THE ENTERPRISE—"We the people, are coming!"
WAL-MART IS SMART--PREEMPTIVE MOVES WORK
Wal-mart has taken a clever approach to preempt government mandates. It has endorsed an employee paid health plan. Why, because it only makes sense to do so voluntarily and design their own, as the nation's largest private sector employer. It has also devised a clever red-herring to dodge the interference of the government in the area of environmental sustainability. Wal-mart's announcement of labeling to disclose environmental "friendliness" or whatever they decide to call it was also a brilliant PR move. It will take years, and the burden will be placed on Wal-mart's suppliers who are loathe to disagree--if they want to remain suppliers.
Wal-mart did this a few years back with its RFID initiative. That one hit suppliers with big costs, and then the project sort of quietly fizzled out. It was a good idea--just too far, too fast for effective execution. This one will be similar, but it won't matter. The move will have preempted the government from mandating something. Wal-mart will have "its own version." A wise man once told me, "If you are being run out of town, get out in front and pretend you are leading a parade."
TALKING THE TALK IS EASY; WALKING THE TALK IS NOT
There is a question often asked about leaders in business: "Does s/he walk the talk?" It is the yardstick by which employees everywhere judge the honesty, the integrity and the trustworthiness of leaders to aspire lead them. When a leader fails to walk the talk, his credibility drops like a rock. Everything else s/he says (or has said) comes into question. For a leader to be able to lead, s/he must have followers who believe in her/him. When the followers begin to doubt, the leader has started his decline into something else. S/he may still have authority bestowed by a position, but real authority to lead is earned, not bestowed. No matter how glib, how articulate, how seemingly inspiring the leaders words may sound, they are hollow words—from an unworthy leader.
As a friend reminded me recently, all politicians, by their circumstances must "lie a bit, about certain things" because the campaign process is much different than the process of serving, leading and governing. When these lies accumulate into a burden of in-credibility that is so great it can no longer be borne, the leader must collapse, dissembling as s/he does so. This is why so many of our governmental "leaders" deserve to be taken out of office at the first available chance, and replaced by a person that has CHIPs—Character, Honesty, Integrity, and Principles. We, the people, deserve nothing less.
LEADERS WHO LIE--REDUX--AND POLL NUMBERS CONTINUE TO REFLECT THE RESULT
It's hard to trust--and believe-- leaders who have been proven to lie. It's also hard to trust a leader who shows HIS biases ("stupidly") by weighing in on matters he doesn't know enough about, and then playing along with his friend's use of the time-proven "race card," to justify his conclusions. When leaders do this with a vast media audience watching, it makes one wonder what else they are telling us, and have told us that are also lies or distortions. Doesn't The Prez have anything more important to deal with than second guessing the Cambridge Police? LIke Iraq & Afghanistan, the economy, the health care mess, the deficit, the Cap & Trade fiasco, the illegal immigration mess, etc. etc. Judge for yourself.
(The following is from the normally Obama--sympathetic Associated Press--trashing his recent press conference comments.)
FROM YAHOO! & THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FACT CHECK: Obama's health care claims adrift?
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's assertion Wednesday that government will stay out of health care decisions in an overhauled system is hard to square with the proposals coming out of Congress and with his own rhetoric. Even now, nearly half the costs of health care in the U.S. are paid for by government at all levels. Federal authority would only grow under any proposal in play. play. AA look at some of Obama's claims in his prime-time news conference:
1--OBAMA: "We already have rough agreement" on some aspects of what a health care overhaul should involve, and one is: "It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it."
THE FACTS: In House legislation, a commission appointed by the government would determine what is and isn't covered by insurance plans offered in a new purchasing pool, including a plan sponsored by the government. The bill also holds out the possibility that, over time, those standards could be imposed on all private insurance plans, not just the ones in the pool. Indeed, Obama went on to lay out other principles of reform that plainly show the government making key decisions in health care. He said insurance companies would be barred from dropping coverage when someone gets too sick, limits would be set on out-of-pocket expenses, and preventive care such as checkups and mammograms would be covered.
It's true that people would not be forced to give up a private plan and go with a public one. The question is whether all of those private plans would still be in place if the government entered the marketplace in a bigger way. He addressed some of the nuances under questioning. "Can I guarantee that there are going to be no changes in the health care delivery system?" he said. "No. The whole point of this is to try to encourage changes that work for the American people and make them healthier." He acknowledged then that the "government already is making some of these decisions."
2--OBAMA: "I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade, and I mean it."
THE FACTS: The president has said repeatedly that he wants "deficit-neutral" health care legislation, meaning that every dollar increase in cost is met with a dollar of new revenue or a dollar of savings. But some things are more neutral than others. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters this week that the promise does not apply to proposed spending of about $245 billion over the next decade to increase fees for doctors serving Medicare patients. Democrats and the Obama administration argue that the extra payment, designed to prevent a scheduled cut of about 21 percent in doctor fees, already was part of the administration's policy, with or without a health care overhaul. Beyond that, budget experts have warned about various accounting gimmicks that can mask true burdens on the deficit. The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget lists a variety of them, including back-loading the heaviest costs at the end of the 10-year period and beyond.
3--OBAMA: "You haven't seen me out there blaming the Republicans."
THE FACTS: Obama did so in his opening statement, saying, "I've heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to 'go for the kill.' Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about 'breaking' me."
4--OBAMA: "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."
THE FACTS: The facts are in dispute between black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the white police sergeant who arrested him at his Cambridge, Mass., home when officers went there to investigate a reported break-in. But this much is clear: Gates wasn't arrested for being in his own home, as Obama implies, but for allegedly being belligerent when the sergeant demanded his identification. The president did mention that the professor was charged with disorderly conduct. Charges were dropped.
5--OBAMA: "If we had done nothing, if you had the same old budget as opposed to the changes we made in our budget, you'd have a $9.3 trillion deficit over the next 10 years. Because of the changes we've made, it's going to be $7.1 trillion."
THE FACTS: Obama's numbers are based on figures compiled by his own budget office. But they rely on assumptions about economic growth that some economists find too optimistic. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, in its own analysis of the president's budget numbers, concluded that the cumulative deficit over the next decade would be $9.1 trillion.
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SOME THOUGHTS ON HOW ALL OF US, (IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE) MIGHT COME THROUGH THESE TOUGH TIMES
WE CAN LEARN FROM NATURE--ADAPT, EVOLVE AND SURVIVE--OR BECOME EXTINCT
About a decade or more ago, I was really into the parallels between nature and business. In fact, the whole concept of complexity that surfaced in a much simplified nature in my recent book THE COMPLEXITY CRISIS was really born out of the scientific study of chaos theory and complexity. There is a short chapter in the book that goes there, so I will not belabor that "complex" area. My point is that nature somehow finds a way. The well known book, The Panda's Thumb explores how species evolve and adapt, including, in a few cases, developing an opposable thumb--something us humans find very useful.
BUSINESS HAS GONE THROUGH TOUGH TIMES BEFORE
I recall the early 1980's. Those of us old enough went through a deep recession in the 1970's, a period of shortages (gas and commodities) and rationing, much of which fueled by misguided attempts at wage and price controls (they don't work, as was proven). The rest of that recession involved the oil shock of the 1970's, which begat the small car craze and opened the door for the Japanese auto makers. The US Big Three (which were big at the time) conceded the small car end of the market to the Japanese, since they couldn't figure out how to make money on small cars with UAW wages and benefits built in. Those wages and benefits were the price paid by auto company management to buy labor peace in that era.
IF SOME OF US HAVE A SENSE OF DEJA VU...
Part of it is really there. The UAW didn't care about the auto companies survival back then. They were "too big to fail." The auto companies management couldn't stand to see their earnings (and stock and bonuses) be devastated by lengthy strikes. So they caved in, and the UAW bled them dry. The penalties for that insanity have tortured the US "Big Three" ever since--until now it is the not so Big 2-1/2, and maybe less than that. Both the UAW and Management were to blame, but if that wasn't bad enough, the government got its nose into things back then too. Remember the line "What's good for GM is good for America." Well, the government wouldn't, and "couldn't" let labor strife hurt America. During its heyday, the US auto industry accounted for about 1/3 of the jobs in the USA either directly or indirectly. When it suffered, America suffered.
FROM THE POST-WWII BOOM TO THE GO-GO '60'S TO THE RECESSIONS OF THE 19070'S AND 1980'S & THEN THE LONG, STRONG CLIMB OUT
The USA economy has always had its ups and downs. This time around they were made worse by combinations of greed, deregulation (of financial institutions), excessive leverage and government meddling (e.g., Fannie and Freddie). When most of the Glass-Steagall banking act was repealed in 1990, it was like going from a 55 MPH speed limit on highways to none at all. The dot-com and tel-com booms and busts should have taught investor lessons, but there was so much money looking for places to go, that another bubble grew. The housing bubble. Unlike the prior two, this industry employs--directly or indirectly-- a huge part of the American work force. Think about what goes into a new home and where most of it is made. Right here at home. And it is installed by American workers too (well, until lately when a lot of Hispanic immigrants found this to be the best job around.) After the new house came purchases of furniture (still a lot of it US made), floor coverings, and so forth.
BUSINESS RODE THE WAVE TOO--EXPANSION, GROWTH, INVESTMENT
When you ignore the 1970-1990 era, stock market returns, even with the dot-com bubble bursting, looked so good, everyone became a stock investor. On line brokerages made day traders out of anyone with a computer and some time. Marginal investment were bundled with a few good ones, to get a good rating, and peddled all over the world. Then one day, the whole bubble started collapsing. Houses that would be flipped 3 times in a year and double in value quit selling. They were now too expensive. Finally corporate earnings couldn't keep up with growth expectations, so investment chased riskier and riskier means of generating high returns. Leverage was compounded on leverage until no one could figure out what real value there was supporting all that paper. And when it started falling, it really fell hard and far. The past five years of returns were wiped out. Baby boomers who were planning a lavish early retirement woke up without enough for a modest retirement. Anyone on the edge, fell off. People lost most of their "nest egg," and what was left is now earning 1% instead of 6-7%.
SO NOW WHAT?
George W. Bush took the reins from Bill Clinton with a surplus in the US Treasury. Of course it was there because of the taxes paid during the dot-com and tel-com bubbles, much of which were levied on illusory profits and cooked books. Losses followed shortly thereafter, dropping tax revenues and earnings of the Clinton era were restated downward or disappeared entirely. Thus the Clinton surplus suddenly became the Bush deficit. Then came 9-11. The US reaction, however well-advised or ill-advised seems to have thwarted further attacks, but at a big price. Bush's Iraq invasion was based on one set of premises, when it fact, it was done for an entirely different one (not control of oil per se, but to keep the entire Middle East from slipping into an Iran like status). The price tag for Iraq was very high, both emotionally (and in lives) and financially. Bush, however, and too many of the "Old Republicans" somehow forgot about fiscal responsibility and spent like a bunch of drunken sailors (no, more appropriately, like a bunch of drunken Democrats). Bush forgot or ignored the fact that the President can veto spending bills. He made things much worse. And when he did the right things, either he or his minions did it such a stumbling, bumbling and poorly communicated way, that his well-intentioned actions looked as bad as his speeches.
WHEN YOU HAVE DUG YOURSELF INTO A HOLE, STOP DIGGING
The USA must start a process to "live within its means." Governments, companies and individuals who consistently spend more than they earn, will eventually fail--sometimes in the most spectacular ways. They often take many innocent, responsible people and organizations with them in their failure. When our country has the highest corporate tax rates in the world (Japan's are about equal), and when its citizens are taxed in a myriad of ways by State, Federal, Local and Special governmental units, one has to say: ENOUGH. It is time to start cutting expenditures. If that means cutting programs, so be it. HOWEVER--even the most naive American realizes the massive waste that occurs in spending against every politician's pet projects, every constituencies burning need, and ever governmental unit's runaway bureaucracy. Even our military is rooted in another era, as are our intelligence functions. Multiple military units: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and so on all vie for larger and larger shares of the defense budget--whether their way of waging war or defending our country remains as viable as ever--OR NOT. Ditto the 16 intelligence agencies that gather information and hoard it--sharing little. Do we really need 13 Cabinet positions? They accumulate like the stuff in my basement. Once formed to satisfy some special interest or timely situation, they never go away. IT'S TIME TO "RESTRUCTURE" AMERICAN GOVERNMENT... BUT...
AMERICA IS WAY PAST DUE FOR A "RESTRUCTURING"--BUT NOT THE ONE OBAMA IS ATTEMPTING
His grandiose words are increasingly being discovered as hollow promises cloaking a massive expansion in government control, regulation and influence. This is not good for anyone, save those political allies of his who benefit from it. Organizations like ACORN are reveling in their misguided glory. Companies are cringing in concern about what new rule, tax or interference will be launched under the auspices of an Obama and Democratic Congress led socialization of the great American capitalistic system. Our economy is in peril. Our liberty is in peril. Our future is also in great peril.
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, READ IT FROM ANOTHER PERSON'S PERSPECTIVE
A 53 year old Arizona woman, a "home grown American" and a life long Democrat lays it out as clearly as possible.
THAT'S ALL FOR ME, THIS WEEK. REMEMBER: Adapt, evolve and survive. We can do it. "We the people... are coming."
BEST, JOHN
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Glenn Beck: The Letter 25 June 2009. The following letter, read on Glenn Beck's show, is rapidly circulating around the country. Americans everywhere identify with this 53-year-old woman. She has given us a voice. Once you read this, you will want to forward it...
GLENN BECK: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona. She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership:
I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:
One, illegal immigration. —I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.
Two, the TARP bill. —I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars, —I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.
Four, cap and trade. —The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.
Five, universal healthcare. —I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!
Six, growing government control. —I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.
Seven, ACORN. —I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.
Eight, redistribution of wealth.—No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why -- what do you have against shareholders making a profit?
Nine, charitable contributions. —Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten, corporate bailouts. —Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band-Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven, transparency and accountability. —How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try -- please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. —Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some non politicians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For everyone of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come..
Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have canceled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when he will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired.
Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known.. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming.
We the people are coming.
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"Government is supposed to work for the people; not vice versa."
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John L. Mariotti, President & CEO, The Enterprise Group, Phone 614-840-0959 http://www.mariotti.net http://mariotti.blogs.com/my_weblog/
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