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Postby mends » 11 Aug 2006, 11:33

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Postby mends » 30 Aug 2006, 10:50

aconselhamento de carreiraImage
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Postby mends » 31 Aug 2006, 11:32

sobre trabalhar em casa, olha só um parágrafo de um artigo da semana passada do Wall Street Journal:

Other companies are retraining employees to work together online. Karin Levitt, director, organizational development, at Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif., trains home-based managers to "tune into different ways of reading" co-workers by phone or instant messages; a participant's long silence in a teleconference, for example, signals a need to check in and ask why.[color=red] Her eight-member team, scattered across six states and Canada, holds virtual baby showers and, last December, organized an online holiday party, sharing family slides and playing games while munching snacks at their desks, Ms. Levitt says. "It was great fun" and brought the team closer.[/color]
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Postby vitormorg » 01 Sep 2006, 13:54

Isso me lembra a cena de um filme ruim do Stalone :cool: (acho que chamava demolidor) que ele faz "sexo" com a Sandra Bullock através de um aparelho que "sintonizava as ondas cerebrais" ;(
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Postby mends » 05 Sep 2006, 18:04

quero saber quem quer copiar a idéia aqui no Brasil. Me ofereço pra ser consultor sênior: sei alguma coisa de filosofia, um pouco de teologia e história das religiões, acho que dá pra enganar.

Veneration Gap
A Popular Strategy
For Church Growth
Splits Congregants

Across U.S., Members Divide
On Making Sermons, Music
More 'Purpose-Driven'
No More 'Wrath of God'?
By SUZANNE SATALINE
September 5, 2006; Page A1

IUKA, Miss. -- In April, 150 members of Iuka Baptist Church voted to kick Charles Jones off the deacons' board. The punishment followed weeks of complaints by Mr. Jones and his friends that the pastor was following the teachings of the Rev. Rick Warren, the best-selling author and church-growth guru. After the vote, about 40 other members quit the church to support Mr. Jones.

Mr. Warren, the effusive pastor of stadium-sized Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., is best known for his book "The Purpose Driven Life," which has sold 25 million copies and urges people to follow God's plan for them. He has spawned an industry advising churches to become "purpose-driven" by attracting nonbelievers with lively worship services, classes and sermons that discuss Jesus' impact on their lives, and invitations to volunteer.


But the purpose-driven movement is dividing the country's more than 50 million evangelicals. Some evangelicals, like the Iuka castoffs, say it's inappropriate for churches to use growth tactics akin to modern management tools, including concepts such as researching the church "market" and writing mission statements. Others say it encourages simplistic Bible teaching. Anger over the adoption of Mr. Warren's methods has driven off older Christians from their longtime churches. Congregations nationwide have split or expelled members who fought the changes, roiling working-class Baptist congregations and affluent nondenominational churches.

Last summer, the evangelical church of onetime Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers split after adopting Mr. Warren's techniques. That church, Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, wanted to increase membership and had built a huge sanctuary several years ago to accommodate hundreds of people. Church leaders adopted a strategic plan built around Mr. Warren's five "fundamental purposes": worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism. One goal was to make sure more than 19% of the church's members were adults in their 20s and 30s, says the pastor, the Rev. Barry McCarty.


The Rev. Ron Key, then the senior minister, says he objected to the church's "Madison Avenue" marketing. "I believe Jesus died for everybody," Mr. Key says, not just people in a "target audience." He says the leaders wanted church that was more "edgy," with a worship service using modern music. Mr. Key was demoted, then fired for being divisive and insubordinate.

About 200 people, many of whom had left the church earlier because they thought it should give more money to mission work, began worshiping in a Doubletree Hotel, and later in a college gym, with Mr. Key as pastor. Ms. Miers, the White House counsel, worships with them when she comes to town, a White House spokeswoman says.

At a time when many churches are struggling with declining or aging congregations, advocates of the purpose-driven movement credit it with energizing congregations, doubling the size of some churches and boosting the number of "megachurches" of more than 2,000 members. Mr. Warren says his church and nonprofit arm have trained 400,000 pastors world-wide. He reaches many more through sales of his sermons, books and lessons on the Web. Mr. Warren says he donates 90% of his money to fund philanthropy and overseas training.

Mr. Warren preaches in sandals and a Hawaiian shirt, and he encourages ministers to banish church traditions such as hymns, choirs and pews. He and his followers use "praise team" singers, backed by rock bands playing contemporary Christian songs. His sermons rarely linger on self-denial and fighting sin, instead focusing on healing modern American angst, such as troubled marriages and stress.

As membership in Protestant churches stagnated in the 1980s, Mr. Warren, a Southern Baptist in Orange County, Calif., learned from surveys that the region's Reagan-era baby boomers said they didn't connect with their parents' churches. He figured they might find God if they could sit in a theater-style auditorium and listen to live pop music and sermons that could help them with ennui and personal problems. Through Mr. Warren's Internet marketing savvy, tens of thousands of subscribing pastors learned about his church, which draws 20,000 people each weekend. In the past decade, many pastors jumped to replicate his methods, creating new churches and transforming existing ones.

Christians have long divided over efforts to adapt and modernize their faith. Some believers worry that purpose-driven techniques are so widespread among Protestant churches that they are permanently altering the way Christians worship. Some traditionalists say Mr. Warren's messages misread Bible passages and undermine traditions. Mr. Warren is "gutting" Christianity, says the Rev. Bob DeWaay, author of a book critical of the approach. "The Bible's theme is about redemption and atonement, not finding meaning and solving problems," the Minneapolis pastor says. A spokesman said Mr. Warren believes the Bible addresses sin and redemption, as well as human problems.

Some pastors learn how to make their churches purpose-driven through training workshops. Speakers at Church Transitions Inc., a Waxhaw, N.C., nonprofit that works closely with Mr. Warren's church, stress that the transition will be rough. At a seminar outside of Austin, Texas, in April, the Revs. Roddy Clyde and Glen Sartain advised 80 audience members to trust very few people with their plans. "All the forces of hell are going to come at you when you wake up that church," said Mr. Sartain, who has taught the material at Mr. Warren's Saddleback Church.

During a session titled "Dealing with Opposition," Mr. Clyde recommended that the pastor speak to critical members, then help them leave if they don't stop objecting. Then when those congregants join a new church, Mr. Clyde instructed, pastors should call their new minister and suggest that the congregants be barred from any leadership role.

"There are moments when you've got to play hardball," said the Rev. Dan Southerland, Church Transitions' president, in an interview. "You cannot transition a church...and placate every whiny Christian along the way."

Mr. Warren acknowledges that splits occur in congregations that adopt his ideas, though he says he opposes efforts to expel church members. "There is no growth without change and there is no change without loss and there is no loss without pain," he says. "Probably 10% of all churches are in conflict at any given point, regardless of what they're doing." That, he contends, "is not just symptomatic of changing to purpose-driven. It would be symptomatic in changing to anything."

Despite successes elsewhere, the exodus at some churches adopting the purpose-driven approach has been dramatic. Since taking the job of senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lakewood in Long Beach, Calif., seven years ago, the Rev. John Dickau has watched attendance slide to 550 from 700. "I've often wondered, where's bottom?" he says.

Mr. Dickau has emulated Mr. Warren by favoring sermons about marital and family issues. He says he has attended several Church Transitions conferences to glean new insights and is personally coached by Mr. Sartain. Still, Mr. Dickau says, he made plenty of missteps, mainly, moving too fast. He proposed that the church drop the word "Baptist" from the name, to reach people who wouldn't identify with a denomination, but the congregation vote failed.

He jettisoned the piano for a guitar. And still people left, he says -- because the music is modern, because the congregation no longer uses hymn books, because the center screen that displays the song lyrics obscures the cross. Having a smaller congregation has meant trimming the $1.7 million budget to be able to afford adding to the sound system and new stage lights, which cost $150,000, Mr. Dickau says.

Still, he says he doesn't regret adopting a purpose-driven approach. "This church won't be here that much longer if we don't make these changes," he says.

The Rev. Bob Felts, pastor of Brookwood Church in Burlington, N.C., says his former congregation seemed enthusiastic about the purpose-driven approach in the 1990s. So he eagerly introduced the concepts to his new church starting in 2001.

Half the members, he said, balked at his decisions to dress casually, restrict choir performances and use electric instruments. Services now may start with a piercing electric-guitar solo, boosted with amplifiers from the $50,000 sound system. Nearly five years into the process, Mr. Felts says he has more young people than in years past: 40% of those who attend are under 22, as opposed to 20% years earlier. But attendance shrank to 275 this summer from 600. (He expects returning students from the area college to swell the rolls by 70.) Mr. Felts says he had to cut tens of thousands of dollars from the annual budget, which is now $600,000. He says some departing members have accused him of "ruining the church."

Mr. Felts says that despite his church's troubles, most churches that follow the purpose-driven way are growing. "It takes time and persistence," he says. "You're talking about a new paradigm."

Mr. Warren's philosophy has become such a lightning rod that some church leaders are reluctant to declare that they are using purpose-driven methods -- and some congregants see hidden agendas in the smallest changes at their churches.

Since Iuka Baptist's founding in 1859, its services had remained much the same. Sunday morning began with hymns such as "How Great Thou Art" and "O Worship the King," followed by prayer and a lengthy sermon. Many of the white working-class families who attend the church have known each other since high school.


But the church was in debt and wasn't growing. After Iuka's pastor moved to another church in 2003, a search committee recruited the Rev. Jim Holcomb, 48. He preached with gusto, liberally salting his sermons with personal stories and jokes. Changes were coming, he told members, and he warned that the church could lose some members because of it.

Mr. Holcomb says he partially read an earlier Warren book called "The Purpose Driven Church" and read Mr. Warren's essays in the Ladies' Home Journal. He says Mr. Warren's teachings were never part of his agenda. He was promoting "aggressive, evangelistic outreach" to bolster the church. "If that's purpose-driven, then I'm purpose-driven," he says.

Innovations that are hallmarks of many purpose-driven churches soon began rippling through Iuka Baptist. Mr. Holcomb began a second worship service at 8:30 a.m. Sundays with a "praise team" that sang hymns as well as Christian pop songs with lyrics beamed on a screen. In 2005, Iuka Baptist adopted its first mission statement, a tactic that Mr. Warren says helps the church focus on its objectives. One of the school's adult Sunday school teachers bought each of his 12 students a copy of "The Purpose Driven Life." The church's youth minister assigned the book to his 60 middle-school and high-school students.

The church began to grow. Membership this spring was 694 local members, up 170 since Mr. Holcomb became pastor, according to church staff. But the changes dismayed several older members. Charles Jones, 67, had belonged to Iuka Baptist for 59 years and was one of 15 deacons, or lay officers. He and his wife, Nena, were married at the church, as was their daughter.

The Joneses grew disappointed that they rarely heard Mr. Holcomb deliver messages from the pulpit about God's wrath or redemption. "He didn't preach on somebody going to hell," says Mrs. Jones, 61. Mr. Holcomb says he has always preached sound biblical messages.

Mrs. Jones began scouring the Internet to investigate all the changes taking places at Iuka. Her searches led her to Web sites run by critics of Mr. Warren as well as to Mr. Warren's own Web site.

More than a dozen church members, including the Joneses, began meeting privately to complain about changes. Church leaders became angry. "The Rev. Jim Holcomb has been slandered and insulted by some of you," the church's minister for education, the Rev. Kim Leonard, thundered at one service. Mr. Holcomb and Mr. Leonard deny that Iuka Baptist was becoming purpose-driven. Mr. Leonard says it was "coincidence" that the new initiatives resembled strategies advocated by Mr. Warren and his movement.

Then a Web site run by a critic of Mr. Warren posted a letter from Mrs. Jones describing her worries about Iuka Baptist and comparing the congregation's admiration for Mr. Holcomb to the cult followings of Jim Jones and David Koresh. The posting sparked angry emails from church members. A church meeting was soon called. Hundreds of people packed into the pews. After heated arguments, the congregation voted 150-to-41 to throw Mr. Jones off the board. The members also accepted the resignations of two other deacons, friends of Mr. Jones who had been asked to leave the board. In the weeks that followed, 40 church members quit.

With no church to worship in this spring, Mr. Jones led 30 former Iuka members in prayer one May night at a public park. He asked God to bless their former spiritual home and those who had forced them from it.

"Keep your eyes on Iuka Baptist Church, Lord," Mr. Jones said, his head bowed, "that you may open their eyes and their hearts."

Mr. Holcomb, the pastor whose changes at the church started the controversy, has left Iuka for another church. A search committee continues to look for a new pastor. Deacon Kenny Phifer said the committee won't hire a pastor who will make Iuka purpose-driven.

Write to Suzanne Sataline at suzanne.sataline@wsj.com
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Postby mends » 05 Oct 2006, 19:05

Why Career Switchers
Thrive as Financial Advisers

By SCOTT STEARNS
October 5, 2006; Page D3

Bruce Kahn is the kind of accomplished professional that brokerage firms covet -- and not just as clients.

Firms are swooning over midcareer types like Mr. Kahn, an ecologist with a doctorate in environmental science who joined Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney division as a financial adviser in 2004, at 36.

The logic: With professional polish, contacts and life experience, these career switchers can gain the confidence of affluent baby boomers and advise them with authority on everything from household budgets to complex estate plans. What's more, by building first careers, they've demonstrated the perseverance needed to create a profitable advisory practice.

These midlifers also show up with a first-person case study in financial planning. After earning a good living in the first part of their working lives, they've had to figure out a way to bear a deep pay cut when they start as advisers.

The transition was a success for Mr. Kahn, whose early career took him from West Africa, where he worked with subsistence farmers as a Peace Corps volunteer, to Fortune 500 companies, where he advised executives on eco-friendly business practices. Today, he's attracting $2 million a month in assets from wealthy individuals and small institutions that share his commitment to the environment and socially responsible investing.

Most people who leave established careers to become advisers need some means of support to get them through the sharp pay cut that they typically sustain. Some rely on spouses with better-paying jobs, others draw pensions from their previous careers, and some tap their nest eggs. Yet most also have the benefit of a Rolodex filled with prospects and an insider's knowledge of their old field that gives them instant credibility.

Those advantages worked well for Peter Toll, a senior financial adviser with Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Portland, Ore., a longtime political operative who spent six years as chief of staff to the majority leader in the Oregon State Senate. Among Mr. Toll's contacts were executives with nonprofit groups that he'd worked with on legislative business. Today, he manages endowment money for many of those groups.

Richard Pazolt, an independent adviser with Commonwealth Financial Network, also built his practice on the foundation of his previous career. An airline pilot for three decades, Mr. Pazolt started doing financial plans for friends in the years leading to his 2002 retirement from Delta Air Lines. Those post-9/11 days saw many pilots leaving the carriers and looking for help investing large pension payouts. Mr. Pazolt now manages $78 million, more than half of it for pilots and airline retirees.

Many people who become financial advisers in later life come from fields like accounting, law and sales. But they're not the only ones who show up with financial acumen. William Cuthbertson, a fee-only adviser in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., was a paramedic and firefighter for more than 20 years. He was also the principal business agent for his 3,200-member union local in Orange County, Calif., which involved him in negotiating labor contracts, structuring benefits packages and managing the union budget. He even picked up an M.B.A. along the way.

"You wouldn't think that a firefighter would be gathering financial knowledge in that job, but I did," Mr. Cuthbertson says.

Write to Scott Stearns at scott.stearns@dowjones.com
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Postby mends » 19 Oct 2006, 18:05

....

Image
"I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles 'cause I'm one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I'm still alive."

Joey Ramone, em uma das minhas músicas favoritas ("I Believe in Miracles")
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Postby telles » 29 Oct 2006, 23:20

Não tem a ver com o tópico, mas sim com o criador do Dilbert. Dá uma olhada que interessante:

Good News Day

As regular readers of my blog know, I lost my voice about 18 months ago. Permanently. It’s something exotic called Spasmodic Dysphonia. Essentially a part of the brain that controls speech just shuts down in some people, usually after you strain your voice during a bout with allergies (in my case) or some other sort of normal laryngitis. It happens to people in my age bracket.

I asked my doctor – a specialist for this condition – how many people have ever gotten better. Answer: zero. While there’s no cure, painful Botox injections through the front of the neck and into the vocal cords can stop the spasms for a few months. That weakens the muscles that otherwise spasm, but your voice is breathy and weak.

The weirdest part of this phenomenon is that speech is processed in different parts of the brain depending on the context. So people with this problem can often sing but they can’t talk. In my case I could do my normal professional speaking to large crowds but I could barely whisper and grunt off stage. And most people with this condition report they have the most trouble talking on the telephone or when there is background noise. I can speak normally alone, but not around others. That makes it sound like a social anxiety problem, but it’s really just a different context, because I could easily sing to those same people.

I stopped getting the Botox shots because although they allowed me to talk for a few weeks, my voice was too weak for public speaking. So at least until the fall speaking season ended, I chose to maximize my onstage voice at the expense of being able to speak in person.

My family and friends have been great. They read my lips as best they can. They lean in to hear the whispers. They guess. They put up with my six tries to say one word. And my personality is completely altered. My normal wittiness becomes slow and deliberate. And often, when it takes effort to speak a word intelligibly, the wrong word comes out because too much of my focus is on the effort of talking instead of the thinking of what to say. So a lot of the things that came out of my mouth frankly made no sense.

To state the obvious, much of life’s pleasure is diminished when you can’t speak. It has been tough.

But have I mentioned I’m an optimist?

Just because no one has ever gotten better from Spasmodic Dysphonia before doesn’t mean I can’t be the first. So every day for months and months I tried new tricks to regain my voice. I visualized speaking correctly and repeatedly told myself I could (affirmations). I used self hypnosis. I used voice therapy exercises. I spoke in higher pitches, or changing pitches. I observed when my voice worked best and when it was worst and looked for patterns. I tried speaking in foreign accents. I tried “singing” some words that were especially hard.

My theory was that the part of my brain responsible for normal speech was still intact, but for some reason had become disconnected from the neural pathways to my vocal cords. (That’s consistent with any expert’s best guess of what’s happening with Spasmodic Dysphonia. It’s somewhat mysterious.) And so I reasoned that there was some way to remap that connection. All I needed to do was find the type of speaking or context most similar – but still different enough – from normal speech that still worked. Once I could speak in that slightly different context, I would continue to close the gap between the different-context speech and normal speech until my neural pathways remapped. Well, that was my theory. But I’m no brain surgeon.

The day before yesterday, while helping on a homework assignment, I noticed I could speak perfectly in rhyme. Rhyme was a context I hadn’t considered. A poem isn’t singing and it isn’t regular talking. But for some reason the context is just different enough from normal speech that my brain handled it fine.

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack jumped over the candlestick.

I repeated it dozens of times, partly because I could. It was effortless, even though it was similar to regular speech. I enjoyed repeating it, hearing the sound of my own voice working almost flawlessly. I longed for that sound, and the memory of normal speech. Perhaps the rhyme took me back to my own childhood too. Or maybe it’s just plain catchy. I enjoyed repeating it more than I should have. Then something happened.

My brain remapped.

My speech returned.

Not 100%, but close, like a car starting up on a cold winter night. And so I talked that night. A lot. And all the next day. A few times I felt my voice slipping away, so I repeated the nursery rhyme and tuned it back in. By the following night my voice was almost completely normal.

When I say my brain remapped, that’s the best description I have. During the worst of my voice problems, I would know in advance that I couldn’t get a word out. It was if I could feel the lack of connection between my brain and my vocal cords. But suddenly, yesterday, I felt the connection again. It wasn’t just being able to speak, it was KNOWING how. The knowing returned.

I still don’t know if this is permanent. But I do know that for one day I got to speak normally. And this is one of the happiest days of my life.

But enough about me. Leave me a comment telling me the happiest moment of YOUR life. Keep it brief. Only good news today. I don’t want to hear anything else.


Tirado de http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/good_news_day.html
Telles

Conheça aqui a Vergonha Nacional
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Postby Danilo » 30 Oct 2006, 10:41

Nosso cérebro é uma coisa muito peculiar mesmo. Em português, a doença se chama disfonia espasmódica.

A doença pode ser causada por uma anomalia cromossômica que leva a espasmos nas cordas vocais. Pode causar espasmos nos olhos, braços, boca e pernas. Muitas vítimas sofrem de distonias, ou problemas de movimento, diversas.

Há quase três anos, Adams desenvolveu um tremor no dedo mínimo da mão direita sempre que encostava a pena no papel para desenhar. Ele adotou um sistema digital, e os espasmos sumiram. Dilbert é gerado por computador desde então. A perda de voz ocorreu em 2005. Seu único luxo, diz ele, era a capacidade de cantar e recitar poesia.


(de http://www.estadao.com.br/ciencia/notic ... 27/289.htm)
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Postby mends » 01 Nov 2006, 23:53

Consultant Turned Pop Music Star
Looks Beyond Radio to Score a Hit
By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY
November 1, 2006; Page B1

Before becoming a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, John Legend worked for three years as an associate consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. "I look at myself as a businessman still, even though my first thing is music," says Mr. Legend. "Every day we have business problems we have to solve."

His current business problem: how to get a hit single.

Mr. Legend, 27, sold more than 1.7 million copies of his last album, "Get Lifted" in the U.S., but he has yet to put out a single that gets major radio play.


John Legend is promoting his new album with corporate alliances.
The performer's new album, "Once Again," was released last week to rave reviews -- Newsweek called him "one of those rare talents who get better with each record." Nonetheless, data from Nielsen BDS indicate the new CD's first single, "Save Room," which came out in advance of the album, received far less airplay on major radio formats last month than many other recent releases, including songs by pop star Justin Timberlake and singer Ciara. Mr. Legend's single was running neck and neck with a tune by parodist Weird Al Yankovic.

Artists almost always make much more money from selling albums than from selling singles. But radio play of singles acts as advertising and helps to drive album sales. "The lack of radio play concerns me," says Mr. Legend. "But I think I can get a hit record without it."

To do that, Mr. Legend is seeking to get his music heard on a variety of other channels, and he has entered into marketing arrangements with a wide range of companies. His song "Save Room" appears in ads for HBO. His album is available at J.C. Penney and Starbucks. Target will mount a special push for the album around the close of the year, packaging it with a special holiday-themed CD recorded by Mr. Legend exclusively for its stores.

Verizon Wireless provided 30-second clips of two of Mr. Legend's songs to subscribers and allowed them to vote on which song should be released as his next single. Baileys Original Irish Cream, which is sponsoring Mr. Legend's tour, has set up a Web site pushing the singer's music. Last month when Microsoft Corp.'s MSN teamed with the music broadcasting company Control Room to launch a venture to stream live concerts online, Mr. Legend delivered the debut performance.


The cover of Grammy-winning singer John Legend's new CD, "Once Again."
A growing number of musicians are marketing singles and sometimes turning them into hits without the support of radio, at least initially. Radio still matters -- a recent report by Mercury Radio Research, a company that studies the industry, found that the medium is still the primary way people discover new music. But other methods are making inroads. For example, the song "How to Save a Life," by the Denver-based rock group the Fray, became a top-three hit after it was featured on the TV show "Grey's Anatomy." And Panic! At the Disco, a Nevada rock band, got an early push from Purevolume, a music fan site, and the social networking site MySpace. The band went on to become the surprise winner of MTV's 2006 Video of the Year, beating out Madonna and Christina Aguilera.

The online attention spurred radio stations to play Panic! At the Disco's music and fans to buy their albums and attend their shows. "It's the new way kids are getting their music instead of radio," says Bob McLynn, Panic! At the Disco's manager. "Instead of waiting for the radio to play a song, they go to the computer and get it themselves."

To be sure, getting on the radio has always been a challenge, particularly for new and risk-taking artists. But some experts say it's becoming more difficult. Mike Mills, a member of the veteran rock band REM, said at a Federal Communications Commission hearing on media ownership last month that "Playlists have been corporatized, nationalized, and sanitized. Airplay for local and new artists is a virtual impossibility."

But some big companies in radio say they're behind Mr. Legend's album. Clear Channel Communications Inc., which took in 17.5% of all radio advertising last year, says that play on its stations represents more than 23% of all of Mr. Legend's radio airplay to date. Tom Owens, executive vice president of programming and other content at Clear Channel Radio, said in a statement: "John Legend is a remarkable artist whom no broadcast group has supported more universally than Clear Channel."

Sirius Satellite Radio also broadcast a live concert by Mr. Legend last week.

Mr. Legend, whose given name is John Stephens, doesn't have the typical pop star résumé. In an era when many artists rely on computer-generated beats, he's a skilled instrumentalist. He began playing piano when he was four years old, and was schooled in jazz, classical and soul. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in English.

"Get Lifted," Mr. Legend's major label debut for Sony Urban Music, was released in 2004 and combined soulful vocals with hip-hop beats. It was produced by rapper Kanye West, and featured rap cameos by Mr. West and Snoop Dogg. "Those cameos helped make it easier for hip-hop formats to embrace him," says Ebro Darden, assistant program director and music director for the influential New York hip-hop radio station Hot 97.

For his new album, Mr. Legend decided to pursue a sound that skirted current musical trends. "Once Again" features tracks produced by Mr. West and rapper will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, but it doesn't feature any rapping. Most of the songs evoke the classic soul of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

Many radio station representatives, however, say their listeners like catchy beats -- and aren't all that interested in songwriting. "Personally, I love [Mr. Legend's] stuff, but there hasn't been a single off his album we can play," says Tod Tucker, director of programming for KHTT, a station in Tulsa, Okla. "We're in the business of playing what people want," adds Mr. Tucker. The station currently has Fergie, Justin Timberlake and Ludacris on its playlist.

Hot 97's Mr. Darden also says he likes Mr. Legend's single "Save Room," but says his station doesn't plan to play it because it has too much of a "rock and alternative feel."

Mr. Legend, who has stumped the country chatting up "Once Again" with local radio stations, says such reactions leave him frustrated. "I meet a lot of program directors who are like 'I really like this but it doesn't fit in on our station,'" he says. "They don't believe their fans have enough taste to like the stuff that they like."
"I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles 'cause I'm one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I'm still alive."

Joey Ramone, em uma das minhas músicas favoritas ("I Believe in Miracles")
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Postby Wagner » 02 Nov 2006, 01:56

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Se acontecer alguma merda, é só eu começar a cantar funk, ou até axé..plagiando Ivete:

"O meu modelo é animal,
Projeta por porduto, segmento e canal"
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Postby mends » 06 Nov 2006, 08:29

qualquer coincidência é mera semelhança

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"I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles 'cause I'm one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I'm still alive."

Joey Ramone, em uma das minhas músicas favoritas ("I Believe in Miracles")
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Postby mends » 06 Nov 2006, 09:37

essa matéria que segue tem uma relação toda "ispicial" com a Saidera. Israelenses Cuidando do Trabalho Sujo! :cool:

Uma fraude de R$ 600 milhões | 02.11.2006
O rombo que o Opportunity deixou na Brasil Telecom mostra quão frágil pode ser a governança corporativa em empresas brasileiras


Joedson Alves / AEDantas: alvo de novas acusaçõesPor Maurício Lima e Cristiane Mano
EXAME A sede da Brasil Telecom, uma das maiores operadoras de telefonia do país, fica em Brasília num bairro batizado de Setor de Indústrias e Gráficas, também conhecido pela sigla SIA. É um local ermo, considerado distante até pelos próprios moradores da capital federal, acostumados a atravessar toda a cidade em menos de 30 minutos. No prédio, construído em 1983 e baseado num projeto de dois arquitetos desconhecidos, trabalham quase 2 000 funcionários. Todos eles têm uma razoável idéia do que aconteceu com a operadora de telefonia nos últimos anos -- uma seqüência de disputas encarniçadas que começou com um desentendimento entre os sócios e ainda segue na Justiça com processos de parte a parte. Mas menos de dez, entre os milhares de empregados da Brasil Telecom, têm acesso ao resultado de uma auditoria que terminou recentemente e procura mensurar o estrago que teria sido causado durante o período de brigas. Trata-se de um dos mais alentados dossiês de que se tem notícia no ambiente brasileiro de negócios. Algo mais parecido com as batalhas políticas do que com o mundo das empresas.


O tamanho do rombo
Os valores das irregularidades cometidas pelo Opportunity na administração da Brasil Telecom(1)
Aplicações financeiras 237.600.000
Uso de aeronaves 96.000.000
Compra do IG 89.500.000
Contratos de publicidade 54.200.000
Kroll 46.000.000
Serviços de tecnologia 45.200.000
Agência de turismo 8.300.000
Consultorias 5.700.000
Assessorias de imprensa 3.000.000
Outras despesas 15.000.000
Total 600.500.000
(1) Segundo auditoria realizada pelas empresas ICTS e Grant Thornton

Guardadas numa das salas da Brasil Telecom, onde todos os acessos são filmados e permitidos apenas por um sistema de reconhecimento de impressões digitais, estão 80 000 páginas de documentos -- uma montanha de papel capaz de encher um espaço de 25 metros quadrados. Em resumo, as informações reunidas pela auditoria apontam na seguinte direção: durante os sete anos em que permaneceu na gestão da Brasil Telecom, o banco Opportunity teria cometido irregularidades administrativas que, somadas, ultrapassariam a casa dos 600 milhões de reais. Se essas irregularidades forem confirmadas pela Polícia Federal, pelo Ministério Público e pela Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM), instituições que estão investigando o caso, esse se tornará o maior escândalo empresarial da história do capitalismo brasileiro. No meio de tudo isso estão os quase 4 milhões de acionistas da Brasil Telecom, empresa considerada estratégica no xadrez das telecomunicações brasileiras. Com 12,5 milhões de clientes, a BrT domina os serviços de telecomunicações em nove estados brasileiros. Num eventual movimento de consolidação do setor -- hoje proibido pela regulação --, a companhia seria o principal alvo de aquisição por parte de concorrentes como a Telemar (veja reportagem na pág. 52). Não há nada de essencialmente errado com a Brasil Telecom. Seus telefones funcionam. Seus funcionários continuam trabalhando. Mas o show de acusações mútuas e denúncias protagonizado por seus sócios tem ti do o poder funesto de, aos poucos, devastar sua imagem e seu valor (a empresa hoje vale 7,5 bilhões de reais, ante os 8 bilhões há 12 meses). Para os atuais controladores -- os fundos de pensão encabeçados por Previ e Petros e o Citibank --, muitas das dificuldades teriam origem na gestão de Dantas. "O importante é evitar que situações como essa voltem a se repetir", diz o atual presidente da empresa, Ricardo Knoepfelmacher. "A empresa agora tem governança corporativa e está blindada contra a ação predatória de um acionista em detrimento dos demais."

A lista de transgressões atribuídas pela atual administração ao Opportunity é extensa e, caso seja comprovada, revela um estilo de governança corporativa peculiar, inaceitável numa companhia de capital aberto em qualquer lugar do mundo. Tal estilo foi forjado pelos erros cometidos por todos os lados envolvidos e só se manifestou quando as primeiras desavenças vieram à tona. De acordo com a documentação produzida pela empresa de auditoria israelense ICTS e pela americana Terco Grant Thornton, o banco de Daniel Dantas comandava a Brasil Telecom sem dar satisfação aos outros sócios da empresa e, pior, tomava decisões com a clara intenção de prejudicá-los. Chama a atenção no material enviado à CVM a negociação para a compra do site iG, realizada em 2004. Segundo os documentos que estão sendo analisados pelos especialistas do órgão, a aquisição seria o único caso já registrado no Brasil no qual o comprador insiste para que o vendedor cobre um preço maior do que o estipulado inicialmente. A peça consta do processo CVM RJ, número 9.887. A Brasil Telecom já tinha um pedaço das ações do site, quase 10% do total, mas o Opportunity decidiu obter o controle da empresa sob o argumento de que a aquisição seria estratégica para o futuro da telefônica. Além da BrT, participavam do bloco de controle do iG o próprio Opportunity, a Andrade Gutierrez e a Telemar. Foram feitas pelo menos duas avaliações para determinar o valor da compra. A consultoria britânica Theater & Greenwood, uma das mais respeitadas do Reino Unido, avaliou o site em 54 milhões de dólares, e a própria administração do iG estipulou o preço em 109 milhões de dólares, informação a que o Opportunity tinha acesso. Ignorando a opinião dos outros sócios da BrT e essas avaliações, Dantas pagou 133 milhões de dólares por 88% do capital da empresa. Na documentação enviada à CVM há e-mails da antiga direção da BrT (leia-se Opportunity) solicitando ao iG a majoração do preço para "um valor próximo a 140 milhões de dólares". Segundo os auditores contratados pelos atuais controladores, a operadora de telefonia teria pago, pelo menos, 89,5 milhões de reais a mais na transação.

Seria ingenuidade acreditar que, caso se revele verdadeira, a fraude tenha sido arquitetada apenas por uma questão de dinheiro. Daniel Dantas é um homem rico e seu banco de investimentos é um dos mais bem-sucedidos do país. A história recente da Brasil Telecom é palco, sobretudo, de demonstrações públicas ou esquivas de poder -- de lado a lado. As batalhas entre os sócios também geraram ódios mútuos e desejos de vingança. Foi isso que fez com que a administração da BrT se transformasse, na opinião dos inimigos de Dantas, em algo profundamente personalista. O atual comando da companhia menciona o uso dos jatos corporativos como exemplo pitoresco disso. O Opportunity, a Brasil Telecom e outras quatro companhias formavam um consórcio, batizado de Voa, que usava três aeronaves para deslocamentos de seus executivos no Brasil e no exterior. Em sete anos, foram 6 658 vôos. Nessa divisão, segundo as auditorias contratadas, a Brasil Telecom teria saído prejudicada várias vezes. Primeiro porque era a sócia que mais contribuía com recursos, apesar de usar as aeronaves quase tanto quanto os demais participantes do consórcio. Depois porque teria pago por aquilo que não usufruiu. Um dos jatos, um Cessna Citation X, prefixo PT-WUM, tinha como destino freqüente a cidade baiana de Valença, município próximo a Morro de São Paulo e maior cidade da chamada Costa do Dendê. Dantas, coincidentemente, possui uma propriedade lá. Nas despesas pagas pela Brasil Telecom constam também viagens para lugares como Paris, Milão, Nice e Keflavik, na Islândia -- cidades aprazíveis, mas onde a Brasil Telecom não tem negócios nem interesses. Quando o Opportunity foi forçado pela Justiça a sair da administração da Brasil Telecom, as aeronaves, que estavam cedidas em sistema de leasing e já haviam custado 31,1 milhões de reais à companhia, foram devolvidas. Total do rombo com os jatos, segundo as contas dos auditores: 96 milhões de reais, contando-se o valor pago pelo leasing.

Um dos capítulos mais dramáticos da trajetória da Brasil Telecom diz respeito às denúncias de espionagem realizadas pela empresa americana Kroll, a mando de Dantas. Há dois anos, o banqueiro foi acusado de promover a arapongagem de membros do governo petista. Agora a investigação enviada à CVM revela que personagens do setor privado também teriam sido seguidos pelos agentes da Kroll. Os auditores usam como evidência a correspondência enviada pela então presidente da Brasil Telecom, a italiana Carla Cico, ao escritório da Kroll em Nova York. Num e-mail expedido em junho de 2003 e endereçado a Charles Carr, um dos espiões da Kroll, Carla pede que os empresários Carlos Jereissati, Sergio Andrade, Fersen Lambranho e Carlos Alberto Sicupira -- todos sócios da Telemar -- sejam investigados. Na mensagem constam ainda os nomes do investidor Naji Nahas e do ex-presidente do BNDES Andrea Calabi (ambos ligados à Telecom Italia, segundo as crenças da então presidente). Há também uma extensa investigação da Kroll sobre suposta proposta de compra que a Telecom Italia, inimiga figadal do Opportunity, teria feito à Rede Globo de Televisão em março de 2000. O caso é mencionado como Project Tokyo e foi conduzido pelo escritório britânico da empresa de espionagem. Para essa gigantesca operação, que envolvia esfera política e privada, teriam sido acionadas as unidades da Kroll de Nova York, Milão, Londres, São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro. Segundo os auditores responsáveis pelos documentos enviados à CVM, esse esquema de investigação teria custado 26,8 milhões de reais à Brasil Telecom -- além de outros 19 milhões de reais pagos a advogados e consultores que trabalharam no caso.

O publicitário Marcos Valério, figura central do escândalo do mensalão, é outro personagem que agora emerge dos documentos dos auditores. Menos por sua influência política e mais pelos serviços prestados à Brasil Telecom e pelas contas apresentadas em razão deles. As agências DNA e SMP&B, de propriedade de Valério, assinaram contratos de 50 milhões de reais com a BrT. Apenas 4,4 milhões foram efetivamente pagos. Quando a nova gestão da BrT assumiu a empresa, há pouco mais de um ano, foram pedidos os trabalhos que justificassem as tais despesas. As agências de Marcos Valério enviaram então um conjunto de notícias de jornal, algo que no jargão dos departamentos de comunicação é conhecido como clipping, com o título de "estudo político". Valor desse trabalho, segundo uma das notas que constam do material entregue à Comissão de Valores Mobiliários: 823 000 reais.

A auditoria na Brasil Telecom durou mais de um ano e envolveu quase 60 profissionais, entre consultores, auditores e advogados. Os principais ralos de dinheiro teriam sido os contratos de publicidade, a compra do iG e o uso de jatinhos. Mas há outros que chamam a atenção não pelo tamanho do rombo em si, mas, sim, pelo aspecto pitoresco. É o caso da denúncia de transporte feito pela agência de turismo que servia à BrT do cachorro da filha de Daniel Dantas, um maltês branco batizado de Zé. Ou da reforma do escritório do Opportunity em São Paulo. De acordo com as notas fiscais em poder da CVM, todas as despesas foram pagas pela BrT. A reforma teria custado 4,4 milhões de reais e proporcionado a Daniel Dantas uma mesa de carvalho de 8 000 dólares. A BrT, que financiou a obra, não teria ficado nem mesmo com uma cadeira. Ou ainda do pagamento de funcionários graduados do Opportunity pela Brasil Telecom. Eles trabalhavam para o banco, mas a operadora de telefonia seria a responsável pelo pagamento de seus salários.

Não há como falar da Brasil Telecom sem destacar o economista baiano Daniel Valente Dantas. Ungido "gênio" pelas mãos do ex-ministro Mário Henrique Simonsen, Dantas galgou uma trajetória de inequívocos sucessos, como sua gestão no banco Icatu, quando triplicou o patrimônio do banco da família Almeida Braga. À frente do próprio negócio, o banco Opportunity, pôde demonstrar sua habilidade de costurar alianças. No fim dos anos 90, aproximou-se e ganhou a confiança de investidores tão diferentes quanto o americano Citigroup e os fundos de pensão brasileiros, como Previ e Petros. Dessa maneira, conquistou o aval para ser o gestor dos recursos aplicados por esses sócios num grupo de empresas que reunia desde a Santos Brasil, terminal portuário em Santos, até as operadoras de telecomunica ções Brasil Telecom, Telemig Celular e Amazônia Celular. Na Brasil Telecom, com menos de 10% de participação, era ele quem dava todas as cartas.

O inferno de Dantas começou há seis anos, quando surgiram as primeiras disputas com os sócios. Sua imagem começou a deteriorar-se especialmente quando circularam rumores sobre o envolvimento do banqueiro com o mundo da espionagem e dos grampos. Essa, aliás, é uma obsessão de Dantas, segundo executivos próximos. Ao participar de reuniões em prédios que não conhece, ele seguiria sempre o mesmo ritual, colocando-se na janela do escritório para especular se, das construções nas redondezas, seria possível monitorar e gravar suas conversas. "Daniel não é diferente de nenhum ser humano que tenha sede de poder. É capaz de grandes atos de generosidade e outros de terrível crueldade. Não há um arquétipo único para defini-lo", diz um dos inúmeros advogados que trabalham para ele.

Na Brasil Telecom, a origem de toda a querela está no desentendimento do banqueiro com a Telecom Italia. Os primeiros conflitos se iniciaram em 1998. Em 2002, a situação se tornou insustentável quando a companhia italiana saiu do controle da operadora, da qual também é sócia, para aventurar-se na telefonia celular. Conforme as regras do setor na época, a Telecom Italia só poderia voltar ao bloco de controle da empresa se a Brasil Telecom atingisse algumas metas que Dantas, no comando da companhia, não cumpria. Os italianos reclamaram e a briga atingiu proporções devastadoras. Para Dantas, o mundo ficou dividido em dois grupos: os que defendiam a Telecom Italia e os que estavam a seu lado. Com o decorrer do tempo, os fundos de pensão e os americanos do Citibank também voltaram-se contra ele.

Em meio a esse caos societário, a Brasil Telecom transformou-se numa das empresas mais litigantes do país. Apenas nos últimos 12 meses, quando os executivos indicados pelos controladores assumiram o comando, a companhia deu início a 21 protestos judiciais e sete ações indenizatórias contra a antiga gestão -- tanto diretamente contra Dantas e Carla Cico quanto contra o Opportunity. O embate judicial com Carla envolve ainda duas ações que ela iniciou contra os atuais administradores da BrT. Numa delas, ela exige 20 milhões de dólares como reparação por danos morais. Na outra, pede 7 milhões de dólares de bônus não recebidos em sua saída da empresa. Procurados por EXAME, Daniel Dantas e Carla Cico não quiseram falar sobre as novas acusações que pairam sobre eles.

Escândalos empresariais acontecem, em maior ou menor número, em todo o mundo. Foi nos Estados Unidos, a maior nação capitalista do planeta, que estouraram as crises da Enron e da WorldCom, levando a instabilidade às bolsas e prejudicando milhares de pequenos investidores. Após os escândalos, porém, o sistema saiu purificado. A Sarbanes-Oxley, um conjunto de leis que determina padrões rígidos de governança corporativa nas empresas de capital aberto, foi introduzida. Executivos que protagonizaram o colapso das empresas foram julgados e condenados. No final de outubro, Jeff Skilling, ex-presidente executivo da Enron, recebeu pena de 24 anos de prisão após ser julgado por sua participação na maquiagem de balanços feita pela empresa. O caso da BrT, independentemente das conclusões a que se chegue no futuro, mostra que o tema da governança corporativa ainda tem muito a caminhar. Brigas entre grandes sócios de companhias abertas são tratadas quase como questões particulares, ainda que prejudiquem os resultados do negócio e os demais acionistas.

É o que vem acontecendo com a Brasil Telecom. Em meio aos ódios dos sócios, a operadora tornou-se vulnerável a aquisições. Nesse momento, a Telemar, maior empresa brasileira do setor de telefonia, prepara um plano de três etapas. A primeira delas é a reestruturação societária, que deve passar pelo crivo dos acionistas em 13 de novembro. Caso seja aprovada, a reestruturação terá dois desdobramentos: a tentativa de derrubar a regulamentação que impede a compra de uma empresa de telefonia fixa por outra e, por último, a provável investida sobre a Brasil Telecom. Além da briga, e em grande parte por causa dela, a empresa perdeu terreno e oportunidades no disputadíssimo mercado de telefonia móvel, que cresce a uma taxa 16 vezes maior do que o de telefonia fixa. A Brasil Telecom iniciou sua operação apenas em 2004 e hoje é apenas a quarta operadora de celular em sua região de atuação -- que inclui nove estados das regiões Sul, Centro-Oeste e Norte do país. Quando se considera todo o mercado brasileiro de celulares, sua participação é ainda menor: apenas 3%.

Desde que assumiu a administração da Brasil Telecom, o executivo Ricardo Knoepfelmacher vem tentando reverter a situação. Primeiro, colocou em prática um plano de reestruturação batizado de Omaha -- referência à praia onde os soldados aliados desembarcaram no Dia D. Trata-se de um processo de monitoramento de todos os gastos da companhia, antes e depois do Opportunity. Segundo ele, graças a essa operação mais de 100 contratos com fornecedores foram renegociados nesse período, proporcionando uma economia de 300 milhões de reais. Sua meta é cortar mais 15 milhões de reais em custos até o final deste ano. No primeiro semestre de 2006, a Brasil Telecom registrou lucro líquido de 123 milhões de reais, frente a um resultado de 45 milhões no mesmo período do ano anterior. Agora a idéia é crescer. "Estamos trocando o pneu com o carro em movimento", diz. "Mas costumo sempre dizer: quem não vende compra."

Qual o saldo de toda essa história para o Opportunity e para o próprio Dantas? Pode-se dizer que é negativo. O banco responde hoje a um processo na Comissão de Valores Mobiliários e está sendo investigado pelo Ministério Público Federal e pela Polícia Federal. Procurados, os executivos do Opportunity não quiseram dar declarações. Por e-mail, a direção do banco enviou à reportagem a resposta que protocolou na CVM diante das acusações da atual gestão da Brasil Telecom. Sua defesa se apóia em dois pontos. O primeiro: a atual administração da BrT é incompetente e fez o valor de mercado da empresa cair 1,1 bilhão de reais em um ano. Nas contas da consultoria Economática, a perda de fato aconteceu, embora tenha sido menor -- da ordem de 500 milhões de reais. O segundo: as peças produzidas pela Brasil Telecom lesam os direitos do Opportunity porque, afinal, o banco é um dos sócios da empresa e a investigação nada tem a ver com a função da telefônica. Nenhuma dessas representações, nem a da Brasil Telecom nem a do Opportunity, teve desdobramentos práticos até o momento. Segundo a CVM, elas ainda estão em fase de análise pela área técnica do órgão. O prazo para levar um caso como esse a julgamento é de cinco anos.
"I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles 'cause I'm one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I'm still alive."

Joey Ramone, em uma das minhas músicas favoritas ("I Believe in Miracles")
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Postby telles » 06 Nov 2006, 12:29

Its we on the tape! :cool: :cool:
Telles

Conheça aqui a Vergonha Nacional
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Postby mends » 24 Nov 2006, 08:52

Milton Friedman Was Right
By HENRY G. MANNE
November 24, 2006; Page A12

Milton Friedman famously declared that the sole business of the managers of a publicly held corporation was to maximize the value of its outstanding shares. Any effort to use corporate resources for purely altruistic purposes he equated to socialism. He proposed that corporation law should prevent managers from straying off the reservation to join the altruists, a power now almost universally granted them by state legislation.

At a conference 34 years ago, celebrating Friedman's 60th birthday, I presented a paper questioning that dictum by noting that the vast part of apparently nonprofit-oriented behavior by corporate managers was really -- and necessarily -- a profit-maximizing response to business, social or political pressures dressed up to look like something else. For such a strategy to be successful, the behavior had to appear to be nonprofit maximizing, and, of course, had to be called something like "social responsibility."


Since it was difficult or impossible to distinguish a profit motive from a charitable motive in any particular corporate action, a strong rule against corporate altruism, as Friedman was advocating, would invite judges to examine the propriety of a significant set of managerial decisions. I argued that American corporation law had traditionally had a strong "business judgment" rule whose principle aim was to prevent judges from even engaging in that kind of examination, which they were perhaps more likely to get wrong than to get right. Thus, if any plausible basis existed for a bona fide managerial decision, no matter how charitable it looked, I argued, we did not want a stronger rule that would invite judges to second guess managers.

The assembled audience of Friedmanites, as we were sometimes called -- Are we all Friedmanites now? -- was aghast that I dared to counter one of the master's most pointed proposals, and the immediate response from the audience was hostile. Well, it was, until Friedman took the floor to declare that "I agree with everything that Henry said." That settled that. I assumed that I would not hear Friedman again declaring that corporate social responsibility was the equivalent of socialism. Consequently, I was chagrined over the ensuing years to hear him make the same pronouncement many times, though to my knowledge not with any explicit proposal for a change in the legal rule.

* * *
Now I realize (I should have known) he was absolutely correct about the significance of proposals for socially responsible corporate behavior, whether they emanated from within or outside the corporation. These proposals reflect, as well as anything else happening today, the inability of many commentators to distinguish between private and public property -- in other words, between a free enterprise system and socialism. Somehow large-scale business success, usually resulting in a publicly held company, seems mysteriously to transform the nature of numerous individuals' private investments into assets affected with a public interest. And once these corporate behemoths are "affected with a public interest," they must either be regulated by the state or they must act as though they are owned by the public, and are therefore inferentially a part of the state. This attitude is reflected not merely by corporate activists, but by many "modern" corporate managers.

An integral part of the older notion of public utility regulation required that the enterprise be, or act like, a monopoly (whether "natural" or not), in order to be affected with a public interest. But in today's confusion, there is no such requirement. No arguments, weak as they are, about natural monopoly, market failure, government creation of corporations or the alleged government gifts of limited liability and perpetual existence, are required to justify the demands now regularly placed on business entities. Any large enterprise, no matter how competitive its industry and no matter how successfully it is fulfilling the public's desires, has a social responsibility -- a term that makes mockery of the idea of individual responsibility -- to use part of its resources for "public" endeavors. Today's favorite causes are environmental protection, employee health, sales of goods at below-market prices, weather modification, community development, private enforcement of (not merely abiding by) government regulations and support of cultural, educational and medical facilities.

How did this transposition from private to public responsibility come about? After all, even the largest corporation started simply as an idea in someone's head. At first this person hires employees, borrows capital or sells equity, produces goods or service and markets a product. Nothing about any of these purely private and benign arrangements suggests a public interest in the outcome. But then the business begins to grow, family stock holdings become more diffused, additional capital is required and, voilà, another publicly held corporation. In other words, another American success story.

But what has happened to implicate public involvement in the management or governance of these enterprises as they grew from a mere idea? Nothing. And if that nothing be multiplied by tens or hundreds or thousands, the product is still zero. So where along the line to enormous size and financial heft has the public-private nexus necessarily changed? True, there are now a large number of complex and specialized private contracts, but every single one of these transactions is based on private property, freedom of contract, and individual risk and reward. If one apple is a fruit, even a billion apples do not become meat.

The origins of this transformation lie in the minds of people who do not like or appreciate the genius of capitalist success stories, including always politicians, who will generally make any argument in order to control more private wealth. Of course, the social responsibility of corporations is always tied to the proponents' own views of compassion or justice or avoidance of a cataclysm. But the logic of their own arguments requires that essentially private corporations be viewed as somehow "public" in nature. That is, the public, or the preferred part of it, often termed "stakeholders" (another shameful semantic play, this time on the word "shareholders"), has a pseudo-ownership interest in every large corporation. Without that dimension in their argument, free market logic would prevail.

The illusion of great and threatening power, the superficial attractiveness of the notion, and the frequent repetition of the mantra of corporate social responsibility have made this fallacy a part of the modern corporate zeitgeist. Like the citizens who were afraid to tell the emperor that he was naked, no responsible business official would dare contradict the notion publicly for fear of financial ruin, even though the practice continues to cost shareholders and society enormous amounts. This is especially so in large-scale retail businesses like Wal-Mart or Coca-Cola or BP that are highly vulnerable to organized public criticism. Our laws against extortion do not function effectively when it comes to corporations. And so to some extent these private entities have indeed, via the social responsibility notion, been converted into crypto-public enterprises that are the essence of socialism. Milton Friedman was right again.

Mr. Manne is dean emeritus of the George Mason University School of Law.
"I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles 'cause I'm one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I'm still alive."

Joey Ramone, em uma das minhas músicas favoritas ("I Believe in Miracles")
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