The Selflessness Signal

2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus speaks with Bill Maher about normalcy. Bill points out that the old normalcy was to consume more  than we earned to keep the economy going.

Muhammad adds that exorbitant Pay Day lending, pawn shops and check cashing companies are examples of a twisted, rather than “normal” economy. He calls for a new normalcy built on social businesses that recognize the selflesness of human beings and their desire to create positive change.

The crowd applauds. Maher suggests that they applaud because they decry selfishness, not that they’re necessarily agreeing with Muhammad. Muhammad insists they agree because he gets the “signal”. The crowd applauds louder!

They feel it. MBAs at Harvard are feeling it. The Selflessness Signal is rising.

Check out the video below, and let us know if you’re feeling it too?

‘It’s good to share’ Video

Do you care about the world? Are better health, reduced violence, more trust, improved child well being, and a faster growing economy important to you? Well, it turns out that all of these are related to the level of wealth sharing. Countries with higher levels of equality do better in all these areas (and others). Countries with lower levels of equality do worse.

So, for example, an economy is slowed when money must be spent on protection – armored cars, body guards etc. – as happens in highly unequal countries, like Brazil and Mexico. Whereas, in countries that share wealth better, like Japan and Sweden, this money is put to more productive use.

When a cruise ship is sinking, it begins to list to one side, the furniture slides, the engine may fail, the passengers may panic and become abusive. Time and effort to address each of these problems will yield results. But, fixing the leak and pumping out the excess water is the best use of the crew’s time, as it helps resolve all the other problems.

Wealth sharing is like fixing the leak and pumping out the excess water on a sinking ship. This may be the single best thing we can do to help ourselves and the world at the same time. If you doubt this, consider that the financial crisis is the result of millions of people doing the worst deals around closed credit products, where known downstream implications of a purchase, like wealth destruction and exacerbating inequality, were intentionally obfuscated.

By contrast, open products like organic foods, hybrid cars, and renewable energy, come with more information on downstream sustainability. Open products empower us to be the change we want to see in the world through the informed choices we make. If you want change, why not maximize your impact by joining with all the other people who’ve agreed to share wealth by opening their pay? By the way, it turns out that countries who share wealth better even recycle more – just in case you needed one more reason. Take a moment to check out our video, and tell a friend all the reasons why it’s good to share.