Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Put citizenship ahead of partisanship (September 14th)

Howard Schultz the 58 year old US businessman, billionaire and CEO of Starbucks global reach of 17000 stores has come out in protest at the political wrangling that he claims is wreaking havoc on the US economy. Schultz claims the rancor between the US political parties has caused a “crisis of confidence”, needing urgent rectification. In a series of newspaper open letter advertisements, Schultz calls for a forum to demand an end to the bipartisan nature that has crept into the nation’s political behavior, stating “We must send the message to today’s elected officials … that the time to put citizenship ahead of partisanship is now”. Schultz along with the support of over 100 corporations have pledged to no longer contribute to either political party until the wrangling stopped.

Inspired by Sarah Skidmore http://ow.ly/6lw2k image source Sillygwailo http://ow.ly/6lwcl

Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov the 46 year old Russian billionaire entrepreneur industrialist in precious metals and owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team in the US has confirmed an intention to enter Russian politics, the first high profile Russian businessman to do so since the 2003 demise of Mikhail Khodorkovsky the former oil magnate who was imprisoned and his assets seized by the state. Prokhorov has submitted a proposal to the pro-business ‘Right Cause Party’, seeking to head up the political leadership of the party in readiness for the nation’s elections at the end of this year. The ‘Right Cause Party’ does not at this stage hold any political office within the nations parliament. Prokhorov is Russia’s third wealthiest billionaire with a self made personal fortune of 18bil US dollars.

Inspired by Miriam Elder http://ow.ly/56vdT image source Wikipedia http://ow.ly/56vtz