Wings of Angels and Greener Trucks

Two news items related to transportation caught my attention recently. The first one has only a tenuous relationship to the issue, and makes me angry. The second one tells me some good things still happen. Private jets filled the hangers and tarmac at the Tampa International Airport on the eve of the Republican National Convention. No doubt many of them will also make their way to Charlotte when the Democrats meet next week. This elite form of transportation was being used to whisk corporate lobbyists to parties held in honor of their faithful servants in the U.S. Senate and other government positions.

After disembarking from their multi-million dollar aircraft, subsidized by tax deductions for depreciation, fuel and maintenance, these corporate chiefs took over Tampa’s finest restaurants and hotel ballrooms. There they staged elaborate parties for our elected representatives in honor of their previous service and as a incentive toward future tasks to be undertaken in support of the almighty corporate bottom line. AT&T sent representatives to lobby for their right to charge customers for expanded internet services, which are currently free. Insurance companies including AFLAC and Blue Cross/Blue Shield wanted to discuss the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act, so that they might increase corporate profits by not paying benefits to the truly ill policy holders who so desperately need it. Perhaps they need to buy a few more corporate jets. After all, those things aren’t cheap. It would be a shame if their executives had to rub elbows with the riffraff of typical first class commercial airline passengers.

A reporter questioned Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri as the senator was leaving an insurance company party. The reporter asked him what was discussed during the dinner. Despite my own strong feelings about an individual’s right to privacy, I believe that the public has a right to know in this instance. After all, the senator is an elected public servant, and the cost of the party will be written-off as a legitimate expense of doing business, and is thus subsidized by taxpayers’ dollars. If you’ve ever caught your child with his hand in the cookie jar when it shouldn’t be, you’ll understand the look on the face of Senator Blunt as he quickly and quietly got into his car and was driven away without answering. On a child, such a look can be quickly forgiven. On the face of a 62-year-old senator, it looks criminal. Perhaps we need to look into changing these tax laws that allow unfettered lobbying.

Meanwhile, only a short distance across the Gulf of Mexico as the jet flies, Hurricane Isaac crashed into the Louisiana shore wreaking havoc and destruction. I am left wondering if the insurance companies' jets will become angels of mercy after the parties are over, and wing their way to New Orleans in order to bring relief and comfort to policyholders harmed by the storm. Call me a cynic (I won’t deny it), but somehow, I doubt it will happen that way.

Wednesday, in my home state of Ohio, a local dairy company had a little celebration of its own. The reason was the opening of a new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station that will be available for use by the dairy's fleet, as well as any other company’s trucks that have been converted for CNG use. The gas is much less expensive than diesel fuel or gasoline, burns cleaner, and doesn’t have to be refined before it can be used, only compressed. This is an environmentally sound move that makes economic sense as well.

At their party, Smith Dairy served their company’s ice cream to state officials who were on hand lend their support to the project. Despite his strong past support for such initiatives, Ohio’s governor was not available to attend. He was in Tampa at the RNC, probably at a party that offered a different type of refreshment. I guess it’s all about your priorities.

“I like the fact that our kids and their kids will have a cleaner world because of this.”
- Steve Schmid, president of Dairy Enterprises, commenting on his company’s new CNG fueling facility.  

Now Closing Earlier For Your Inconvenience

Today’s paper featured a small story about the dismissal of two Democrats who were members of the Montgomery County (Ohio) Board of Elections. Their removal was ordered because they had the audacity to want to make early voting more convenient for the citizens of the county by offering extended evening and weekend hours. Officially, they were removed because they failed to follow the directive of the Republican Secretary of State, who ordered all counties to follow the same hours for early voting, not allowing for any additional weekend hours, which had been used in the past and were popular with the electorate. As a nation, we demand long hours for our retail stores and fast food outlets, but incredibly we draw the line at making it easier to vote. The story has made national news, but I doubt if too many people are really paying attention.

The real issue is who casts votes when it is easier to vote. Apparently, the data indicates that more Democrats than Republicans take advantage of longer hours or weekend voting opportunities. In Ohio, the Republicans control the Governor’s Mansion as well as both houses of the legislature, and Ohio is also rightly viewed as a key swing state for the upcoming presidential election.  Because of this, the Republicans are doing everything in their power to prevent members of the opposition party from casting votes in the upcoming elections. They offer up the phantom problem of voter fraud as a reason. Statistical evidence indicates that voter fraud is so small of a problem in our country as to be considered inconsequential. Former Soviet Union dictator Josef Stalin would be proud of the people who shut down this concept of convenient voting hours.

Based on the most recent U.S. Census, this year saw Ohio adopting a redistricting plan prepared by the majority party. Most observers saw it as a rather obvious attempt to redraw district lines that allow the incumbents to more easily retain their jobs. Some people were rightly outraged, although most paid little or no attention to the situation. Finally, the citizens of the state saw the problem for what it was (historically it has been known as Gerrymandering) and initiated a drive to collect enough signatures to put the issue of redistricting to a vote in the upcoming election. I hope the voters will see the need to change the status quo and do what is right.

So what’s the big deal about voting districts and voting hours? My view is that if we truly believe that a democratically elected republican form of government is what we think is the best way to rule our country, then the voting process should be as easy as possible and the government elected should really be representative of the wishes of its people. Doesn’t that make sense? Isn’t that right and fair?

Historically, it was not always this way in the United States. Originally, after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, only white, land-owning men were allowed to vote. Our country was really more of an oligarchy, ruled by the privileged few, than the democracy promised by the American Revolution. Women were not given the right to vote in the U.S. until 1920. Apparently, there is a growing faction in this country who would have us return to “the good old days.”

I am so sick and tired of this petty squabbling between the political parties that would lead us. It’s bad enough to suffer through endless attack ads on TV that tell us nothing, but trying to stifle voting is totally reprehensible. If we are to have a democracy, then let it be representative of the peoples’ wishes. Put an end to Senate filibusters that prevent government action. If you don’t want your government to act, put it to a vote and let the majority decide. Don’t let forty wealthy Senators dictate what is best for you.

As a people, we have come to believe that if we elect the right person for President, he or someday perhaps she, will see to it that our country will once again be set on the right course. Guess what? It really doesn’t work that way. Wake up and look around! Our current President has tried to pass legislation that would put millions of people to work repairing our crumbling infrastructure, protecting us, and teaching our children. But a handful of powerful people has blocked his efforts and would see him fail, no matter what it will eventually cost our nation.

Wisely choosing our next President isn’t enough. As Americans, we must endeavor to pay attention to the seemingly little things that have much greater power to influence our well being than we realize. Things like Congressional Redistricting, voting rights and the Senate Filibuster Rule will have a much greater impact on your life than the next man who occupies the White House. Pay attention to the people running your county government and your schools. Choose the best state representatives that you can, and see to it that they adhere to our principles of democracy. See that the person that wants your vote to serve as your next Congressman or Senator stands for your values and will do what is best for our country. Oh, and choose wisely for the person you would have as your next President.      

“The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”            
                                                                                                -Josef Stalin

Parties, Storms, Wealth and Fathers

Perhaps I’m just waxing fanciful, or maybe even cynical (perish the thought!), but it occurs to me that when hurricanes interrupt your political party’s national conventions twice in a row, maybe higher powers are trying to tell you something. Now I can understand when it happens on the coast of Florida in August (and whose bright idea was it to have a convention in Florida during hurricane season? Oh yeah, major, must-have swing state…I get it) but when your convention is held in Minnesota (check your map, that’s in the middle of the continent, well away from typical hurricane influences) someone may be out to get you. In case I’ve lost you with this, there was a news story today that stated the last two Republican National Conventions, Minnesota in 2008 and Tampa in 2012, have both been interrupted by hurricanes. That’s quite a record.

Today’s paper also had a photo of our own area’s former cheerleader-turned-politician (a former Auditor, Mayor and current County Commissioner named Janet) posing with memorabilia from past Republican National Conventions that included a doll, pompoms, and flip-flops among other things. It must be one heck of a party. She looked like she was anxious to get to Tampa and get the party started. Makes me wonder why either party bothers to go through with the expense and bother of a convention. The party’s platform can be hammered out on conference calls or computer meetings. The candidates are already chosen through primary elections. The candidate is no longer chosen in smoke-filled rooms, although in Florida one imagines another flavor of smoke filling hotel rooms for alternative purposes. TV exposure is the only reason to meet, and most people don’t bother watching anyway. Wouldn’t it make a great statement if a political party said: “This year, we’ve canceled our convention because it only serves as an entertainment venue for all of our old political hacks. Instead, we’re donating all of the money we would have spent for a noble cause…say, a hurricane relief fund. Just a thought, but it’ll never happen. People like a good party, even if it’s raining outside.

Another news story caught my attention the other day, although it isn’t really a new story. The Associated Press reported the findings of a Pew Research Center study that reported the middle class (defined as those earning between $39,000 to $118,000 per year) is receiving less of America’s total income. The report adds that wealth is concentrating at the top, and that those defined as middle class are losing hope in the idea that hard work will allow them to get ahead in life. Read that again. Hard work will NOT help them get ahead in life. That’s bad. Really, really bad.

An old friend of mine posted a link to an article the other day, and I would like to share it with you. Here’s the link: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fix-the-economy-in-one-simple-chart-2012-8. It’s worth a look, but if you’re too busy to read it for yourself, and most of us claim that we are (Snooki had a baby, we must know more!), it says something akin to what the AP article reports: the middle class is in peril, and it can be easily fixed. All we need is for really rich people to be a little more generous with the profits made by corporations. You know, spread the wealth. It isn’t really a communist idea. Henry Ford favored the notion. Give more money to the middle class and the economy will thrive. Oh crap, we’re screwed. The wealthy seem to want to keep it all for themselves these days. Will they feel any different about that concept when the formerly middle class, now poor people, kill and then cook the rich for dinner? Soon enough there won’t be a choice. Even dinner at McDonalds will be out of reach for most people.

Finally, I’d like to share a thought about the man at the center of the soon-to-be-resumed Republican Convention. Mitt’s sons, a fine looking group of five young men, appeared on one of the evening news programs to discuss their father and mother. They all seemed so supportive, and I don’t think it was really just an act. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad, too, and usually try to speak well of him with a certain amount of filial pride. But I’m sure I would never say anything bad about him if he had bestowed an eight-figure trust fund on me, like Mitt did with his boys. Even if it was paid for by the broken dreams, destroyed pensions and bankrupt companies left behind in his accumulation of that wealth. I’d probably be having way too much fun to realize where the money came from.

Dumb Candidates Require Smart Voters

Yesterday, I read a small article in the paper concerning remarks made by Missouri Congressman and U.S. Senate Candidate Todd Akin, where he used the phrase “legitimate rape” as if there exists some form of rape that is legal. In the television interview, the Congressman went on to explain his belief that it is rare for a woman to become pregnant during the act of rape because “the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down.”

I was stunned. I sat down and wrote a few pages of my thoughts to share in this blog, even though I was tired and had hoped to get some rest. Often, small stories like this one get overlooked, and I felt that this one deserved a bit more examination, but I saved it for review before I planned to post it today. This morning, I see that the story wasn’t overlooked. In fact, a firestorm of indignation is rightfully spreading. Professional medical organizations came out with information that refuted his observation. His own party is now pulling support from the man and distancing themselves. Here’s a little hint for any would-be Republican Senator: when Karl Rove’s super-pac thinks you are too far out to support, it’s time to find a new party. Perhaps something with nice brown shirts and funny little armbands.

One of the facts I came across regarding Congressman Akin is that he holds a seat on the Congressional Science Committee, despite a rather obvious disregard of scientific facts on his part. I find this disturbing. But when you think about it, how many decisions do our elected representatives have to vote on where they have little or no personal knowledge of the subject matter? Few even make enough time to review the entire text of a law that they vote on. These things disturbs me even more.

I have often written about the need for voters to better educate themselves in order to make well-informed decisions with their votes. But how are we to know about the intellectual acuity of the people we are voting into or out of office? We elect people to make informed decisions about our economy without knowing if they even have the slightest idea of the difference between microeconomics (the way a household functions) and macroeconomics (the way that a government functions). What seems intuitive to us on a personal level makes no sense at the government level unless you understand the difference.

While I like the idea of a secret ballot, I think there should be better disclosure of the positions of those who would have our votes. But I think we need more than that. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some kind of standardized test that would tell us if the person we’re voting for is a moron or a bit smarter than the rest of us? I don’t make decisions based on thirty-second sound bites and you shouldn’t either. I want quantifiable facts, whenever possible.

In some cases we have information provided that we seldom use. Local bar associations typically provide ratings for the candidates for judge. What we don’t see are such candidates saying something like: “While I barely squeaked by law school taking night classes, then practiced corporate law for a few years, I am now running for the position of Family Court Judge, so that I can make decisions in areas that I have little or no experience.” But wouldn’t you want to know if your County Auditor or Treasurer has never taken a course in accounting? My county has rather stringent requirements for the position of County Engineer, including a requirement for a degree in engineering as well as knowledge of surveying. That makes sense. Shouldn’t we have the same kind of standard for the folks that we choose to run our economy?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an elitist. I know a few people who are very well informed with only a modest level of formal schooling. Just because someone has a good education, doesn’t make him or her smarter. Personally, I had a great education in financial matters and still ended up making poor choices about money. The two men who would lead our country as President both have law degrees, an admirable and relatively difficult achievement. The Republican candidate also has an MBA, which you would think would be a really good thing until one recalls that the last President with an MBA left the economy in a shambles from which we are still trying to recover.

Of course the devil is in the details, and trying to develop a standardized test to measure intelligence is fraught with peril. Cultural and social issues arise, and some people are just better at taking standardized tests than others. But I think it would be wonderful if a candidate came out with a list of important issues and then gave his or her opinion of each one so we could make better decisions about them. For instance, they could say, “On the subject of abortion, while I do not personally favor it, I believe that such a choice should remain between the individual and her doctor.” Or, “Regarding abortion, I oppose it no matter what the circumstance, even rape, because if it is a ‘legitimate rape’ a female’s body has ways to shut that thing down.”

Suppose a candidate said: “With respect to the economy, I favor a government that would borrow money at relatively low rates and fund projects that would improve our roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, and other aspects of our basic infrastructure. In doing so it is my belief that the jobs created by such an action would strengthen our economy, and allow for rapid repayment of the loan.” Would you be more likely to vote for the opponent that said the following? “On the subject of our economy, I believe that we cannot spend any money that we don’t have right now. Even if our nation’s infrastructure crumbles and we become a nation of dirt roads for the poor and superhighway toll roads for the rich, we should let nature take its course.” Such full disclosure might be enlightening, but I doubt it will ever happen.

I would like to see a candidate come out and say something like this: “My name is Jane Candidate. I have an undergraduate degree from XYZ college in the field of economics and a law degree from ABC university, where I graduated 15th in a class of 200. My IQ has been tested by various standardized tests in the 115-125 range. My views on important issues facing our nation are as follows…” Even if you didn’t agree with her positions, you might have a great deal more respect for such a candidate. We never see such honesty, and that’s a shame.

So what are we left with? We need to become better informed on the issues and how our candidates react to these issues in order to become better citizens. We need to create more educational opportunities for everyone’s children so that the next generation can become even better citizens and live in a better world. We need to ask the hard questions, and demand answers that make sense. But we won’t, because it requires too much effort. Instead we will allow emotional manipulation to take place through short, uninformative TV commercials, make our decisions in a few seconds, and then try to get on with our lives as best we can.

But every so often, we are presented with useful information in a raw form, such as when a candidate for high office uses an unfortunate oxymoron like “legitimate rape.” Don’t squander these precious opportunities. Vote these idiots out of office now.

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”                                                      
                                                                              ~Plato

“The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is... the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.”      
                                                                           ~Adlai Stevenson

Don't Confuse Me With the Facts, I Know What I'm Talking About

I used to work with a nice guy; I’ll call him Ben because I don’t like to use real names unless they're someone in the public eye. I admired Ben because he had an easy air about him. He got along well with all of our major clients. He lived his life just like experienced people said you should. He had major savings and retirement plans at a young age, he guarded his credit rating as if it was his golden ticket, and he had achieved the highest professional designation available in our line of work. He was also a most amiable lunch companion, always willing to share his views as long as the company was pleasant.

The only problem I had with him was that at times, I considered him clueless. In our profession at the time, one had to take on some rather challenging assignments in order to make your reputation. Now these tasks were usually accompanied by big fees, but in truth were much less profitable due to the tremendous amount of research required than the little easy assignments, where you typically had all of the data you needed already. Ben wanted to avoid the hard assignments and focus on the more profitable easy ones. Some would argue that it’s hard to fault that logic, until you factor in the value of a high reputation, which is not easily quantified.

There were other aspects of his character that disturbed me as well. He confessed to be a C-level student while majoring in Economics in college, a subject area where I typically had earned top grades. Ben told me of his wild frat parties in school. I partied on a much smaller and more reasonable scale, without the benefit of a fraternity of like-minded “brothers”. He had a large investment portfolio, and seemed to be making money even when the market was down, telling me that his broker was using puts and calls, and other things that he couldn’t explain in order to achieve this.

One day after lunch, as we were returning to the office, the radio reported a significant rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. He said that would be good for business, since the corporations would now have more money to spend. “What?” I asked him in my most incredulous, ‘are-you-some-kind-of-dumbass’ tone. I have a Masters degree in Finance, and was well-schooled in how financial markets, especially the stock market, function. “Just because the stock price goes up, doesn’t mean the company gets more money,” I explained. “They already sold the stock. Investors reap the gains from higher stock prices, not the company. Unless they hold what’s known as ‘Treasury Stock’, which is an investment in their own stock held in the corporate treasury.”

It was clear by his response that he hadn’t really understood that elementary aspect of his massive investment portfolio. I told him that he would be wise to learn a bit more about the mechanics of the investment vehicle that he had entrusted his entire life-savings to since an unscrupulous advisor could easily fleece him at some point.

It was at a point near the end of President Clinton’s second term, with the next election looming, when we were discussing our presidential choices that he expressed what I considered another major lapse in judgment. Ben told me that he would cast his vote for the Democrat nominee, since the Democrats were better for business. “Ben,” I told him in my best ‘older-wiser uncle’ voice, “it’s the Republicans that have always been considered the party of the businessman.” After all, Lincoln had been a lawyer for the railroads before becoming president, and railroads were among the first of the major corporations, necessary because the investment required were much too high for any one man or small partnership to fund alone. The Republicans have always flaunted their pro-business reputation. History, I was sure, supported my opinion. Of course, looking back, I can see that history, or commonly held beliefs, may have supported my opinions, but facts were another matter entirely.

Now I have always been a fan of numbers. Cold, hard facts are difficult to dispute, although I’m always aware that statistics can be manipulated to serve anyone’s purpose. ‘Figures lie and liars figure’ is an old saying that has always made sense to me. Recently I was sent a graph of how many private sector jobs had been created under various presidential administrations. The data that it presented was hard to ignore. From the Kennedy administration through the present, private sector job creation under Democrats (42 million) was significantly higher than under Republican administrations (23.9 million). Based on job growth, it’s really the Democrats that make business flourish. Ben was right and I was dead wrong. If he hadn’t told me recently that he had hoped Herman Cain would be President, I would have thought he was getting smarter all the time.

Yesterday, another kind of misuse of data came to light in the wake of a speech given in my adopted home town by the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan. Ryan reported that Obama had promised to save a General Motors plant in his home state of Wisconsin when he was campaigning for the Presidency. True to his word, President Obama led the initiative to save the U.S. Automobile Industry after his election, while his current opponent, Mitt Romney, called for allowing these major industrial concerns to go bankrupt (Mitt apparently has much more experience in profiting from bankrupting companies than in saving them and the employment opportunities they provide). Ryan said that the plant closed anyway, and Obama had broken his promise.

Apparently young Congressman Ryan is not aware of the actual powers of the U.S. President, or how simple economics work, or he simply chooses to ignore real facts. True, the Wisconsin plant did close after the auto industry was saved from bankruptcy. However, the plant produced fuel-thirsty, large SUVs, and the market demand for such vehicles decreased, making it a no longer economically viable asset. On the other hand, thousands of auto-related jobs in his home state and across the country had been saved by the President’s initiative. The President did not have the power to save that particular plant,and even if he would have enjoyed such power, doing so would have harmed the company. One wonders if the Romney-Ryan ticket is planning to force that plant’s reopening if elected? Ryan didn't mention that in his speech. I don’t think they have the constitutional authority to do so, or the gumption to defy their corporate overlords.

During his speech, Ryan also faulted Obama’s Affordable Care Act for “gutting Medicare,” promising that the Romney-Ryan ticket would “save Medicare for future generations” by privatizing it and giving vouchers to senior citizens in order to purchase their own insurance from private insurers. Of course they’re quick to point out that they wouldn’t change anything for our citizens who are already over the age of 55. In other words, they don’t think that could get elected if they screwed with Medicare right away, but would wait in order to ruin it for future generations, which don’t think of such things until they’re of a certain age. The mind reels at the likely abuse that private insurers would inflict on our nation’s elderly under such a plan, especially if the ACA is nullified, and private insurers don’t have to worry about such trivial matters like controlling costs or covering preexisting medical conditions.

Facts and numbers are useful things, but both sides in this race have manipulated them to their advantage, and all too often a gullible electorate swallows them whole. I ask you to be vigilant, check your facts, and keep your bullshit detector turned on full power. No one is perfect, but we must choose who is best suited to reflect our own hopes and dreams for our country. Most of us dream that we had the personal wealth of a Mitt Romney, but I hope that few of us are willing to undertake the kind of cold ambivalence toward our fellow citizens that the acquisition of such wealth necessitates. Once again, I see these situations calling out for meaningful campaign financing reforms, eliminating unrestrained anonymous contributions, coupled with some type of truth in advertising clause. Until then, figures will continue to lie, and liars will continue to figure, and the new ‘Golden Rule’ will reign supreme. Oh, that’s not the rule that says ‘Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you’, it’s the new one that says ‘He with the most gold makes the rules.’

 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

                                                                                                   - Edmund Burke

One Term or Two and How We Make Choices

With the next presidential election looming, I’ve been pondering the question of what makes the difference between a one-term president and a two-term president. Is it training, the power of incumbency, or perhaps just the luck of the draw? Or is it a question of which marketing guru produces the best ads to sway that portion of the electorate that chooses quickly based on scant evidence? It is terrible to contemplate that fate or luck plays such an important role in the history of our country, but I’m afraid to some extent that it does.

Consider a popular two-term Republican president, Ronald Reagan, who served from 1981-1989. His formal education ended with a college degree, and his early career was in acting. Perhaps it is his career choice that made him a more effective leader. The economy has always been an important aspect in any presidential election, and Reagan’s initial election benefited from a poorer than normal economy under his predecessor. In order to get the economy moving in 1981, Reagan pushed a tax reform bill through Congress that lowered tax rates for everyone, including reducing the top tax rate from 70% to 50%. The economy improved.

In 1986, Reagan again got Congress to lower taxes for the wealthiest Americans to a top rate of 28%. The top earners got to keep 42% more of the money they earned than they had only five years earlier. This is the kind of tax cut favored by the current Republican Presidential Candidate who assures us that it will create more jobs. How many of you recall your history concerning what happened?

The stock market crashed in 1987, likely due to increased speculation. The Savings and Loan crisis resulted from deregulation of the industry combined again with excessive speculation on ill-conceived investments. The U.S. Federal Deficit soared to triple the level it had been when Reagan took office. However, Reagan remains a historically admired former president.

Reagan’s successor was his former vice-president, George H.W. Bush, who managed only a single term as president from 1989-1993. The son of a U.S. Senator, Bush had a strong education and a record of public service that should have made him one of the best prepared person to ever lead his country. He served as a U.S. Congressman, was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, an envoy to China, Director of the CIA, and finally served eight years as vice-president.

Concerned by the rising federal deficit, Bush reneged on his campaign pledge to not increase taxes. A wave of corporate downsizing increased unemployment in the middle class (a stronghold of Republican voters) and the economy faltered. Bush began negotiations on what was to become the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was supposed to increase employment opportunities throughout our hemisphere.

In the midst of the country’s economic malaise, the leader of Iraq decided he would like to have the oil produced by his neighbor, Kuwait (an ally of the U.S.). Bush committed American troops and material to rescue the small but wealthy country from its invader. After a conflict lasting a mere 100 hours, the goal of the offensive had been achieved, victory was declared, and Kuwait was liberated. Unlike most modern day conflicts, this one had a clear goal and a viable exit strategy. The electorate was duly impressed. Bush advisors looked at his soaring approval ratings and assumed that reelection was in the bag.

However, a struggling economy still plagued the incumbent leader of the free world. The Democratic challenger to Bush in his second campaign was a young former governor with an energetic and intelligent staff, who were focused on the economy. In addition, a crazy-smart Texas billionaire decided to mount a third-party challenge. The combination of these factors doomed Bush the Elder’s chance for a second term.

Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was a former Governor of Arkansas, a Yale Law School graduate, a Rhodes Scholar, and served two terms as U.S. President from 1993-2001. During his time in office, Clinton passed NAFTA, passed welfare reform, but failed to pass his initiative to reform health care. In addition, he was able to pass tax cuts for the poor and for small businesses, while increasing taxes on the top 1.2% of earners.

Although his tenure was plagued by scandals (real and imagined) and lapses in moral judgment, the economy boomed under President Clinton. The country experienced three consecutive budget surpluses for the first time in many years over the period 1998-2000. At the end of his two terms, an ABC News poll summarized his presidency as "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics – and he's done a heck of a good job."

Which brings us back to the beginning. The man in the White House before Reagan was one-term Democrat  President Jimmy Carter, whose Secret Service nickname was “Deacon” reflective of his high moral standards. Carter served from 1977-1981 and was educated at the U.S. Naval Academy, then served in the Navy as a nuclear power expert. He was a successful young Georgia Governor before his election, and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic efforts.

Carter was helped into office by the after effects of the Watergate Scandal that plagued the Republicans under former President Nixon. High inflation was the primary problem under Nixon and his successor, President Ford. Continued “stagflation” is also what helped to push Carter out of office.

Bad luck was also a factor in Carter failing to achieve a second term. In 1979, religious extremists took over Iran, and seized the staff of the U.S. Embassy there, holding them hostage until 1981, the day Reagan took office. The continuing energy crisis damaged the economy, and the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island didn’t help matters for Carter.

Carter’s entire Presidency might have had an entirely different outcome had a planned rescue of the Iran hostages not failed in April of 1980. A success would have bolstered his image, but its failure doomed his presidency, and helped elect Reagan.

So what is the difference between a one-term president and a two-term president? It doesn’t seem that training is a dominant factor. Situational luck appears to figure strongly into things. Bush might have had a second term if third-party challenger Ross Perot hadn’t entered the race. Carter might have survived to a second term if the hostage rescue attempt had succeeded. But overall, as a prescient Clinton staffer once observed, in the race for U.S. President “it’s the economy stupid.” The electorate is easily swayed, and a strong economy tends to help the incumbent remain in office.

So now we must choose again if we are to reelect a sitting president, or get someone else to take the reigns of power. President Obama inherited a massive economic mess from his predecessor, Bush the Younger. He is struggling to revive the economy, with some efforts on his part being thwarted by a minority of Republican Senators through the use of filibusters, who would gladly see the economy tank in order to regain power. His opponent, Romney, offers hope for a revived economy that rests on tax cuts for the wealthy. These cuts are supposed to create jobs, but as history has shown, such cuts typically result in increased speculation in financial markets, followed by burst bubbles and a ruined economy (see the results above for Reagan’s second tax cuts).  

But as I’ve said before, our electorate is not well grounded in historical facts, but more easily influenced by a thirty second TV ad. Campaign money is flowing into both candidates’ coffers in record amounts, promising an outpouring of new ads unlike any election we’ve yet to witness. Wouldn’t it be nice to make your selection on the facts, based on sound education instead of mindless propaganda? I think so. Consider telling your elected representatives that we need significant campaign-financing reforms. Let’s become better informed. It might make a better country for everyone.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." 
                                                                                     - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Two Very Different Business Schools

I went to two very different business schools. How did I manage to do that, you may ask? Well, it happened this way. My father owned a grocery store that had previously been owned by his father, and his father before him. Over the course of his career, my dad also involved himself in various restaurants, a few chains of convenience stores, and some other retail operations. He was also partners in several commercial real estate projects, especially apartment complexes. As soon as I was old enough to carry out empty boxes, I went to work, joining my two older brothers. Don’t get me wrong, my dad wasn’t some kind of child labor freak. He allowed us time for regular kid stuff. But he also knew exactly how to fill any holes in our schedules. In addition to working at the grocery store, I was trained to answer the phone when potential renters called-in about the new apartments. My experiences working with the public served as my first business degree, and I learned a great deal about proper customer service.

My second business school was what everyone would easily recognize as a business school: the MBA program at Ohio State University, at the time one of the top ranked programs in the country. I wouldn’t say that I was any kind of outstanding, genius-level geek, but I did well enough. I learned all of the min-max solutions, decision trees, statistical analysis, NPV Analysis, IRRs, in short, all of the ways that modern business decisions are made. At the end of the program, we were also given a course in Business Ethics. Lots of my fellow MBA students snickered at the idea of business ethics, and no one took it very seriously. After all, it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.

After graduation, I still worked for the family business for a while. Then I ventured into the local real estate market as a commercial real estate agent. I had a small problem doing that job when it came to clients who wanted to rent space for their start-up businesses. I usually tried to talk them out of it. Many people say that business school tends to make one risk adverse. That’s probably why college dropouts like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were so successful.

I remember one young family in particular. A husband and wife came into the office, with their baby in its car seat/carrier. He wanted to open a donut shop in a new strip center we were leasing. I knew that the space he wanted was wrong for that enterprise since there was no way to put in a drive-up window, a necessity for that type of business. Another problem was that three of the county’s major donut shops had locations that virtually surrounded the one that he wanted. Oh, and the donut business was declining at the time. I expressed my reservations, including the prospect of not making any money right away. He told me he could take at least six months of losses. Three years wouldn’t have been enough. I talked him out of it.

Needless to say I wasn’t all that good of a salesman, at least in terms of my own financial gain. When the opportunity came along to take a job doing real estate appraisal and analysis, I jumped. I was a keen observer, good with analytical ability, and could convey my results in a readable report. The only problems came when real estate developers wanted to get loans. The values that you predicted were never high enough to suit them. Developers always like to make some money up front, even if their project isn’t an initial success and the only way to do that is to borrow more than you need. Initially, it didn’t bother the bankers that we developed conservative, but realistic values. They were a conservative bunch by nature, and didn’t want to risk their depositors’ money. But that changed, too.

Bankers and other lenders became much more focused on making deals. They no longer worried about the future health of a commercial real estate venture because the loans were securitized. That is, they were bundled together and sold-off in secondary markets. In short, they became someone else’s problem. The bankers only made money by putting the deals together. Pressure was applied to the appraisers to make the deals work. The same thing was happening with the residential market, and we have witnessed the result. Complete financial meltdown. What they asked us to do was to lie by boosting values to unrealistic levels. It bothered me. I began eating antacids like candy. Eventually, I allowed my once promising career to self-destruct. Despite huge financial setbacks and the destruction of my marriage, my stomach settled down when I abandoned the profession.

I reluctantly returned to retailing, working for an independent grocery store. It was like going home again. At first I was amazed at the smooth running operation. But the competition was fierce. The owner wanted to run the kind of store he was used to running, but the market continued to evolve and he didn’t alter his business model until it was too late. The only changes that he could control were to cut payroll and inventory levels, resulting in less personalized service and declining selection. He might have made it if he had made the right changes, but that didn’t happen. By the time he saw the light, there was no money to make the changes. Unfortunately, for these and a variety of other reasons, the business failed.

I’ve recently had a glimpse into the workings of a modern, national chain store, run by corporate MBAs. I had high hopes for this company. They offered a rigorous computer-based training program, modern sales-based self-ordering inventory system and much opportunity for advancement. I’ll tell you right now, I’m highly disillusioned. The training must be done while working on serving customers and stocking shelves. Payroll has already been trimmed to the point that merchandise piles up in the backroom, because no one has any time to restock the shelves. If a customer asks for an item, no one has time to check the back room for it. The sale is lost and the customer is dissatisfied.

One of my grandfather’s favorite business lessons was “you can’t sell it from the back room.” Grandpa retired at the age of fifty with a home up north and a winter place down south. He had money in the bank, investments, and two cars, one a Cadillac (and Grandma didn’t drive). I tend to believe he knew what he was talking about. Grandpa didn’t have a college degree, yet alone an MBA. Right now, I have more faith in his business model than the modern, business-school-formula run companies.

American business is in peril. If you think that cutting taxes for wealthy people will create more jobs, you really haven’t been paying attention to historical fact. Taxes have steadily decreased over the past several decades, and the financial system that has resulted is a mess. Big government is not likely to solve the problem either.

I have always had faith in numbers. But those homespun old sayings keep coming to mind. There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. Figures lie and liars figure. The business models that have evolved in the modern era are not working, but since a few people are extremely well off, we ignore the facts, because we’re sure that America is only moments away from providing us with the same bounty. After all, we’re number one, aren’t we? Guess what, someone is number one, but it isn’t you, and I’m certain that it isn’t me.

“Thinking outside the box” is one of those terribly trite, overused business school buzzwords that tend to make me nauseous. Maybe it’s time to return to the box, at least for a minute or two. Trade the focus on your quarterly bottom line for what is going to have the biggest impact on the quality of life for your customers. Go “old school” for a minute and consider the impact that rising incomes for a large segment of the population would have for your company’s bottom line. Henry Ford believed in paying his workers well so that they could afford his company’s products. He firmly believed that such a business model would lead to world peace. He may have had some extremist views in other areas, but I think he was spot on concerning this issue. Our middle class is disappearing, and our economy falters on the brink of an abyss. Most of us are content to keep our heads down, mind our own business and do our own thing. That is a recipe for disaster. We need to wake up and get involved.

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

   Not with a bang but a whimper.

-T.S. Eliot (from “The Hollow Men”)

Listen (a short story from Tales of New Canaan)

The brown bottles that separated the two men across the picnic table had now brought them together. Ryan was spending the summer at his grandfather’s house in New Canaan, the longest time that he had ever spent with the man. They had dusted off his home-brewing equipment, Grandpa’s long-forgotten hobby, and the results sat between them. The old man picked up a bottle, poured the dark foaming liquid into his glass, and took a large swallow.

“I’m not sure what taste you were aiming for, but I like this.” His smile was an expression that Ryan rarely witnessed.

The boy followed suit, smiling at his own taste. “There’s a winter ale made by one of the craft breweries in Cleveland. It’s real popular on campus right before Christmas break. Can’t even find it after New Year’s.” The young man took another swig. “I’d like to compare them side-by-side, because I think ours is better.”

“The fruits of one’s own labor are always sweeter,” Grandpa’s dour expression had returned, but was betrayed by his smiling eyes. The pair sipped again in a shared silence as a trio of white moths danced in the air over one of the old man’s tall purple flowers in his ill-tended garden. Ryan had spent as much time as he could spare weeding the beds when he wasn’t at his summer job, but the garden still needed more work.

“No, I think we really have something here. I’m going to call some of my friends and have them try it.”

“Might want to save it for yourself. Doubt if we’ll have time to brew another batch before you’re due back at school.”

“I can always come up on a weekend. New Canaan’s only a two hour drive from Columbus.”

His grandfather didn’t respond, and the boy wondered again if was actually welcome, or simply tolerated as an unwanted family obligation. After another taste he added, “This stuff is so good, maybe I’ll drop out and become a brewer.”

“Maybe you should finish college first Ryan. One more year and you’ll have your degree. Your father would crap his pants if you quit now. He is still paying for your school, isn’t he?”

“Oh yeah. Thanks to you I suppose. He said you paid for his school and he was going to pay for mine. Said I had to do the same for my kids. Not that I’m sure I’ll ever have any.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? When your girlfriend came to visit last month, you two were going at it like a couple of rabbits. You didn’t think I couldn’t hear, did you?”

Ryan blushed and swallowed more beer, smiled briefly at the memory, then frowned when he thought about the reality of their situation. “Well, Jenny’s probably going to get hired by one of the big accounting firms. She’ll be working ninety or a hundred hours per week, until she makes partner or they wear her out. I have no idea where I’m going to get a job with a degree in chemistry. We may not last until graduation.”

“I see,” the old man said, even though he really didn’t understand the obstacles. “So could we sell this recipe to a brewery? Make you a nice nest egg and give you some options.”

“I doubt if we’d get that much for it. The big breweries don’t care because they make so much money selling that weak piss they peddle, and the little guys don’t have enough money.”

A bee landed on the open mouth of Ryan’s beer bottle and he watched as Grandpa reached his mottled hand out and waved the pest away. “It’s nice out here in the garden. You don’t come out here much do you?”

“This was always Maggie’s passion. Your grandmother used to have a big vegetable garden out back there, where the big weeds are now.” He waved vaguely toward the fence at the back of his lot.

“Do you miss Grandma?”

“What kind of fool question is that?” the old man snarled. “Of course I miss her. Miss her every damn day. We had fifty good years together, then a couple that weren’t so good. Took her too damn long to die. Shouldn’t have been like that. She didn’t deserve it.” He paused, remembering Ryan’s pain when his mother died far too young. “Your mother didn’t deserve it either.” He took another swallow of beer and stared into the surface of the old picnic table, as if answers could be found in the weathered wood.

“I’m sorry Grandpa. That’s not what I meant. I mean, you seem so…self-contained, is all. It’s like you don’t need anyone.”

“Is that what you think of me? I don’t need anyone?”

“I don’t know. You spend a lot of time alone. Reading and stuff.”

“A man gets used to his routines. I suppose it’s just a rut I’ve gotten into, and it’s too much trouble to get out. That reminds me, we need to go to the library again. Are they open tonight?”

Ryan checked his watch then thought a minute before answering. “No, they close in a few minutes. They open at ten tomorrow and don’t close ‘til nine at night. I should be done with work early, we can go then.”

“Damn summer hours. I can never remember the schedule. They’re open ‘til nine every night in the fall through spring. Guess people just don’t read as much anymore.”

“Probably not Grandpa. But they do have other options, too. Computers, electronic readers, that sort of thing. They don’t need to go to the library because it comes to them. Maybe you could get a Kindle, or an iPad.”

“That’s one of those electronic tablet things, right?” Grandpa asked. Ryan nodded. Maybe the old man wasn’t as backward as he thought. “No thanks. I like the weight of a book in my hand. It’s something substantial. Something you can feel.”

Ryan picked up his empty beer bottle and stared through the brown glass. “Well I can feel this stuff. You want to split another one before I rustle us up some dinner?”

“I shouldn’t…but OK. It is damn tasty,” Grandpa chuckled. “Maybe we should try another batch. See if we can catch the magic again.”

“Now you’re talkin’ Grandpa. I could drop out of school and we could open our own brew pub.”

“You seem fixed on the idea of quitting school boy. Something you need to tell me?”

Ryan swirled the dark liquid in his glass, raising a thin layer of beige foam on the surface, then sampled some more. Finally he looked up, meeting the old man’s gaze. “I don’t know. I just wonder if I’m doing the right thing, you know? Like, did I choose the right path? I know that Dad made a lot of money as a stockbroker, but he never really seemed happy about it. I mean, he was pretty cool when he made some big score and raked in some huge money. He’d party pretty hard, buy us neat stuff and all that, but he didn’t really seem to enjoy himself. You know what I mean?”

Grandpa eyed the young man as if some stranger sat across from him, a stranger offering insight that far exceeded the level of experience that the young man should have expressed at his age. Finally he said, “Yes, I do know what you mean. I worked for years at the appliance plant in middle management. It was a good job. Paid decent wages, with a good pension, too. But I’ll tell you, I don’t think I ever really enjoyed my job. It used to be enough to provide for the family, but at what cost? Don’t get me wrong, I love your father, but I was already over thirty when he was born. I didn’t think Maggie and I were ever going to have a child, but then she conceived. By the time your dad was old enough for me, I was at work all the time and was too old for him. We never got real close.”

As a pair of white moths scaled a purple blossom, both men, young and old, disappeared in their own thoughts for a few minutes, sitting together in solitude, but separated by a gulf of life experiences that neither one could comprehend about the other. Ryan felt the same way about his dad, who was thirty when Ryan was born, and spent long hours at the brokerage office. He had only made it to a few of the baseball games that meant so much to Ryan when he was growing up. Now that Dad had remarried, the gulf between father and son had widened. Rather than spend the summer with his dad and his new family, Ryan had sought refuge with the grandfather that he hardly knew, but was glad that he was getting to know the old man better.

His grandfather had an old-fashioned sort of…what was it…he was solid. He spoke his mind, that was for sure. But he listened, too. They had discussed the issues of the day. The old man was probably more liberal than Ryan was. Didn’t care about gay marriage, didn’t really comprehend homosexuals, but said it was their business, not his. Grandpa thought that most women’s issues were not his concern either. He said he had never faced sexual discrimination, never carried a child in his womb, why should he have a say in it? He also thought most of the new bankers were crooks. Them and the Wall Street boys, too. Although he had never come out and said so directly, Ryan got the feeling that Grandpa lumped his dad into the group of financial men that couldn’t be trusted.

Grandpa took a last swig from his glass of beer and smiled at the taste and at his grandson across the table. Then his face twisted in a serious look that Ryan had never before witnessed. The old man cleared his throat then turned his head and spat into the flower bed, scaring up a couple of bees and a yellow butterfly. He turned back to face the boy, locking his eyes in his own serious gaze. Finally he uttered a single word. “Listen.”

Between the word ‘listen’ and your own response to the advice that will follow lies an almost infinite range of potential actions or possibilities. A person can like what he hears, or hear something else entirely, something clouded by his own thoughts or desires. He can chose to follow the advice, or ignore it completely, or take a middle course. Like or dislike, heed the advice or scorn it. It all happens in an instant and it’s up to the individual to make the best decision possible based on imperfect information in an impossibly short time frame. Ryan locked his eyes on the cloudy blue eyes of his grandfather and did as he was told. He listened.

“If you want to try to market this stuff, I’ll back you best as I can. I got a fairly big nest egg saved up, and I don’t need much to live on. You can drop out of school if that’s what you really want to do. Hell Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were both dropouts, and it never hurt them. But here’s what I think you should do instead. Go back to school and finish your degree. Maybe take a couple of extra business courses and learn anything you can about the beer business. Use the library to research your market. Make a plan and think about it. Maybe you could talk that girlfriend of yours into running the financial side of things. Might even give you a chance to start a family, too. After all, people will still be interested in drinking good beer next summer, boy. How’s that sound to you?”

In that instant, Ryan’s life had changed forever. The buzz he was feeling from the beer was nothing compared to euphoria that was now sweeping over him. He reached out his hand and his grandfather smiled at him again as he shook it. “You got yourself a deal.”