George Zimmer, a millionaire with a plan to help the middle class

[KamaAina]

Not to be confused with George Zimmerman.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-morrison-zimmer-20150708-column.html

In 2010, not long after the tea party was making its presence felt, a group with a different makeup and mission was created: the Patriotic Millionaires. Its membership requirements are an annual income over $1 million and/or assets of $5 million, and it wants policy changes that will open more opportunities for the little guy. Patriotic Millionaires like George Zimmer thinks America's income gap is dangerous for democracy. In 1973, Zimmer founded Men's Wearhouse, the "you're going to like the way you look" clothing chain. After he was dumped by the board as executive chairman in 2013, he launched an Oakland-based app-driven custom suit business, one that he says practices the "servant leadership" and employee empowerment he's been preaching all along....

I'm in favor of raising the minimum wage. The president's proposal was $10.10. In Los Angeles, they (approved) $15 an hour over a number of years. The maximum corporate tax rate today is 35%. I would lower the corporate top rates to 25% from 35% but insist that companies like Apple and many others actually pay American taxes. So many corporations have figured out ways not to pay their taxes. If we lowered it, fewer companies would try to evade their taxes. (But) I'm not sure that's politically possible....

In the 1950s and '60s, prominent CEOs lived in the same neighborhoods as successful physicians and attorneys and other professionals. The idea that Thomas Watson, the CEO of IBM, would pay himself a million-dollar salary was preposterous; he was a man of culture and education and knew that was inappropriate. His power was at some level its own compensation.

That changed around 1980, and we have a reliance on the market economy as though it were being given to us on the mountaintop, like Moses. In fact, only in the last 50 years has maximizing shareholder value been part of the conversation on capitalism. The original idea was that companies would identify social reasons for their existence, other than their own profits. Adam Smith, who wrote "The Wealth of Nations," wrote a book called "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," about the moral underpinnings that this new capitalistic system would require in order to work for everybody.

[randys1]

1. This group is seen as an enemy to the teaparty and Koch bros. Wonder how they will seek to

destroy them.