Now that we are certain the light at the end of the tunnel was the tail lights of the train that ran us over, we can begin to plan the recovery of  our economy.  While there is no arguing the creeping inflation and rising unemployment, the other undeniable fact is Americans needs to get a hold of their fears and get back to work. And I’m not tlking about the 9 to 5 we all cherish, but the work of rebuilding our communities.

As we look at our country from a county to county basis we find two persistent problems. First, the people who normally buy products and services don’t have any money and secondly, we have to turn around our sinking consumer confidence. With the slow down in the economy, businesses are laying off employees in an attempt to remain open, but is that truly what is needed? What most fail to realize is every employee is some business’s customer. You may be able to save your bottom line, but what damage did you cause in the community? Also, this fear of losing your job causes a pessimism that keeps our money in our pockets "just in case". We do without the pleasurable things in the hopes that if the bottom falls out we can some how sustain ourselves for a while. But who are we kidding, if you don’t have at least six months of salary saved, you won’t make it anyway.

All of our fates are tied together on the local level and the heartbeat of America is the pulsing of economic prosperity town by town, city by city. We have to reestablish our "Buy Local" mentality, which keeps the local small businesses hiring, which keeps the employees spending, which causes growth and so on.  Even the federal government knows this to be true, which is evidenced by the small business stimulus loans currently being offered. Under this program small business owner can get a 0% interest loan of $35,000 to help save their business www.sba.gov.

There has been much debate of the theory of "Trickle down" economics. What I am proposing is just the opposite. In the "Buy Local" business model, funds trickle up to the larger markets as the smaller markets grow faster than capacity. For example, if acounty that had 10% unemployment was able to reduce that number to 5%, then the need for additional resources would increase as more demand from the employed grows. This increase would cause more suppliers to appear, which would add more jobs, which causes hire wages, which draws more people to the region, which causes more retailers to open, which causes more jobs, which causes a need for more housing, which causes more jobs….are you starting to get the point?

The one downside in this theory is there will be casualties. Invariably a switch in economic theory will cause a percentage of people to get caught under the wheels of progress. There will be some that spend their savings to try to get the local economy going and not have enough resources to take advantage of the growth. There will be those who don’t believe and will continue to live their lives in fear and finally, there are those who don’t care, they have enough money, screw everyone else.

In either respect, we have reached the end of our democratic republic and change is inevitable. We have to decide what derivation of socialism, marxism, or facism we can endure, but in the meantime, those of us who like things just the way they are can get together and fight the imperial government one city, county, or state at a time.

Thought of the Day, Business Development | No Comments »

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Can someone explain what is going on with customer service these days?

While I can understand the need to downsize staff during tough economic times, there is no need to punish the people who do patronize your store as a result. I was in a restaurant with a friend and during the ten minutes it took for our drink order to be taken, two other couple walked out. We were really in the mood for their food, so we were a little more patient than the others, but it amazed me how rude the waiter was because they were short staffed.

What their management and others need to understand is your customer has come to expect a certain level of quality and service, that is why they return to your establishment, and any diminution of that service is interpreted as a breach of contract. If during prosperous times I receive fast service, then the same should be true during tough times, in fact, even more so. By continuing to meet your loyal customer’s expectations, you increase the amount of recommendation that result from their having discussions with others about the poor services they received elsewhere.  

Cutting back on staffing and trimming wherever possible is a part of doing business, however, the sure way for your business to fail is to lower the quality of your product. A company would do better shortening its hours of operations and keeping a suitable staff, than staying open and having their patrons endure poor service.

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"O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever" - Ps 118:1 

There is an unspoken rule in business that you do not discuss politics or religion and normally I adhere to that standard, but in the wake of the miracle of US Air flight #1549, I can’t let this go unspoken. As we prepare for the historic inauguration of Barack Obama and all of the adjulation and exhortation therein, God sent us a reminder of who is really in control and where our help really comes from. I do not minimize the actions of the flight team, but I wanted to make sure we did not miss the bigger picture in this deliverance.

"I called upon the LORD in distress:  the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place" - Ps 118:5

Last night I watched an interview with one of the passengers and he said the pilot told them to prepare for a very hard landing and "everyone started praying". The message here is even in the midst of your most dire situation God is with you and "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16 KJV. We may not always understand why things happen, but we must trust God. Jesus performed many miracles in the New Testament and many of us have been looking for a sign to reconcile our spiritual mind and logical mind.

Our logical mind can comprehend how flight 1549 was put into jeopardy by birds flying into both engines and the pilot realizing a full loss of power was eminent and there was no way to make it back to LaGuardia. We can admire the pilot’s coolness as he remembered to activate the R.A.T. system that returned emergency hydraulic power to steer the plane. We can even fathom the fact the plane, with a low wing design, landed flat on the river, when any tipping left or right would have caused the plane to sommersault and all of this happening from 3200 feet in about three minutes from loss of power to the water landing. 

Our spiritual mind tells us God loves us and Jesus intercedes on our behalf, but we still don’t understand why bad things happen to good people. How is it I can watch such a miracle one day and hear of three children loosing their lives in a fire the next morning? Once again this is a question that arises from our logical mind trying to rationalize our faith. Since faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". - Hebrews 11:1 NIV How can we ever get our logical mind to submit to the profession of our faith?

The answer is a deeper understanding of who God is, His character, and how Jesus died for us to have an opportunity to have a proper relationship with God. From this deeper understanding, we begin to realize there is no difference in our logical and spiritual mind, just the period between our professing our faith and growing our faith. We must study God’s word because " in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." - Romans 1:17 NIV

"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD" - Ps 118:17 

It is my hope and prayers that each person aboard flight 1549 will recognize the blessing they received and diligently seek the mission God has intended for their lives.

Thought of the Day | No Comments »

As we stand ready to cast our final vote in this historic election, I look at the seemingly inevitable victory of Barack Obama with a simple question. Is Obama what we need or what we deserve? Over the last sixteen years America has been transforming from the land of the free and the home of the brave, to the land of the mediocre and the home of dependency. No longer do we strive for excellence and achievement, but seek to find an easy answer to every problem we face.

Is Barack’s type of change what we need to turn this around? In Obama’s world, we would have greater government participation in our lives in areas of healthcare, education, stock market regulation, and corporate wages. The rich will be required to carry an even greater share of the tax burden and those at the bottom of the income scale will receive subsidies. With the prospect of a filibuster proof majority, there will be no stopping Obama’s plans.

We are witnessing the death of our Democratic Republic, but is that a bad thing? I would make the argument, Obama is just what we deserve. For the American people’s willingness to abandon our leadership of this country and relinquish our Constitutionally given right to accountabilities, we deserve the Socialist views of our next President. With promises of  tax increases, expansion of the size of government, and the quieting of the Conservative movement, the resulting economic destruction will take us down to a level where common sense will return.

The global market will be given greater influence on US policies, taxation, and business. We will trade interest in our country for satisfaction of debt we can no longer pay. Artificial wages and higher corporate taxes will push the remainder of US companies to seek offshore relief and mergers with multi-national firms that will allow them to stay in business.

The "change" Americans are voting for, will only secure the inevitable and necessary recession/depression the free market would have corrected. Inflation, unemployment, and high interest rates will be the norm and the resulting economic collapse will cause Americans to adjust the way they live and require government to allow the free market to move our nation back to the prominence it once enjoyed. Instead of an economic bailout we need to change the habits that got us in this mess and since we won’t do it willingly, we deserve a President that will force us to.

Thought of the Day, Politics | 9 Comments »

As I examine the probability and historic aspects of this Presidential election, it is evident it is Obama’s race to lose. John McCain continues to alienate himself from the Conservative base and sounds more like a Reagan Democrat than a Republican. The fact McCain will let the Bush tax cuts stand, is his only redeeming value to this point and that won’t be enough to defeat Obama.

If you accept my premise, there is a much larger question that is looming over this coming election. Will Obama Save America? 

As we see American giant Anheuser Busch being sold to a Belgium company, it is only the beginning of the wholesale purchase of our country. The American dollar is on life support and perennial US powerhouses such as Ford and GM are listing, like a ship with a hole in the hull. Unemployment is steadily growing and the sudden flood of over qualified workers into the market is making it impossible for the average Joe/Jane to find suitable employment. Add to that the rising costs of gas, food, utilities and borrowing and you have the formula for disaster in our nation.  

The Federal government has just announced their willingness to support mortgage juggernauts Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in order to avert their demise due to the unbelievable default rate from the lending bust. This too is an indicator of the peril the US now find itself awashed in. I could definitely go on describing individual sectors of our economy that are in distress and how bleak the outlook is, but that isn’t the purpose of this post. Barack Obama built one of the strongest grassroots campaigns in history based on his messageof change, but will his brand of change get us back on the right track?

It doesn’t take a Wharton Business School Economist to realize what will put the brakes on our sliding economy and how America can get back on the path of being a world leader, but will our new leader be willing to travel that path at the risk of alienating the people who elected him. The simple truths of the matter is we need serious and deep reform in the areas of job creation, oil dependence, and goverment spending.

Job Creation

Whether you agree with outsourcing or not, you can’t deny the cause has more to do with the punitive nature of our corporate tax system, than some evil plan to cheat the American worker out of a decent wage. Doing business in the United States is increasingly becoming cost prohibitive; our corporate tax rate is the highest among industrialized nations (40%) and policies such as Sarbannes Oxley impose regulations that further deteriorate profitability through forced compliance.

Of course, there are those who think a company should pay higher wages for its employees, even to the detriment of investors. However, we in the real world understand the burden of corporate taxes makes it impossible to offer a competitive wage, product, and gain market share globally. Therefore, the simple solution is to partner with firms outside of the US who can produce products or offer services at a much more competitive rate or sell to a company where the tax burdens are less and reap an immediate reward.

What President Obama will have to do is argue for the elimination of corporate taxes and incentives and allow US companies to be more competitive in the world. In fact, if  corporate taxes were eliminated in the US more countries would want to locate their manufacturing here. Imagine the concept of coming to the US to build a factory during a time when your currency is stronger and there are greatly reduced tax consequences. The problem is that kind of philosophy goes against the grain of the Liberal agenda. A stronger nation would insist on a decrease in the size of government, a balanced budget, less government spending and lower taxes…all of which are contrary to Obama’s most ardent supporters.

Oil dependence

There is no need to go into the long, drawn out argument of whether drilling off the coast of Florida and in Alaska would benefit us. The question is simply, is the so called "environmental impact" greater than the collapse of our infrastructure due to $6+ gas prices. It may take seven to ten years to reap the full benefits of drilling now, but the worldwide demand for oil is not going down. Also, with our innovative entreprenueral spirit, I’m certain it will not take seven to ten years to get the oil into our economy. Large companies and individual investors will work tirelessly to develop methods of finding, refining, and delivering our domestic oil to the American people.

A second area to decrease oil dependence is electric car technologies. We can discuss hydrofuels, ethanol, or wind and solar power, but nothing has as much immediate viability as battery cell technology. As I have researched the industry, I found there are several companies that produce electric cars, those who convert gas to electric cars and those who develop hybrids. The vehicles range in style from Scions to Porsche and range in price from $29,000 to $90,000. With the closing of many Ford and GM plants, President Obama could lobby Congress to offer tax incentives for Ford or GM to retool those plants for electric car conversions. The technology already exists so the largest expense would be expanding the techonology to a large scale operation. The benefit would be a cost reduction to the consumer as economy of scale brings down the cost of production. In the time it takes to retool and get the plants moving at capacity, private industry would begin to supply electric car charging stations. Venues such as malls an movie theaters will offer charging stations for consumers to use while they are using their facilities.

Government Spending

This issue is the cornerstone of the transition of the current system to what we will ultimately become. If we expand the size of government, we will begin the march toward a more Facist or Socialist form of governing. The government will supply needs such as healthcare, education, and housing and have partial ownership in businesses that supply jobs and manufacturing. Private industry will be replaced by a large cumbersome underperforming govenmental agency.

Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs make up nearly 63% of the current years budget. Yet there is a strident reluctance to even suggest ways to bring it to managable levels. President Obama could remove all of the duplicate offices and ineffective departments such as the Department of Education, Interior, and the IRS. In turn, states would be given more power to decide what is best for them, which is the way it was intended. The federal government will oversee decisions to maintain rights given under the Constitution and to offer support in exreme cases of legislative empass. Obama could then set a goal of 10% of GDP as the operating budget for the federal government and term limits to remove the temptation of earmarks for the career politician. 

In my opinion, Barack Obama is a very pragmatic person and will quickly see his place in history unfold in the coming administration. The question is will he go in the direction that will allow the country to continue faltering in order to gain more government power or will he opt for the historical perspective of the President who saved America? Only time will tell. 

Thought of the Day, Politics | 11 Comments »