Private Economy Networking

I just received an email from The Maine Arts Commission announcing stimulus funds for non-profit organizations and the Union of Visual Artists - so if you are among the non-profit organizations and the unions, then you are among the chosen few blessed with "stimulus" funds coming directly from the taxpayers via our government.

For those of us left out of the loop- i.e. the private economy and non-union workers, it seems we have to find our own way to deal with the huge debt the government is gifting to the people, through our own initiatives.

This especially applies to small businesses since large businesses seem to have ready access to the financial resources of our government.

There exists an online people to people financing network http://www.prosper.com/. I do not have any experience with this network upon which I can offer any advice or recommendation so all I am doing here is letting others know that it exists.

If anyone has any experience with this network, please feel free to comment here.

Or if you have any ideas on how the free and private economy can network together for our mutual benefit, speak up and I thank you.

ODE to Glen Beck

While O’Reilley deplored,
That financial distress was ignored,
He fears that Glen Beck will depress us.
But Glen Beck did predict
That a meltdown would hit,
With insights that some thought had left us.


Some they believe
That spending will relieve
The debt that sends economies sinking.
And that those that oppose
The party in charge
Should silence the thoughts they are thinking
But Beck, he is there
To lead us out of despair
With humor and truth without blinking
He helps us define
Our new paradigm
And inspires a pure way of thinking.

Government socialism and the Non-profit Economy

Today it is over three years since I composed my first two blogs. My thoughts about what to write about remain consistent with my first two efforts.

In the meantime I have published a number of blog posts at Andersen Studio Days and Nights I understand the need for diplomacy in addressing controversial issues and indeed I attempt to the best of my ability to be diplomatic, but if acceptable diplomacy is to keep one's voice silent and to not question the powers that be, then we are no longer living in a democratic society. Since so much of the activities resulting from the collaboration between government and non-profit organizations borders on socialism and indeed sometimes crosses the line to Marxism, that silence for the sake of acceptance by the powers that be is not a viable alternative. On the other hand, it is probably better to publish my opinions in a venue that is not directly connected to our business and
to that end, I have decided to use this blog to publish my thoughts in a semi-anonymous manner that has fewer restraints by censorship.

The Maine Arts Commission is published on a government website. When I first started this blog in 2005, there was a creative economy list serve, which I welcomed. Maine is a fairly private state and the list serve seemed like a great opportunity to connect with Mainers living in other communities. However it soon became apparent that the list serve was "juried" by the Maine Arts Commission, sponsored by the state of Maine government. Although government censorship on freedom of speech seems fundamentally un-American, it didn't seem entirely inappropriate in the messy world of internet dialogues. However when an petition that I received from Wendy Rosen, who is a highly influential member of the professional crafts community, was rejected by the jury at The Maine Arts Commission, it became my first introduction to the cold shoulder response with which the Maine Art Commission greets the for-profit (small) business community. Since those days, I have come to privately refer to The Maine State Art Commission as a bureaucracy of elitism, which is not surprising when the governor's inspiration is Richard Florida.

The email I sent to be published on the Maine state creative economy list serve concerned the labeling of crafts made in China. These crafts were being imported into the United States with paper labels identifying that they were made in China. The paper labels could easily be removed and underneath were hand painted American names that portrayed the crafts as an American-made craft. Wendy was writing to Mainers because our Senator, Olympia Snowe, was on the relevant congressional committee, and so Wendy Rosen was requesting that we bring the matter to the attention of Senator Snowe. When I submitted the petition to The Maine Arts Commission's Creative Economy List Serve, it was rejected by the jury. On advise, I addressed a letter of complaint to the governor's wife and she contacted the Maine Arts Commission, who sent me a letter explaining that the contribution was rejected because the jury perceived it to be "spam". The obvious rationalization did not hold water, as it is common knowledge that spam is a product of mass mailing, and I sent a single email to the creative economy list serve. In that contribution I requested that Maine crafters write to Senator Snowe. If the "jury" at the Maine Arts Commission identifies such a request as "spam", it only indicates that there is something seriously wrong with the Maine Arts Commission, a belief that has been continually reinforced in the ensuing years.