Here are a couple of very interesting videos of Lawrence Lessig discussing problems with Congress – essentially the influence of money on policy. Money + Congress = Mistrust (or worse).

(20 minutes)

(1 hour)

In the first video Lessig goes through examples of money interfering with solid policy and I agree with most of what he says. One of the items eluding me is this:

On the one hand Lessig says that when our congressional representatives receive funds from corporations or special interest groups, it does not mean there is corruption but there is certainly the appearance of impropriety. Money destroys the conditions for trust. Money destroys trust.

He goes on to discuss global warming policy. Gore is now a venture capitalist investing in green technology and as far as I can tell he intends to profit from these investments. How can you on one hand say that money yields mistrust and then cite an example where the standard bearer clearly stands to receive economic benefit from promoting a cause?

These venture capitalists are making investments with the expectation of receiving returns on their investments. If they are so concerned about the environment, why don’t they loan the funds, put a cap on their return or not even take a return? Lessig points out (in the second video) that since Wikipedia does not allow any advertising, they leave ~$100,000,000 of revenue on the table. Wikipedia does not allow advertising specifically to avoid any taint of quid pro quo.

Gore is a private citizen and free to make investments as he sees fit. However, when you are the standard bearer regarding global warming and your message is that we need to make massive changes now, yet you are also positioned to profit from these changes, how is that not, at least, the appearance of impropriety?

From Al Gore’s next act: Planet Saving VC (Fortune 02/12/08):
They argue that to halt global warming, nothing less will be required than a makeover of the $6 trillion global energy business. Coal plants, gas stations, the internal-combustion engine, petrochemicals, plastic bags, even bottled water will have to give way to clean, green, sustainable technologies. “What we are going to have to put in place is a combination of the Manhattan Project, the Apollo project, and the Marshall Plan, and scale it globally,” Gore continues. “It’d be promising too much to say we can do it on our own, but we intend to do our part.”

“Doerr understands the complexity of what’s ahead. Most venture capitalists are judged on return on investment alone. Asked how he’ll judge the success of the green initiative, he reels off five measures: “the company we keep, the quality of the companies we help grow, the quality of the partners we add, returns on the investments we make, and by the CO2 that’s taken out of the atmosphere.”

I don’t see how this can be glossed over…

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Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School, is a leading thinker on technology and Internet policy. He is the founder of Creative Commons and author of Code, The Future of Ideas, and Free Culture.

Known as “Citizen Hauser” and the “Mayor of Whiskey Island,” Hauser enjoyed seeing people use what became the county-owned Wendy Park in 2005, which has a marina, beach restaurant, sand volleyball courts and became home to several festivals…

If you like to know more about Ed and his legacy, listen to this interview we did with him late summer of ‘06.

Ed was an amazing man doing amazing work. Cleveland wouldn’t be the place it is, if it wasn’t for people like Ed. He’ll be missed. Please, add your comments about Ed and his work below.

One interesting insight: if 300 people had been helped to receive high school diplomas, 570 fewer people would be living in poverty. (That’s pretty good leverage.)

Pathways Past Poverty: Preliminary goals

Pathways Past Poverty

Over in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo’s Promise celebrates its anniversary and business/school alliances with companies (like Eaton) taking part.

KALAMAZOO PROMISE WEEK: Business-school alliance works; Developing homegrown talent a plus after graduation

The rules of Ignite are pretty simple, there are none- other than 20 slides, 15 seconds a slide, 5 minutes for your skinny, your big idea. Get up, present!

Ignite Columbus

Slide presentations available on SlideShare

Do you think greed is the elemental motivation behind a robust economy? per Peter Schiff

“Just as prices in a free market are set by supply and demand, financial and real estate markets are governed by the opposing tension between greed and fear. Everyone wants to make money, but everyone is also afraid of losing what he has. Although few would ascribe their desire for prosperity to greed, it is simply a rose by another name. Greed is the elemental motivation for the economic risk-taking and hard work that are essential to a vibrant economy.”

Agree, disagree, or ??

[W]e can defeat this takeover with local and state leadership galvanizing all levels of our community behind a “Save NCB” effort - including demonstrations and educational visits to Congress explaining the wastefulness and inequities of this shotgun wedding.

Should we allow National City to just fade away after 163 years, like a leaf blowing away in the wind? No way!

The Plain Dealer can do a great job explaining the lousy economics of the National City takeover and its overwhelming consequences for Cleveland. We must keep the heat on.

Cleveland shouldn’t give up on saving National City Bank

Carla Rautenberg adds this background from the Washington Post.