Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz‏ 基本是如苹果CEO 乔布斯一样的传奇人物，是来自于平民家庭白手起家的billionaire，在美国经济政治陷入困境，政治人物们只care是共和党还是民主党掌权，越来 越多的陷入党派之争而置美国众多中产阶层利益不顾的时候，他挺身而出，公开倡议和呼吁各大企业暂停竞选捐款，努力致力于招聘员工，我很佩服和欣赏他的勇气 和胆量，欣赏他的倡议简洁又切实可行。

在美国民众发现华盛顿不顾当前失业率居高不下，房地产萎缩，经济低迷等恶劣的经济形势，依然只关心他们的大选，两党可以花费数千万美金开一个什么协议都没有达成的会议。他们把政治利益凌驾于国家的经济之上，今天的美国民众对华盛顿是极度失望的，恍如在黑暗中看不见希望。

正当美国许多有识之士苦恼徘徊又找不到良策时，星巴克CEO舒尔茨的倡议给迷茫的人们带来了希望的曙光！

Three weeks ago, Schultz asked other business leaders to urge Congress and President Obama to end the partisan gridlock paralyzing Washington. More than 100 executives joined him in signing a two-part pledge:
三周前， 舒尔茨请求其他商界领袖们共同敦促国会和奥巴马总统结束几乎使华盛顿瘫痪的党派之争。 100多名高管响应他签署了下面的两个承诺：

1. To withhold campaign contributions until Washington reaches a fair, bipartisan deal on our country’s long-term economic future.
各大企业暂时冻结竞选捐款，直到两党在长期的经济前景上达成协议。

2. To hire workers. American businesses can make a positive impact on our economy through a commitment to doing everything possible to accelerate job creation.
各大企业努力招聘员工。美国企业可以通过千方百计地加快创造就业机会来对美国经济产生积极的影响。

Since then, Schultz has heard from Americans across the country who are losing hope in the American dream. It’s time to bring that confidence back.
从那以后，舒尔茨听到来自全美的对美国梦失去希望的人们的心声，重建信心的时刻到了！

Click here to join me on the Tuesday night call:
http://hq.nolabels.org/schultz_call
我呼吁生活在美国这块土地上的人们，为了我们自己的现在和未来，为了我们的家人，为了美国的中产阶层，为了美国的未来经济，点击和我一起加入周二晚的电话吧！

附星巴克CEO信件全文：

A special letter from Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz‏
September 2011

Dear Starbucks Friend and Fellow Citizen:

I love our country. And I am a beneficiary of the promise of America. But today, I am very concerned that at times I do not recognize the America that I love.
我爱我们的国家。我是美国梦的受益者，但今天，我很担心我有时不认识我所爱的美国了。

Like so many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the pervasive failure of leadership in Washington. And also like you, I am frustrated by our political leaders' steadfast refusal to recognize that, for every day they perpetuate partisan conflict and put ideology over country, America and Americans suffer from the combined effects of paralysis and uncertainty. Americans can't find jobs. Small businesses can't get credit. And the fracturing of consumer confidence continues.

正如你们一样，对华盛顿领导的普遍失败我深感失望。还和你们一样，我们的政治领导人坚定地拒绝承认那些(政治斗争)，他们每天延续党派冲突，并把他们的意识形态凌驾于国家之上，对所有这些，我深感沮丧。美国国家和美国人民正承受着政府瘫痪和不确定性的综合影响。人们找不到工作，小企业无法获得信贷，消费者信心指数仍继续遭受挫折。

We are better than this.
我们应该比这更好！

Three weeks ago, I asked fellow business leaders to join me in urging the President and the Congress to put an end to partisan gridlock and, in its place, to set in motion an upward spiral of confidence. More than 100 business leaders representing American companies - large and small - joined me in signing a two-part pledge:

三个星期前，我请商界领袖们和我一起敦促总统和国会结束党派之争的僵局，将精力用于建立起民众不断上升的信心 。 100多名代表美国大小公司的商界领袖，已经加入我签署了由两部分组成的承诺：

First, to withhold political campaign contributions until a transparent, comprehensive, bipartisan debt-and-deficit package is reached that honestly, and fairly, sets America on a path to long-term financial health and security. Second, to do all we can to break the cycle of economic uncertainty that grips our country by committing to accelerate investment in jobs and hiring.

首先，冻结政治竞选捐款，直到两党在债务和赤字上达成一个公开、全面的一揽子计划，能诚实公平地让美国财务长期地走在健康安全的道路上。其次，要尽我们所有的能力，通过加快投资和雇用来打破正折磨我们国家的经济循环的不确定性。

In the weeks since then, I have been overwhelmed by the heartfelt stories of Americans from across the country, sharing their anguish over losing hope in the strongest and most galvanizing force of all - the American Dream. Some feel they have no voice. Others feel they no longer matter. And many feel they have been left behind.

自那以后的几个星期，我被全国各地的心声震撼了！分享他们失去最有感召力的梦想----美国梦的痛苦  。有些人觉得他们没有发言权，有些人则认为他们不再重要，很多人都认为他们被抛在后面。

We cannot let this stand.
我们不能让这继续了！

Please join other concerned Americans and me on a national call-in conversation on Tuesday September 6th hosted by "No Labels," a nonpartisan organization dedicated to fostering cooperative and more effective government. To learn more about the forum and the pledges, visit www.upwardspiral2011.org

请你加入我以及其他关心美国的人，参加9月6日（星期二）“无标签”的全国性电话交流，一个致力于促进合作和更有效的政府的无党派组织，要了解更多论坛和承诺，请参考 www.upwardspiral2011.org


America is at a fragile and critical moment in its history. We must restore hope in the American Dream. We must celebrate all that America stands for around the world. And while our Founding Fathers recognized the constructive value of political debate, we must send the message to today's elected officials in a civil, respectful voice they hear and understand, that the time to put citizenship ahead of partisanship is now.

美国到了历史上脆弱而关键的时刻。我们必须恢复美国梦的希望。我们必须庆祝美国在全世界代表的（价值观）。我们的开国元勋承认政治辩论的建设性价值，我们必须用文明和尊重的声音将消息传递给今天的民选官员们，让他们听到和理解：是该把公民利益放在党派之争前面的时刻了！！！

Yours is the voice that can help ignite the contagious upward spiral of confidence that our country desperately needs.

你的声音能够点燃积极向上的信心，这正是我们这个国家迫切需要的 ！

With great respect,



chief executive officer, Starbucks Coffee Company

=========================================

Howard Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American business executive, investor, and entrepreneur that is best known as the chairman and CEO^[2] of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics. Schultz co-founded Maveron, an investment group, in 1998 with Dan Levitan.

In 2006, Forbes magazine ranked Schultz as the 354th richest person in the United States, with a net worth of $1.1 billion.^[3]

[edit] Biography

Howard Schultz was born to a German-Jewish family on July 19, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of ex-US Army trooper and then truck driver Fred Schultz, and his wife Elaine.^[4] With his younger sister, Ronnie, and brother, Michael, he grew up in the Canarsie Bayview Housing Projects. As Schultz's family was poor, he saw an escape in sports such as baseball, football, and basketball. He went to Canarsie High School, from which he graduated in 1971. In high school, Schultz excelled at sports and was awarded an athletic scholarship to Northern Michigan University^[4] – the first person in his family to go to college. A member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, Schultz received his bachelor's degree in Communications in 1975. He has one child, named Sean.

[edit] Career

After graduating, he worked as a salesperson for Xerox Corporation. In 1979 he became a general manager for Swedish drip coffee maker manufacturer, Hammarplast.^[4] In 1981, Schultz visited a client of Hammarplast, a fledgling coffee-bean shop called Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle which he joined as the Director of Marketing a year later.^[5] On a buying trip to Milan, Italy for Starbucks, Schultz noted that coffee bars existed on practically every street. He learned that they not only served excellent espresso, they also served as meeting places or public squares; they were a big part of Italy's societal glue, and there were 200,000 of them in the country.^{[citation needed]}

On his return, he tried to persuade the owners (including Jerry Baldwin) to offer traditional espresso beverages in addition to the whole bean coffee, leaf teas and spices they had long offered. After a successful pilot of the cafe concept, the owners refused to roll it out company-wide, saying they didn't want to get into the restaurant business. Frustrated, Schultz started his own coffee shop in 1985, named 'Il Giornale' after the Milanese newspaper. Two years later, the original Starbucks management decided to focus on Peet's Coffee & Tea and sold its Starbucks retail unit to Schultz and Il Giornale for $3.8 million.

Schultz renamed Il Giornale with the Starbucks name, and aggressively expanded its reach across the United States. Schultz's keen insight in real estate and his hard-line focus on growth drove him to expand the company rapidly. Schultz did not believe in franchising, and made a point of having Starbucks retain ownership of every domestic outlet. Schultz also went 50-50^{[clarification needed]} with Magic Johnson on stores in minority communities.

Schultz is a significant stakeholder in Jamba Juice.^[6]

On January 8, 2008 Schultz regained his status as CEO of Starbucks after an eight-year hiatus.^[7] At this time, Schultz was earning a total compensation of $9,740,471, which included a base salary of $1,190,000, and options granted of $7,786,105.^[8]

[edit] Sports

Schultz is the former owner of the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. During his tenure as team owner, he was criticized for his naivete and propensity to run the franchise as a business rather than a sports team.^[9] Schultz feuded with big name star Gary Payton, feeling that Payton disrespected him and the team by not showing up to the first day of training camp in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2006, Schultz sold the team to a group of businessmen from Oklahoma City for $350 million. It was speculated that the new owners would move the team to their city some time after the 2006-2007 NBA season.^[10] On July 3, 2008, the City of Seattle reached a settlement with the new ownership group and the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City.^[11] The sale to the out-of-state owners considerably damaged Schultz' popularity in Seattle.^[12] In a local newspaper poll, Schultz was judged "most responsible" for the team leaving the city.^[13] Howard Schultz filed a lawsuit against Sonics chairman Clay Bennett, in April 2008, to rescind the July 2006 sale based on fraud and intentional misrepresentation. However, Schultz dropped the lawsuit in August 2008. When Bennett purchased the Sonics and its sister franchise in the WNBA, the Seattle Storm, for $350 million, he agreed to a stipulation that he would make a "good-faith best effort" for one year to keep both teams in Seattle. He has since sold the Storm to four Seattle women who will keep the team in Seattle.^[14]

[edit] Comments about the United Kingdom economy

Speaking to CNBC in February 2009 about his concerns over the global economic crisis, Schultz that "the place that concerns us the most is western Europe, and specifically the UK", which he considered to be in a "spiral", expressing concern with the levels of unemployment and consumer confidence in the country.

Lord Mandelson, the then-UK Business Secretary, responded saying that Britain was "not spiralling, although I've noticed Starbucks is in a great deal of trouble", and suggesting that Schultz was projecting his own company's trouble in the United Kingdom onto the wider national economy. Mandelson was later overheard at a drinks reception, saying: "Why should I have this guy running down the country? Who the fuck is he? How the hell are [Starbucks] doing?"^[15]

An official comment from Starbucks read that "It is a difficult economic situation in the US and around the world. Please be assured that Starbucks has no intention of criticising the economic situation in the UK. We are all in this together and as a global business we are committed to each and every market we serve."^[15]

[edit] Awards

In 1998, Schultz was awarded the "Israel 50th Anniversary Tribute Award" from the Jerusalem Fund of Aish Ha-Torah for "playing a key role in promoting a close alliance between the United States and Israel".^[16]

In 1999, Schultz was awarded the "National Leadership Award" for philanthropic and educational efforts to battle AIDS.^[17]

The recipient of the 2004 International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award, presented to him from the University of Manitoba for his outstanding success and commendable conduct of Starbucks.^[18]

In 2007 he received the FIRST Responsible Capitalism Award.^[19]

On March 29, 2007, Schultz accepted the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Award for Ethics in Business at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. The same night, he delivered the Frank Cahill Lecture in Business Ethics.^[20]