Telling It Like It Is

THE ENTERPRISE--AMERICA--WHAT'S THE FUTURE?

THE ENTERPRISE--AMERICA--WHAT'S THE FUTURE?

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN?
Watch Ollie North tell this story and you will be!
http://www.nragive.com/ringoffreedom/index.html

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO AMERICA?
Save this file and print it to read when you have time. 
It is a very insightful article from the WSJ, written by Mort Zuckerman, Chairman & Editor-in-chief of US News & World Report.  I can't do any better than this.
Download The End of American Optimism - WSJ.com

ONE RECORD I HOPE AMERICA CAN'T TOP—CHINA'S RECORD TRAFFIC JAM
In case you haven't been reading the news, China's boom in traffic on the outskirts of Beijing, combined with road construction created a 60 mile traffic jam, which has lasted for more than 10 days and may take several weeks to clear up.  This is one "biggest" China can keep in their record books.

TRUTH TELLERS OR NOT?  HOW DO YOU KNOW? RIGHT AWAY! (It's lots easier in hindsight!)
I've been lied to before--in the business world and personally.  It isn't much fun to be on the receiving end of a lie--especially when it can destroy your future.  A new TV show "Lie to Me" deals with the reading of "micro-expressions" and "micro-body -language" to detect if a person is telling a lie or the truth, is frightened, angry, disgusted, etc.  Supposedly this works, but it requires a great deal of skill and training to use effectively.  The TSA screeners receive rudimentary training of this sort, but only the very best can go beyond some of the simpler "reads." (Poker players call them "tells.")

DON'T YOU WISH YOU COULD KNOW WHO'S LYING ABOUT COMPANY FINANCIAL RESULTS?
A pair of Stanford professors is using a more "analytical" method—linguistic studies of 30,000 transcripts of conference calls from companies that later released earnings. Executives who later had to revise their financials displayed some very consistent clues!  They seldom referred to themselves or their company in the first person--"I" or "We."  They used terms like "the team," or "the company."  Deceitful executives didn't use adjectives like "solid" or "respectable." They went for more extreme words like "fantastic."  They seldom mentioned shareholder value, and often referred to general knowledge with words like "you know," to support statements. Were the metrics accurate?  About 50-65% of the time--and CFOs were much less talkative, and therefore less misleading than CEOs.  Maybe a new science is born!

TOYOTA IS GETTING RIPPED--AND NOT ALL OF IT IS FAIR-- 93 DEATHS OR  5 DEATHS?  BIG DIFFERENCE!
Sure, Toyota screwed up.  Introduced too many new models with inadequate (less than its normal near-perfect) testing and quality assurance.  And yes, it's recalls have reached epic proportions.  However, the media hype machine combined with sloppy methods and inadequate controls on what can be reported without credible back up, is unfairly harming Toyota.  Michael Fumento, a Free-lance DC writer researched the alleged 93 deaths resulting from Toyota's unintended acceleration problems.  I can't vouch for his accuracy, but he reports in FORBES than he found 5 deaths--NOT 93--that the NHTSA investigation has attributed to an acceleration defect.  If his reporting is correct, the "reports" include every kind of misinformation from drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs to "claims: that were simply made up for either notoriety or litigation purposes.  The "mainstream media" seems to be more interested in hype than truth.

DOUBLE-DIP RECESSION OR NOT?   A BLIP (Christmas spending); A DIP (1Q 2011); A SLOW CLIMB OUT OF THE SECOND DIP
The 2Q of 2010 will be revised down to a growth rate of only 1.6%.  Consensus is that the 3Q will show negative GDP growth.  Consumers are smart.  They see job growth stagnant and they are saving what they can, spending only on "occasions and necessities" (like last minute buys of Back to School needs, food, fuel, etc.).  Consumers will spend for Christmas, but "cautiously."  Not a "big Christmas" season--lots of bargain hunting however.

BERNANKE MAY SOUND OPTIMISTIC--BUT...
For many people, this recession is a DEPRESSION!  Few of those who are older and once had lucrative factory jobs will ever regain those kinds of jobs.  Young people and minorities are out of work at 2-3 times the national average.  The minimum wage increases have wiped out demand for their low-skill/low-experience levels.  Whoops!  College graduates in some of the "softer skill" areas (like Bachelor of Arts in low/no demand fields) cannot find jobs--period.  They are deemed overqualified for menial work and not needed in other fields.  Their best hope lies in the service or hospitality fields.  Ask your server next time, what his/her education level is.  You'll be surprised.  A while back, I was served by a licensed Architect who couldn't find work.

THE HOUSING MARKET IS STILL OVER BURDENED WITH INVENTORY & DISTRESSED SALES
There is no housing recovery. Recent sales have been mostly government aided buys or smart shoppers grabbing deals at very low prices.  Any housing recovery must be preceded by a large inventory reduction AND jobs growth.  This will not happen soon with 2 million unsold houses over and above the normal working inventory levels.  Slowly, it will recover--but over years, not months.

THE GOVERNMENT IS CLUELESS ABOUT HOW TO CREATE JOBS--WHAT IT DOES KNOW HOW TO DO IS OVER-SPEND
A vote of NO confidence in government-- according to over 5000 Americans surveyed by BIGresearch. (Survey error +/-1%)
--77.2% of Americans believe that the deficit is a result of government spending being too high while 7.7% think it’s from taxes being too low.
--78.8% believe that members are mismanaging taxpayer dollars, compared to only 6.9% who think they are using them wisely.
--71.8% have little-to-no confidence that the government’s economic policies will get the economy back on track (v. 28.2% who are confident/very confident).
With another dismal unemployment report on the record for July, Americans don’t believe the deficit will do employment (or lack thereof) any favors either. 70.1% say the federal deficit will have a somewhat/very negative impact on job creation.
--74.9% have little-to-no confidence that the government’s economic policies will help lower unemployment (v. 25.1% who do).
 
Q: WHERE DOES GOVERNMENT GET THE MONEY IT SPENDS?
A: From us-- the taxpaying citizens and from businesses (who also get it from customers--which is us too)
--Fact: Only about 60% of American citizens actually pay income tax!), 
--Secondarily the government gets its revenue from a whole lot of other taxes, customs duties, tariffs, fees, and other levies, all of which are simply taxes imposed in different formats and with other names. 
--Watch this video:  "I WANT YOUR MONEY!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wty7974IKg

DEMOGRAPHICS ARE DESTINY, "FUD" CHILLS HIRING AND PRODUCTIVITY CREATES A CONUNDRUM
Absent wars, famine or pestilence, people who are born, get older and are living longer.  The aging "boomers" are cutting back, hard, in fear of their income potential and unpreparedness for "retirement."  This is one of the underlying causes of lower consumer spending.  Combine this with Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt about jobs, the economy and what the government will do (or tax or regulate) next, all consumers are also "hunkering down."  The result:  weak consumer spending; weak demand; weak hiring by companies, lower tax revenues, and thus even larger Federal and State deficits.  Add to the the conundrum of productivity--which must improve to enhance competitiveness--but which means the fewer employees product more output, and you have a triple whammy that nobody in Washington has a clue how to handle.  Why?  Because too many American people elected career politicians and bureaucrats instead of those nasty old capitalistic business people.

ELECTIONS ARE COMING--LET'S MAKE WISE CHOICES
In my home state of OH, Governor Ted Strickland is throwing mud at his opponent John Kasich because John is an astute businessman and has had experience managing budgets in complex situations (Like during the 1994 Contract with America).  Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher is running for the US Senate against Rob Portman, formerly the US Trade Representative and Budget Director.  Fisher is a self-proclaimed "jobs guy;"  Ohio has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs while he has been practicing his expertise.  Strickland and Fisher plugged the holes in OH's budget using $8B of one-time Federal money.  Whoops, what does OH do next year and the year after with that big budget gap.  (Ask Schwartenegger--he's got the biggest gap of all--and there is no easy answer.) 

So what do the mud-slinging ads say:  Don't elect these "dirty businessmen and former experience fiscal managers.  Elect us because we'll tell you what you want to hear (not the truth) but you'll feel good temporarily.  (The same trick Obama would pull on someone like a Mitt Romney, who has actually "done something" in his life and career.)

Choose wisely and carefully consider which kind of elected officials you want to vote for.  It is our only way to change our country--one vote at a time--WE THE PEOPLE--can reclaim our country over the next 2-1/3 years.

LET'S DO IT

Best, John


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I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.    -- Winston Churchill

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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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THE ENTERPRISE--TAKING BACK OUR COUNTRY--A THREE-STEP PROCESS

THE ENTERPRISE--TAKING BACK OUR COUNTRY--A THREE-STEP PROCESS

THE "POSER" IS STILL IN CHARGE: THESE THINGS SIMPLY WILL NOT GO AWAY--WHERE THERE IS SMOKE, IS THERE FIRE?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jhx_2TqffE

WHO IS THIS MAN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE ELECTED PRESIDENT FROM OUT OF NOWHERE?
Anyone who goes to such extreme measures to hide his background MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE!

WHAT'S HAPPENED TO AMERICAN JOBS?  HERE'S "JOB KILLERS" LIST COURTESY OF IBD
Download IBD--What's Holding Back The Hiring

A CORRESPONDENT SENT ME THIS INFORMATION--WHY THE OBAMA ADMIN JOB PROGRAMS DON'T WORK!
"Obama has the lowest percent of people in his cabinet with business experience of any President in history.  After all, for Socialists, Capitalists are the enemy." MY REPLY WAS: "Which is why they are clueless and wrongheaded on any and every jobs program.
They never made a payroll except on the backs of taxpayers."

ANYONE WHO THINKS RETAKING THE HOUSE IN 2010 WILL FIX THINGS IS WRONG!
There is a three step process spanning the next 2-1/2 years if we are to retake our Country from the misguided Democrats in Congress and the "Phony" who is our President, the ONE the mainstream media and moneyed interests convinced so many uninformed Americans to elect. 

STEP ONE:  RETAKE THE HOUSE--GAIN THE COMMITTEE CHAIRS THAT CONTROL THE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
The keys to power in the House lie in the hands of the committee chairmen who are the senior members from the majority party. It is in these committees, or rather out of these committees that new legislation emerges.  Whichever party controls them, controls the initial source of legislation.  But taking control of the House is NOT ENOUGH!  WE MUST ALSO RETAKE THE STATE GOVERNMENT POSITIONS THAT WILL DO THE "REDISTRICTING."  These decisions set up one or the other party for advantageous districts in political makeup.  I don't know with certainly, and am not sure how other states do it, but in OH I believe the key spots that control redistricting are the Gov. the Sec'y of State and the Auditor.

STEP TWO: RETAKE THE SENATE--BUT A SIMPLE MAJORITY IS NOT ENOUGH EITHER
It now takes 60 Senators to truly control the Senate, by stopping filibusters with cloture, because filibusters are the only means the minority party has to stop legislation.   The Democrats are trying to lower this again, to 55, to meet their current, short term needs.  This could backfire if "We the People" can retake enough of the Senate.  This is unlikely to happen in 2010.  It will take another round of wins in 2012.   Even if the GOP controlled the House and had a small majority in the Senate, the Democrats will filibuster bills endlessly.  The few that make it through will be vetoed by Obama!   And there will be far from enough Republicans to over-ride his veto. Thus, nothing much will happen. Gridlock will be the order of the day for the intervening TWO YEARS!

STEP THREE: RETAKE THE WHITE HOUSE, AS MANY STATE GOVERNORS AS POSSIBLE AND A SIZABLE SENATE MAJORITY
This requires that the GOP choose a powerful candidate for 2012. It also requires no stop in the crusade to "Take Back America" that starts with the November mid-term elections.  Retaking the Senate is a big job.  Incumbent Senators are powerful people who win reelection almost all the time (95%+) unless they retire, die or are involved in a scandal.

WHERE AND HOW DO WE HAVE TO "TAKE BACK AMERICA?"
In our heartland, that's where.  Ten years ago I wrote an article I want to share with you here.  I think it explains a lot about how our country's power is so concentrated in places where the media and liberal establishment is so strong.  See what you think. Remember, I wrote the article entitled  "The Coasts and the Chasm" in the year 2000!

FOR THOSE READERS WHO LIVE ON THE COASTS, YOU MAY NOT LIKE THIS--OR YOU MAY FIND IT AFFIRMING
As you can see, I wrote it ten years ago in a fit of frustration with the media and publishing world.  I was also becoming aware of the divisions now known as "Red States" and "Blue States," based on political majorities.  There is much history about why the coasts, being settled first are heavily laden with the more intellectual and wealthier parts of society.  The "chasm" as I call it was settled by the hardier people who were willing to struggle with many dangers and challenges and carve a home out of the wilderness. 

THE STRUGGLES WERE DIFFERENT AND THE RESULTING POPULACE DIFFERED TOO
Of course the coastal dwellers once had to do it too--but the ventured less far inland from where they first settled and landed.  Thus they avoided mountains, virgin forests and sprawling plains that make up the central part of the USA.  I suspect the history and culture led to some of the societal developments.  So also did space, natural resources like timber, fresh water, minerals, etc.  The hardiest pioneers travelled all the way across the country, and thus people on the Western coast are a mixture of Asian and HIspanic immigrants and descendants of those hardy, rebellious and persistent pioneers that made it all the way across America.

I AM NEITHER A HISTORIAN NOR A CULTURAL/SOCIOLOGICAL SPECIALIST--I'M JUST DRAWING OBVIOUS CONCLUSIONS...circa year 2000--surprising how many are relevant 10 years later.
The Coasts and the Chasm

©John L. Mariotti 2000
 
An alarming thought went through my mind recently.  What if the tidal pull of the earth’s oceans is influencing our businesses and society in ways we don’t even recognize?  As I looked through my pile of reading material, and then considered my investment portfolio, I realized that the vast majority of the information generated today in print and electronically either originates in or is controlled by people located within 100 miles or less of the ocean(s).
 
Maybe there is some phenomenon bigger than the Internet at work.  Most major book publishers are located in New York, Boston, or San Francisco.  The same can be said for major magazines and national newspapers.  Ditto the headquarters for major TV networks—nearly all in or around New York or L. A.  Do "birds of a feather flock together", or is there some other, more mysterious force at work?
 
Then I realized that between San Diego, Silicon Valley and Seattle on one coast, and Boston to Washington, DC on the other, the coastal influence was even more striking.  Check the market capitalization of companies on the major stock exchanges and see where the headquarters of the biggest and most valuable are located.  Cisco, Microsoft, GE, Intel, IBM, Lucent, AOL, Time-Warner, and on and on—all within 100 miles (or much less) of the oceans.
 
Of course it is a given that much of the nation’s policy originates in Washington, DC.  Most of the country’s financial wealth is brokered and traded on Wall Street, in NYC, where else?  Then consider that many of the legendary universities: Stanford, UCLA, Harvard, Wharton, MIT and many others are all located in these two narrow bands of geography.
 
Is there anything wrong with this?  Maybe, maybe not!  There is not really a "chasm"--physical or intellectual--between these coastal bands of influence.  A lot of very important stuff goes on in the middle 2000+ miles of the U.S. A.  For starters, almost all of the food we eat is grown or raised there.  Nearly all of the "creature comforts" that aren’t made in the Orient are made in the good old central U. S. —the chasm.  It is often called the "Rust Belt" but it isn’t so rusty any more.
 
Try to do without furniture, carpets, beverages, automobiles, plastics, gasoline, steel, appliances, computers, pipes, wires, fiber optics, and the tools and machinery needed to actually produce all of this and much more.  The vast majority of these are made in the "chasm"-nowhere near the coasts.  People actually make physical things there, instead of just having ideas and reducing them to words on paper, policy in laws or digits in cyberspace.
 
But much less is said or written about those who reside and work in the chasm, except in the media that is mostly regional, local or of a "controlled circulation".  This means they go primarily to the same people that they are created about and for.  Of course there are some national media in the chasm—WGN, Chicago’s TV super-station comes to mind, as does Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta with its CNN, TNT, TBS, etc.   UPS in Atlanta and FedEx in Memphis deliver the goods and are "chasm dwellers". Dell & Compaq actually design lots of computers in the chasm--even if they are not all made in the chasm.  But these are the exceptions, not the rule.  They (mostly) make things!
 
There are even real cities located in the chasm: Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and lots more.  People from the coastal areas may know of them because their airplanes stop at these hubs when they can't go direct.  There are also some major sporting teams located in the chasm’s major cities.
 
Where am I going with this?  Here’s where.  Anytime the vast majority of the creation and communication of ideas is localized to a few cultural areas; it can easily become biased and ingrown.  That is decidedly NOT good.  If a (relatively) small cultural area influences most of the financial markets in the country (and maybe the world), that also is NOT good.
 
Diversity is what made this country great.  Diversity is what supports the richness of our social fabric.  Diversity of thought can be threatened by the concentration of knowledge, wealth, and most of all information influence in the "coastal" cultures.  If it isn’t about dot.coms or e-commerce, financial markets or stock prices, the Fed or the government, it isn’t news—at least not at quite the same level.
 
If you disagree, fire up your computer, go to a newsstand, or stop at a bookstore and do a random check.  We are in danger of developing and promulgating a skewed, biased version of every kind of information, but especially that about our business world. Pick up 50-100 magazines that you recognize as the "biggies", and see where they are published—that means where the people live who decide what goes in them—and what doesn’t. 

Do the same thing with books.  Just choose 100 at random and look where the publisher's headquarters are located.  That is where the decision to publish that particular book, on that topic, by that author was made—and in a lot of cases that's where the author also resides.  Then check where the major TV networks and national newspapers originate.  Sure, they all have local affiliates and branch offices—and we all know how much influence they have compared to the "home office".
 
Thanks to the Internet, it is possible to break down this coastal cultural bias—but it won’t happen easily, if at all—because that is also where many of the powerful web sites originate, either at major publications and corporations or with portals like AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc.
 
What must happen is for balance to be regained is for everyone in the "central chasm" to start taking a much more proactive role in ensuring the diversity, quantity and balance of information and perspectives needed to keep our country great.  That means, start generating good, insightful, interesting information and getting it widely disseminated. 

Build the reputation capital of the chasm-based colleges and universities.  Take proactive positions and speak out.  Otherwise, we all better move to one of the coasts and either get a subway pass or grow a beard and lose our shoes.
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THERE YOU HAVE IT.  THE THREE STEP PROCESS TO RETAKE AMERICAN
And some insights into why it will be so difficult.  Blacks and Hispanics will heavily vote for Obama (of course so will Muslims).  The more illegals he can get accepted into citizenship, the more voters he will have. IT WILL NOT BE EASY TO BEAT OBAMA IN 2012, NO MATTER HOW LOW HIS RATINGS GO.  The sheer numbers of minority voters require only a modest group of liberal Democratic voters and Union members to re-elect him.

THAT IS YOUR SCARY STORY FOR THIS WEEK.  DO EVERYTHING TO CAN TO KEEP IT FROM COMING TRUE!

BEST, JOHN

Want to end with a grin?  A little story from a friend.

New Truck

I stopped by the Toyota Dealership yesterday for a look at the new Tacoma .  Just for fun, I took it out for a test drive.  I wanted to
sense that new "feel"  The salesman (wearing an Obama "change" lapel pin) sat in the passenger seat describing the truck and all its
"wonderful" options. The seats were of particular interest.

He explained that the seats directed warm air to your butt in the winter and directed cool air to your butt in the summer heat.

Feeling like messing with his mind, I mentioned that this must be a Republican truck. Looking a bit angry, he asked why I thought it was a Republican truck. I explained that if it were a Democrat truck, the seats would blow smoke up your ass year-round.

I had to walk back to the dealership... Guy had no sense of humor.


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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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THE ENTERPRISE--JOBS? YOU WANT JOBS CREATED?

THE ENTERPRISE--JOBS?  YOU WANT JOBS CREATED?

HOW BAD IS IT?  VERY BAD INDEED!
There are now about 30 million unemployed, given up, and underemployed people in the USA.  That is a catastrophe!  The 9.5% official unemployment rate--14.6 million people--doesn't begin to capture how bad it is.  In the past 3 mo. alone, 1,155,000 people have dropped out of the employment hunt and "given up looking," joining previous dropouts to add up to 5.9 million who have stopped looking and don't get counted as officially "unemployed."  Another 150,000 to 200,000 enter the job market each month wondering where they will find a job--most of which can't or don't.  There are 8.5 million people working part time who would like to work full time--but they can't find any place to do that. There are now 3.4 million fewer private sector jobs now than there were a decade ago.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF ILL-INFORMED POLICIES
Last week I wrote about this in one or two instances, but here is another one.  The big flap about raising the minimum wage, supposedly to help entry level workers, has had the opposite effect, discouraging hiring of low level, and unskilled, mostly the young and especially young minority workers.  Among that group unemployment is at least double the national average--or worse. The big flap about finding a way to accept more illegal immigrants makes all of these jobs problems worse.  They might work for less, but there are so many of them, they can flood a market with low cost labor for those employers willing to look the other way.

JOBS GOING UNFILLED--A LOT OF THEM--REASONS VARY BUT HERE ARE A FEW
Our government has created a huge cultural problem--chronic aversion to work!

1) Unemployment benefits are so good compared to the wages being offered that some people have turned down multiple jobs, preferring to stay at home and collect lengthy unemployment.  We are creating a society of what we used to call "Ne'er-do-wells"--people who become so used to the lazy lifestyle of unemployment that they opt to avoid jobs where they might actually have to WORK for a full eight hours, five days a week.

2) Skills that are in demand are not being taught by schools, and applicants are not willing or able to absorb the needed training, even when provided free.  Schools run by bureaucrats and taught by ineffective teachers protected by unions are teaching how to boil eggs, do laundry and fill out forms instead of what is needed--hard science, math, etc.  Those require both diligent students and competent, devoted teachers (a minority)  Jobs going unfilled are hindering business; jobs that require a solid foundation of education plus some training, are available: medical technicians, Industrial hygienists, machinists (apprentices), and people who can learn to run numerically controlled machine tools and read blueprints, make calculations, etc. and then will show up for work and be a reliable worker!

3) The housing crisis has made it difficult or impossible to move, in order to take advantage of jobs that are available.. They cannot sell their house at any acceptable value, in order to buy a new one, where jobs are available. Thus pockets of very high unemployment remain, and it becomes a self-fuliffling prophecy: no jobs, terrible market for housing, low values, hard to move, etc.

4) Our society has created a culture that expects to be paid handsomely for "not working very hard."  The wealthy financial manipulators portrayed in media and entertainment are as fictional as those media portrayals of work.  Unions make it worse by demanding lucrative pay and benefits and flexible time off for mundane jobs. Thus companies do the only thing they can--THEY STOP HIRING.  More Unions will make it worse.  More government jobs set terrible examples, because the work is generally not all that demanding, and the protected status of these workers allow them to figuratively "get away with murder" in terms to avoiding hard work or demanding hours.

5) Consistently high fuel prices (by historical standards) make commuting far both expensive and time consuming.  Thus job seekers want jobs that are close to where they live.  In decades past, groups of 4-5 people would "car pool" and travel an hour each way to their work, so they could live in lower cost small towns further from the expensive cities.

6) Higher paying factory jobs in large numbers no longer exist, as the USA  manufacturing base has shrunk and unproductive, expensive union workers have either been replaced with automation or outsourced to Asia. The jobs available are lower paying service jobs with less attractive hours:  retail, restaurant, cleaning, and other service industry jobs.  They also carry no "status" and thus are off-putting to previously well-employed and proud trades workers.  Plus the trade jobs that remain in the USA have moved (see 5. & 6.)

Real work is "work," requiring a person to get up early, be at work on time, not miss work for routine personal matters and concentrate to learn and use training.  We have created a society that isn't ready for "WORK."

THE CULTURAL AND PREPARATION ISSUES--THE SIMPLE WILLINGNESS TO WORK VS. STAYING AT HOME AND LOAFING FOR 99 WEEKS COLLECTING UNEMPLOYMENT IS AT THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM EVERY BIT AS MUCH AS JOB AVAILABILITY

IS THIS "CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN?"  HELL NO!
Democrats have now controlled Congress for most of the past 3-1/2 years.  Their control for the past 1-1/2 years has been dominant.  The articulate, inspiring new President has been in office for over 1-1/2 years, and pretty soon, he may have to face the fact that he's made things worse, not better--and he needs to quit trying to blame George Bush for his problems.  Remember, he was going to FIX EVERYTHING!    I can't believe I am quoting New York Times Columnist Bob Herbert for the second time in a few months, but he says some very astute and correct things in a recent editorial.  "The nation is facing a full-blown employment crisis, and policy-makers are not responding with anything like the sense of urgency that is needed."  Right you are, Bob.  He closes with the statement: "We're not heading toward the danger zone.  We're there."

REMEMBER THE THREE STEP PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS:
1) Understand the problem.
2) Define the problem.
3) Solve the problem.
Far too few government officials have meaningful experience in the private sector, in creating jobs, and fewer still have ever had to "make a payroll."  Consider the case of Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana.   Mitch has considerable business experience.  While he's been governor, Indiana has overcome its financial crisis and has a balanced budget.  As a state it is more attractive to employers than neighboring Ohio, which has a huge deficit and will be forced to take some kind of Draconian actions to remain financially solvent.  Ohio's Governor, Ted Strickland is a former minister/preacher--but perhaps prayer is one of the best solutions when the mess gets as bad as it is in Ohio.  His campaign is throwing mud at his opponent John Kasich for being a former Lehman Brothers guy--one of 800 at his level.  But Kasich was one of the architects of the budget fixes during Newt Gingrich's "Contract for America" in 1994.  Who might do a better job at setting Ohio right?  Someone who's done it and knows how, or someone who will "pray" that it gets better--when his every action makes it worse?

REDUCING TAXES ACROSS THE BOARD IS NOT THE ANSWER, & CUTTING SPENDING MUST GO WITH TAX REDUCTIONS
What taxes are reduced is what matters--because some tax reductions will spur much more growth and expansion in the economy and that means jobs, than others.  Some tax reductions mostly put more money in the pockets of those who will not reinvest it, and that simply raises the deficit.  Cutting government spending will mean jobs go away too.  That's why any jobs program and deficit reduction programs must be done in a coordinated manner.  If done right, cutting taxes that spur investment in and expansion of job-creating activities will absorb many of those who lose their jobs as government waste is cut.  Also, the increase tax revenue from business growth will compensate for the tax revenue lost due to tax cuts, and actually reduce the deficit. These are not trivial choices, and partisan politics can easily mess them up and cause the wrong choices to be made.

JOBS--GOOD NEWS? CHRISTINE ROMER, OBAMA'S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS HEAD, GOES BACK TO COLLEGE
When she was originally at U. California Berkeley, she discovered and published with her husband, that government spending does not create net new jobs, it actually has the opposite, negative effect, pulling money away from the private sector which DOES create jobs. Maybe she'll find the part of her brain that she left at school when she left to be brainwashed into Obama-economics. Hopefully, when she is no longer beholden to Obama, she and her husband will go back to finding and exposing the truth about government stimulus--it is largely an oxymoron that costs more jobs than it creates.  The only government stimulus spending that makes sense is if it repairs and enhances our infrastructure of roads, bridges, and similar badly needed work.  That specific kind of spending creates jobs, and has a lasting benefit for all Americans.

UNIONS ARE A LEADING CAUSE OF JOB LOSS
When Democrats are in office and use their political power to support discrimination in favor of unions, jobs suffer.  Unions add inefficiency. They add distrust.  They add an extra party to every negotiation. And they add far more than their 2 hours a month of pay collected in dues, but insisting on inefficiency in work rules and contract provisions.  That's why they are down to 7% of the work force in the private sector.  However, they are strangling taxpayers in the public sector.  The rampant inefficiency of government bureaucracies is amplified by unionized workers making more money, getting richer benefits and being less productive than private sector employees.  Unions are the major reason that job growth in Right-to-Work-Law states is much higher than it is in heavily union influenced states (Michigan, for one example).

HERE IS ONE FORMER CEO'S APPROACH
This will take some time to read, but it is absolutely on target about what has happened, and it is written by one of the technology sectors most respected former CEO & Chairman (of Intel). 
[NOTE: To make the figures larger, when you are connected to the Internet, click on the +,  at the lower right corner of each.]

Download Andy Grove_ How America Can Create Jobs


OHIO SHOWS THE WAY--HOW NOT TO DO IT--  BY CREATING HIGH PRICED (WASTEFUL) JOBS FOR UNION MEMBERS

Download Misfeasance | The Columbus Dispatch

Follow up report.  This director is now claiming publicly, in the media that there is nothing in his job description that says he cannot or should not be biased toward Union members being favored.  This shows the incredible CONTEMPT  for the costs to taxpayers this causes.  The fault for this misguided individual and his waste of tax-payer money lies clearly with the incumbent Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and the Democratic Party principles he follows--and his party's heavily Union-biased contributors who hold him hostage.

GOVERNMENT WASTE IS STAGGERING--AND NO ONE WILL ATTACK IT
Of course wringing out waste in government will create still more unemployed people.  What needs to be done is to relax the unnecessary regulatory stranglehold on business, lower taxes that provide incentives for business to invest, and create new jobs.  Some of the former government employees (those who actually want to work) will land in those jobs.  Stimulus spending (what's left of it) should be redirected from "pork and patronage" to a massive public works program to repair and rebuild crumbling infrastructure:  bridges, highways, water/sewage plants and so forth.  This is one of few government spending programs that actually does create private sector jobs--and leaves a legacy of things in place to show for the expenditure. (Not boondoggles like the idiotic $400MM [not so] "fast train" from Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati that averages under 40 mph and requires ongoing state subsidies that equal or exceed the ticket prices per rider.)

REGULATION GROWTH CAUSES JOB LOSS WHEN DONE POORLY
Some regulations are necessary and valuable.  Others cost jobs by either demotivating employers or by downright making industries less competitive with foreign competition.  This requires skill and an awareness of how "bad regulations" damage the free enterprise system and "good regulations" protect Americans from abuses.   Worst of all, the uncertainly of a "limbo"--where regulations are constantly changing, evolving and being redefined,--is a place that paralyzes business decision making and investment.  This administration and its various councils and commissions have created a raft of new, onerous and business unfriendly rules and regulations.  No recovery comes until some of these are rescinded or removed.

There is no way I can fully address the jobs issue in such a limited space.  Hopefully the snippets I have included illustrate why it is not as simple as it seems, and why non-job creating people like politicians and government bureaucrats do such a lousy job of it.  There are literally thousands of people like me--semi-retired from business, with the knowledge to help.  Why don't the politicians ask for our help? Perhaps they won't like our recommendations?

Best, John



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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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THE ENTERPRISE--COMPETENCE, INCOMPETENCE & UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

THE ENTERPRISE--COMPETENCE, INCOMPETENCE & UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

AN UNBELIEVABLE PARABLE:
    PART 1--WHEN INCOMPETENTS ARE ELEVATED TO  POSITIONS FOR WHICH THEY ARE UNQUALIFIED
Imagine a scenario:  A huge industrial company like General Electric or IBM needs a new CEO.  It's Chairman and CEO, someone like Jeffrey Immelt or Jack Welch or Louis Gerstner is retiring.  A bright, and very articulate middle manager in one of its divisions makes a speech on the "Company of the Future" at one of the Company's largest corporate meetings.  He is a "huge hit!" Suddenly there is a groundswell within the Company that thinks this unproven, barely-known, mid-level manager with little or no executive experience should be the next Chairman & CEO.  After all, the company is big into diversity and he is multi-cultural, too. The media loves him and he graces the cover of major magazines. He is taken under the wing of a small group of shareholders, and former executives (removed for non-performance reasons), who coach him on what to say, and organize a "campaign" with the board and shareholders to put him on the proxy and ballot and choose him as the successor Chairman & CEO.  Finally the shareholders meeting comes and sure enough, the young, inexperienced, but articulate rookie is selected as the next CEO--by a narrow margin.

    PART 2--EXPOSING THE IMPOSTOR--OR "THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!"
As the new CEO takes office, the coalition of shareholders enlists the help of many "has beens" and mediocre "hangers on" to agree with his decisions and protect their jobs from cutbacks.  Even though this group is the marginally qualified, not very talented veterans, this too works.  Everything is working for the new CEO until not one or two, but several crises break out.  He has no idea how to handle them, so he simply makes speech after speech, restating the obvious and promising miracle cures.  Research reveals that a lot of his background information is murky, unclear and simply not available.  It's hard to tell where he came from and so forth.  In  desperation, he (is advised  and) begins blames all of the crises on his predecessors.  Financial results are terrible.  The new CEO's supporters, forgetting his inexperience and lack of qualifications become angry with him for "not doing the job they got for him." 

    PART 3--NOW WHAT?  THE SHAREHOLDERS ARE DESPERATE, BUT MUCH OF THE DAMAGE IS DONE
All of the talented members of senior management are outraged, but the CEO tells them to follow his directions and failing that he replaces the best and most competent with his former "crony buddies" from the playground. Finally the realization that this was a pretender, a puppet and an glib, articulate (and quite smart) neophyte.  A "hollow suit" as one put it.  By the way, since the new CEO is "multi-cultural" he chooses many other minorities for key positions, choosing ethnicity over quality in many cases.  Policies are changed and chaos results.  Customers and suppliers alike are aghast at the decisions being made.  Employees are desperate as many are suffering since the company's fortunes have plummeted.  Much to the chagrin of shareholders, the new CEO is doing everything the opposite of what he said when he was trying to be chosen for the job--and little of it is working.  He attacks too many big issues at once, with too little talented staff to execute, and then tries "throwing money at the problems" to make them better.

    PART 4--IS ANY OF THIS SOUNDING FAMILIAR YET?
I will leave it to readers to figure out what my simple "business parable" describes.  Talking a good game is not the same as knowing what to do.  Making inspiring speeches is just one, and not the major qualification of a skilled leader.  Then following  ill-advised actions based on the advice of "hacks" who care only about their power, positions and prominence, leads to disastrous consequences.
Of course my story is a parallel for the USA, and it's President, Barack Obama--the silver tongued one, who has turned into the "two-faced one" and the "emperor who has no clothes."  The problem is one of consequences, and it will take years, perhaps decades to repair the damage he has already done or allowed to be done in less than two years.

THE POINT:  CONSCIOUS VS. UNCONSCIOUS; COMPETENCE VS. INCOMPETENCE; MATTERS A LOT...
In business (and in politics) there are several kinds of managers (and candidates) you will find.  There are "competent ones," which come in two "flavors"--conscious-competents (the best kind) and unconscious-competents (who inadvertently do the right thing just trying to look good).  Clearly you know which kind is preferable.  There are also "incompetent ones," which also come in two kinds: conscious-incompetents (whose policy beliefs are just wrong) and unconscious-incompetents (who are "clueless" enough that they do the wrong things, thinking they are doing the right things!). 

Sometimes, political parties and powerful leaders prefer the latter one--unconscious incompetents--since they are like sheep who can be herded to do whatever is desired.  (We have one--or  more--of those holding office from OH--Mary Jo Kilroy is an example of that kind.  She is "Pelosi's Puppet!" See below.)

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PARTY MONEY (FROM OUTSIDE THE STATE) "BUYS" A MISGUIDED/INCOMPETENT REPR. A SEAT IN CONGRESS
Mary Jo Kilroy is what happens.  (And she is is trying to get reelected the same way.)  I will not judge her intentions--only she knows what they are.  Perhaps they were noble and correct. I can only see in retrospect what she demonstrated when she was arguably the worse city commissioner Columbus ever had.  Her misguided pursuit of union rights alone (demanding that public contracts must use "qualified" [Union] contractors, probably cost Franklin County millions.  On the new ball park alone it was about a 1/4 million on one contract--in which the courts later ruled she was wrong!!!

Download Kilroy Was Here, Alas - WSJ.com

WHY WE MUST ELECT A COMPETENT SENATOR--ROB PORTMAN--ON NOV. 2!
(WHEN YOU HAVE A FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE SENATOR (LAMAR ALEXANDER, R, TN)--THIS HAPPENS)
Spending Freeze:  Because federal spending and debt are at crisis levels, Republican senators on the Appropriations Committee are asking our Democratic colleagues to join us in supporting a freeze on federal spending. Every Republican and 17 Democratic senators have already voted for the Sessions-McCaskill amendment basically freezing discretionary appropriations, which constitute 38 percent of the federal budget.  For more info: http://alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=0296a9d3-79a9-4005-bf40-6bdc3529f2c3&ContentType_id=778be7e0-0d5a-42b2-9352-09ed63cc4d66&Group_id=80d87631-7c25-4340-a97a-72cccdd8a658&YearDisplay=2010

GREEN ENERGY SOURCES (WIND, WATER, SOLAR, GEOTHERMAL, TIDAL) ARE/WILL BE NICHE PLAYERS
Someday, our rookie President will get someone honest to run the numbers behind the things he peddles to the uninformed who make up a large part (majority) of his supporters.  First he brings Christine Romer from the University scene on the West Coast to Washington, and all her research that proves government spending has a NEGATIVE impact on the country's economic growth is forgotten. She struggles and squirms to support Obama's soaring rhetoric and flawed reasoning.  "Dirty Harry" Reid decides he doesn't want Yucca Mountain (nuclear waste storage) in his backyard--after decades of spending going into Nevada preparing for it. 

Experts admit that even if "green energy sources" reach their ultimate potential in the next decade or two, they can only provide a small share of America's energy needs.  A solar car--no way.  Maybe a few geothermal houses, if the owner is rich enough to spend 10X what a regular heating plant costs.  Hydroelectric has been around for decades.  It is a mature energy source--and new dams are damn expensive to build. Tidal might work if you are near somewhere that had tides...but it's not cheap either.  This leaves Nuclear--which the "scare tactics" of environmentalists have thwarted ever since Three Mile Island occurred--a "disaster" which never caused massive destruction or death!

A NEWLY FOUND COMPETENCE: A FORMER GOVERNOR AND NOW A SENATOR WEIGHS IN

I've never been a big Lamar Alexander fan.  He was Gov. of TN when I was down there.  Now he is one of the more sensible voices in the US Senate--how times change.  He is also a resident of TVA country where the decades old campaigns of FDR built numerous dams and where electricity is about as cheap as it comes (of course as of 6-7 years ago, TVA, which is a quasi-government owned entity like the Post office or Railroads, had about $30 billion in debt and was scraping along, struggling to make money to pay it down. Alexander knows all this.  Consider his take on nuclear power, posted below.  It makes a lot of sense.

I WONDER IF THE POLLS AND THE VOTING BOOTHS WILL MATCH UP IN NOV.

Most Americans want a government that works for them, not vice versa; one that reflects the values upon which America was founded: hard work, local control, limited government, fiscal responsibility, a respect for private property, and "liberty" and the "rights" of the people, by the people and for the people. Most Americans have seen the failings of big government control and policies, and the tax and spend, and spend, and spend that goes with them. 55% of voters describe President Obama's policies as "Socialist" according to a Democracy Corps. poll, a Democratic polling firm.  60% want to repeal the mammoth, expensive health care law that was crammed through Congress. (Rasmussen poll).   73% of Americans oppose the drilling moratorium in the Gulf (Bloomberg poll).  2/3 or more  or Americans support the Arizona immigration control law.

WILL THESE MAJORITIES VOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO WILL FIX THE MISTAKES, AND REELECT THE BRAVE MINORITY WHO HAVE TRIED TO SLOW THE JUGGERNAUT OF "OBAMA-ISM"?  I hope so.  The uninformed and misinformed (by mainstream liberal media) and those who like being supported by others in a "welfare state," will vote for a continuation of the Democratic/Obama led policies. 

THE ELECTION IS ONLY 90 DAYS AWAY!

ONLY IF YOU GET TO THE YOUTH AND TO THE UNIFORMED AND MISINFORMED; TO YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS.  HELP THEM SEE THAT GOVERNMENT CANNOT, AND NEVER WILL CREATE WEALTH.  IT CAN ONLY TAKE WEALTH FROM OTHERS WHO EARN IT BY THEIR HARD WORK AND SPEND IT AND WASTE IT AND GIVE IT AWAY.

THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS!

BEST, JOHN

PS:  Maybe if we put it in terms our Narcissist in Chief Obama understands--Basketball--he'd see how misguided his opposition to Arizona's new immigration law is in common sense terms.  (But why do I expect that?  Old Two-face'll say he gets it and then do something else.) 

Am I upset?  You bet I am. It took us a lot of toil, trouble and pain to build America IN more than TWO HUNDRED YEARS.  Obama and his wrecking crew led by Pelosi and Reid are destroying that in TWO YEARS.  You should be upset too--and I bet most of you that read this far are upset too.

"What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes
of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a
good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security
personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket
stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected. Furthermore, what
if Suns' ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with
complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a
gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical
care and shelter?" -Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer



Nuclear Energy Is Cheap and Reliable—Today nuclear power produces 20 percent of our nation’s electricity but 70 percent of our carbon-free electricity.  by Lamar Alexander

Forty years ago, at the time of the first Earth Day, Americans became deeply worried about air and water pollution and a population explosion that threatened to overrun the planet’s resources. Nuclear power was seen as a savior to these environmental dilemmas. It could produce large amounts of low-cost, reliable clean energy. Unlike oil, nuclear power did not need to be hauled in leaking tankers from countries that didn’t like us. Unlike coal, it didn’t spew tons of pollution out of smokestacks.

Then Three Mile Island and Chernobyl happened. The world pulled back, fearful of nuclear technology—even though no one was hurt at Three Mile Island. In fact, no one has ever died as a result of a nuclear accident at an American commercial nuclear reactor or on a U.S. Navy ship powered by reactors. Chernobyl was the tragic result of a flawed technology never used in the United States. Still, the United States hasn’t licensed a new reactor since 1978.

Now the rest of the world is returning to nuclear energy. France is 80 percent nuclear and has the lowest per capita carbon emissions, and among the cheapest electricity costs, in Western Europe. Italy, Britain, Finland, and Eastern Europe all are exploring new reactors. Russia, India, China, and Japan are moving ahead. South Korea is selling reactors to the United Arab Emirates.

These countries realize that exploding populations demand large amounts of cheap, reliable electricity to help create jobs and lift people out of poverty. And nuclear power provides just that. The National Academy of Sciences in a 2009 report said that the cost of nuclear power is equal to or lower than natural gas, wind, solar, or coal with carbon capture. Reactors can operate for 80 years, while wind and solar last about 25 years. And nuclear reactors operate 90 percent of the time, while wind and solar are only available about a third of the time. (Remember: wind and solar power can’t be stored today in significant amounts.) Most people don’t want their lights and computers working only when the wind blows.

And nuclear plants occupy a fraction of the land required for wind or solar. For example, 20 percent of U.S. electricity comes from 104 nuclear reactors on about 100 square miles. Producing the same amount of power from wind would require covering an area the size of West Virginia with 183,000 50-story turbines as well as building 19,000 miles of new transmission lines through scenic areas and suburban backyards.

Nuclear fuel is available in the United States and is virtually unlimited. We don’t have to drill for it. We don’t have to mine it nearly as much as we do for coal. And thanks to technology, we can safely recycle “nuclear waste” and turn most of it into more fuel. After recycling, the French are able to store all of their final waste—from producing 80 percent of their electricity for 30 years—in one room in La Hague.

A more recently realized benefit of nuclear power is its ability to combat climate change. Nuclear power emits zero greenhouse gases. Today it produces 20 percent of our nation’s electricity but 70 percent of our carbon-free electricity. Wind and solar provide less than 2 percent of our electricity and 6 percent of our carbon-free electricity today.

The United States uses 25 percent of all the energy in the world. At a time when we need to produce large amounts of clean power at home, at a cost that will not chase jobs overseas looking for cheap energy, Americans can’t afford to ignore nuclear power.

http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/07/19/Lamar-Alexander-Nuclear-Energy-Is-Cheap-and-Reliable.html

from U.S. News & World Report July 19, 2010




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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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