THE ENTERPRISE--SIMPLE TRUTHS

THE ENTERPRISE--SIMPLE TRUTHS

TAKE 2 MINUTES AND WATCH "THE FORGOTTEN MAN" ABOUT A PAINTING BY JOHN MCNAUGHTON
It is unforgettable.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KGlBHyVeYU


ANSWER TO A QUESTION:  HOW MANY PEOPLE RECEIVE AND READ "THE ENTERPRISE"?
I really don't know.  Here are the things I do know.  I have been writing and emailing it weekly for 9 years, since this same time in 2001--right after 9/11.  The direct mailing list is now at about 650 names.  I add names whenever folks ask me to be added or ask for someone else to be added.  (Ditto for those who want to drop it!)  Some read it every week.  Others never read it at all.  I have attempted to survey what the "reading" and  "pass on" factors might be, with only modest success.  Based on replies, perhaps 10-20% of recipients pass it on to others (sometimes with a note, sometimes to their entire organization), and the average pass-on number was to 10 addresses, and a high of 50 recipients.  That doubles the number who receive it to over 1000.  I post it on my blog, where it receives (in a typical month) about 300 more views.  Who else passes it on or passes on the blog address (It's in the signature of all of my emails), I don't know.

I write it because I want to.  It makes me think about "what I think, about things."  I hope you find it interesting, sometimes enjoyable and useful. 
I am open to suggestions (& criticism) on how to make it better, what to do more of, or less of...etc.

[NOTE] A SPECIAL MESSAGE ABOUT INTERNET-OBAMA (& PELOSI/REID) RELATED STORIES--PLEASE CONSIDER SERIOUSLY
I just get at least 10-20 emails every week forwarded to me (with the best of intentions) containing stories about Obama's past, his murky background, his Muslim origins, comparisons to Hitler, and many more.  I have checked many of these with the best Internet sources I can find:   http://www.factcheck.org, http://www.truthorfiction.com, and http://www.snopes.com, (known to be run by a couple of left-leaning people).  Nearly all of the forwarded emails are either bogus--written by bloggers and attributed to famous people, or "old news" generated during the 2008 campaign,  Barack Obama was inaugurated President and that is an unavoidable truth--we are stuck with him.  These stories distract us from the real jobs of: Communicating how his current policies ares damaging the USA,  and Electing new members  to take control of Congress in hopes of "slowing him down"-- until we can find someone to defeat him in 2012 -- not an easy task! 
My appeal to you is that rather than just forwarding around these "shocking" stories, take 3 steps: 
1) Check them out at the sites listed above.
2) When you find them to be false, in part or in total, email whoever sent them to you and let them know,
3) When you find one that is true and is consistent with trying to replace him or gain control of Congress--send it on!  Thanks.

A FEW BITS OF WISDOM FROM THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED 14TH REUNION CONFERENCE
Just a few of the dozen wonderful topics and presentations...more in future editions.  General conclusion: People make all the difference.  Find, retain and provide an environment where they can become motivated, happy, excited and succeed, and wonderful things happen. George Plotner, [email protected] used mini-cases to illustrate several common blunders in hiring--or attempting to hire--people, and how to avoid them.  Krissi Barr  [email protected], presented the message of her book Plugged, and emphasized the importance of PAR (the book uses a golf metaphor): Prioritize, Adapt, and be Responsible. Jack Windsor [email protected], illustrated and explained the power of networking, and concluded that "your network is your net worth!"  Dolph Santorine  http://www.dolphsantorine.com, explained his uniquely down-to-earth, experience-based approach to fiscal responsibility in government and his current run for a seat in the WV House of Delegates. 

CHINA--GOING THROUGH THE UNAVOIDABLE PHASES OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
China's population is graying, and the trend has been hastened by the "one-child" policy since the late 1970's.  This means fewer wage earners supporting more elderly--just like in Japan, most of Europe and the USA.  India's growth rate threatens to surpass China's by 2015.  That alone doesn't determine the outcome that will result, but China has relied on its high growth rate and seemingly endless amount of cheap labor for growth and jobs.  Labor--especially the more skilled laborers--is not becoming a shortage in China. People and jobs and geography are becoming misaligned.  China's environment is fouled beyond imagination--except for its people who see it and are poisoned by it daily.  Corruption remains just below the surface, in a country that still exercises governmental control over most of its economy.  China's people are restless and unhappy, even as a fraction of them become wealthy, upper-middle class consumers in exploding large cities.  Has China "peaked," in its growth and prosperity?  I don't know the answer; I only know that the question becomes increasingly relevant.  America and China are co-dependent on each other and thus, whatever happens here--or there--affects the other country.  Pay close attention to the signs--huge wage increases, labor unrest and strikes, pollution related disasters, and a government intent on--and spending toward--becoming a military power.  Does any of this sound familiar?

WHY WE NEED TO REGAIN CONTROL OF CONGRESS--AND THEN BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY
------------THE DATE THE RECENT CRISIS BEGAN: JAN. 3, 2007!
January 3,  2007 was the day the Democrats took over control of the Senate and the Congress.  This means the committee chairmanships went over to Democrats.  The committee chairs effectively control the flow of legislation--shutting off the bills they do not want to pass--and passing the ones they like (or their supporters like). This is why majority control of the Houses of Congress is so powerful, and two leaders--Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader--are also so powerful.

The day the Democrats took over the US government was NOT January 22, 2009 (Obama took office); it was actually January 3, 2007.  This was the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, the start of the 110th Congress. The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.  For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "ALL Bush's Fault," think about this.  As of Jan. 2007:

1.   The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
2.   The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
3.   The unemployment rate was 4.6%
4.   George Bush's economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!

Remember the day...
 
1.   January 3, 2007, was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
2.   The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?  BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES--including Housing & Mortgage Lending!
3.   Thank Congress for taking us from a nearly 13,000 DOW, 3.5% GDP growth and 4.6% Unemployment to this CRISIS by dumping TRILLIONS of Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from THEIR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rotten mortgage fiascoes!   

(FYI--President Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie -- starting in 2001, because it was financially risky for the U.S. economy, but no one was willing to listen or take action.)

And who took the three highest pay-offs in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac?
--Dodd, Christopher, CT $165,400;   --Obama, Barack, IL $126,349;  --Kerry, John, MA $111,000;  (time frame 1989-2008) 

And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? These same Democratic Congressional leaders, primarily Barney Frank, Chuck Shumer, Chris Dodd, John Kerry (and of course, Barack Obama).  Their credo:  "Every American deserves to own a house,"  (Even if they cannot now and never will be able to afford a house!)  And therein was the most basic cause of the sub-prime mortgage and housing crisis.  The irresponsible mortgage lenders and rating agencies did the rest.  Apparently our government still has not understood the most basic flaw in their thinking:  IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY FOR SOMETHING, DON'T BUY IT.  That is the SIMPLE TRUTH in this whole sad story.

"I think this is a case where Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under. They’re not the best investments these days from the long-term standpoint going back. I think they are in good shape going forward."  —Barney Frank on CNBC on July 14, 2008.

REMEMBER JANUARY 3, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"  So when someone tries to blame President Bush you can remind them.  Admittedly, his error was in failing to veto more spending bills..., and mounting an expensive war in Iraq that was mismanaged in critical stages.  His GOP Congressional colleagues in that era also did too little too--as many of them were busy "looking out for themselves."    BUT...the lion's share of the blame--"the MAJORITY of the blame" belongs to the Democratic Congress of 2007--2010, led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, aided and abetted by the agenda of Barack Obama.  Bush may have been an accomplice (for not using his Presidential veto), but the Democrats were in charge of Congress, where the spending started and grew, and grew, and grew.... Set the record straight!
 
So, as you listen to all the commercials and media from the Democrats who are now distancing themselves from their voting record and their party, remember how they didn't listen to you when you said you didn't want all the bailouts, you didn't want the health care bill, you didn't want cap and trade, you didn't want them to continue spending money we don't have--recently spending at a rate of $3 spent for every $2 we take in!

Do not forget their complicity in getting us into this mess, and vote accordingly!

I'LL CLOSE WITH TWO LITTLE CLASSROOM EXAMPLES
They are so startlingly clear it makes you wonder how so many people--including so called intellectuals in high positions, don't get it.
PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY, and share them with any "Liberal leaning" friends and family you might have--especially your voting age "children."

 Best, John

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 THE SIMPLEST EXAMPLE OF HOW SOCIALISM "WORKS"--AND WHY IT DOESN'T WORK!
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. 

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer, the ultimate in "fairness."
 
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan"..

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A....

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.  The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. 

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.  The second test average was a D!  No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
 
As more tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when "government" takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that. Remember, there is another test coming up—the mid-term elections in Nov. of 2010! 


NOTE: It's a wonder Barack Obama doesn't understand this better, given his extensive college education at Columbia and Harvard.
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TAX CUTS FOR THE "RICH" DO SOUND WRONG, DON'T THEY?  BUT CONSIDER THIS WELL TRAVELED BUT VERY APPROPRIATE STORY
(No one from the Obama administration would even read to the end of this--but they should.  JOBS ARE CREATED BY THE VERY PEOPLE WHO THEY WANT TO TAX INTO SUBMISSION.  Maybe ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand should be required reading for them all.  At 1000 pp. it is only half as long as their two recent major legislative "victories"--the Health Care Bill and the Financial Regulation Bill.

Tax Cuts -- A Simple Lesson In Economics

This is how the cookie crumbles. Please read it carefully.

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh $7.

The eighth $12.

The ninth $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.

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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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