to reflect their accountability as public charities.  Instead of comparing salaries to for-profits of similar revenue size salary comparison should be limited to government salaries of agencies dealing with the service sector the nonprofit represents.

So have your board make drastic modifications to compensation policies and support capping compensation for management.

cartoon posted on Flickr by Mejuan
Government has focused on creating short term employment for those considered able bodied.  However, the disabled have been more adversely effected.

The marketplace has historically been a mean and uninviting place for the disabled.  It is time that nonprofits and for profits create new industries and businesses where the disabled get the hiring preference.  The means to do so is to focus on recruiting from training programs that train the disabled, serve the disabled, and place the disabled into jobs.

The federal and state subsidies need to make it clearer and easier for creating businesses run and owned by the disabled.  51% owned and controlled is a good start.  There is nothing like taking control of the future using the same tools other businesses have received.

Capitalism is not DEAD, it just needs some controls to limit GREED.  There are always a few to ruin it for everyone.  The nonprofit community provides some of the best examples of the balance.