NOTE: You can also give a gift of either the book, or the Kindle, directly from the amazon site. Go to the Kindle Store in the left-side menu to find that option.
GOOD NEWS: During the early part of the Launch week (last week) HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY moved up to No. 10 among Leadership books on amazon. Then there was a web site glitch mid-week involving the Kindle version, which amazon fixed in less than a day, but I suspect a lot of buyers went looking for it and couldn't find the Kindle version (which is actually outselling the paperback right now).
MORE GOOD NEWS:
Current TV has fired host Keith Olbermann and will replace his show with a program hosted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the network announced Friday afternoon.
A FEW THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Student loans are topping the $$$Trillion dollar level and there is no relief, no solution in sight. Some parents are saddled with them (co-signers), others will surely try to default and dodge the obligation. Meanwhile inflation in education costs continue to outpace nearly everything else in the economy. Could there be a solution by changing the tenure rules under which low achievers on faculties can hang around indefinitely working essentially part time for a full time paycheck. I was told of this all the way back in 1995 when I spend a year in academia.
AMERICAN EXPORTS TO CHINA A CLIMBING FAST
The growing Chinese middle class and wealthy upper class are now active consumers and many American products look far more attractive the SE Asia equivalents. The biggest export, however, is food particularly soybeans and "junk foods" (snacks). Maybe our path to outpacing China is to convert them to our bad habits--and supply the things they see us buy, eat and use. Hmmm. That would be ironic.
A LONG INTERVIEW: A SEMINAR ON LEADERSHIP AS I VISIT WITH HOWARD LEWINTER
You can find a blog post I wrote for Howard's site and if you want to listen….You can tune in and hear it…WARNING--we went on a long time… but for anyone wanting to hear two guys with over 90 years of combined management and leadership knowledge bat ideas back and forth, go for it.
THE ECONOMY IS GROWING, AND JOBS ARE BEING CREATED--BUT OH, SO SLOWLY
FedEx just lowered its estimates for 2012 growth to right around 2%. An economy growing at 2% doesn't provide enough job growth for a robust recovery. Why? The policies of the current occupant of the White House and his czars, cabinet secretaries and other minions have a chilling effect on business growth. Business people understand that Barack Obama is anti-business--well, not exactly--he'd like you to prosper so he can take the wealth you generate and spend it on his agenda--making America a giant welfare state.
THIS EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE FACTOR IS WHY DAVE LUKAS AND I WROTE HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY--GET YOUR COPIES NOW!
By the time you are reading this, it will be time for you to go on line and buy copies for everyone you know and care about! Just kidding--NOT! I hope you will help us deliver this message LOUD AND CLEAR to millions of people and that starts with making this book a BEST SELLER on amazon.com & Kindle right away. That will give it the attention it needs to really take off.
THE PRESIDENT WHO SOUNDS LIKE A RECORDED MESSAGE--OR A KID'S TOY
Does this sound like the man you want to represent the most powerful country in the world--and the leading country in the world. Sounds like that toy my kids had where you pulled the string and got the same message every time. Maybe he is actually a Disney animatronic creation?
IN A SIMPLE SENTENCE: LACK OF CONFIDENCE--IN WHETHER THE ACTIONS OF THE US GOVERNMENT LEADERS WILL LEAD TO SUCCESS
Confidence is so important, that this simple video show how much knowing what works, counts for a lot. It allows you to try and do things you might think are otherwise impossible or at least impractical. When you have the right experience and know how to set things up, what follows will work. Know that about political candidates--especially presidential candidates. Watch this old video of "the Egg trick" with Johnny Carson and Dom DeLouise and believe--and relax and laugh a little. The rest of this week's message is pretty serious.
Small Matters: A mountain of regulations deters job creation
March 12, 2012|By Bill Dunkelberg, For The Inquirer
Hiring the first employee can be so costly that many entrepreneurs never do it. They prefer to stay in solo businesses, which number more than 10 million in the United States. A brief summary of the regulations involved makes it clear why many decide not to become an "employer." My electrician refuses to have an employee, citing the regulatory and tax hassles he would have to endure. Here's what he is talking about.
Once a candidate accepts a job offer, the Fair Labor Standards Act kicks in, regulating minimum wages, overtime pay, and child labor. Seventeen states have their own minimum wages, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Of course Workman's Compensation Insurance must be initiated. Then there's the I-9 form and the W-4 (Withholding Allowance Certificate), the FICA (Federal Insurance Contribution Act) tax to compute and file on the Form 941 and Form 940 (Federal Unemployment Tax Act). Owners should know OSHA requirements, because an inspection could occur (and states may have parallel laws).
Record keeping starts with 10 employees. Owners must make sure that all appropriate posters are prominently displayed. And new stuff continually comes along, prescribing all sorts of obligations for firms that have become instruments of social policy, not creators of jobs and wealth.
A firm would not have to expand by much to require attention to even more rules, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 1975 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the American's With Disabilities Act (employment sections), the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. The federal government cannot possibly manage business in a manner that is sensitive to the varying circumstances of the economy.
Even worse, the political "managers" have little if any business experience at all and are heavily influenced by lobbyists. Federal rule-making is by necessity "macro" in nature, applying to businesses in all 50 states uniformly. Attempts to do otherwise create widespread confusion and inequities. Congress sometimes seems to be in the business of granting exemptions. The Affordable Care Act, aka the health bill, is a case in point. Passed by Congress to apply to everyone and every business, more than 1,700 "exemptions" have already been granted, and more will undoubtedly be handed out.
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NOTE: AS CAMPAIGN TIME LOOMS, OBAMA IS ORDERING HIS MINIONS TO CLEAN UP A FEW REGULATIONS SO HE CAN CLAIM THAT HE REDUCED THEM
The problem is that when you are 100 feet underwater, giving you a 5 foot step ladder to stand on does little good. And you have to pay for the stepladder!
ARE YOU READY TO CELEBRATE ANOTHER AMERICAN RECORD UNDER BARACK OBAMA
The highest tax rate of any developed country. If you buy a copy of our book, in one chapter, we list about 15 other of his dubious records and president. We would have doubled the length of the book if we included all of his failures and mistakes.
MORE NEWS WILL BE COMING AS THE CAMPAIGN SEASON HEAT UP. THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY, HOWEVER, REMAINS SLOW AND SPOTTY. WHAT CAN COMPANIES DO? STAY TUNED FOR MORE ON THAT TOO.
BEST, JOHN
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NEW BOOK COMING SOON:
HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency,co-authored with D. M. Lukas, available March 2012 in paperback & Kindle editions at www.amazon.com
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