Category: Events

What is a fair wage? What is a living wage? What is a just wage? Why work at all? “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” reasoned Karl Marx in 1875.

But who gets to decide my ability and who gets to decide my needs? Me, perhaps, or you?

The threat to employment coming from Artificial Intelligence, automation and robotics has many proposing a universal basic income to carry us through the ups and downs of life. The St. Paul City Council just voted to use municipal police powers to mandate hourly wages for certain employees, seeking to give those who work more money for the exercise of their abilities in order to help them meet their needs.

Is this a good idea? Is it a slippery slope leading us to the embrace of Marxist doctrine? Who will pay and in what ways when certain prices rise?

Please join us for a round table discussion of work and wages at 9:00 am on Thursday, December 20th at the University Club of St. Paul.

Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 8:30 am and the event at 9:00 am.

Cost to attend is $15 for Business and Public Policy Round Table members and $35 for non-members. Payment will be accepted at the door.

Space is limited.

To register, please contact Jed at jed@cauxroundtable.net or (651) 223-2863 (email preferred).

The University Club is located at 420 Summit Ave in St. Paul.

Parking will be available along Summit Ave.

The event will conclude at 11:00 am.

And what about the poor?

Can there be a moral capitalism if people are poor?

Whose fault is it that people are poor – the system or theirs?

Superficially speaking, the left blames the system and wants redistribution of wealth from rich to poor while the right “blames” the poor for not doing more to get up and go after jobs, education, self-discipline.

But what if each side is narrowly focused in their analysis of causes of poverty and so also in its advocacy of what might really change circumstances for those in poverty?

What if each side understands some but not all of the truth about poverty?

Last year, the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism (CRT) and other organizations brought to Minnesota for our annual John Brandl Program to continue John’s “uncommon quest for common ground” Robert Doar of the American Enterprise Institute and Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution to speak on blending ideas from the right and the left seeking to reduce poverty.

Inspired by common sense virtue supporting their collaboration, the Brandl Program organizers – the CRT, Center of the American Experiment, Citizens League, Growth & Justice and the Humphrey School – agreed last year on collaboration around the challenge of reducing poverty in Minnesota. We decided that our first step should be setting forth our separate ideas and concerns about how to do this. Each group wrote an essay on poverty and Dean Laura Bloomberg of the Humphrey School wrote an introduction. We will release these essays at this year’s Brandl Program.

This year’s program marks the 10th anniversary of our joint continuation of John Brandl’s uncommon quest for common ground. We are proud to mark this milestone for a country so divided in its politics and its cultures with a major collaborative effort seeking the common good for our state.

To mark the release of our essays, Robert and Ron are returning to Minnesota for the 2018 Brandl Program scheduled for 4:30 pm on Monday, November 26th at the Humphrey School in Cowles Auditorium and you are invited to join us.

The keynote speaker for the program will be Tonya Allen, President & CEO of the Skillman Foundation in Detroit. The Skillman Foundation works to ensure that Detroit youth have access to high-quality educational and economic opportunities and a strong, broad network of champions that work on behalf of young people’s interests.

The event is free and open to the public.

For additional information or to register, please click here.

In June of last year, we cosponsored an event with Robert Doar of the American Enterprise Institute and Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution to discuss their joint AEI/Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity report titled “Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream”. 

This report is most notable for its success in bringing together a common goal – reducing poverty – advocates from different policy perspectives.  Reading the report is like turning the clock back to when America worked reasonably well for the common good.

We are very excited to announce that Ron and Robert will return to Minnesota on Monday, November 26th to discuss what has happened since their initial visit and where they see things going forward.

We will also be releasing our own local, joint report on recommended steps to reduce poverty in Minnesota.  These recommendations will come from the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism, Center of the American Experiment, Growth & Justice and the Citizens League.  Ron and Robert will respond to the range of our suggestions.

Please join us for a very special round table discussion with Robert and Ron at 7:30 am on the 26th at the Minneapolis Club. 

Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 7:00 am and the event at 7:30 am. 

Cost to attend is $15 for Business and Public Policy Round Table members and $35 for non-members.  Payment will be accepted at the door.

Copies of the report will be available at the event.

To register, please contact Jed at jed@cauxroundtable.net or (651) 223-2863 (email preferred).

The Minneapolis Club is located at 729 2nd Ave South in downtown Minneapolis. 

Parking will be available in the Minneapolis Club’s parking ramp.

The event will conclude at 9:30 am.

In June of last year, we cosponsored an event with Robert Doar of the American Enterprise Institute and Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution to discuss their joint AEI/Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity report titled “Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream”. 

This report is most notable for its success in bringing together a common goal – reducing poverty – advocates from different policy perspectives.  Reading the report is like turning the clock back to when America worked reasonably well for the common good.

We are very excited to announce that Ron and Robert will return to Minnesota on Monday, November 26th to discuss what has happened since their initial visit and where they see things going forward.

We will also be releasing our own local, joint report on recommended steps to reduce poverty in Minnesota.  These recommendations will come from the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism, Center of the American Experiment, Growth & Justice and the Citizens League.  Ron and Robert will respond to the range of our suggestions.

Please join us for a very special round table discussion with Robert and Ron at 7:30 am on the 26th at the Minneapolis Club. 

Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 7:00 am and the event at 7:30 am.

Cost to attend is $15 for Business and Public Policy Round Table members and $35 for non-members.  Payment will be accepted at the door.

Copies of the report will be available at the event.

To register, please contact Jed at jed@cauxroundtable.net or (651) 223-2863 (email preferred).

The Minneapolis Club is located at 729 2nd Ave South in downtown Minneapolis. 

Parking will be available in the Minneapolis Club’s parking ramp.

The event will conclude at 9:30 am.

At 9:00 am on Thursday, October 25^th, we will be hosting a round table to discuss Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposed federal legislation “The Accountable Capitalism Act” for large corporations and you are invited to join us.

In short, she proposes to have a law that focuses such corporations on stakeholders more than only shareholders.  This idea is at the heart of the Caux Round Table’s Principles for Business.  It is also the objective of the new benefit corporation laws passed by over 30 states, including Minnesota.

Now, the proposal is destined to be controversial, not only for its objective which rejects the simplistic vision of Milton Friedman and financial fundamentalists who claim systemic advantages to having corporations focus on short-term profits to be shared mostly with shareholders.  But it will be controversial because Senator Warren will most likely seek the nomination of the Democrat Party for the Presidency in the 2020 election.

Is her idea a good one?  Is it too idealistic?  Does it contain hidden flaws?  Can it work?

Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 8:30 am and the event at 9:00 am.

Cost to attend is $15 for Business and Public Policy Round Table members and $35 for non-members.  Payment will be accepted at the door.

I will be facilitating.

To register, please contact Jed at jed@cauxroundtable.net or (651) 223-2863 (email preferred).

The University Club is located at 420 Summit Ave in St. Paul.

You may read a precis of her proposal in the September edition of Pegasus here.

At 9:00 am on Thursday, October 25th, we will be hosting a round table to discuss Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposed federal legislation “The Accountable Capitalism Act” for large corporations and you are invited to join us.

In short, she proposes to have a law that focuses such corporations on stakeholders more than only shareholders. This idea is at the heart of the Caux Round Table’s Principles for Business. It is also the objective of the new benefit corporation laws passed by over 30 states, including Minnesota.

Now, the proposal is destined to be controversial, not only for its objective which rejects the simplistic vision of Milton Friedman and financial fundamentalists who claim systemic advantages to having corporations focus on short-term profits to be shared mostly with shareholders. But it will be controversial because Senator Warren will most likely seek the nomination of the Democrat Party for the Presidency in the 2020 election.

Is her idea a good one? Is it too idealistic? Does it contain hidden flaws? Can it work?

Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 8:30 am and the event at 9:00 am.

Cost to attend is $15 for Business and Public Policy Round Table members and $35 for non-members. Payment will be accepted at the door.

I will be facilitating.

To register, please contact Jed at jed@cauxroundtable.net or (651) 223-2863 (email preferred).

The University Club is located at 420 Summit Ave in St. Paul.

You may read a precis of her proposal in the September edition of Pegasus here.

At 9:00 am on Thursday, October 25th, we will be hosting a round table to discuss Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposed federal legislation “The Accountable Capitalism Act” for large corporations and you are invited to join us.

In short, she proposes to have a law that focuses such corporations on stakeholders more than only shareholders. This idea is at the heart of the Caux Round Table’s Principles for Business. It is also the objective of the new benefit corporation laws passed by over 30 states, including Minnesota.

Now, the proposal is destined to be controversial, not only for its objective which rejects the simplistic vision of Milton Friedman and financial fundamentalists who claim systemic advantages to having corporations focus on short-term profits to be shared mostly with shareholders. But it will be controversial because Senator Warren will most likely seek the nomination of the Democrat Party for the Presidency in the 2020 election.

Is her idea a good one? Is it too idealistic? Does it contain hidden flaws? Can it work?

Registration and a light breakfast will begin at 8:30 am and the event at 9:00 am.

Cost to attend is $15 for Business and Public Policy Round Table members and $35 for non-members. Payment will be accepted at the door.

I will be facilitating.
To register, please contact Jed at jed@cauxroundtable.net or (651) 223-2863 (email preferred).

The University Club is located at 420 Summit Ave in St. Paul.

You may read a precis of her proposal in the September edition of Pegasus here.