THE ENTERPRISE
According to a recent CNN/USA Today Poll, 68% of Americans say Democrats have no clear plan to solve America's problems. But 67% say Republicans also have no clear plan to solve America's problems. (In the news brief I read, it didn't mention Independents, so I don't know what Americans think of them).
What does this tell us? It tells us that our two-party system and elected leadership is clearly perceived to have no clear plan to solve the problems that confront us. Let's see, what kind of problems might those be? (in no particular order, let's make a list of a dozen.)
1. Terrorism, especially Islamic radical terrorists, is still a real threat.
2. An aging population and Social Security/Medicare facing dramatic under-funding in the future and still taking a huge chunk of the budget.
3. A health care system with costs spiraling out of control but not getting good medical results for Americans.
4. A deficit spiraling out of control and yet neither the members of both parties in Congress, nor the President seems predisposed to do anything about it.
5. Immigration running out of control, borders leaking illegal immigrants like a sieve, with no clear plan to fix it, in spite of several "proposals."
6. An education system that is inferior (in secondary schools) to many of our more developed competitor countries, and in which teachers must fear lawsuits and reprisals for employing discipline, and who turn to unions to help them.
7. An aging infrastructure that is vulnerable to both natural disasters and terrorism, and insecure as well.
8. A bloated bureaucracy in our Federal (and some states') government that costs too much and does too little, too poorly--facing its own pension crisis as Americans age.
9. A balance of payments deficit, which, along with the Federal budget deficit weakens our currency, and makes us technically insolvent and ultimately beholden to those who buy our debt (China, Japan, etc.)
10. Corporate criminals that deceive and mislead investors and destroy the economic lives of thousands, perhaps millions.
11. Prisons filled to overcrowding, with new record populations imprisoned each year.
12. Poverty still a problem in spite of Federal spending to the tune of $10,000 plus per person who is technically poverty stricken--a sum that if just given to each of them would put them about half-way to a non-poverty income level, and fed by an unmotivated under-culture in our major cities.
--------------WHEW!!
The thirteenth issue is that the 2007 budget proposal contains 5 items that constitute about 80%+/- of the total--headed by Medicare and Social Security at almost $1 trillion! That is followed by Defense at $500 Billion--without the special Iraq War funding! These two alone make up about 1/2 of the budget. The next three--Interest at about $250 Billion, Unemployment and income security at around $350 Billion and Health at $280 Billion make up the top 5. See the nature of the problem?
(NOTE: Anyone who understands how you go about getting costs under control and managing budgets, and knows about Pareto's principle (the 80-20 rule) realized why we must make some BIG plans to get expenditures under control again.)
Should I stop now? Are you depressed yet? BUT WAIT....
On the positive side, remember that America is arguably the Earth's greatest country; a beacon for freedom and free enterprise; the sole remaining super-power (for now anyway). Our economy has solidly recovered and moving ahead. Foreign investment in the US is still at or near record levels. Business leaders are quite optimistic. What is the disconnect? What's wrong with this picture?
First of all, the CNN/USA Today poll is right. Most Americans ARE concerned, and they don't recognize any plan to solve the problems and their concerns about the problems outweigh the relative prosperity we have right now. The question is: is that because there isn't plan? Or has no one told them what it is?
Or (most likely) is it because so few Americans wouldn't know if there was a plan because they don't spend any time reading legitimate news or actually thinking about anything more serious than how their personal household is doing and whether Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will stay together after the baby is born, or what's happening on American Idol.
Since TV news media delivers its messages in 7-second sound bites, or the commentators' "spin statements" it's impossible to convey any serious plan that way. When (government leaders') plans are discussed, it usually involves 2-4 "talking heads" constantly interrupting each other--with a moderator taking one side or the other--or just trying to regain control of the fracas.
Actually, the fact is that the "no plan" problem is all of those things and more. Americans are, as a country, fat, dumb and (mostly) happy until some pollster asks them to think about matters of importance--then they are concerned--or clueless. It's a good thing that poll didn't ask the name of the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority Leader, because I'd bet that the same 67-68% wouldn't either name. I'm not sure 67% would have even identified the Vice President correctly if he hadn't shot his hunting partner recently.
I would bet that many of the folks in positions of influence in the Bush administration would say that there IS a plan. The problem is that the American people perceive it as either ineffective, wrong, or as "no plan at all."
Here's the "no plan" issue framed a little differently. When there is "no plan" it is usually because the people in charge are not following the right process. There are two basic steps to making a plan for solving any problem: 1) Define the problem. 2) Solve the problem. There is actually a precursor to step 1--let's call it "step 0": Understand the problem. Few people do these in the correct order. They might jump to solutions--or not--or solve some other problem. Their solutions might also deal with part of the problem--or not. Once there is a plan, COMMUNICATING IT IS CRITICAL.
I usually like to end THE ENTERPRISE with some kind of positive thought or better yet, some real solutions. But I can't on this one! The problems are too big, too numerous and too interconnected. All I can do is propose that as a country, our leadership should go back to basics (things I learned in 40+ years ago in Engineering school). To solve a big, complex problem, you break it down into smaller pieces and apply basic problem-solving techniques, then accumulate the (solved) pieces back into an overall solution.
Here it is again:
0) Understand the facts of the problem (not the popular fiction or mistaken impressions--"see budget info!")
1) Define the problem (completely, not pieces of it, lest you solve the symptoms--"out of control")
2) Solve the problem (actually do something to fix the pieces of the problem that are broken--and if you can't fix it all at once--fix what you can a piece at a time, then assemble the fixed pieces into a whole again--"work on the big pieces first, clear out the small 'clutter' too!")
3) Make a PLAN--and then execute the solution--follow it until the problem is solved, or circumstances change enough that you must revise the plan...then go back to step (0) and do it again ("this is the job of Congress and the President and BOTH are failing at it").
4) COMMUNICATE THE PLAN BROADLY AND EXTENSIVELY AND THEN MEASURE PROGRESS AGAINST IT.
Well, there's a start. Let's hope some positive leadership emerges and that some of them learned these same basics of problem solving--and that Americans will pay enough attention to understand the plan and get behind it.
Best, John
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