THE ENTERPRISE--CHANGE, HISTORY AND "THE FACTS"
HISTORY IS A GREAT TEACHER--IF ONLY THE STUDENTS LEARN FROM IT
One of the most memorable sayings I've heard is that "those who do not learn from history's mistakes are destined to repeat them." The Holy Roman Empire was "too big to fail." But it did. Once Great Britain ruled a huge part of the world, including places such as India. Not any more. China, sailed the oceans in the early 1400's with a vast armada of huge ships, and in the course of circumnavigating the earth, landed at and left (now documented), extensive evidence of their knowledge and culture along the coasts of North and South America. And then, China, the county that invented so many things much earlier and others in the world, underwent its "Cultural Revolution" and is now struggling to regain past glory as the dominant nation on earth.
DINOSAURS ONCE RULED THE EARTH TOO
These diverse, giant and powerful creatures are still legendary in their might, their ferocity, and their numbers. But they are all gone. Bethlehem and US Steel were once dominant and are now gone. So is Westinghouse. Montgomery Ward invented the mail order business, and it's stores were a fixture in America for about a century--but they too are gone. I could go on, but you get the idea. Nothing is too big or too powerful to fail--and that includes countries, governments and societies. In just a few short decades, due to its incredibly low birth rate, there will not be enough Russians to "manage" its enormous geography. What will happen then, no one knows. When companies--and countries become so large and dominant, they become vulnerable to nimble upstarts and their own failings--slowness, lethargy, arrogance, complacency, and the "curse of bigness." This is the disease I have warned about for a decade as the greatest threat to Wal-Mart.
NOW, OUR USA, IN THE QUEST FOR "CHANGE" IS IN DANGER
Not all change is good. Even change that starts out with the best of intentions often has unintended and unforeseen consequences. Even the consequences that are expected are often misinterpreted--and this is true in business, government, and society. In change lies opportunity and peril. The greatest risks are those of leaders who think they know... it all. Arrogance, hubris, call it what you wish. The Bush Administration in the early-mid-stages of the Iraq war was blinded by the certainty of the Cheney, Rumsfeld, et. al. that they were sure their approaches were right. But they weren't. As much as I hope our current President Barack Obama has the right motives and intentions, I fear two things most of all.
1) He does not truly understand the possible or probably outcome of his plans--he simply is too inexperienced as a leader to realize the peril this presents.
2) He does understand those likely outcomes, and is striving to create an America that will be only a dim shadow of its past greatness.
Both of these fears are fuels when I receive missives like the one reproduced below.
INTENDED ACTIONS AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
If we choose to clean up our emissions much faster than the rest of the competing industrialized nations, we will have cleaner air for two reasons: the emissions laws, and the companies that close because they couldn't survive on an uneven playing field.
If we choose to disarm or neglect our most important and powerful weapons, we will be at a disadvantage to the rest of the world that chooses not do to so, and has bad intentions--including possibly using such weapons.
If we choose to change our labor laws to shift the balance of power to union demands for higher wages, when much of the country's wage earning sector is already only marginally competitive, we will pay higher wages and give more lucrative contracts to a much smaller American work force. The rest of the jobs will go wherever the work can be done more competitively and the be imported into the USA.
If we stiffen regulations in general, when we are already the most highly regulated industrial country in the world, those highly regulated industries, and the jobs and GDP they support will go elsewhere in the world, where they can operate more freely.
These statements are not threats of a political nature. They are simply cold, hard facts. Unfortunately, many of our leaders either fail to believe them, or are beholden to special interests or political persuasions that desire otherwise.
EVEN "THE ONE" CANNOT OVERTURN THE COLD HARD FACTS OF A GLOBAL ECONOMY
But if our leaders ignore these facts, irreparable harm can--and will--be done to this country, perhaps for decades to come.
WHETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE--REMEMBER, YOU READ IT HERE!
Yes, I am holding my breath and worried. You should be too. And there is not a lot that we can do in the short term, because of who the American people chose to lead their government. The next chances for changing that are 2010 & 2012, and those dates can't come soon enough to suit me.
Best, John
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And it came to pass... in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America , having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as "The One".
He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed". And the people rejoiced. For even though they knew not what The One would do, He had promised that it was good; and they believed. And The One said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Change is good!"
Then He said, We are going to tax the rich fat-cats!
And the people said "Sock it to them!"
"and redistribute their wealth"
And the people said, "Show us the money!"
And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody"
And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??"
And The One ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized.
One lone reporter asked, isn't that Marxist policy?"
And she was banished from the kingdom!
Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"
And The One said, "Simple... I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!" Then The One said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes".
And one, lone voice said, "Over 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes.......
So The One said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the money!"
And He said, "I shall mandate employer- funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited health care and medicine and transportation to the clinics."
And the people said,"Gimme some of that!"
Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas."
And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"
Then The One said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!"
And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates."
So The One said, "Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with us and your troubles are over!"
Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bilingual signs and guaranteed housing..."
And the people said,"Hallelujah!!" And they made him King!
And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff. The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.
Then The One said, "I am the The One, The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!"
But our foreign trading partners said unto Him, "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more..."
And the people said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!!"
And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"
And the people cried out,"Alas, alas!! What have we done?"
But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon The One and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change The One had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built. And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!" But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.
You may think this is a fairy tale, but it's not. Most of it's happening RIGHT NOW!
"Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader--the barbarians enter Rome."
- Robert Heinlein: To Sail Beyond the Sunset
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