Double the pay of your cleaning lady. Think what that would do to her bargaining power in the other households where she works. Millions of Americans own stock, but few realize that stockholding gives them a right to vote on how corporations are run. The center's members use their standing as shareholders to lobby corporations for things like higher wages in the Third World and better environmental practices. They often file resolutions that appear in corporate proxy statements.
Proxy statements are ballots.
They go to all shareholders, giving them an opportunity to vote. And I had no idea in the beginning of my research that I would end up on that side of the fence. Americans have been indefatigable social and economic experimenters, and they've made countless efforts to find a balance between the pursuit of private gain and promotion of the public good. We're always looking for ways to get rich and do good, to be Bill Gates and Mother Teresa. Our history is a trove of ideas, examples, and warnings valuable to anyone concerned about the interplay of wealth and commonwealth.