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Posted in Saba Long

Date: January 19th, 2015, 10:59 pm

As Davos prepares for its annual meeting, a poor man’s version of the international economic forum took place in Atlanta during the King holiday weekend.

The 2015 HOPE Global Forum, themed “Reimagining the Global Economy: Expanding Free Enterprise for All” served as an apropos tool to tackle our oft painful race relations conversations.

Started in Los Angeles with offices in Atlanta, Operation HOPE has international roots spreading as far away as Rwanda. While the organization espouses patient capitalism abroad, it also urges greater corporate responsibility and improved financial education here in the U.S.

Who better to tap as its keynote speaker and preach against trickle-down economics than former U.S. President Bill Clinton. In his speech, Number 42 praised the rise of non-government organizations and called for ‘inclusive economics” as the answer to inclusive politics.

In a January study released by the Pew Research Center, showed those least financially secure are also the least likely to participate in the electoral process. Equally alarming, the more financially secure an individual is, they more likely they are to agree with the following statement: Poor people today have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return.

Clearly, while we’re providing Kiva loans to artisans in Bangledesh, we ought to provide education opportunities to students in the Bluff.

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