Targeting Income Inequality with #EmpathicCapitalism / #business #SocEnt #economy #WallStreet #parents #teachers

Despite the incredible growth of the American stock market, ‘trickle-down economics’ remains a misleading assumption that somehow the gains of the capitalist system will reach people who do not participate in it. It is true, the United States is the most capitalistic nation in the world, and our free market principle supplies our economy with the most unrestrained money-making mechanism clear across the planet. Yet, this is a tale of two cities. One in which capitalists endeavor and hustle; in which self-employed business men and women work towards creating work, creating income and creating opportunity, and one in which the rest of the people work for these, indirectly appreciating the gains of the economic creators. Yes, it happens to be that as capitalistic endeavors scale, employees indirectly benefit from the growth of the company, albeit, in a more limited way than the actual founder and or leader of the company.

Now, in order to think like a capitalist, work as one and produce as one, an certain kind of education is needed. One in which the aspiring capitalist becomes acquainted with the methods and practices, mindsets and strategies required in thinking of, starting, and successfully operating their own venture. Unless this is taught, the odds of a person being able to surmount the mindset obstacles needed to see a vision through, as well as the common setbacks experienced and an understanding of the urgency of networking and timing, the prospects of success fall flat. Needless to say, most people do not attempt to ‘make it on their own’ because they understand that the road is long, lonely and met with no guarantees.

But what if, in an appropriate manner, we were to create an educational pathway in our academic systems which would serve as a bridge for people to begin to understand and practice entrepreneurship from an early age, even first grade? If schools would begin to enter the vocabulary and ideas of entrepreneurship into the lexicon of student’s minds, if school projects began to teach financial literacy early on and how students could unite what interests them and in a business sense, lean to capitalize it, this could very well create visionary people who become job creators. Of course, some may balk at the idea of teaching kids to train their minds to figure out how to capitalize on their interests. Surely, not everything needs to be thought of as a means to be capitalized, yet we have a conundrum down the road which begs that we go back to how and to what we purpose we educate our youth (how we educate ourselves). As we tell ourselves, or perhaps as the informational systems that we rely on, such as the television, the internet, social media, and newspapers do bring up the idea that the economy is important, that jobs are important, and that income inequality is a pervading issue.

It seems that for all the wisdom and experience of our nationally recognized economists, politicians and business leaders, not enough has been done/ is being done to effectively turn around the gross social-economic inequalities prevalent across the American landscape. Perhaps their are pockets of growth here and there. Stories of individual success that can be mentioned, yet as a whole, income inequality continues to remain as it has, with some reports pointing to the chasm growing larger.

1. In terms of social responsibility, what kind of solutions can be remedied to positively disrupt the current economic equilibrium?
2. If an experimental solution is set forth, where should we begin to put it into service?
3. What are the time expectations for such an experiment to bear fruit?

Here is my answer: What if we were to go a step further and institute ‘Empathic Capitalism?’

In my previous essay on ‘empathic capitalism,’ I speak of it as an alternative to the welfare system that buttresses the continuation of subsistence living for people with low-incomes, mainly those of African-American heritage, in hideous housing projects within many of our urban, city centers. Empathic Capitalism uses the tenant of social entrepreneurship as a vehicle to create capitalistic visionaries who create jobs and therein economic opportunity, WHILE bringing their heart to tackling social issues that beset our local and national community. On this wavelength, parents, educators and school administrators take the drivers seat in turning the tables around on our present ‘trickle-down capitalistic system,’ and begin a ‘trickle-up economic paradigm.’

Under this economic reality, the local community of above mentioned entities realize that they can immediately empower themselves to create engines of prosperity right in their communities by coding a new thought process into their student-children. All it takes is a few town hall meetings were the idea of teaching social, or community entrepreneurship is discussed and begins to be implemented in the town’s respective grade schools. A standardized set of steps can be created and shared, so that the ‘wheel’ does not have to be recreated over and over again, and yet, it is important to allow students to not be given ideas only, but to allow them to be the generators of ideas, or solutions to issues they may recognize in the local, national or global community.

For example, one of my focuses is to address the paltry state of special needs programs in the communities I operate as a Special Educator. I am in the midst of creating multiple skateboard schools that create an opportunity for individuals with special needs, like those on the autism spectrum, with Downs Syndrome, intellectual disabilities, or even mild executive function skill concerns to co-develop with typical peers through the advent of skateboarding. This Olympic sport provides a challenging, mental-physical exercise, which within ‘flow skateparks,’ creates a fun, novel practice that can be repeated over a lifetime. In this way, I am taking a vision of making life better for the community of individuals with special needs, while being able to garner income for my work to see the idea become a full reality. This is hard work, but the people I want to help and am helping are so worth it. This is empathic capitalism.

Another student, or an entire class may collaborate as founding members of a venture to bring a solution to all the plastic material we create, ultimately ending up in the oceans. There does not have to just be one leader, but an entire class can lead in different capacities for a company. Moreover, not all companies have to be real in grade school. Teaching financial literacy and how to operate as visionary, empathic capitalists can be kept within the physical school and the students can simply practice the steps. As they grow older, real ventures can be done, even in the middle school years.

When I was in middle school, I remember Mr. Cook, my English Teacher, had the whole class become a courthouse. Each of us played different roles. We moved the desks around to mimic a courtroom. We became lawyers, judges, witnesses, court reporters, and court secretaries. It was fun, and it was for all of us, the first foray into understanding the legal system in an experiential sense. Class time was something to look forward too. We were taking real-world issues and dealing with them. The same can be done with social entrepreneurship. All it takes is imagination and concerted effort that does not stop.

I believe that our children, which are our greatest treasure, are worth the energy expenditure needed to bring about this kind of vision into reality. Simply teaching them the academic subjects without teaching them that our global capitalistic system makes everything happen is tantamount to short-changing them and turning them into people who only have the option of working for others. This is more true for Americans who come from low-income households, and low-educational parent attainment. The most elite schools teach kids to think big and be captains of industry, while schools in low-income neighborhoods and every single public school across America teaches kids knowledge, without the financial know-how on how to apply that knowledge in a self-employed manner.

Finally, the ability to think critically as empathic capitalists requires that they operate not just as community-mined business men and women, but as full-fledged advocates of their causes. To this end, training students to be eloquent orators, or public speakers and essay-writing mavericks helps them market their social ideas, and galvanize community interest. People who want to weld a desire of being socially responsible in improving their life by adding value to the life of others first with the operation of a business venture that allows them to physically sustain themselves, need to know how to communicate on the local and national level, if they want others to invest in their vision. It is in these ways that income inequality is directly targeted and trickle-down economics becomes a flipped, bottoms-up, economic paradigm, leading to the creation of individual empathic capitalism systems in each of our children.