Telling It Like It Is

THE ENTERPRISE 2.0.1 is the 1st non-political, business & life oriented edition—"Timeless Truths"

NOTE: THE ENTERPRISE 2.0 is the non-political, business and life oriented version of THE ENTERPRISE. 

Where politics and public policy are mentioned or involved are instances when those are hopeless intertwined with the business principles being covered.

 

I PROMISED I’D START FROM MY ROOTS IN BUSINESS, AND LIFE, AND HERE GOES. (THE ENTERPRISE 2.0 = TE2.0)

My general idea is to start with how businesses (and organizations) begin, and follow the steps that lead them to succeed and grow. There are many lessons in nature that I’ll call on to help illustrate my points. I’ve written so many columns and posts, that I’m likely to repeat things that I’ve described before. That’s OK. Some experts say that until you’ve heard something seven times, you really don’t grasp and remember it. (I’ll try to avoid repeating things more than seven times.)

 

TIMELESS TRUTHS

Most of these are "timeless truths." No matter how the technology changes, the earth is inhabited by humans—who only change very slowly—if at all. Thus, human behavior is at the core of many timeless truths. There are also core principles of leadership, and management that are so fundamental, I consider them timeless truths. 

 

As I write editions for TE2.0, I will use many of these truths as the fundamentals—the underpinnings of my writing and premises on which it is based. I will also cite, quote and excerpt from, and sometimes expand on (or update) parts of my 12 business books. 

 

If the truth below is marked “Lesson," it’s explained further in my latest bookRocketships & Parachutes—365 Lessons to launch and land your career (https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P) There are a lot of "timeless truths" in its 365 lessons. Everyone so far has been very happy with it. I hope you’d get a copy —and review it—feedback is very valuable.

 

Twenty-five Timeless Truths

1. Lesson: Integrity is like virginity; you either have it or you don’’t.
2. Walk your talk, because if you don’t, people will stop believing you and trusting you.
3. What goes around, comes around. (If you behave and treat others badly, “you’ll get yours” in return—someday.)
4. There's no such thing as a free lunch—in life, business, or in government. (Anything “free” is paid for by someone.)
5. Government was created to work for the people; not vice versa; intended to do the limited range of things people can’t do alone.
6. Lesson: Nothing good comes easily. Hard is good; if it was easy, someone would have already done it before you got the chance.
7. Lesson: If you really need something, you’ll pay for it, whether you buy it or not.
8. Lesson: You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
9. Lesson: Always tell the truth, but not every truth needs to be told.
10. Lesson: Facts are inconvenient things. They don’t change in the face of assumptions or opinions.
11. Figures don’t lie, but liars figure. Beware.
12. To solve any problem: 1) understand and define it; 2) then solve it. (Not vice versa.)
13. Lesson: There is no substitute for personal discipline and accountability.
14. Lesson: The customer may not always be right, but the customer is always the customer.
15. Business is a game where the score is kept in money.
16. Lesson: Everybody has a boss—figure out who is yours.
17. Lesson; [In business] Cash is like oxygen. When you run out of it, you die.
18. Lesson: There is no substitute for being ready.
19. Lesson: When opportunity comes knocking, take it. You might not get another chance.
20. Lesson: "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." —B. Franklin
21. There are very few rotten people, but "it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole bushel."
22. Lesson: The people who were present when problems arose are seldom the ones you need to fix the problems. 
23. Lesson: To make significant change, you must change significant people.
24. To have a partner, you must be a partner.
25. Lesson: Do the right thing, you’ll know it when it comes along.

HOW DO BUSINESSES (AND ORGANIZATIONS) GET STARTED?

Someone recognizes a need, that is going unfulfilled. It might be for a product or a service or some combination of those. Once a need (or a want) recognized, someone is likely to try fulfilling it. When that happens, the creator usually tries to exchange that product or service for something else of value. Long ago, they might barter it (trade it) for something they needed (like food, etc.). As time went on, currency (money) was created as the universal form of value to exchange for products or services. 

 

Commerce began and small, often one-person businesses were born. When the demand for whatever was created exceeded what the initial founder (creator) could supply, s/he enlisted others (sometimes family members) to help deliver more. If outsiders were needed, they were compensated with something of value (perhaps livestock or crops or many other things. Finally currency in the form of promissory noted evolved into money (Often a promissory note worth value from some issuing government entity.) Businesses aimed for profit—to get more value than they gave, but some chose to be non-profit, simply satisfied to exchange equal value.

 

Entire books have been written about this kind of topic, but this is enough to get us started. 

 

At times, when an unmet need is recognized, totally new products or services are devised to fill that need. More on that idea later. 

I’ll also add more Timeless Truths to the list in future TE2.0 editions, as they seem appropriate.For now, just read and think about them and imagine all your experiences in which you found them to be true (or not?). 

 

Does the accelerating advance of technology change these much, or at all? Absolutely. The issue is how? Perhaps the pervasive reach of communications devices allows easier, faster and far-reaching communication, but does it really change what is being communicated? Yes and no. 

 

The words may be the same but absent the expression and body language of face to face, or even voice to voice communication, the new electronic version become less personal. It is also far easier to offend or irritate someone without realizing it—because there is no immediate feedback to how the words written came across different than intended. 

 

Arguing via email or text is a really bad idea. It gets ugly fast. Emojis somewhat evolved as a (poor) electronic substitute for the missing body and facial language and feedback. Read aloud what you type into the device and imagine you were saying that to the person opposite you. How would that turn out? Not so good, right? The fix it and try again. 

 

Text and email are efficient—fast and asynchronous (the two parties don’t need to be present at the same time as the communication occurs). That’s a benefit, and a risk. However, until a personal rapport exists, be very careful.

 

What is the central element of these timeless truths?Human behavior.

Let’s stop now, to let you think, before continuing.

 

Best, 

JOHN

 

PS: To those who long for the old version of THE ENTERPRISE, if you see this and send me an email, I will your name will remain on a list to get something like that. This presumes enough of you ask for it. If you don’t want the old one, (which will be very infrequent and only when critical issues are dominating the conversations,)withinsay so, and I’ll delete your address.

 

 

 

 

BIG UPDATE ON THE ENTERPRISE--SOME GOOD ADVICE AND A DECISION LONG PAST DUE...

MY LAST EDITION OF THE ENTERPRISE STRUCK NERVES OF A LOT OF READERS, BUT MORE THAN THAT, IT PUSHED ME INTO A DECISION I HAD BEEN CONSIDERING FOR A LONG TIME

 

PART ONE— THE FEEDBACK:

I normally get feedback, and often it disagrees with what I said. This time it was more than usual and several pieces of input or advice came from people whose opinions I respect.  

 

—One in particular was not very delicate--a colleague called it “crap” and “garbage.” I responded with my rationale for what I wrote and why (and respectfully disagreed about it being “garbage.”)  But his opinion weighs heavily on my mind. 

 

—A second one caused me to think hard, and finally decide to do two things: 

It was from an experienced editor-in-chief I have gotten to know, Alan Miller of the Columbus Dispatch. 

I find the Dispatch to be one of the best newspapers I read, and Miller to be an excellent leader and journalist. I also read the WSJ, some of Columbus Business First, and The Week, but I just read snippets from other papers—like the Washington Post and a few European papers—on the Internet.

 

When you write and post directly, as I’ve done for 20 years in THE ENTERPRISE, you have no editorial input to help you with your perspective. That can be a problem, especially if you don’t realize when you are “cranky” or “irritated” about the entire political landscape, (as I was this past week, and a lot lately) and there is no one at hand to debate or moderate your opinions before you publish.

 

I agreed with Alan to post his response to me, with attribution, because it is well thought out and valuable.

John: 

"It is factually inaccurate to say that the media hate Trump. When you hold your employees or your children accountable, is that hate?

 

The media report how the president behaves, and how that squares with the facts, the law, the expectations for the person holding the office of president -- and how people react to all of that. That is not hate. That is doing our jobs. For you to say that we "hate" him is to suggest that we are motivated by hate to go at him in some sort of vindictive rage. That is false.

 

You are as responsible for what you publish as I am for what I publish. Every word matters, so please get it right. And I'd appreciate it if you would share this with your audience and not lump all of us in one basket of deplorable media folks, which is what you did today."

 

Alan Miller, Editor in Chief, Columbus Dispatch

 

Earlier note to Alan from me: We have had enough discussions for you to know I don’t lump the Dispatch with papers like the NYTimes. I respect what you and the Dispatch publish—even when I disagree with it—it is head and shoulders above most newspapers which is why I read it all the time—before even the WSJ. 

 

PS: In all honesty, I do think at least some of the NYTimes editorial staff actually do “hate” Trump—or at least that is how its reporting strikes me.

 

PART TWO—A BIG DECISION (FOR ME ANYWAY)

 

THE ENTERPRISE was born in the turmoil surrounding 9/11. I was forwarding a third party outlook on the economy and adding my comments on how managers and executives might deal with the issues of the time. As time went on, the third party material was available all over the internet, so I dropped it and simply added commentary.   

 

Because the actions of government impact the economy and create issues faced by companies, managers and executives, I migrated over to commenting on those. From there it was a slippery slope to getting sucked into the no-win maelstrom of partisan political commentary. This is an area rife with controversy, opinions and emotions. 

 

That means one of my old sayings comes to mind: “Whenever you try to please everyone, someone won’t like it.”  In politics and political commentary, that’s truer than ever. It’s getting harder and harder to find a path to the truth, and even harder to steer a patch through the partisan, polarized, minefield of political beliefs and opinions.  I didn’t start out to be here—so now is a good time to move back to my roots.

 

MY DECISION: I have decided to take THE ENTERPRISE back to where it started—a commentary on business, the economy (careful—politics influences it a lot) and managerial/leadership topics and related topics of interest to busy people, coping with business, technology and organizational issues, and the constant challenge of finding profitable growth, without introducing crippling complexity.

 

That is where most of my experience lies (not politics), and where I can help more people, in more ways.  I believe this will be time well spent for me—and more of a benefit to readers—than adding one more voice added to the excessive cacophony of political commentary.  

 

That’s it. A significant decision and a big change in focus for me—and for anyone who reads THE ENTERPRISE. 

I hope readers will like this decision and find THE ENTERPRISE to be a valuable resource going forward.  

 

Frequency will still vary, but roughly every few (2-3+/-) weeks, depending on time and content, and another one will show up in your email box. (If you want to OPT-OUT, just reply to my email. If you aren’t interested in the content, the DELETE key is on the upper right of your keyboard.)

 

THANKS FOR BEING LOYAL READERS FOR THESE MANY YEARS.  A Preview of things to come—and series of snippets from my latest book Rocketships & Parachutes—365 Lessons fo launch and land your career,  and excerpts from others of my dozen books that I thing will be useful or interesting.

 

WHERE ARE WE HEADED? WHAT’S NEXT? AND HOW MUCH FASTER WILL DISRUPTIVE CHANGE COME?

The new aspect of THE ENTERPRISE will deal with the current, rapidly changing, accelerating and DISRUPTIVE changes that are challenging leaders everywhere. If you have not thought about this, consider this: It took humans a million+ years to discover fire, a few thousand years to invent the printing press and the telescope, and only the next few centuries to develop the telegraph, the steam engine, gas powered autos, the telephone, then the Space Shuttle and then the Internet, which came onto the scene in the mid 1990’s.  

 

The first iPhone was introduced only 11 years ago, and in that same era Web pages exploded in number and texting, Facebook, Google, Twitter, et. al. expanded to billions of users and messages—often in just a day’s time. Streaming video is replacing Cable & DVDs, etc. to be followed by—what? And how soon? Moore’s Law may be facing it’s limits—or it may not—no matter! As the planet’s population soars past 7 billion is it headed to 10 billion, or will it plateau? Nobody really knows.  

 

People don’t talk to each other as they used to. The text, they tweet, they email, or post on Facebook, and more. However, something is lost in all these digital ones and zeros replacing face to face, tone of voice, body language and facial expressions. 

 

Can it be recovered? Should it? What’s coming next? Behaviors will change to accommodate these interpersonal changes. 

How? Who knows? All we know is that tomorrow's knowledge and speed of change will dwarf what we knew yesterday.

there tLet’s figure it out together as people with common goals—to do better and to be better, and to work together to make the world a better place.

 

Thus I am looking forward to THE ENTERPRISE’s new era—trying to figure it all out, and share some of it with you. 

Hold on, it will be a bumpy ride. (Rocketships are always bumpy on liftoff!)

 

JOHN

 

 

Rocketships & Parachutes—365 Lessons fo launch and land your career,

ORDER THE BOOK HERE Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P

Kindle: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK

 

 

 

 

THE ENTERPRISE--PIVOTAL MID-TERM ELECTION IS ONLY 2 MONTHS AWAY--VOTE TO KEEP GOP CONTROL OF CONGRESS

 

 

BARACK OBAMA IS BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT OF THE NEWS MEDIA WHO LOVE HIM (AND HATE TRUMP)

PS: OBAMA IS NOT RUNNING FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT HIS OWN PERSONAL GLORY AND HIS “LEGACY"

Obama made a practice during his presidency of blaming someone else for everything and anything that went wrong. He uses his teleprompter aided oratory to spin webs of what he would do, has done, and why anything bad that happened was someone else’s fault.

He’s BAACK—like the Terminator that never goes away. He wants to hoodwink the independents and moderates to believe hmagain. He really wants to add to his personal glory and defend his legacy. He can and will throw all the rocks he wants at Trump (who is methodically dismantling Obama’s legacy, but also deserves many of the things he is accused of being—an egotist, a narcissist, a blowhard, and too often factually-challenged).Trump also deserves credit for caring deeply about America and Americans!

 

WHAT OBAMA IS NOW TRYING TO DO IS TAKE THE CREDIT FOR THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY MADE POSSIBLE BY TRUMP’S ELECTION AND HIS ACTIONS

As much as Trump’s Tweets and overlong speeches are excessive, he has made almost all of the right decisions. The economy shows it, and no matter how long Obama talks, he can’t claim he did that.I predicted that the US economy would not fully recover as long as Obama and his anti-business policy wonks were in control. That was true. Now it is recovering. Confidence is up. Unemployment is way down.Minorities—especially blacks and Hispanics are doing better than ever. Everyone is doing better, 

 

The only reason jobs numbers aren’t up even more, is thatcompanies can’t find people to hire(that can pass drug tests). BarackObama’s welfare state took so many peopleout of the workforce and into the stay-at-home, do nothinglifestyles(except demonstrate now & then)and collect a government check—or several.

 

1) TRUMP’S POLICY AND NEGOTIATING STRATEGY IS CLEAR—IF YOU UNDERSTAND NEGOTIATIONS.

Thehigher your initial demands are, until they far exceed the bounds of credibility (and even then),the higher your result will be.

This has been proven over and over all the way back to my first negotiation training with Chester Karrass organization in the 1970’s—and it is still true now. Trump learned it in the big time real estate business, where price high, then negotiate down the where a DEAL can be closed. It works—in real estate and in domestic and foreign relations. (e.g., NAFTA, NATO, etc.!)

 

2) TRUMP’S FOREIGN RELATIONS TACTICS COME FROM MACHIAVELLI (OR SONNY CORLEONE)

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”Trump knows that by cozying up to Putin and Kim, and complimenting them, (while the liberal media and pols scream) they will feel like "he’s with them.” (Trump may understand that because others do it to him all the time.) Then he leaves, and turns his staff loose to impose even tougher sanctions on them. He’s in the midst of a protracted back and forth with Xi of China too. Iran knows Trump isn’t kidding because he clamped down on Obama & Kerry’s folly, which Iran was pretending to conform while violating in secret (ICBMs for just one example, selling nuke tech for another).

 

3) TRUMP’S MOST VISIBLE FAILURE IS IN CHOOSING AND HIRING PEOPLE WHO PRETEND TO BE LOYAL

A loyal person is valuable—if they are genuine—and if they arecompetent.Trump has erred on both counts. (e.g., Flynn, Priebus, Sessions and OMG—Omarossa—really Donald?) Many of Trump’s picks for his administration are like him—wealthy, successful business people—and then bring the conflict of interest baggage with them. There’s no dismissing this failure. Fortunately, he picked a few good ones and they are serving him—and us—well, but steering him through his fits of meteoric histrionics, and finding sensible and sound decisions that he can back into. Generals Kelly & Mattis, Pompeo, etc. N

 

4) TRUMP’S LEGAL ISSUES WILL CONTINUE TO MOUNT—HOPEFULLY FENDED OFF—TEMPORARILY

The Mueller investigation is totally out of control.Here’s the best recap of why that is true:

 

Download When Justice Is Partial - WSJ

 

WITH ALL THAT OUT OF THE WAY—CONSIDER THE MIDTERMS: DO YOU REALLY WANT NANCY PELOSI BACK IN THE LINE OF SUCCESSION?

Hell NO!The speaker of the House IS two heartbeats away from the White House. Aside from her misguided California “nutty” policies, having her in that seat is just SCARY. We’ve seen that before. Remind your voting age friends and family that Margaret Thatcher was right. “Other peoples money runs out"—and the working people get stuck with the bills.

 

DO YOU REALLY THINK THE BIG GOVERNMENT, FREE EVERYTHING (PAID FOR BY TAXPAYERS AND DEBT) IS THE RIGHT COURSE

It’s been proven time and again. Obama’s non-recovery that he handed over to Trump to make a real recovery is only one instance. Take most major US cities and a few states (Obama’s home state of IL) have proven to be dismal failures. Mounting deficits, impossible budgets, businesses baling out, and crime running rampant. 

 

If you vote for the Democratic candidate—no matter what they say they’ll do—they won’t. They’ll toe the party line and take America back to low growth—except in government— which will once again explode.Why? Because “government knows best” what is good for you. —You get that, right?

 

READ THIS AND USE IT TO DISSUADE THEM FROM VOTING FOR PEOPLE LIKE SANDERS, WARREN AND THE OTHER DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS WHO WILL BE RUNNING FOR CONGRESS

 

Download How to Argue With a Young Socialist - WSJ

 

NOW IS THE TIME TO STEP UP—WE ARE THE ONES WHO CAN MAKE/KEEP AMERICA GREAT AGAIN—BY KEEPING THE DEMOCRATS FROM CONTROLLING CONGRESS—ONE VOTE AT A TIME—GETTING EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO VOTE GOP

To every American who is currently appreciating the economic recovery stimulated by President Trump and the GOP Congress (albeit it has been of modest —choose the GOP candidate in your District. Go meet with him/her, help shape the policy, but most of all donate to their campaign (yes small donations add up!) and educate your family’s Millennial or GenZ voters 

 

This November the moneyed elite who fund the increasingly Socialistic Democratic party, aided and abetted by the heavily Liberal mainstream media (NYTimes, WashPost, et. alcollusionwith CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.) are dumping everything (with $$$ from George Soros, etc.) they have to elect Democrat lefty liberals to the House and Senate.

 

The large number of retiring GOP Congressional Representatives is asymptomof the failure of the very narrow Senate majority to move the many bills passed in the House on to the President’s desk to become law.

 

The retiring incumbentrs' frustration has been palpable—and well deserved. Many were good people, who simply got tired of passing bills to serve their constituents and help rebuild America after Barack Obama left it in a mess, only to see them die in 

the Senate because a couple of Senators had their own selfish agendas.

 

Obama’s weakness abroad led to terrible —or no— practical foreign policies.Obama’s flawed and failed economic policies costAmericans$18 Trillion (see article below). Eighteen Trillion Dollars!

 

AS I WARNED—NO REAL RECOVERY WOULD COME WITH OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE—and it didn’t! This article belowexplains why. It also explainswhy a Trump presidency, however you may feel about Trump the man, is good for America and Americans.

 

 

The Good Times Can Roll On

The economy isn’t on a ‘sugar high.’ Pro-market policy improved incentives to work and invest.

By Edward C. Prescott and Lee E. Ohanian

Aug. 23, 2018 6:30 p.m. ET

Some Keynesian economists argue that the U.S. economy’s recent uptick is only a “sugar high.” They predict that the slow-growth conditions of the Obama years will soon return. But this pessimistic view is misguided. Better economic policies are the primary reason the economy has improved since 2016. If pro-growth policies remain in place, the economy’s strong performance will likely continue.

 

The growth paths in a market economy depend on the quality of government policies and institutions.These affect the incentives to innovate, start a business, hire workers, and invest in physical and human capital.If policies are reformed to increase incentives for market economic activity—as many have been under President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress—then investment and labor input expand as the economy rises to a higher growth path. Once the economy reaches its new growth path, labor and investment stabilize at higher levels.

 

When policies change to depress these incentives, the economy moves onto a lower long-run growth path.That happened after the 2007-09 recession. Because of the severity of the downturn, the economy recovered organically to some extent. But that partial recovery stalled by the end of 2014 because of higher tax rates and increased regulation. These policies produced a long-run growth path below the pre-recession path.

 

It’s clear the recovery ended in 2014 because the two hallmarks of recovery—investment’s share of gross domestic product and labor input relative to the adult population—stopped increasing. This left a large gap between actual output and the output level that would have occurred had the economy recovered to its pre-recession growth path.According to our calculations, the U.S. cumulatively lost about $18 trillion in income and output between 2007 and 2016. Everything suggested this shortfall would persist or even grow. 

 

Yet economic performance began to improve beginning in the first quarter of 2017. Real GDP growth accelerated to about 2.7% between the end of 2016 and the second quarter of 2018, up from about 2% between 2014 and the end of 2016. The share of GDP devoted to nonresidential business investment rose to a historic high. 

 

The best measure of labor input—the total number of market hours worked divided by the 16-and-older population—is growing faster than in 2014-16, and is now close to its all-time high. This is all the more impressive since the growth rate of the working-age population is slowing. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the current economy: The emergence of better job opportunities has reduced the number of people on disability. This has led the Social Security Administration to reverse its previous warning that the disability system would become insolvent as soon as 2023. 

 

U.S. economic performance is the strongest in years. One policy driving this turnaround is the substantially lower corporate-tax rate, which has made the U.S. more competitive with other countries. Regulatory changes—such as the partial rollback of Dodd-Frank and new leadership within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—also have proved helpful, particularly for small businesses, which are benefiting from lower record-keeping and compliance costs. Meanwhile, the number of regulatory pages in the Federal Register has been cut by a third since President Obama’s last year in office. That’s a major reason the National Federation of Independent Business reports that more small-business owners are hiring than ever. They’re also increasingly optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy.

 

As the two hallmarks of recovery are still rising, the economy likely has not reached its new, higher growth path. This means that the U.S. can expect above-normal growth in the coming months, possibly even years. 

 

Growth rates could improve with further policy changes. One example is a reduction in trade barriers. Since the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed 70 years ago, international commerce has expanded dramatically, hugely benefiting U.S. consumers by lowering prices and increasing the variety of available goods. The average household’s benefits from trade are greater than $10,000 a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Further cooperative trade agreements—rather than wide-ranging tariffs—would expand these already large benefits.

 

A second area for reform that could put the U.S. on a still-higher growth path is health care. The rise of health-care costs is the most important reason wages have not increased more for U.S. workers. The extra compensation is swallowed up by health-insurance premiums. Expanding medical savings accounts and decoupling health plans from employment would create incentives for both consumers and their health-care providers to economize on health-care spending. This would lower costs without compromising quality.

 

U.S. economic performance over the past decade illustrates the substantial influence of government policies on growth. While some are reluctant to admit it, the current performance is a result of policies that basic economic theory tells us will increase investment and hiring. Even greater prosperity is possible if policy makers stay the course and continue to implement pro-market economic policies. 

 

Mr. Prescott, a 2004 Nobel economics laureate, is director for the Center for the Advanced Study in Economic Efficiency at Arizona State University. Mr. Ohanian, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is associate director of the center at ASU.

Appeared in the August 24, 2018, WSJ print edition.

A DISASTER FOR AMERICA—“CRAZY BERNIE SANDERS”—THE "DONE-NOTHING” SO-CALLED “INDEPENDENT” SENATOR (Socialist=make everything free/let "working Americans" pay for it) IS TOUTING PLANS SO IRRESPONSIBLE THEY ARE UNBELIEVABLE EXCEPT TO THE NAIVE AND UNIFORMED.

Now the Democratic party is reacting to its rigging of the Democratic primaries last time so Hillary Clinton would win, and Sanders could not. Both were terribly flawed candidates. One was a “crook;” the other was “crazy.” You can decide which is which. Current Democratic stalwarts like Elizabeth Warren (“Pocahontas” according to Trump) is only slightly less bad than Sanders. Party leaders like Chuck "Two-faced” Schumer and Nancy Pelosi (Really, her again!?) are a sorry lot, whose hypocrisy knows no bounds. They make Trump’s ranting sound good.

 

What Kind of Socialist is Bernie Sanders?

The kind that doesn’t argue with redistributing $32.6 trillion.

By James Freeman

Aug. 21, 2018 7:22 p.m. ET

Is Bernie Sanders a socialist like Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, whose mania for wealth redistribution has brought a country to its knees? Or, as Mr. Sanders suggests, is he merely a “socialist” in the manner of Scandinavian politicians, who presided over thriving free economies before imposing entitlement programs and have since cut corporate tax rates to allow economic growth to fund their promises?

 

The reaction of Sen. Sanders to a critique of his single-payer health care plan may be instructive. Recently in the Journal, former Social Security and Medicare trustee Charles Blahous forecast the spending required to allow Mr. Sanders to implement his vision of changing health care for every American. Mr. Sanders calls it “Medicare for All.” Mr. Blahous, now at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, explained what it could mean for all taxpayers: 

 

According to my calculations, paying for every American’s health-care expenses would increase federal spending by $32.6 trillion over the first decade of Medicare for All. Even if Congress were to double what it collects in individual and corporate income taxes, there still wouldn’t be enough money added to the federal coffers to finance the costs of this plan.

While such large amounts of money are difficult to comprehend, my cost estimate is essentially a lower bound. Medicare for All’s actual price tag would likely be even higher. 

 

If the Blahous analysis is even close to accurate, it’s a damning indictment of the Sanders plan. How many politicians have even considered wealth redistribution on such a scale? Certainly one would expect a spirited rebuttal from just about any American or Scandinavian elected official accused of planning such an explosion of taxpayer obligations. Remember, before a single nickel is spent on a Sanders-style makeover of American health care, the Congressional Budget Office is already forecasting that U.S. government debt held by the public will surge over the next two decades to 118% of GDP from its current 78%.

 

Well, Mr. Sanders has lately been pushing back, but he’s not quarreling with the idea that he will be pulling huge sums out of the private economy and into his new health bureaucracy. Instead he’s arguing that this huge federal money grab will be worth it because it will allegedly result in lower overall U.S. health care spending.

 

No doubt mindful that government services are not generally regarded as models of efficiency and thrift, Mr. Sanders is now appealing to the authority of a third party to back his claims of future cost savings. 

 

Specifically, he’s pretending that the same analysis that exposed the gargantuan size of his new taxpayer burden also concluded that the plan would reduce overall medical costs. This week Mr. Sanders tweeted that “the Mercatus report found that the American people would save $2 trillion over 10 years under Medicare for All.”

 

But Mr. Blahous of Mercatus found no such thing. For the purposes of his analysis he simply evaluated the Sanders plan on its own terms and accepted the senator’s assumptions about his ability to ratchet down payments to doctors and hospitals. As Mr. Blahous wrote in the Journal: 

 

My projection generously assumes the plan would succeed in lowering prescription-drug costs and that administrative costs would somehow be less than half what they are among private insurers.

Most important, it assumes Medicare for All would successfully cut all health-care provider payments down to Medicare’s reimbursement rates, which are more than 40% lower than private insurance rates—and even below providers’ costs of delivering services. Moreover, it assumes that Medicare for All will somehow do all this without disrupting the availability and quality of health care....Without such cuts, Medicare for All would drive national health costs further upward, and the federal price tag would be $38 trillion during its first 10 years.

The Sanders whopper has proven to be too much even for CNN and the oddly namedFactCheck.org.

 

What kind of socialist is Bernie Sanders? The kind that demands $32.6 trillion from taxpayers to alter their medical care and then misleads them about the imagined benefits. 

AS USUAL I TRY TO FINISH WITH SOMETHING INTERESTING AND UPLIFTING 

Steve Jobs died a billionaire at age 56. This is his final essay: (Not verified but still good).

 

I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world.In some others' eyes, my life is the epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, my wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to. At this moment, lying on my bed

and recalling my life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in have paled and

become meaningless in the face of my death.

 

You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone bear your sickness for

you. Material things lost can be found or replaced. But there is one thing that can never be found when it's lost - Life. Whichever stage in life you are in right now, with time, you will face the day when the curtain comes down.

 

Treasure love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well and cherish others. As we

grow older, and hopefully wiser, we realize that a $300 or a $30 watch both tell the same time. You will realize

that your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world. Whether you fly first class or economy, if the plane goes down - you go down with it. 

 

Therefore, I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, who you chat with, laugh

with, talk with, have sing songs with, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven and earth, that is true happiness! Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things and not the

price. Eat your food as your medicine, otherwise you have to eat medicine as your food.

 

The One who loves you will never leave you for another because, even if there are 100 reasons to give up, he or she will

find a reason to hold on. There is a big difference between a human being and being human. Only a few really understand it. 

You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die. In between, you have to manage!

 

The six best doctors in the world are sunlight, rest, exercise,diet, self-confidence and friends

 

To readers in Mid-Ohio District 12:TROY BALDERSON NEEDS CONTINUED SUPPORT SQUEAKED OUT A WIN IN OHIO’S 12TH DISTRICT SPECIAL ELECTION TO THE HOUSE…NOW HE NEEDS ANOTHER ONE IN NOVEMBER—(PLEASE HELP IF YOU VOTE IN THAT DISTRICT) DEMS BIG MONEY IS FLOODING IN TO OPPOSE HIM—SENSING THE SEAT AS AVAILABLE TO “BUY!"

Balderson was not the most dynamic candidate (in comparison to prior incumbent Pat Tiberi’s 17+ years of experience). However Pat wasn’t always a seasoned and senior member of the House. He earned that spot and the respect that went with it over a period of years—and so, hopefully will Troy—given time and the chance (assuming he wins again in November.) FYI-Tiberi endorsed Balderson, as did Kasich and Trump—both!).

 

DANNY O’CONNOR WAS A PERFECT NAIVE “FRESH-FACE” DEMOCRAT—NO HISTORY, NO RECORD, & NO RELEVANT EXPERIENCE. 

He was carefully scripted, to fool many people, (even smart ones at the Columbus Dispatch) by saying that he’d be a “moderate” and reach across the aisle to the GOP. No way the Democratic leadership would allow that. The first time he reached across the aisle, he’d get his hand and arm cut off (by party leadership.) He would be a fresh face and a good puppet, but he would also be a “babe in the woods” (or maybe “Daniel in the lion’s den” is more accurate.) Why? Read on.

 

O’Connor had NO legislative experience AND very limited "life experience" (at age 31.) He was a County Recorder—a purely administrative position.His relative youth might please the GenZ and younger Millennial voters (who also lack that life experience), but they’s be wrong.Danny showed how limited and timid he was when MSNBC’s “attack dog” Chris Matthews refused to accept O’Connor's scripted remarks—even when he repeated the script 4-5 times. Matthews just kept asking, until O'Connor had nothing else to say—and caved,admitting that he'd support the party and leader—whoever that was, including Pelosi.

 

 

ENJOY THE LAST OF A HOT SUMMER

 

JOHN

 

THE ENTERPRISE—A FAVOR, A RANT, A FEW OPINIONS—AND A LITTLE HUMOR—TO HELP KEEP US SANE

FIRST THE FAVOR: PLEASE GO TO AMAZON.COM AND BUY ONE (OR MORE) COPIES OF ROCKETSHIPS AND PARACHUTES. 
IF you already bought a copy—please buy another one (or more)—and give them to people you care about. 

--It is suitable for all ages and all stages of career and life. 

I listed amazon.combecause it is the fastest and easiest way to get a copy. 

Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PKindle: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK
Also: www.barnesandnoble.comhas it available—just search the title and my last name.

Good reviews would be appreciated too (:-)

After the launch, sales naturally slow down. I am hoping to get this book tobecome the popular, favorite gift item for all occasions.

Here’s an example of who might benefit from it and appreciate it. 
1) College graduates from 4-year, 2 year, or all Gen Z. 
2) Generation Y (Millennials), who are in early or mid-career in the work force. 
3) Generation X, who are in mid-late career in the work force, 
4) Baby Boomers, who are in late career, in middle or upper management, or operating their own businesses.
5) Self-made people who are operating or working in businesses, aspiring to advance by learning more about management to apply in their jobs.
By job situation:

DO ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS REMIND YOU OF SOMEONE YOU KNOW, (OR A COMPANY YOU KNOW)

THEY NEED ROCKETSHIPS AND PARACHUTES. 

1. Do you have problems at work—with people or the organization?
2. Is your career stalled or on a plateau? Want to launch it upward?
3. Do you have uncertainty about your career, its direction or its trajectory?
4. Do you wish you had a mentor or advisor to help you will issues you are encountering?
5. Is all the input you can find too theoretical, or not applicable to where you are on your career trajectory?
6. Do you think you might have a big chance coming up but are uncertain if you should “go for it?”
7. Are your grown children stuck in career “limbo” trying to figure out “what now?”
8. Do your grown children struggle in their jobs? Need help, a mentor and sound advice?
9. Are you or others you know college grads, but can’t seem to match skills and knowhow with jobs available?
10. Does your company (employer) direction seem to be a problem or an issue?
11. Is its strategy outdated or failing, and impacting you? What to do about that?
12. Is execution of important tasks a problem, or simply ineffective?
13. Is accountability lacking or poor, and leadership doesn’t demand it?
14. Are people unwilling to take responsibility for their assigned roles?
15. Is teamwork poor? Do people not understand how to work in teams, or are unwilling to do so.
16. Is problem solving ineffective and yielding no actionable outcomes?
17. Is your boss a problem? Or are you? Or are his bosses in higher management a problem?
18. Has growth in your company or industry stalled? Know what to do?

OK—ENOUGH ASKING FOR YOU TO BUY BOOKS ———————————————————

 

=========================

 

Y0U MAY HAVE NOTICED, THAT I HAVE NOT PUBLISHED AN EDITION OF THE ENTERPRISE FOR SOME TIME. WHY? YES, I KNOW THAT ALL CAPS IS “YELLING” IN INTERNET EMAIL STYLE…HOWEVER, IT IS THE QUICKEST EASIEST WAY TO START WITH A “BANG."

 

FIRST, I’ve been busy getting ROCKETSHIPS AND PARACHUTESinto the market. Sales have dibbled in since I haven’t gone after big bulk sales or mass giveaways (two common ways to lift book sales.) Reviews, both written and verbal have been great. Please add you own, assuming you have a copy and have read some of it. 

 

SECOND, BECAUSE THE POLITICAL AND POLICY TOPICS—AND CONTRASTING POSITIONS ON THEM—ARE SO INCENDIARY, AND SO POLARIZED, I AM RELUCTANT TO “POUR GASOLINE ON A FIRE.”

 

IT’S HARD TO TAKE A MEASURED POSITION WITH THE VOICES OF TRUMP, ET. AL, AND SCHUMER, ET. AL. IMMEDIATELY RENDERING IT EITHER MOOT—OR SOUNDING LIKE I AM WAFFLING. IT’S ALSO HARD TO BE HEARD WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE IS YELLING—HENCE THE ALL CAPS PART OF THIS EMAIL.

 

TRUMP IS ALL OVER THE PLACE. THERE’S NO DEFENDING HIM ON THAT. HOWEVER, THE RESULTS OF HIS PRESIDENCY THUS FAR ARE MUCH BETTER THAN HIS PERSONA WOULD LEAD ONE TO BELIEVE. HE’S EITHER "DUMB LIKE A FOX” AND SEEING THE STAGE FOR HIS COMING MOVES, OR SOMEONE WILL NOTICE THAT DEFICITS ARE CLIMBING—HIS DEREGULATION AND PRO-BUSINESS POLICY MOVES MUST SPIKE THE REVENUE COMING IN TO OFFSET THE SPENDING.

 

Before being too critical, remember that Obama blew the lid off spending right after he came into office, ostensibly to deal with the recession. Then he led the country into 8 years of slow or no growth, and theweakest post recession recovery in modern history.

 

Now the crazies and hypocrites are in charge of the Democratic party and the Republican party—all 2-3 of them—can’t agree on what to do. REALLY? Has anyone ever heard of COMPROMISING FOR THE GREATER GOOD? If the GOP doesn’t quickly get its act together, the Dems, led by Crazy Bernie, and his Socialist Gang will take back the House this fall… Are you ready for Pelosi again?(:-(( Scary! Likely to happen—yes! Stupid GOP cannot pull itself together to stop it, I’m afraid. Leaderless in Congress—Lame Duck Paul Ryan is a liability, except raising money for his own needs and wishes. Jim Jordan’s intentions are “right" but his position is so "far right"…it’s going nowhere.

=========================

 

I CANNOT RESTRAIN MYSELF FROM RANTING A BIT ABOUT SUCH BLATANT ACTS OF POLITICAL MANIPULATION & HYPOCRISY

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? THE STAGED PROTESTS ABOUT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE HAD ______________ (FILL IN THE BLANK) ON THE PROTEST POSTERS—AND THEN GO CRAZY! IT DIDN’T MATTER WHO PRESIDENT TRUMP NOMINATED THE PROTESTERS WERE OPPOSED.

I was incredulous when I saw the speed and emotional intensity of the protesters who were staged to protest “whoever" President Trump nominated.Is that democracy at work? NO. 

 

It is Democratic Trump Derangement Syndrome at its worst. The big question as we head toward mid-term elections: Does the Democrat party actually stand FOR anything except illegal immigration, unlimited abortion, and constant wealth redistribution—paid for by those who work and earn a living, to benefit those who do nothing but accept and expect handout after handout,and "free everything” to buy more votes (But paid for by whom? taxpayers, that’s who) It is sad, but look at the party leadership. 

 

The ultimate lunatic scheme is percolating in the minds of Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders:

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2017/0301/Guaranteed-paycheck-Does-a-basic-income-encourage-laziness

Conceived for poor, third world countries as an alternative to charity, Sanders thinks it would be nice to give paychecks to every American. Somehow, Crazy Bernie doesn’t compute that all of his Socialist schemes have to be paid for by someone—a person, or a government and its taxpayers. "The problem with socialismis that youeventually run out of other people's money."—Margaret Thatcher

THAT SAID, THE GOP WOULD DO WELL TO SIT DOWN WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP AND REVIEW REVENUE VS. SPENDING
Is the expected economic growth from policy changes and tax cuts generating the revenue expected? The spending is sure going strong.
Nobody wants to touch entitlements what will surely sink the US into insolvency, because it seems few people retain their fiscal sanity once elected to office.

FISCAL SANITY DOESN'T MEAN JUST "KEEP ON SPENDING"
When you have unexpected expenses at home or at work, you cut back somewhere else to cover them, but not in government. Just borrow and spend more, like a drunken person with a high limit credit card on a binge.How is it that elected officials can’t recall this simple fact? We are drowning in debt as a country and no one has the courage to sound the alarm.

=========================

PERHAPS MY RANTING SOLUTION IS TO SIMPLY TUNE OUT ANYTHING SAID BY DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADERS?

BUT, that’s wrong too. When Chuck Schumer comes on the air, everything he says is diametrically opposed to anything coming out of the GOP or the White House—so why should I listen? 

 

SCHUMER TAKES “HYPOCRITICAL" TO NEW LENGTHS, BUT PELOSI, WATERS, ET. AL. ARE ABOUT AS BAD
Since Donald Trump was legally elected president of the United States, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, (once thought to be a reasonable, moderately left-leaning Senator), has decided to categorically oppose, obstruct, and reject anything originating with the GOP Members of Congress, or the Trump White House. Schumer’s behavior remind us of a badly behaving, petulant child having a tantrum. All that’s missing if for him to make his statement by screaming at the top of his lungs, thrashing wildly on the floor.

Even when there is incontrovertible evidence in video, audio and print thathe is totally reversing his prior stated positions, he continues his anti-American behavior, leading his party in Trump Derangement Syndrome. 

 

For him to oppose some GOP policies is a given; to oppose most of them is even to be expected; BUT to oppose ALL GOP initiatives, is simply irrational and antithetical to the Senate seat he holds. Schumer is approaching the same level of bad governance and unconscionable behavior that his predecessor “Dirty Harry” Reid achieved. 

=========================

 

I’VE BEEN WRITING AND WARNING FOR 10 YEARS ABOUT THIS—CYBER-TERRORISM IS THE BIG THREAT (RIGHT UP THERE WITH NUKES, EMPS AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE)

Russian Hackers Reach U.S. Utility Control Rooms

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-hackers-reach-u-s-utility-control-rooms-homeland-security-officials-say-1532388110?emailToken=0a92c06cb26406110c020817c61a618a0s+u+1kTeIcs96g8koqm5AZYS8NfG9mmf4yt05WEkbvzDUCctGeNEAvHEcZSg8Y7y/DzAYolXDsERpb/mBKFS11THzWIAn/9GefYS/SA4bEvhF/3QOOcZVRK8axStPii8Rtuou/ZoStvzxCshPR93w%3D%3D&reflink=article_email_share

 

=========================

LIKE RATS LEAVING A SINKING SHIP—TOP FBI CYBER SECURITY PEOPLE BAILING OUT—JOINING THE OTHER DIRTY ONES

https://www.wsj.com/articles/three-top-fbi-cybersecurity-officials-to-retire-1532036330?mod=djemalertNEWS

 

Several FBI-ers should be indicted and go to jail but don’t hold your breath. Washington protects their own, no matter how dirty. If Special Counsel Mueller were checking out Dems, Hillary, the FBI and IRS, instead of Trump & Russia, he’s have indicted so many people the courts would be busy for years.

=========================

 

WATCH FOR THE FLOOD OF ELECTRIC CARS COMING FROM CHINA IN A FEW YEARS.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-has-487-electric-car-makers-and-local-governments-are-clamoring-for-more-1531992601?mod=djemwhatsnews

=========================

 

A SIMPLE CHARACTERIZATION OF WHY TRUMP SUPPORTERS STICK WITH HIM

Interesting perspective….FROM A CORRESPONDENT...

 

Like many citizens, I've wondered and tried hard to understand why Trump has such a loyal following. (It’s obvious in many ways why he probably should not!) Then a friend sent me this raccoon story.

 

It makes no difference about your political leanings, this is just a good explanation of WHY (or it’s as good as any I can come up with). If you really want to know how the majority of people feel? And this applies to both democrats and republicans, read below. It says it all.

 

You’ve been out of town for a long time, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken your basement. Poop is everywhere! You want them gone immediately.

 

You call the city, the county, and four different exterminators, but nobody can handle the job. But there is this ONE guy, and he guarantees you to get rid of them. You don’t care if the guy smells bad, you don’t care if the guy swears, you don’t care if he’s an alcoholic, you don’t care how many times he's been married, you don't care if he has a plumber's crack, you simply want those raccoons gone, so you hire him! You want your problem fixed! He's the guy. He's the best. Period !

 

Here’s why we want Trump, yes he’s a bit of an ass, yes he’s an egomaniac without an ounce of humility, but we don’t care. The country is a mess because all politicians suck. The Republicans and Democrats can be two-faced and gutless, and illegals are everywhere. We want it all fixed - drain the swamp!

 

We don’t care that Trump is crude, we don't care that he insults people, we don't care that he has changed positions, we don't care that he's been married three times, we don't care that he fights with Megyn Kelly and Rosie O'Donnell, and we don't care that he doesn't know the name of some Muslin terrorist.

 

This country is weak, bankrupt, our enemies are making fun of us, we are being invaded by illegals, we are becoming a nation of victims where every Tom, Ricardo, and Hasid is a special group with special rights, where we don’t even recognize the country we were born and raised in; “AND WE JUST WANT IT FIXED” and Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what the people want.

 

We’re sick of politicians, sick of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and sick of illegals. We just want this thing fixed. Trump may not be a saint, but he doesn’t have lobbyist money holding him back, and he doesn’t have political correctness restraining him. All we know is that he has been very successful, a good negotiator, he has built a lot of things, and he’s also not a cowardly politician. He says he’ll fix it, and we believe him because he is too much of an egotist to be proven wrong, or looked at and called a liar. Also, we don't care if the guy has bad hair. 

 

We just want those raccoons gone, out of our house, NOW!

You are welcome to pass this on. I feel this is why thousands of people who haven't voted in 25 years are getting involved.

The raccoons have got to go.

=========================

 

RAND PAUL IS NOT ALWAYS MY FAVORITE, BUT HE MAKES SOME GOOD POINTS HERE

 

Rand Paul Went On TV And Silenced The Democrats Plan To Impeach Trump

Democrats are all in to impeach President Trump and remove him from office.

The left is counting on the Mueller probe to deliver the smoking gun that will bring about the end of the Trump Presidency.

But that all ended when Rand Paul sat in front of the cameras and silenced the Democrats plan to impeach Trump.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul appeared on CNN’s State of the Union to discuss the latest developments in the Russia investigation.

On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller announced that his office indicted 12 Russians connected to the nation’s intelligence service for alleged cyber attacks during the 2016 election.

Democrats believe these indictments represent the next step in Mueller finally producing conclusive evidence that Trump and his campaign colluded with Vladimir Putin to steal the election from Hillary Clinton.

CNN host Jake Tapper pressed Paul on the Trump-Putin summit and demanded to know if Paul believed President Trump should hold Russia “accountable.”

“I think really we mistake our response if we think it’s about accountability from the Russians. They are another country. They are going to spy on us, do spy on us. They are going to interfere in our elections, we also do the same,” Paul answered.

Paul went on to cite a study showing that the United States interfered in other countries elections 81 times.

One example was when Barack Obama meddled in the last Israeli election.

Obama’s State Department funneled $250,000 to the opposition party in a bid to defeat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his 2015 campaign.

Obama tried to undermine Israel’s democracy by taking down Netanyahu because he had opposed Obama appeasing Iran.

Paul went on to flatly reject Tapper’s attempt to smear him by claiming Paul was saying that Russia and the United States are moral equivalents.Paul shot back, “I would say it’s not morally equivalent.”

The Kentucky Senator continued, “But I think in [Russia’s] mind it is. It’s important to know in your adversary’s mind the way they perceive the thing. They react to our interference in their elections and one of the reasons they didn’t like Hillary Clinton, they found her responsible for some of the activity by the U.S. in their elections under the [Former President Barack] Obama administration.”

Paul also agreed with President Trump that the Mueller probe is a “witch hunt.”

“If we have proof that they did it, we should spend our time protecting ourselves instead of having this witch hunt on the president,” Paul declared.

Democrats impeachment hopes rest on the Mueller investigation. But as Paul also pointed out, whatever cyber attacks occurred took place on Barack Obama’s watch. And this investigation has still produced no evidence of conclusion. The Department of Justice’s press release announcing the indictments also made it clear no Americans were involved in these alleged crimes.

 

The DOJ announced: “There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity or knew they were communicating with Russian intelligence officers.”

Mueller’s report is going to be a massive letdown for Democrats.

There is no evidence of collusion and Senator Paul’s comments demonstrate that both avenues the Democrats hope to use in the Mueller report to impeach President Trump are dead ends.

 

=========================

THIS PLAY ON WORDS MAY MAKE YOUR GROAN OR GRIN (NEEDED IN THESE UNBELIEVABLE TIMES)

• “Lexophile" describes those who have a love for words, such as "You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish;" or "To write with a broken pencil is pointless." An annual competition is held by the New York Times to see who can create the best original lexophile. This year's winning submission is posted at the very end. This year’s contenders:

• No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

• If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

• I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.

• I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

• Did you hear about the crossed-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

• When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

• When chemists die, they barium.

• I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

• I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.

• England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

• Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

• This girl today said she recognized me from the Vegetarians Club, but I'd swear I've never met herbivore.

• I know a guy who's addicted to drinking brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.

• A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

• When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.

• I got some batteries that were given out free of charge.

• A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.

• A will is a dead giveaway.

• With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

• Police were summoned to a daycare center where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

• Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He's all right now.

• A bicycle can't stand alone; it's just two tired.

• The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine last week is now fully recovered.

• He had a photographic memory but it was never fully developed.

• When she saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she'd dye.

• Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.

• And the winner is: Those who get too big for their pants will be totally exposed in the end.

 

 

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER

JOHN

New book is out!
ROCKETSHIPS & PARACHUTES is here, and available on amazon. See more at: www.mariotti.net
Please go buy your copies NOW—! Here are links to order:
Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P
Kindle: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK

 

 

Sent from my iPad--(excuse autocorrect's changes). 

THE ENTERPRISE--THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW AND THINK ABOUT…

I LIKE TO HELP PEOPLE. THAT’S WHY I AM STILL WRITING THE ENTERPRISE AFTER 17 YEARS.
I hope this edition will be helpful to you, both personally and professionally. 

That’s why I wrote Rocketships & Parachutes to help all ages at all career stages. It is my “legacy. PLEASE GO OUT AND BUY COPIES OF THE BOOK FOR EACH OF YOUR ADULT FAMILY MEMBERS—IT WILL BE THE BEST, MOST PRODUCTIVE $20 EACH YOU EVER SPENT. 

(Way better than a movie and popcorn and a drink—which also costs about $20)

Here are  links to order: Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P   Kindle:   https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK

 

THEN ENCOURAGE THEM TO READ IT—SKIM THROUGH IT—DIP INTO IT HERE AND THERE. 

THE LESSONS IN IT WILL IMPROVE THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER, AND THEIR JOB OR BUSINESS

 

Here are two Lessons from the book, that stand up pretty well without explanation:

Lesson: Luck is better than skill you just can’t rely on it.

Lesson: If you really need something you’ll pay for it whether you buy it or not.

Here is what one reviewer said about the book: 
Rocketships & Parachutes is a GPS for the spirit and the soul. 365 timeless lessons in navigating life’s rollercoaster twists and turns, ups and downs—accumulated through an amazing lifetime of experience, and written as a love letter to life’s weary travelers. I will pass it on to my children as an essential roadmap for their own professional and personal journey. Read it. Remember it. Roll with it. “—Tom Koulopoulos, Chairman, Delphi Group, and author of Revealing the Invisible

NOW ON TO THE TYPICAL TIDBITS IN THE ENTERPRISE
It’s impossible to find a middle of the road path in today's partisan, turbulent, and volatile political and policy environment. One day, one side makes sense. Then it doesn’t. Another day, the opposite position makes sense—until it doesn’t. I guess the only thing that doesn’t make sense to me is the unrelenting negative demagoguery being practiced by Democratic leaders day in and day out, with apparent disregard for how it hurts the country.

Now that I have said that, IF there are any Democrats still reading THE ENTErPRISE, were the Republicans (including me) that bad while Obama was in office? Somehow I wish and hope I can believe the obstructionism was a bad, but the outright hypocritical reversal of previously and publicly stated positions was not as bad as it has been since Trump was elected. The resistance to Obama was severe, but the use of every dirty trick in the book (including by government agencies like the FBI) was nowhere near this bad. The Democratic obstructionism, made worse by some of Trump’s less than wise nominees, and prevented the Trump presidency from even having a reasonable number of appointees fill the seats occupied (still) by Obama sympathizers (and leakers).

Nothing in my lifetime has even approached the Trump Derangement Syndrome, in amount and vehemence of reaction by the mainstream media (MSM) and Democratic opposition. Simply counting negative news stories in MSM compared to positive ones—about inarguably positive events—tells the story.  So, I’m not going to add to the rants, as much as I might like to. I’m going to present other credible opinions and useful information about life and work.

Caution: Do not listen or read too much of current events news. Half of it is false, badly biased or wrong, and it’s hard to tell which half. I have a new policy: I do not read long speculative columns or articles about “what might happen” because nobody knows, and I’ve found a good solution. I save the article for a week or two, and it it still seems to make sense reading (some of) it, maybe I will. Usually it is like old food—no longer suitable for safe consumption. Pitch it!

AMIDST ALL THE SPECULATION, THERE ARE SEVERAL THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW AND CONSIDER.

 

SCOTUS IS NOW RULING ON IMPORTANT ISSUES—TRUMP’S INITIATIVES, STALLED BY THE LOWER COURTS AND ACTIVIST LIBERAL JUDGES—ARE BEING METHODICALLY REVERSED AND BLOWN AWAY.
Here are a few of them.

Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban
The Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s latest ban on travel to the U.S. by people from several Muslim-majority countries, in a ruling that hands the White House a victory on one of its most central—and controversial—initiatives. The court said Mr. Trump didn’t violate the law last September when he put in place restrictions on U.S. entry by people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

The Supreme Court on Monday ​upheld Texas’s maps for its congressional seats and state House of Representative districts, both of which had been thrown out for discriminating against minority voters, ruling 5-4 that the Republican-controlled Legislature’s good faith in adopting the lines should be presumed.In a separate action Monday indicating a reluctance to tinker with election lines drawn for partisan reasons, the court declined for now to consider a broad challenge to North Carolina’s congressional map, which the state’s GOP-run legislature drew to produce lopsided victories for Republican candidates.

Supreme Court rules against labor unions
A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public employee unions cannot force workers against their will to pay union dues that are used by the union to finance the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments.

DROWNING IN DEBT—LOTS OF SOURCES REPORTING ON IT.

Where: Student Loans—$1.4 Trillion, State and Local Pension Plans—$6 Trillion, Federal State—$22 Trillion and Local —$3 Trillion Debt, and nothing is being done to reduce these. Of course no politician dares suggest that we cut back on Social Security to keep it solvent. No politician seems to understand or know what to do about the fact that there is 10-20% of fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid ($50 Billion plus) annually.

If you add up all the debt around, the number gets to astronomically large that it is incomprehensible.

 

HOW MUCH IS JUST ONE TRILLION TO PAY BACK

To pay back one million dollars, at a rate of one dollar per second, would take you 11.5 days. To pay back one billion dollars, at a rate of one dollar per second, would take you 32 years. To pay back one trillion dollars, at a rate of one dollar per second, would take you 31,688 years. How high would taxes need to go? YOU DON’T EVEN WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER.

 

Finally, it appears the concept of fiscal responsibility is one that is understood by the masses, but not by the upper classes and elected officials who run our government. When you run into an unexpected expense at home, or in your small business, you look for other places to cut back to cover it. Only if you can’t do that, do you resort to increasing your debt load further. Not in the government!

 

What about the interest paid on the Federal debt: $300+ Billion each year? The interest on the national debt is how much the federal government pays on outstanding public debt. How it's calculated, causes, 2008-2027, impact. Want to read more?

https://www.thebalance.com/interest-on-the-national-debt-4119024?utm_source=emailshare&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons

 

DEMOGRAPHICS ARE DESTINY: LOOK AT THE POPULATION EXHIBIT BELOW TO SEE HOW THE BULGES OF THE BABY BOOMERS AND MILLENNIALS IMPACT AMERICAN POPULATION AND FUTURE COSTS/DEBTS. 

FYI: By 2030 we will be down to 2.30 working people for each retiree in Social Security. Somebody needs to figure out that the “retirement age” must be edged further upward toward age 70 over the next decade.

 

The US Birth rate has dropped below the “replacement rate" of 2.1 births per family—to keep population stable (and earning)—and is stuck at 1.7. Only the influx of immigrants is adding new population and increasing the birth rate. How’s that for a Catch-22…we must support the immigrants and help them assimilate safely, so they can work to support our aging population. This is a problem shared with Europe and Japan (which have still lower birth rates). Now even China’s birth rate is dropping too, while its population is aging too.

 

US POPULATION BY AGE AND GENDER

READ THE OP ED PIECE BY JAY AMBROSE BELOW:
Column: Liberals pose greater danger than Trump
I am not a Republican, I did not vote for Donald Trump. I castigated him during the primaries,
focused more on the outlandish alternative during the general election, but still hold him in low
regard. The tweets, the mostly ignorant, buffoonish tweets, sum up the worst of him in my
opinion, but what I wrote after the election was that we should give him a chance.
The opposite has occurred.
Not only have critics overstated almost every flub he has made, governmental officials in the
executive and judicial branches have shoved aside rule of law through felonious leaks, phony
decisions and much more in trying to get him no matter what. Through such means, the left has
illustrated repeatedly why it is twice the danger to our republic than he is.
It has in fact been a danger for some time. Consider the limp argument about Trump’s supposed
autocracy and then compare him to President Barack Obama. To the extent Trump is a tyrant, it’s
mostly in what he says, not what he does, as in references to “fake news” supposedly ruinous to our
press.
Obama was a man of action. His administration actually spied on reporters. It threatened them
with jail if they did not reveal sources. It set a record in refusing to release government information
requested by citizens. And his verbal jabs at Fox News were just as vicious as Trump’s jabs at the
New York Times and CNN.
Other examples of Obama autocracy?
His administration set records for major, costly regulations that stymie business and reduce your
freedoms even if some do some good. His Clean Power Plan would have dictated to states that they
had to get rid of certain laws. His education department told colleges and universities they must
abandon due process for any male accused of sexual harassment. He granted legal status to illegal
immigrants after saying some 20 times it would be unconstitutional to do so. He unilaterally
rewrote laws. He refused to enforce others.
He also skipped the constitutional requirement of having the Senate vote on treaties, thereby
making them mere executive orders that Trump could reverse, and fortunately has in the case of
Iran. As sure as anything, an enriched Iran is still pursuing nuclear armament and Middle East
hegemony. The Obama philosophy was to ask for little, to get less and then to declare the United
States a winner.
Trump is said to have done nothing good, but, even with its faults, the GOP tax reform was maybe
the single biggest gift to working- and middle-class Americans in decades, and that includes
minorities. After the worst recovery since World War II, much had been trending in the right
direction, but here was a mighty push we would not have had under Hillary Clinton.
At the same time, I do believe Trump’s international trade games could be economically ruinous
and his casualness about the debt is enough to make one shiver. I believe in border security but
think the idea of a wall is overkill.
Trump can still be less a threat than the Democrats and I defend him when I think he is, thereby
earning downright trashy, hateful emails along with a few thoughtful ones. Even many of the
supposed intellectuals out there seem to think any defense of Trump at all puts you in a basket of
deplorables.
All of this along with what we see from activists pretty well sums up how many Trump opponents
are dogmatically sure of themselves, as shorn of norms as he is and disrespectful of their national
inheritance. Following good luck in midterm elections and his impeachment, the hope is to enforce
more semi-socialist, liberty-imperiling central planning.
They make me want to defend Trump all the more.
Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service.
[email protected]


READ THE STATEMENT BY TRUMP’S LEGAL TEAM

The Trump Team's Chilling Message to Mueller  By Ruth Marcus June 04, 2018

Trump.For months we've heard President Trump's TV lawyers, as he calls them, bandy about the argument that he -- or any president, for that matter -- couldn't have obstructed justice because justice is what he says it is. In other words, that because, they claim, a president possesses absolute power to cut short a criminal investigation, he cannot by definition be guilty of obstructing it. Or, in the famous Nixonian formulation, as Richard M. Nixon told David Frost, "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” But as much as the president's legal team foreshadowed this contention, it was nonetheless breathtaking to see it spelled out, in black and white, in a letter from Trump's legal team to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

"A President can also order the termination of an investigation by the Justice Department or FBI at any time and for any reason," the lawyers, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow, wrote in the January letter, obtained by the New York Times. "Such an action obviously has an impact on the investigation, but that is simply an effect of the President's lawful exercise of his constitutional power and cannot constitute obstruction of justice."

At any time and for any reason. The precise context involved the president's discussion with then-FBI Director James B. Comey in which, according to Comey's testimony, Trump cleared the Oval Office of other witnesses before discussing his just-fired national security adviser, Michael Flynn. According to Comey, Trump expressed his "hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” The letter disputes Comey's version of events but says it wouldn't matter if Trump had made those statements. And then, in a magnificently gaslighting move, the letter claims that Trump is actually the hero of any obstruction story, because he fired Flynn: "Far, far, from obstructing justice, the only individual in the entire Flynn story that ensured swift justice was the President."

Of course the president oversees the executive branch, including the Justice Department. Of course he gets to set broad contours of policy. But there is a long and wise tradition of presidential reticence to interfere in individual criminal matters -- no less in a criminal matter that affects himself. And the notion that the president could peremptorily call off any prosecution for any reason whatsoever -- no matter how corrupt -- would be laughable if it weren't so scary. As Daniel Hemel and Eric Posner write in the California Law Review, "No one thinks that … the president should be able to commit a crime and then call off the investigation of it. What if he murdered his valet?"

That is a fanciful hypothetical, but the more reality-based one also underscores the extreme nature of the Trump lawyers' claim. "It is obvious enough that it would be wrong for the president to order spurious investigations of his political opponents in order to harass them," Hemel and Posner write. "But it would seem to follow that the president should not call off investigations of his political aides and allies (and of himself) in order to protect them (and himself) from legal jeopardy. If he could, then he or his aides could engage in criminal activity in order to harass their political opponents -- as the Watergate burglary, a spy operation against the Democratic National Committee, illustrates -- without fear of legal liability."

Indeed, during Watergate, the articles of impeachment against Nixon included the charge that he obstructed justice by "interfering or endeavoring to interfere with the conduct of investigations by the Department of Justice of the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the office of Watergate Special Prosecution Force, and Congressional Committees.” At any time and for any reason. The context was Comey, but the implications are chilling: that Trump asserts the right to terminate the Russia probe altogether. Or the investigation into his lawyer Michael Cohen. This is a scary vision of the power entrusted to any president, but especially this one. (c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group


 I AM SENDING YOU THIS PIECE. IF YOU ARE NOT OVER 65, IT’S STILL WORTH READING, BECAUSE SOONER OR LATER (HOPEFULLY) YOU WILL GET THERE (OR MAYBE YOUR PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS WILL LIKE IT TOO.) 

The advice is good for all of us…older or not so old.

Many of us are "between 65 and what comes next,”— i.e. old (or getting there). My friend sent me this excellent list for aging and I have to agree it's good advice to follow. 

1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it.  Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.

2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.

*3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.

*4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together.

*5. Don’t stress over the little things. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.

*6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”

*7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.

*8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.

*9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.

10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.

11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.

12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.

13. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.

14. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.

15. Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.

*16. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.

17. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.

*18. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.

*19. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.

*20. Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.

*21. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!

REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine.” “if we don’t go first class our kids will. Have a good day!

I’ll add my own: Don’t worry about what other people say or think about you and what you say and do because "those who matter don’t mind and those who mind, don’t matter.” Friends are friends through thick and thin, good times and bad—and most of all in bad times.
THAT’S ALL FOR THIS EDITION.

JOHN

PS: That’s why Mr. Rogers always closed with  “…will you be my friend?”
New book is out! 

ROCKETSHIPS & PARACHUTES—365 Lessons to launch and land your career  available on amazon. 

See more at: www.mariotti.net  Here are  links to order:

Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P

Kindle:   https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK

THE ENTERPRISE-EARLY NOTICE: TIME TO ORDER Rocketships & Parachutes. IS AVAILABLE NOW!

THE ENTERPRISE-EARLY NOTICE: TIME TO ORDER Rocketships & Parachutes. IS AVAILABLE NOW! 

 

Solve your Father’s Day gifting challenge: give a copy of Rocketships & Parachutes. 

 

This is a book where you MUST buy multiple copies. Get 5, 10 or 20, and give them to everyone you care about. It is a gift that will just keep on giving! 

 

(PLUS--If you buy a paperback, amazon’s "book match” lets you buy a Kindle for only $2.99 instead of $9.99)

 

IF YOU INTEND TO BUY MULTIPLE COPIES and especially if you know who you want to sent them to, PLEASE buy them one at a time! 

A sale of 5 books at one time on amazon counts as one sale on its bestseller list totals (unless they have changed it)…

THUS, IF THE BOOK IS TO MOVE UP THE BESTSELLER LISTS (don’t all authors want that?), its better to place 5 individual orders instead of one order of 5 books.

 

Here are some groups for whom Rocketships & Parachutes will be a valuable gift

• College grads will realize that it gives them a head start into the world of work—ahead of their peers.
• Gen-Y (Millennials) will treasure it as if they had an experienced mentor at their fingertips, to keep them climbing. 
• Gen-X-ers who are moving through their mid-career crises, will see how it helps them stand out from the pack, and begin moving up again.
• Baby Boomers will recognize the years of experience they can tap into, to make their final career climb be the right one.
• Brilliant Entrepreneurs will find the managerial knowhow and expertise they so badly need, but can’t seem to find.
• Self-made people, who have built lives and businesses by sweat and hard work, will learn how to climb higher and when to bail out and try again.

HERE’S WHAT READERS SAID ABOUT Rocketships & Parachutes 

"John Mariotti has lived as eventful a life in business as anyone, and it pays to heed the lessons of his years in business. You will be so much better off—more prepared, more valuable, more wise."-- B. Joseph Pine II, author of Mass Customization and The Experience Economy

"John has written an important book. If we would create our own list of Rocketships and Parachutes moments, we could avoid a lot of problems. For help starting your own list, I can think of no better launching pad than this book."—Rick Maurer, author, Beyond the Wall of Resistance 

 “Excellent lessons on management – in this case management of one’s career. Thought-provoking guidelines to launch and sustain your career.” —C. John Langley, Professor, Penn State University.

 

Here’s what the book is all about (back over copy):

Rocketships & Parachutes takes readers on a journey through a lifetime of lessons—365 of them—that can “launch” a career on an upward trajectory, and “land” it safely and successfully. If you have ever wondered, “Why didn't I learn my lesson from that?” here’s your chance to learn those lessons without risking your career doing it.

Rocketships & Parachutes follows the author’s career from youth to maturity; from early professional, through middle management, into top executive ranks, and beyond into boardrooms and a career in consulting. The author’s experience as a leader and a mentor comes through in the way he explains how lessons were learned, and how readers can use lessons to advance their careers.

This is a compilation of real-world leadership, life and business lessons, based on actual situations. On this journey, they cover theory and practice, strategy & execution, problem solving & even “managing the boss.” There is help for every career stage, in every business discipline. Most of all, this is a guide to success in work, leadership and life.

 

THIS IS LAUNCH WEEK: JUNE 10-17

THIS IS THE TIME TO PLACE YOUR ORDERS, MULTIPLE ORDERS, FOR EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO MIGHT WANT OR NEED HELP…TO EITHER “LAUNCH" THEIR CAREER UPWARD, OR “LAND” IT SAFELY AND SUCCESSFULLY.

Paperback:

https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-P

Kindle: 

https://tinyurl.com/mariottiR-PK

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT (and thanks for helping me get as many copies as possible of Rocketships & Parachutes into the hands of people who can benefit from it—that’s why I wrote it!

 

JOHN

=====================

THE ENTERPRISE—MOST OF THE "NEWS" IS UNFIT TO PRINT--OR TO BELIEVE; SAD, BAD & INEXCUSABLE

 

IF YOU’VE NOTICED THE FREQUENCY OF THE ENTERPRISE HAS DROPPED OFF…

TWO REASONS: 

1) I’ve been working hard to get my book done and in your hands:  Rocketships & Parachutes — 365 Lessons to launch and land your career   is coming soon, and I hope you will share multiple copies of it, so it helps the most people possible.

2) So much of what is being thrown about as news, IS NOT. It is thinly veiled opinions, bolstered by questionable factoids, and circulated by irresponsible and biased “journalists.” I put that phrase in quotation marks because far too many, in fact most of the so called journalists who create (I chose that word carefully) what you read and hear and see now are not journalists at all. 

 

In days gone by they might have been called “propagandists.” Or quite simply, “biased liars” who write opinions in place of news.  Genuine news reporting is hard to do, and incredibly valuable. There are some good journalists still out there plying their trade, buried under piles of “fake" news, or “made up" news or biased opinions masquerading as news. I tried writing for a “news site” for a while. It was very hard. My opinions kept creeping into whatever I wrote. That’s why so many “opinion” (or OpEd) columns are flying around pretending to be “news.” 

 

ON THE OTHER HAND, TH4E DEATH OF JOURNALISTS IS TRAGIC

World Press Freedom day a week ago, came on the heels of the death of nine journalists (among 25 people killed and 45+ wounded) by suicide bombers in Kabul, Afghanistan. These journalists were mostly the old fashioned kind who travelled at great personal risk to report on news (not fake new) from the dangerous places where it was happening. Other than Daniel Pearl’s highly publicized beheading, most such deaths receive very little publicity. That’s a shame. When we hope and wish for a “free press” we also hope that  the news gatherers don’t have to pay with their lives to bring us that news. In most cases, their reports are the most credible ones (later it may be distorted to fit the ideology of editors and managers). Since 1992, 1,300 journalists have died seeking the truth about the news. We often reflect on our soldiers who give their lives for our freedoms, but forget that the freedom of the press, and accurate on-location reporting, is not free either. It costs lives.  Remember that.

 

ON ROBERT MUELLER’S ENDLESS INVESTIGATION

There was a good cartoon but calling attention to a bad investigation—a fiasco: 

 

HERE ARE TWO EDITORIALS THAT ILLUSTRATE HOW BAD THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION HAS GONE “OFF THE RAILS”

Download Victor Davis Hanson: Mueller probe indicates political double standard - Opinion - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus OH

 

Download Jay Ambrose: Investigation puts Mueller's own integrity in doubt - Opinion - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus OH

 

JOE FRIDAY OF OLD TV DRAMA “DRAGNET” HAD IT RIGHT. HE WANTED “THE FACTS, AND NOTHING BUT THE FACTS.”

Face it. Even the police are biased. How can I confidently say that? Because they are human. It is almost impossible to erase our deeply held beliefs and feelings from what we say, do and write. Everyone is a product of their upbringing, their environment, their employment and their experience and what they learned (or didn’t learn from it.)  The best remaining “journalists” try very hard to give the facts objectively. Chris Wallace of Fox News is one of the best at exploring both sides of an issue in the news or in an interview. Several of the female news anchors on Fox also do a decent job, notably Dana Perino, and Shannon Bream.  Occasionally Anderson Cooper of CNN surprises me by being balanced in his pursuit of news and in interviews. Wolf Blitzer tries but his deep biases get in his way, showing even in his facial and body language (like someone who bit down on a piece of rotten fruit) when he has to report anything unfavorable to the Demo-demagogues. 

 

I never watch MSNBC—Doctor’s orders to manage my blood pressure, (Disclosure: I used to watch Joe Scarborough, before he defected to the left wing camp, probably helped by his wife’s input.) because MSNBC is actually the propaganda arm of the left wing Democratic party—unashamed at creating and spreading manufactured “fake news” by editing out any facts that do no suit its purpose—to promote the Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, & Chuck Schumer Democratic Demagogues. Here’s another example of hypocrisy: the past from Democratic platforms had called for recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Last time the Senate voted 90-0 with the support of Schumer. Feinstein, Sanders, et/ al.Now that Trump moved the embassy there, not a single Congressional Democrat—not one—travelled to Israel to attend the historic move. Rep. Pelosi basted the decision, So did Sen. Feinstein, Sanders and others. Two-faced? You bet. Schumer even blasted Trumps effort to bring back the 3 Americans from N. Korea (unlike Obama, it didn’t take trading vast sums of money and terrorists imprisoned in America. Whose side are these people on? Not the American people’s, that’s for sure.

 

 

IF YOU WANT TO SEE HOW BAD THINGS ARE, CONSIDER THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER RECENTLY

You know I like Peggy Noonan and think she tells things like they are—in her opinion of course. I can’t do any better than her take on this revolting (once charitable) event and its speakers.

Download A Dog’s Breakfast of a Dinner - WSJ

 

OK. NOW I GOT THAT ALL OUT OF MY SYSTEM. WHAT AND WHO CAN YOU BELIEVE? HOW ABOUT YOUR DIET?

For years I avoided eggs and dairy and most fats, and a lot of complex carbohydrates. I wondered why I was always hungry, and gaining weight. It turns out that while simple carbs (white bread, etc.) are metabolized almost  immediately into sugar in our bodies, too much of even the good ones, complex carbs will cause you to gain weight. Fats help satiate our hunger and after decades of warnings that fats will elevate your cholesterol and kill you (not true, unless it is transfats—which are really bad for you), they are not deadly, and actually have a role in healthy diet.. The big culprit now, we find, is sugar, and most things sweet. The frequently used, cost effective sweetener, high fructose corn syrup is especially bad for you. Avoid it. Artificial sweeteners are not exactly OK, or terribly bad, because they keep us hooked on eating those sweet things. 

 

EAT PLANT BASED FOOD, AND NON-PROCESSED (No added preservatives, etc.) FOODS

Now the word is “plant based diets" are best. However, try to get the protein your body’s muscles need from them—its hard—which is why they drink protein shakes and use protein powder. Me, I’d prefer a good steak, or pork chop or piece of chicken breast, or fish to get my protein—and (egad!) eggs almost every day for protein. Even drinking milk, which we learned was good for us growing up—is not so good. One old rule still holds: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Any by the way, exercise won’t make you lose weight per se, but it builds muscle which consumes more calories and has big cardiovascular benefits.

 

EXERCISE IS GOOD FOR US, SO IS VITAMIN D & B12, AND FIBER

Exercise slows aging (a small British study says), reduces the risk of cancer, dementia, infection and auto-immune diseases. So get off your butts, and move around. You do not have to run miles and miles (which tears up your knees and hips). Walk a lot, outdoors if possible to soak up vitamin D from sunlight. Even then, you won’t get enough vitamin D in northern parts of the USA (you’ll need a vitamin D supplement—1000-2000 IU, and maybe more). Park further from the door when you go shopping. Climb steps (if your knees will let you) up and down (different muscles are used). 

 

The average American ingests around 12 grams of fiber daily, while dietary guidelines call for most to ingest 2 to 3 times as much fiber daily (25 - 38 grams). Eating cruciferous vegetables and legumes (beans) helps. A fiber supplement like Metamucil is good for most folks: dump a teaspoon of it into a glass of water once of twice a day and drink it right down. Or use one of the newer fibers, Sun Fiber, available on amazon.com.

 

STICKERS THAT MISLEAD YOU ON WARRANTIES

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that many warning stickers that say people will void their warranty (Warranty void if seal damaged) are not only wrong but also illegal. Warranties are pretty durable. Other illegal warnings tell you that warranties will not apply if the product is used with parts from another company, or with products not sold, or licensed with, their company. (Source Washington Post article, April 2018

 

CATEGORY: WHAT TO DO ABOUT

Gun control & mass killings: What to do? How to do it? Will it help with so many guns already out there? (Some, but not enough.) Age restrictions? (Yes, for sure) Severe screening for mental health issues? (Absolutely, and right now, nationwide.) Restrictions the put gun sellers in the crosshairs for criminal prosecution as accomplices? (Maybe, but I’m not a lawyer, so who knows if this can be done.)

 

Opioid deaths now exceeding car deaths & still growing. What to do & how to limit use to restricted medical places and uses. Recent tests have found an alternative: Advil (ibuprofen) and Tylenol (acetaminophen) in combination work about as well as an opioid, without the addiction. (Used according to a Doctor’s advice and observing labeled maximum daily dose warnings. Find a way to limit illegal fentanyl impact. Of course, restrict prescriptions to small quantities, and make people come back for more frequently, but better yet, don’t prescribe them at all. Tighten restrictions on the sale and use of opioids.

Immigration and DACA and the “Wall”. Stop using them as political footballs. Secure the borders...more than just a wall in combinations of technology, border security personnel, segments of fencing and walls, and tightening up immigration vetting, ID usage, and in some cases, bans of quotas.  Using profiling constructively will enhance border security. (Israel’s model shows that). Tracking visa overstays hard will help too. Limiting the terms and relationships of "chain migrations” to proven immediate family will also help. AND—limit the benefits offered & paid by the US government for illegals, and there privileges granted—including driving licenses of any kind. Universal IDs, hard to counterfeit, and requiring frequent renewals, are a critical step.

NCAA Basketball changes: eliminate one & done, step up penalties for abuses…and hopefully get NBA to cooperate on 3 year college rule like the NFL uses.  Create a no-contact rule for proven abusers, and a ban for coaches and corporate sponsors when proven involved. Blame the adult abusers not the youthful offenders, but punish them too if egregious violations discovered.

Unions and Right to Work Laws
SCOTUS decision on whether public employee unions can charge dues to workers who do not wish to belong, will have a huge influence on the power of these unions. In fact, public employee unions should not exist at all. The power of these unions, funded by union dues, was shown in the uprising against OH SB 5 a few years ago,  I’m a Right To Work advocate and these public unions fly in the face of my beliefs.  Unions were formed to protect workers against unfair or overly powerful employers bad behavior, and to give groups of employees, collective power to further their agenda (regardless of whether that agenda is doing good or bad things for its members) and in the case of public employees, for the general population. One of the most egregious outcomes of public employee unions is the negotiation of outsized and unaffordable pension plans sinking the economies of several states, notably CA and IL saddling those citizens with crushing obligations that simply cannot be funded and sustained.

CHINA CONTROLLING MORE AND MORE “Big Brother is watching—everywhere—but most of all in China! 

China’s Orwellian society is growing thanks to networks and all sorts of recognition, facial, information, and human, which now allows the central government to accumulate ratings of people—who are for or against government preferred policies and actions. Who they know and associate with can blackball people and punish offenders who barely realized they did anything wrong. China’s ban on the number of children a couple can have is backfiring. In a decade or sooner, China’s economic growth will slow because of too few working age people. Growth and population are inextricable connected. Unless a country has a birth rate of about 2.1 children per couple, it’s population will decline and become older—requiring more government support by fewer working people. The US is there now, as are Japan and most developed European countries.

 

This is a very informative piece on China’s trade policies and cheating:

 

Download Fareed Zakaria: Trump is right to call out giant trade cheat China - Opinion - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus OH

 

It’s Trump’s Iran Deal Now

This was a lousy agreement, mismanaged by John Kerry and backed by Obama so he could claim he “did something” and he did…something foolish and bad for the USA. Kerry brokered a lousy agreement and spent millions in cash at the same time.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-trumps-iran-deal-now-1525905435?emailToken=64baef8980dbdec40b83df15543f7bc0E1txvFgerwwxR62Z1b0Nz66ICvsYexBddi9sbm0L14J8C8g5axzbv9VU/LLN9NIRxtiaZM0KpOjALMCtFn35Pg==  

THE END OF TWO ERAS AND THE FALL OF TWO COMPANIES AND LOTS OF CEOS

 

Eight of 20 Best-Paid CEOs of 2017 Are No Longer on the Job

https://www.wsj.com/articles/eight-of-the-best-paid-ceos-of-2017-are-no-longer-on-the-job-1525950000?emailToken=21edaded9a5f9a0b755c609f3427dbed2rSs/5ZNaZDn97QZqbZY241NFcvZdG2T47XikbHo9JYPx2KhX64ZtvHHlypOobf8E1f852vg8m5gRkheyN7f2+nH1EsCziyd9IsHcAH9ThlLBS0Y4YcOgDNShM96qm4Y

 

General Electric: Companies usually don’t outlive people. Human longevity is typically 6-7 decades or more. Companies seldom last that long. GE has been the exception, and now it is in trouble/ Jack Welch (the legendary CEO) started the trouble by diversifying this legendary manufacturer into financial service and much more. His successor Jeff Immelt showed how unprepared he was to run and grow the company Welch handed off to him. During his decade long tenure, GE went nowhere but into deeper trouble. GE will probably continue to exist in some drastically modified version of what it was or is. It will never be the same again.

 

Toys R Us: I knew Charles Lazarus who passed recently at age 94. He was a brilliant and driven man, like most company founders. His Toys R Us grew, prospered and dominated its market space, until it didn’t anymore.  Just like the Product Life Cycle curve, it went past maturity into decline. It’s industry shifted and it couldn’t keep up with the shift. I wrote about this problem in my award-winning 1997 book Shape Shifters—Continuous Change for Competitive Advantage. ) This kind of shift nearly crippled McDonald’s but thus far it is trying different ways to shift and maintain its market position—"breakfast all day" has saved it for now. Then we’ll see what's next?)

 

Tesla: This brilliant entrepreneur Elon Musk has proven the ability to do spectacular things. Build high end electric cars that are faster than the fastest sports cars; Launch and return rockets to/from space; and much more. However a few rockets "blew up" in the learning process. What about Tesla volume production?

Now he is grappling with two challenges:

1)  Learning to make autos in volume, reliably and fast—that is a tough thing to do. 

2)  Learning to tolerate the inane but probing questions from media wanting to know if investors billions of dollars were wisely used.

Brilliantly conceive ideas are one things. Assembling the talent and gaining the experience to successfully commercialize those ideas is quite another.

 

FYI: I will cover these and many more topics in my newest book, 60 years in the research, 6 years in the writing, nearly ready to be released. Rocketships & Parachutes: 365 Lessons to Launch and Land your career

 

WATCH FOR MORE ON THIS TOPIC IN FUTURE EDITIONS OF THE ENTERPRISE

 

BEST, JOHN



Sent from my iPad-
-(excuse autocorrect's strange word changes)

THE ENTERPRISE--WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS AND WHAT WE SHOULD LEARN FROM THE PAST AND PRESENT

 

 

WHAT IF TRUMP IS RIGHT AND THERE IS NO  COLLUSION:

This is not from a Trump sympathizer, and it does raise an interesting issue, one which the Congressional Committee investigating this also believed to be true. Did Russia meddle. yes—a lot. Were some inappropriate conversations held? Hell yes. Was it collusion and/or illegal, maybe not! In fact, expect Robert Mueller to dig deep into innuendo and questionable fact finding to find or manufacture illegal acts. Of course he will. Every special prosecutor must. Too bad.The time and money could be better spent on fixing America’s problems. Of course the Democrats (demagogues) love it, and the mainstream media will make a mountain out of every molehill. Too bad some of these commentators can’t be prosecuted for their misbehaviors. Ditto leakers. Catch them and hammer them hard if/when we do…even then, the “Deep State” goes really deep.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/commentary-what-if-trump-is-right-and-there-is-no-collusion/

 

THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY DUE FOR A SHAKE UP

News that amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase were teaming up in a health care company for their employees rocked the corporate health care and benefit industries. These three huge companies, with their technology knowhow and financial power could remake how things work and serve as a model or a nucleus for similar ventures. If ever an industry needed a shake up, it is health care. Right now large entities all have developed “portals” for communicating with their “members.” Do any of these allow cross portal communication or file sharing? Of course not. Will this entity be able to save money buying drugs. Absolutely. 

 

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

When I was at Huffy Bikes (in the 1980’s), we had 2000 employees working near two Northeastern Ohio small towns, with only a couple of hospitals. We created our own “Preferred Provider Network” in which we used economic incentives (rapid payment of bills—slow payment is a big problem for small medical providers) for bundling of expenses into per diem pricing for stays in the hospital. No more $10 aspirins, or "ala carte" pricing for all the small things needed in a hospital stay. We had the full support of our Union (the United Steelworkers) because they understood it would mean more, and better care for less out of pocket costs, regardless of who paid them—company, “insurance," or the employee. For a few years we arrested the run up in medical costs, until circumstances and the industry "changed the ball game” so we couldn’t do it as effectively any more. With three behemoths behind this venture—it just might work—and change everything.

 

WHEN DOES TECHNOLOGY TAKE THE NEXT STEP?

My iPhone, with a few attachments and some modest changes,(and new Apps), can provide my doctor with most of what she needs to “see me” for a problem. And she can “see me” via FaceTime (or equivalent). Meanwhile technology does all those preliminary things her nurse does: pulse, respiration, blood pressure, height, weight, confirming current medications, answering standard questions about allergies to drugs or treatment (latex gloves, for example), symptoms and so forth. The technology is not far away that allows scanners can scan certain body parts (eyes, internal organs) to learn a lot. Ditto doing standard lab tests. What’s holding it back? Regulations, paranoia, insurance risk (lawsuits), and the inability for medical groups to compete and cooperate simultaneously. It’s time. Now. But not via the government. It can’t run anything efficiently and effectively—including itself. Coalitions of interested, motivated and involved private sector companies CAN do it.

 

I HAVE TO STAND UP NOW, AND KEEP MY WEIGHT UNDER CONTROL

OK…That’s what I said. in 96 studies involving 1000 people, it was discovered that standing actually burns 0.15 calories more per minute than sitting. Six hours/day of standing vs. sitting would thus burn 54 more calories in a day, and over the course of a year, that could translate to a loss of 22 lbs. Really?! Wow. I have to get up and not just sit here writing this, when I could be losing weight. One detail: I’d need a different setup for my computer. That’s OK, because I get all creaky if I sit and type at it for too long. Back to you later, gotta stand up a while!

 

"RUB SOME DIRT ON IT…” WAS WHAT WE WERE TOLD  IN MY YOUTH, WHEN WE GOT HURT PLAYING BASEBALL 

Scientists have since theorized that the heat from the friction of rubbing might actually have helped. However, it was not very sanitary. Now it turns out there might have been some other benefits we could never have imagined. This is too good to ignore. A new antibiotic, lurking down there in the dirt?

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-new-antibiotic-soil-20180213-story.html

 

ARE CUSTOM MADE TO ORDER RUNNING SHOES IN YOUR FUTURE?

Show maker Brooks and computer company HP, with its “FitStation” system are testing that premise in a dozen locations. Maybe?

Check it out: http://fortune.com/2018/01/22/brooks-running-shoes-hp/

 

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES, NEED TO WATCH OUT

Apple’s new headquarters has created vexing problem. Plate glass walls and doors are so transparent that people are injuring themselves running into them. Apple will certainly find a high tech solution, like downlighting them, or applying fake fingerprints to make them more visible. And for goodness sake, "don’t throw stones."

 

MILITARY STRUGGLES TO FIND RECRUITS WHO ARE “FIT” FOR SERVICE

A think-tank study (no idea which one) found that three quarters of Americans age 17-24 are ineligible for military service because they are either too fat, have criminal records, or didn’t graduate form high school. If true, that’s a sobering fact, and a sad commentary on our times. This happens while the largest hurdle employers face in hiring new help is finding people who can pass the drug test!

 

GUN CONTROL WILL ONLY INHIBIT THESE AWFUL SCHOOL SHOOTINGS, AND PUBLIC MASSACRES A LITTLE BIT.

There is no easy way to regulate the “nut cases,” people whose mental condition has distorted the persons sense of right and wrong. Screening theme out is difficult too, because sometimes, if they are on their meds, they seem quite normal and harmless. Other times they become murder machines. With 15 million AR type rapid fire rifles in the USA already, there is no practical way to confiscate them. There are ways to make buying more of them harder—much harder—but Second Amendment advocates, led by the NRA fear that an unarmed citizenry is in danger of being ruled and abused by figures in authority—with all the requisite weaponry. Justice Scalia wrote. “...that the Second Amendment does NOT confer the right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever.” 

 

A DIFFERENT TIME AND A DIFFERENT NEED FOR RULES AND LAWS

The Founders lived in and envisioned a very different time, in which armed revolutions were much more common. Thus the 2nd Amendment. Also, rifles only account for 2% of gun homicides, compared to 65% for handguns. Similarly, police commit a tiny minority (under 1%) of all shootings, whether black or whites were shot. Many more shootings are  “blacks shooting blacks.” Just as the majority of terrorist attacks involve Muslims, the majority of shootings involve people who should not be able to buy guns at all, and certainly not so feely—but on the black market—money talks, and guns are available. Stop the leaks. Tighten all current rules on screening, selling and licensing guns. Prohibit anyone with any trace of  mental health issues from being able to legally get a gun, which won’t stop determined mass murders much, but every little bit helps. Crack down on gun shows/sales, hard. There’s way too much leeway for trading in illegal weapons, and only the most stringent controls will impact that—and then only “some.” If looking for a single collusion, this is an unsolvable problem. Like immigration, it will take an interwoven series of steps to rein in gun deaths. (And arming teachers is not one of them.)

 

SURPRISES I FOUND THIS MONTH—RETAILING’S SPREADING CONVERGENCE

I walked into a new Dollar General store in Marco Island, FL, and found a very compact, but surprisingly effective small grocery store—with good prices and decent assortment—and not of cheap private label or closeouts. This is a grocery market dominated by Publix, served secondarily by Winn-Dixie, CVS, and Walgreens. The nearest Walmart is 8 miles away. As the American grocery market is invaded by Euro-grocers (Aldi, and Lidl), and dominated by major players like Kroger and Walmart, with strong regional grocers (Giant-Eagle and Meijer in OH, Publix and Winn-Dixie in FL), competition is heating up. Usually that is good news for consumers. Will it be this time? 

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HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT AUTOMATIC UPDATES TO YOUR SOFTWARE, WHERE YOU NEVER GET A CHANCE TO DECLINE THEM?

Amazon, Google (Alphabet), Apple, and even Tesla are increasingly taking the position that they know what’s best, and it’s usually their newest idea, and not yours. I’ve always hated “auto-renewal “ of subscriptions, because it flies under the radar of my consciousness. I figure out it happened when the charge hits my statement—maybe—or maybe much, much later. It’s an easy way for providers to sneak in a price increase too. Not all updates work seamlessly, and many of them are not friendly with the prior features you may have become accustomed to using. Beware…”Big Brother is watching, had he knows what’s best for you (or maybe for him?)."

 

IS THE TIME FOR A THIRD MAJOR PARTY COMING SOON?

This was the topic raised to me about two years ago, by terrific lady, Michelle Boasten, who passed away far too young this past year. Her premise was that most Americans are actually Centrists, and are not happy with either the extreme left or right wings of the two major parties. I discouraged her idea because of the way our elections and electoral processes work. The two mainstream parties are entrenched even though both of them have more factions, branches and ideologies than a political science major on LSD. Now I wonder. She was ahead of her time in her profession—as a nurse, she rose from the ranks to do great things. Perhaps her unworkable idea is not so far fetched.

 

So what do you think? Is a third major party, I’ll call it the "Centrist Party," read to rise in America and take over the middle where the current parties are unable/unwilling to compromise, to find middle of the road solutions and move forward to do what’s best for the country?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/centrist-incumbents-tested-in-illinois-primaries-1521583137?mod=djem10point

 

REIN IN THE OPIOD EPIDEMIC—A SMALL STEP...FROM A CORRESPONDENT I USED TO WORK WITH: 

"I know of one problem that Dr.s are causing. My wife recently had surgery and the Dr. told us she could expect some pain for probably no more than a couple of days. She gave her a prescription for pain meds. The prescription was for 60 tablets. My wife ended up using less than a half dozen and then went to OTC pain reliever." 

"I had a similar experience a few years ago when I had knee surgery. Not only does it inflate medical costs, it leaves a lot of excess drugs out there to fall into the wrong hands. Our local Sherriff’s dept allows us to drop unused drugs off for disposal so it was not a problem for us. But, how many people hang on to the extras—or even sell them to someone—it’s too temping for people of less sense of responsibility. My point is those prescriptions need to be limited to maybe 10 or 15 instead of 60. To prescribe so many more than needed is just stupid. 

NOTE: My experience in FL with my wife’s injuries a few years back was the opposite. I spent hours waiting for refills of opiods, because I could only get her a one week supply—once per week. Still, it was a sensible and practical way to control the excessive drugs floating around out them

 

FROM THE WSJ, The 10 Point by Gerard Baker, March 21, 2018

Breaking China? 
The Trump administration is set to unveil a package of proposed punitive measuresThursday aimed at China, including at least $30 billion in import tariffs. The White House is seeking to clamp down on what it says are improper Chinese trade practices by making it significantly more difficult for the country’s companies to acquire advanced U.S. technology or invest in American companies. However, the tariffs won’t be imposed immediately, giving U.S. industry an opportunity to comment on which products should be subject to the duties. Final details of the plan, including the amount of imports to be hit by tariffs, remain in flux. 

The effort stems from a months-long investigation by the administration into Chinese intellectual-property practices that found the damage to U.S. companies from forced technology transfer is $30 billion annually. Chinese officials have said they are improving their protection of intellectual property and liberalizing their economy. They also complain that the U.S. hasn’t given them a specific list of demands that they need to meet to head off tariffs.

 

THAT’S IT FOLKS…THE FUTURE IS COMING AT YOU FASTER THAN EVER. LEARN,  OR GET LEFT BEHIND.

BEST,

JOHN

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ROCKETSHIPS & PARACHUTES—What’s that? It’s coming soon; you’ll see!

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THE ENTERPRISE—FINDING OBJECTIVE “TRUTH" IS TOUGH ANYMORE--BUT ITS WORTH THE EFFORT—TO STAY WELL INFORMED

THE ENTERPRISE—FINDING OBJECTIVE “TRUTH" IS TOUGH ANYMORE--BUT ITS WORTH THE EFFORT—TO STAY WELL INFORMED

 

LOTS TO COVER

 

BIGGEST LOOMING DANGER: HOUSE RETIREMENTS (gridlock frustrations) AND TRUMP-RELATED ISSUES COULD CAUSE GOP TO LOSE CONTROL OF THE HOUSE IN 2018—SENATE IS A LONGER SHOT, LOSING EITHER ONE WOULD BE A BIG PROBLEM, BOTH WOULD BE A DISASTROUS

Find out who’s running where you live. Study the candidates, and choose the best, then support them and tell your family and friends.

 

GUN CONTROL AND MASS KILLINGS VS. SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

There’s no easy answer. The framers of the Constitution were revolutionaries in different times and the right to bear arms was critical. I pray that it doesn’t become that way again—but that’s why the NRA is so vehement about gun rights. Guns don’t kill people, people using guns kill people, but it is far too easy to get military style automatic, rapid fire guns.That needs fixing. Reinstall the “assault rifle bans” of the past. Make it harder. Stop the sale of weapons to anyone with any hint of mental issues or past problems. Profiling does work—use it. Make gun sellers equally liable for the actions of mass murders like these school shooters. That will dampen the lax sales to just anybody.

OPIOD ABUSE IS RAMPANT—START WITH DOCS, AND PHARMA COMPANIES THAT CREATE A NEW CLASS OF CRIME TO PUNISH CHRONIC ABUSERS.

Opioid deaths now exceeding car deaths & still growing. What to do & how to limit use to restricted medical places and usesIllegal drugs like fentanyl are so lethal anyone pushing those without proper rigorous licensing should be punished severely. Regular opioids need the tighter possible controls, and disincentives for prescribing and selling them.

IMMIGRATION—A COMPREHENSIVE LAW WILL NEVER PASS. TOO MANY DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES

Take the problem apart and go after it piece by piece. FIX Border control. Secure the borders...more than a wall.. Start ID control. Use Employer impact. Enforce limits on chain migration that are currently in the law. We need immigrants in the USA—but we want good ones. Figure out how to profile those and screen the bad ones out. Pass DACA...no more political football…but with a rigorous path to full citizenship in a reasonable time (5 yrs.).   Using profiling constructively to enhance border security. (Israel model). Tracking visa overstays hard. Strictly limit benefits offered & paid by government for illegal immigrants. Wipe out sanctuary cities (and states). 

CRACK DOWN HARD ON NCAA SPORTS—AGENTS, COACHES, ETC.

Paying Goodell $50mm is insane. Somebody needs to say so ...and do something about it. Many NCAA (Basketball and Football) changes needed now: eliminate "one & done.” Go to school or go pro. Insist NBA to cooperate with a 3 year rule like the NFL uses.  Create a "no-contact rule" for proven abusers, and a ban for coaches and corporate sponsors when proven involved. Blame the adult abusers not the youthful offenders, but punish them too if egregious violations discovered. Mandate use of latest technology in football helmets too.

 

FACTOID—HEARD ON A (SEEMINGLY) RELIABLE NEWS REPORT—CHICAGO SHOOTINGS

In half a year in Chicago, over 2000 people (heavily minorities) were shot and killed. The number shot by police was 12, less than 1%. (So much for the myth that police kill so many people.)

SCOTUS PUBLIC SECTOR UINON DECISION COMING WILL IMPACT MANY THINGS.
Upcoming SCOTUS decision on whether public employee unions can charge dues to workers who do not wish to belong, will have a huge influence on the power of these unions. The power was shown in the uprising against OH SB 5 a few years ago, but that law, repealed by referendum, was an overreach. It went too far by including police, fire, emergency workers and teachers, and those groups slapped it down. The principle that matters is whether public employees and their unions can assess fees, collect them whether the employees want to belong or not, and use those fees in political contests to elect sympathetic legislators. If it sounds incestuous, that’s because it is. 

 

RIGHT TO WORK VS. UNIONS

I’m a open right to work advocate and these public unions fly in the face of my beliefs.  Unions were formed to protect workers against unfair or overly powerful employers' bad behavior, and give groups of employees, collective power to bargain (regardless of whether that agenda is doing good or bad things for its members and in the case of public employees, for the general population. One of the most egregious outcomes of public employee union clout is the negotiation of outsized and unaffordable pension plans sinking the economies of several states, notably CA and IL saddling those citizens with crushing obligations that simply cannot be funded and sustained.

CHINA’S GLOBAL DOMINANCE CONTINUES TO GROW

China is the global behemoth trying to take over the USA’s dominate position in most areas.  Sometimes China’s way of doing it is successful. At others its not. After poisoning its people for decades it is trying to clean up its air, water and land—but with only modest success. Now China’s Orwellian society is growing thanks to networks and all sorts of recognition—facial, information, and human, which now allows the central government to accumulate ratings of people who are for or especially against government preferred policies and actions. Who they know and associate with can blackball people and punish offenders who barely realized they did anything wrong. “Big Brother is watching—everywhere—but most of all in China!  US worries: China’s control positions in raw materials for electronics (rare earth metals), computer chips, and the South China Sea, and Space?

 

WATCH FOR LOTS OF NEWS ABOUT A NEW SPACE RACE, COMING SOON…

US vs. China. Many innovations came from the decades old space race. The same will likely happen again.

 

E-MEDICINE IS COMING ON FAST. GO ONLINE TO “SEE THE DOCTOR.”

As sensors on smartphones get better, you can almost take a complete physical with a sensor laden iPhone and FaceTime. Makes sense. Quality can be maintained. Ease of use is better. You no longer go to a travel agent or the airport to plan and ticket a trip involving air travel…and many other things…like ATMs, etc. etc.

 

BUT FIRST, FIX THE DAMN INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE USA, AND GET THE NAVY SHIPS (AND SAILORS) THAT WORK!

American roads and bridges, power grid and water (critical to life) delivery systems are decades old. Raise gas taxes, to keep from running up the insane defect even further. 

So are the controls on our Nuclear arsenal outdated, as are the scientists who know how they work..

 

DO YOU KNOW WHO RAY KURZWEIL IS? IF YOU DON’T, GOOGLE HIM. (HE WORKS THERE, TOO)

He’s one of the most brilliant futurists/scientist/inventors alive. He coined the term “the singularity” which is the point where machine intelligence (computers, etc.) surpass human intelligence. He offers a lot of cautionary notes, but believes that the growth and power of robotics, social networks, computing power and AI (artificial intelligence) will actually make the world a better—but very different place. That’s why we all need to understand more than we do about today’s technology. It’s also why cyber threats are so scary. Go Here and click through this: https://securityplanner.org/#/

 

THE PATH TO POSITIVE CHANGE = CHANGING SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE & THEN ENABLING THEM TO ACT DECISIVELY, EVEN IN THE FACE OF HUGE MEDIA BIAS. Written in response to a friend’s great concern: 

 

CHANGING THE DIRECTION OF AMERICA AND ITS ELECTED LEADERSHIP WITH PERVASIVE MEDIA BIAS AND MISINFORMATION

We have a problem; many of us we know too much, many of us know too little and many more know things that aren’t so, thanks to ignorance, misinformation, disinformation and outright propaganda. Thus different factions (political parties, especially, and minorities of all sorts too, believe and consider things from much different perspective, which only increases anxiety about the direction things are going—whichever way that is. 

 

As in any situation, the only way to change it is to change the people in charge.  (However as appointed head of the VA have learned, a deeply entrench contingent of the old miscreant, do all they can to subvert or undermine or resist the new leader’s initiatives.)I wish I knew a good way to change what’s happening, but its very difficult to alter such a huge movement—mainstream media + liberal Democrats + post Obama influence. The intrigue Newt Gingrich’s novels (Treason, Duplicity and Vengeance—read them in order) depict probably contains more truth and realistic scenarios than many other things we read. They are scary. 

 

Real change still depends on who’s in power. 

Redistricting is coming up and will change things, but perhaps not for the better for conservative beliefs. 

House turnover: Over 40 GOP members of Congress resigning/retiring will make holding onto the House dicey. 

Senate is only a little better, because Dems have 2 dozen seats up for reelection and GOP only has 10—but several of those incumbents are leaving (McCain, Corker, & others) 

 

Remember,  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead  and  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

 

The question is whether incumbent president Trump’s coattails are positive or negative for the 2018 mid-terms (seems more negative than positive) because the mainstream media focuses on the most negative possible way to report anything Trump or his administration does and blows it out of proportion. Nothing good that he does gets much coverage. And he’s his own worst enemy, providing a target rich environment for a loaf/liberal, socialist press.

 

I worry a lot about the activist liberal bias in college faculties and even in high school teachers). I’ve been told by students that they just keep their head down and don’t disagree for fear of reprisals or worse. The senior school administration is about as bad, having come from mostly faculty ranks. This is as worrisome as the media issue, but way under  most folks radar.

AN EXCELLENT SUMMARY OF A TROUBLING SITUATION (From The Week Magazine 23 Feb. 2018)

The campus takeover of our culture Andrew Sullivan NYMag.com

Whenever I bemoan the culture of “safe spaces” and “micro-aggressions” on college campuses, said Andrew Sullivan, people argue that “the real world isn’t like that.” But that’s no longer true. More and more of our public discourse is now shaped by the neo-Marxist Left’s “identity-based, ‘social justice’” worldview, in which all interactions are defined by a hierarchy of power and oppression. Free speech itself is falling into disrepute, as a tool of the patriarchy. When some feminists recently got wind of a forthcoming Harper’s essay criticizing the #MeToo movement, they not only personally vilified author Katie Roiphe, they also tried to force the magazine to drop the piece before publication—a “real-world echo” of students shouting down speakers. Writers, like students, now know that one “incorrect” opinion on sensitive issues of race and gender can result in “instant social ostracism” and demands they be fired—so they remain silent. Men cannot discuss sexual harassment; whites cannot talk about racism. The goal of our society is not “the emancipation of the individual,” but permanent placement of the individual in the proper identity group: white, black, brown, female, gay, etc. “We used to call that bigotry. Now we call it being woke.”

 

THERE’S JOBS AND THERE ARE JOBS

In the sharing economy which is exploding with growth  (think UBER, ETSY, AIRBNB, LYFT) employ lots of people who make not much money (under $500/mo.) This distorts all the economic ideas about job growth, income/earnings and work in the USA—and elsewhere.

 

HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE CHICKENSHIT CLUB? AND WHY EXECUTIVES DON’T GO TO PRISON ANYMORE!

Go read about it here: http://fortune.com/2017/06/27/executives-prison-financial-crisis-criminal-justice/  You will be astounded and appalled.

 

WHAT TO DEERE TRACTORS AND IPHONES HAVE IN COMMON?

The rights of owners to repair them is severely restricted. There’s a lawsuit in Nebraska challenging this idea. it might make a big different in future trends.

 

DOES EVERYTHING CHANGE SO MUCH AFTER ALL?  CONSIDER TOYS.

The top selling US Toy Properties in 2017 and the year they were launched says, NO! Here’s the ranking. Surprise!

Pokemon (1998), Nerf (1969), Star Wars (1979), Barbie (1968), Batman (1966), Hot Wheels (1968), Little Tikes (1970), Shopkins (2014), Paw Patrol (2014), Lego Star Wars (1999)

 

THAT’S PLENTY FOR THIS ISSUE

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, CHALLENGE OR OFFER NEW INFO

 

JOHN

 

PS: ON TH4E SUBJECT OF FAKE NEWS, I RECENTLY MET A MAN AT A “FAKE NEWS" CONFERENCE. HERE ARE HIS CREDENTIALS AND WHAT HE’D DOING.

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, Disaster Avoidance Expert and Science Communicator

- Speaker and Consultant, for businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities on avoiding disasters through decision-making science and emotional and social intelligence

- Author, of the Amazon bestseller The Truth-Seeker's Handbook: A Science-Based Guide and several other books, with bylines in Time, Scientific American, CNBC, and Newsweek 

- President and Co-Founder, at Intentional Insights, a nonprofit advocating truth-seeking, rational thinking, and wise decision-making

- Co-Founder, of the Pro-Truth Pledge, an initiative to fight misinformation and advocate for truth

- Assistant Professor, at the Decision Sciences Collaborative and History Department, Ohio State University

 

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THE ENTERPRISE--WHAT SHOULD BE HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE?

 

STARTING 2018 HAS BEEN BUSY…

This edition of THE ENTERPRISE has been in my Draft file for over a month…or at least parts of it has. 2018 started with eldest daughter Lisa’s wedding planned for Feb. 3. Our annual Florida winter trip started mid-January. Thus we had to pack for weeks in FL and a wedding trip to OK in early Feb. Of course the early January weather in OH was FRIGID--single digits, and as it happen in physics, when the temperature is lowered, activity slows. So did mine! Upon returning to FL from the wedding, we enjoyed house guests for the first week, and younger daughter Susan for the next two. It was great, but THE ENTERPRISE mostly just sat there in the Drafts folder. Finally, as March looms on the horizon, I’m getting back to it.

 

NEW BOOK IN PROGRESS—ONE THAT HAS BEEN YEARS IN THE DEVELOPMENT: "MY LEGACY” (Actual Title still TBD)

I am in the final stages of a new, BIG book. It started out the be “memoirs.” Then the realization of all those non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements I had signed over the years, hit me. Time for a rewrite, to remove all kinds of specifics that I couldn’t publish about. What I kept, is what was important. At each stage of my life and career, from age 13 to age 75+, I learned many lessons. What I have in front of me now is —a book of 300 Lessons—and the “stories” about when, how, where they were learned. 

 

My hope is that by publishing these lessons, I will help countless people to learn from them. They will learn whaat worked, what didn’t and why—at least as I can best recall. Writing from memory at this stage of life is a challenge. (I think we "shine up” old memories (like we do old silver, to restore the gleam) but still remember them as accurately, as possible. When the book is out, we’ll see how accurate I was. I will be asking readers of The Enterprise to help me with this. WATCH FOR IT IN EDITIONS—COMING SOON!

 

IT’S GETTNG HARDER AND HARDER TO DECIDE WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT AND WHAT TO SAY IN THE ENTERPRISE

Members of Congress are showing their frustrations with figuring out which way the political winds are blowing and how to reconcile what they feel from constituents with wha they believe must be done. This is not just true for Republicans, although is it more likely their dilemma (holding both Houses of Congress and the White House. What’s the problem? There are so many, it’s hard to even count them. That’s the problem.

 

THIS IS THE BEST SUMMARY I’VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME:

That’s what I told Bill Falk in an email after I read it. I told him I planned to share it in THE ENTERPRISE, so here it is.

THE WEEK magazine: Bill Falk, Editor’s letter Feb. 2, 2018

Beware the purists. To get anything done in this messy, contentious world, you have to accept that other people have different values and objectives than you do. The trick is to find some overlapping middle ground where you get part of what you want. In a divided democracy of 330 million people, compromise is essential; as Washington politicians once implicitly understood, half a loaf is better than none. But in recent years, our politics have become deeply polarized, as the bases of the Republican and Democratic parties have moved further right and left, respectively. Cutting deals has become a lost, or perhaps abandoned, art. That’s why the government briefly shut down last weekend. It’s why forging a compromise on immigration that can pass both houses of Congress—and get past presidential adviser Stephen Miller’s veto—will be so difficult. (See Main Stories.) Both parties’ bases are demanding total victory, and calling congressional leaders who are willing to take half a loaf wimps and sellouts.

Most Americans, I believe, still fall somewhere within a few degrees of center on the political spectrum, and instinctively distrust extremists. But in an overwrought political climate defined by the shouting partisans on cable news, moderation and compromise have fallen into ill repute. That’s a guarantee of gridlock and dysfunction. In a defense of moderation, conservative writer Peter Wehner has pointed out that a smart strategist can be driven by moral ideals even while charting a pragmatic course. “Moderation,” he says, “takes into account what is needed at any given moment; it allows circumstances to determine action in the way that weather patterns dictate which route a ship will follow.” Victories achieved without some buy-in from the opposition are often short-lived—and followed by intense backlashes that can wipe out nearly everything that was gained. On immigration, as on many issues, there is a reasonable middle ground—if the purists will let us get there. —William Falk, Editor-in-chief

 

IF YOU MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE ISSUES LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS FACE, YOU’LL GET IT.

My Congressman, a veteran of 17 years in the House, is one who has stepped down—retired. He never told me all the reasons, but I’ve talked with him enough to guess at them. I often started our discussions by asking him, “Tell me again why you want this job?” Plus a growing family, that is at home while he is flying back and forth to do battle on impossible things in Washington, all for a fraction of the compensation available elsewhere. it’s easy to see the temptation to “hang it up."

 

Gridlock results in fruitless pursuit of well intended laws stranded in the Senate or House. A volatile president, of their party, confusing issues and positions with his constant stream of Tweets. Rules requiring 60 votes to overcome the obsolete “filibuster,” but the fear that if they erase it, the shoe will be on the other foot in the foreseeable future. Random acts of “lone wolf” violence at home (school shootings,  terrorist attacks, etc. seem to be intractable problems, like stopping a mobile, unpredictable “firebug” with an endless supply of matches. Foreign policy also becomes an impossible challenge, one of dealing with rising problems of rogue states (N. Korea & Iran & ISIS remnants) and disruptive larger ones (Russia and China) when there is little or no unity in support of the policies and approaches to the problems.

 

Gridlock frustrates members of Congress as much or more than it does the American people. Polarization of positions is impossible to deal with and get anything much done. Look at Chuck Schumer’s behavior and stance on anything. He makes GOP opposition of prior years look like no big deal. If the GOP tried to pass anything saying that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Democrats would  oppose it. They would demagogue the people who backed it, and attempt to tear them down, personally and politically. Domestically, Immigration policy is a tough one. the US had been a country of immigrants, most of which come here to succeed and thrive. now there is a virulent and violent minority who come here to tear down or destroy the freedoms of the USA bu taking advantage of them.

 

THE USA HAS FORGOTTEN ABOUT FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AS A COUNTRY

In your life or business, when unexpected events cause expenses to increase, you normally cut back somewhere else to compensate. Not in our nation’s capital. Simply appropriate more money, which can either be borrowed or printed, both of which add to the US fiscally untenable situation. Rein in spending? Where and how—in a Congress that can’t agree on whether the sun rises in the East and sets in the West or if that’s a partisan trick bot the opposition party. Seventy percent of the US budget is dedicated to, and consumed by, untouchable entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Interest on the debt and (sometimes) Defense spending). 

 

Handouts are out of control—and they cost money too—big money. Welfare related spending continues to climb, because it would be inhumane to not care for children, unwed mothers, the poor and unmotivated, the chronically unemployed and unemployable, and so many more (An increase of $500 Billion/year in new welfare-related spending during the three decades from 1987 to 2017. No elected officials dare touch the uncontrolled spending growth—and that includes the president. Yet all of this debate never touches the fact that they are meddling with the margins, arguing how to divide the shrinking pie, ignoring the elephant in the (budget) room.

 

Trump’s central idea is not wrong, if it can be achieved. Growth covers a multitude of sins, especially the sin of spending money we don’t have. Taxing the rich (the Dems favorite war cry) can’t touch the spending and deficit problem. If taxes too ALL the wealth of the richest Americans who pay the lion’s share of taxes now—it wouldn’t even dent the deficit. Well known speaker Tony Robbins demonstrated this five years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jboTeS9Okak  Take the time to watch this YouTube video.

 

MAYBE EXECUTIVE ORDERS OR NEW LAWS WILL HELP (If Congress could ever agree on anything--except spending more money—that we don’t have and must borrow.)

 

1. “WORKFARE:" NEW RULE: No work, no welfare, no exceptions! Far too many Americans have become “slaves” to the benefits of the government “nanny state” and collect welfare instead of working for a living. They even brag about figuring out how to collect more by having more children and scamming the system. That’s deplorable. Some really need help. All of them can “do something” in return for the welfare. (See the article about Kentucky.) Put Americans back to work, helping each other and themselves, and earning their way.

 

2. STOP ALL THE TV/Video/Audio DRUG ADS, DIVERT THE $$$ TO R & D, and RX COST REDUCTION: Stop the incessant litany of ads for unpronounceable drugs that can treat diseases you either might have, (or might think you have, or that you can bug your doctor about having.) The potential side effects named in the ads are jaw dropping. These ads cost pharmaceutical companies over $5 billion per year. Divert that money, one-half to R & D, and one-half to RX drug cost reduction. 

READ THIS BOOK: OVERDOSED AMERICA to learn much more.

https://www.amazon.com/Overdosed-America-Promise-American-Medicine/dp/0061344761/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518298675&sr=8-1&keywords=overdosed+america+the+broken+promise+of+american+medicine&dpID=51EuraTDLxL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch  

 

3. INSTITUTE A  SECURE NATIONAL PHOTO ID PROGRAM—FOR ALL AMERICANS: No ID=No drive, not vote, no bank accounts, no Social Security, no Medicare/Medicaid, no Pay. Replace drivers licenses with IDs for driving, travel, voting, and a host of other uses where a driver’s license is already requested. The privacy panic advocates will freak out, but anyone how genuinely believes privacy really exists is delusional. If amazon.com can track preferences of millions of customers, a National Identification Program is known technology. If Apple can use facial recognition to unlock phones, that too is proven technology. Require immigrants in process to check in at ID centers in all states (used to be called Driver’s License Offices) partially funded by Federal and partly by State money.

 

4. RAISE THE GAS TAX (double it)—FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES—TO PAY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE—NEW AND REPAIRS: For the "working poor,” (income under $30,000) give them an tax offset for added tax ($185) on the first 1000 gallons. Fix America’s aging infrastructure. Now.

 

5. EXPAND THE RIGHT TO WORK LAWS INTO ALL STATES— Data conclusively  shows that it works. Jobs increase. Companies come in. Growth follows. Unions serve a purpose when employers are abusive or take advantage of employees, but more and more employers have learned that treating employees poorly is a bad idea. No one should be forced to pay for membership in an organization they don’t support or don’t feel they benefit from, just because a majority of others say so.

 

CYBERSECURITY—ALWAYS A CONCERN: FROM KIPLINGER

A new cybersecurity checkup tool can quickly detect digital weak spots and give businesses customized advice to protect online data. A group of researchers at the University of Toronto have launched a simple, step-by-step security planner to boost security habits for all users, including folks who are less than digitally savvy. The good news: Most of the suggestions don’t cost anything and can be adopted fast. Answer a few questions at securityplanner.org and get tips that you can implement.

 

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Candidate's View: US lagging in addressing online national-security threats
By Leah Phifer on Jan 16, 2018 at 6:17 p.m.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, laid the groundwork for the U.S. counterterrorism strategy that governed the beginning of the 21st century. That groundwork led to ongoing wars and a complete restructuring of our national security and intelligence agencies. It also shaped the perspective of many millennials, the largest living generation in the country.

My stepbrother joined the Marines on Sept. 12, 2001; I went on to spend nearly a decade serving in the Department of Homeland Security and working counterterrorism and cyberterrorism for the FBI. As is often the case, the war on terror wasn't initiated by the young, but it became our war to fight.
The difference today is the generation protecting our national security has little input into determining the tools needed to do so. With today's Congress ranked among the oldest in history, there is a growing disconnect between those deciding our policy and those carrying it out. This missing perspective from our leadership has left us with a national security blind spot — one that has manifested into our slow response to the rise in cyberterrorism.

As our national resources have been spread thin by fighting nefarious actors through endless wars, we've become increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks on our energy grid, bank accounts, hospital records, and elections (to name a few attacks in the last 18 months). In May, a group working on behalf of the North Korean government hacked hospitals, banks, and businesses using the "WannaCry" ransomware crypto worm. We are just now beginning to understand the effects of Russian hacking on the 2016 presidential election.

As our lives and our democracy grow increasingly automated, devious nation states and lone actors will ramp up their attempts to exploit these areas.
Solutions do exist. Private companies like JP Morgan and Google are investing millions to explore safeguarding information by using blockchain technology, which is the decentralized ledger system behind Bitcoin. Hackers at the 2017 DefCon computer security conference exposed vulnerabilities in voting machines in under 30 minutes.
While the private sector surges forward in this arena, the federal government continually loses the brightest minds to the likes of Facebook, Google, and Amazon. The American people could greatly benefit from a federal government pay scale that puts computer scientists and cyber experts on par with their private-sector counterparts. (Relaxing the prohibition on marijuana use in the security-clearance process could open up doors, but that's a proposal for another day.)

While there are actions the federal government should take to beef up our cybersecurity, there are things we should not be doing. As an FBI analyst specializing in cyberterrorism, I was concerned in 2016 when President Barack Obama called on the tech industry to provide back doors into encrypted apps for government use. The success of my job hinged on unveiling plans of aspiring terrorists, but there is no such thing as a back door that only the government can access.

Today's national-security threats are different than those of the past. Many of the soldiers will be hackers, and the battlefield will be online. North Korea and Russia are preparing their people to fight these battles. What is the U.S. doing to prepare? We can start by electing leaders who've been on the front lines and understand the reality of today's war on terror. This will require a concerted effort to bring a greater diversity of voices to the table in 2018.

While millennials may have inherited this war, it's now our responsibility to ensure our country has the right tools and the right people in place to fight it.
Leah Phifer of Isanti, Minn., and a native of Two Harbors is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan for the DFL endorsement in the 8th Congressional District. Republican Pete Stauber and independent Ray "Skip" Sandman also have announced their candidacies for the congressional seat. Phifer teaches classes on immigration policy and political methodology at Augsburg University in Minneapolis.

Leah Phifer of Isanti, Minn., and a native of Two Harbors is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan for the DFL endorsement in the 8th Congressional District. Republican Pete Stauber and independent Ray "Skip" Sandman also have announced their candidacies for the congressional seat. Phifer teaches classes on immigration policy and political methodology at Augsburg University in Minneapolis.

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Kentucky is first to require residents to work for Medicaid (Note: Ohio is considering something like this too.)
By Adam Beam The Associated Press & the Columbus Dispatch
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky has become the first state to require many of its Medicaid recipients to work to receive coverage, part of an unprecedented change to the nation’s largest health insurance program under the Trump administration.

 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the approval on Friday. The change will require adults between the ages of 19 and 64 to complete 80 hours per month of “community engagement” to keep their coverage. That includes getting a job, going to school, taking a job training course or community service.

It’s a big change for Kentucky, a state that just four years ago embraced former President Barack Obama’s health care law under a previous Democratic governor who won praise for posting some of the largest insurance coverage gains in the country.

 

But Republican Gov. Matt Bevin says while more Kentuckians have insurance, it is not making them healthier. Kentucky, along with the rest of Appalachia, still falls behind the rest of the country in 33 out of 41 population health indicators, according to a recent study. Bevin says he believes his program, with its emphasis on work and community service, will encourage people to be healthier. “There is dignity associated with earning the value of something that you receive,” Bevin said. “The vast majority of men and women, able-bodied men and women ... they want the dignity associated with being able to earn and have engagement.”

 

In its application to Washington, Bevin’s office said they expect the changes to save taxpayers more than $300 million over the next five years. They estimated as many as 95,000 people could lose their Medicaid benefits, either because they did not comply with the new rules or they lose their eligibility because they make too much money.

“The Trump administration has agreed to end health coverage for 95,000 Kentuckians,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, who represents Louisville. “Thousands of Kentucky families will face financial ruin.”

 

Bevin’s office said the new rules only apply to the expanded Medicaid population, or about 350,000 Kentuckians, about half of whom already have jobs. But there are many exemptions. The work requirements will not apply to pregnant women, full-time students, former foster care youth, primary caregivers of children and the elderly and full-time students.

 

The work requirements — which start in July and will last five years — also do not apply to anyone designated “medically frail,” a broad term that includes people suffering from alcohol or drug addiction in a state that has been among the hardest hit by the opioid crisis.

“Why should an able-bodied working-age man or woman with no dependents not be expected to do something in exchange for that which they are being provided?” Bevin said. “I’m not worried about it at all.”

 

OK, THAT’S PLENTY FOR AN ISSUE, EVEN A LATE ONE.

I HOPE 2018 HAS BEEN A GOOD YEAR SO FAR FOR EVERYONE…

BACK TO YOU SOON!

JOHN

 

 

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PLEASE ...GET MY BOOK…a great gift item

HANDS UP!—It’s not about boxing; it’s about improving your life

It’s a fun, fast read for everyone who wants to improve their life (and learn a little about boxing.) You will enjoy it!  It’s on amazon.com in both paperback ($9.95) and Kindle ($2.99). https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hands+up+%2B+mariotti&sprefix=HANDS+UP%2Caps%2C161&crid=14CJZDW51BMZB