Telling It Like It Is

"Hackers exploit unpatched DLL bugs in Windows 7, IE9." In spite of huge "patches," THE CHINESE CONSPIRACY's message unfolds day by day.

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THE ENTERPRISE--WHAT IN THE WORLD?

WHAT SHOULD THIS WEEK'S EDITION COVER?
How about a mixture of politics, business, the economy and world events.

A FRIGHTENING ABUSE OF POWER--A PATTERN IS EMERGING
These first  items will show you how our newly crowned King Obama (who killed Osama) is willing to do anything to control his subjects, the American people.  He may not use guns and bombs yet, but his methods are no less reprehensible.  If you don't believe these are happening, do some research.  In the past he has illegally inserted himself in Justice department matters through his stooge Attorney General Eric Holder, and in financial affairs of America's largest businesses through hit stooge Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

BOEING IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING MUGGED
The unthinkable continues to happen in the USA.  This time, Barack Obama's choices for the National Labor Relations board are overstepping every Constitutional boundary in siding with the Machinists Union trying to prevent Boeing from moving part of its Dreamliner production to South Carolina.  This is such a gross violation of American freedom that it underscores just how much we need to get Obama out of power.  Of course this is no surprise since Obamacare mandates how Americans MUST purchase their health care or pay penalties to the IRS.

DIRTY POLITICS IN CONTRIBUTIONS DISCLOSURE AND RIGGED GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
As if the Boeing/NLRB and the EPA overreaching actions were not concern enough, Obama is preparing a Presidential decree requiring that all contract bids for government contracts contain listings of all political contributions made by the companies bidding, by their Political Action Committees and by their executives.  This is a blatant attempt to threaten the loss of government business if these companies contribute to Obama's opponents.  Can you imagine this?  This is Chicago dirty, criminal politics extended to the entire country. The decree has not yet been issued, and there is a movement in the Senate to tell Obama how wrong this would be--but he really couldn't care less. 

WHILE TAKING SO MUCH OF THE CREDIT FOR THE ATTACK ON BIN LADEN, HE IS SECRETLY ATTACKING YOU!
The many czars Obama has appointed have no basis in law.  They have authority that flows directly from him, and that is all.  America is on the verge of being converted to a Socialistic Dictatorship by a man who knows no other way to govern, except to rule.  He learned it young, from professionals who were Communists and subversives.  He practiced it as a community organizer, and now he is doing it to us.  If you think I am being too "extreme" in these statements, re-read the first two paragraphs.

ON THE BUSINESS FRONT, JOBS ARE COMING BACK, AND SO IS MANUFACTURING 
That's the good news.  The bad news is that new claims for unemployment are also up as much as the jobs are.   This recovery is far from a sure thing.  Obama's Fed Chairman Bernanke is keeping interest rates at near zero to help as much as possible.  He has also dumped huge amounts of money (liquidity) into the economy and still it is showing only lukewarm growth. 

COMPANIES STILL STRUGGLE WITH COMPLEXITY--PROLIFERATION IS NOT INNOVATION
I constantly am amazed at how many companies are still drowning in self-induced complexity and don't realize it or if they do, won't manage it.  This is not all that complicated.  Everyone has sales and marketing functions and they create new items, chase new customers, enter new markets, etc.  all in the quest for elusive growth.  In low growth markets, absent a big innovation, high growth is hard to get--and costly the way most companies go after it.  And yet they make the same mistakes over and over.  I have a couple of solutions that have proven effective, so if you know any companies that keep wondering why their top lines go up and their bottom lines don't--put them in touch with me.  I can usually help them save millions of dollars.

COMPANIES STILL STRUGGLE WITH INFLATION AND COSTS VS. PRICES
Anyone who thinks inflation is not a problem has been drinking the Washington CPI Kool-Aid.  Gas prices are the most obvious.  Food prices are next.  Packages are still the same price on the shelf, and the boxes are the same size. There is just less in them.  Portions are smaller; net weights are less, counts are fewer.  Those are price increases, cleverly hidden from consumers.  Clothing prices are feeling the pinch of cotton prices.  Watch for cheaper fabric blends using flax and other lower cost, and lower quality textiles.  Be prepared for everything else to go up. In spite of the huge leverage of mega-customers, freight costs and commodity pressures cannot be denied.  It's not a matter of if.  It's a matter of when and how much inflation is coming.  With the dollar's decline and the loss of respect for America's profligate leadership, things could get ugly.  You read it here.

SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IS STILL HARD TO ACHIEVE
There is only one form of true sustainable competitive advantage.  It is based on People and Partners, and those lead to everything else.  Innovation creates competitive advantage.  Who comes up with it?  People and partners.  Intellectual property protection is hard to lock in, but once it is solidly in place, innovations can lead to competitive advantage. Then it's necessary to immediately start improving on them so the new versions are out about the time the knockoffs of the olds one arrive from competitors.  Trust me, this works.  But you must keep doing it and doing it.  It's just like cleaning out complexity. Complexity comes back like weeds, and takes constant attention to keep under control.

NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST IN TURMOIL--NO END IN SIGHT--UNCLEAR POLICIES IN MIND?
Check out the number of uprisings and the amount of political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.  It is unprecedented in my lifetime.  There is something very big spreading around the world.  Perhaps it is the desire for freedom from oppressive regimes.  Strange that as America's freedoms are being threatened by a smooth talking, big government liberal, people around the world are seeking more freedom.  That does not mean that our problems of attacks from radical Islamic terrorists are over.  It does mean that something big is happening.  Ironically, our President is grossly incompetent at dealing with many of these.  His experience is limited. His perceptions are flawed.  I never thought I'd be glad to have Hillary Clinton in an influential government spot--but she is far more competent in these areas than Barack Obama.  Does he listen to her?  Who knows. I bet there are no warm feelings between them, however.  She could even decide to oppose him for the Democratic nomination come 2012.  Wouldn't that be an interesting campaign? It wouldn't be the first time an incompetent incumbent was challenged.

CHINA STARTING TO ENCOUNTER THE PAINS OF A DEVELOPING ECONOMY
Can you imagine, that China's wages are climbing, skilled labor is in short supply, inflation is climbing, its currency is shifting, and its balance of payments actually went negative. What?  China.  Yep. Welcome to what happens as countries--even communistic controlled, quasi-capitalistic ones--encounter as they develop. Air quality is awful.  Water quality is awful.   Electricity is still not a 24/7 certainty in many areas.  A consumer society is emerging.  That will change things in itself.  IF the USA didn't have an anti-business, big government president, more jobs would be flowing back this way.  On that point, go back and read the first three sections...

  Interesting that in the South Carolina "debate" of the also-rans, Herman Cain came out standing tall... 49% of a 13,000 person vote and a vast majority of the "Focus Group" on Fox chose Cain.  I wonder when (if) we'll see Mitt, Newt, Mike, Sarah, Donald, John, etc. join the fray. Even when they do, Herman will still "stand tall and make a lot of sense." It's a shame it has to happen this way, since everything they say becomes fodder for the Obama misinformation machine.  But I guess that is politics in America.

Enough of one weekend.  America is not healthy--either financially (broke and in debt), domestically (jobs and growth), and internationally (confused and floundering).  The problem--the same in failed businesses and failed countries (or states, etc.). Poor leadership.  18 months to fix it.  Need to figure out who to lead our country next--it better not be King Obama.

Remember, you heard about it here.  Cain's the real deal.  But I still like Mitt Romney too.  Might be a good ticket?

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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