Sometimes I ramble on about wall street or big oil etc... thoughts around here are about the leadership of these organizations. Just like the middle class I speak of there are people hard at work, trying to support their families in trading or on oil platforms and so on. There is tons of energy spent by people working in a variety of tasks. I just would like to see their energy spent more fruitful for the economy and the populace as a whole.
For example, there are many people on wall street with major league MBAs etc working hard, but they are focusing their energy on trying to build trading strategies so large corporations can squeeze an extra buck out of daily trading. This energy would be better spent in true investment banking helping companies raise capital to develop new businesses. This use to be a major part of wall street's business. I don't see that as the case anymore. Yes Wall Street still does IPOs and other projects, but the real heart of capitalism is neglected. How does a person convince all these intelligent people that it would benefit them and the country in the long run if they focused more on business development, new industry development, not day to day profits for wall street?
Too many companies are working too hard to please wall street, worried about their stock price if they don't meet expectations. This is such a waste of talent in these corporations. They should be able to spend more time developing profit strategies for five years not one quarter.As always my ideas aren't new or radical, there is constant talk about trying to get executive pay more in line with long term profits, but unfortunately wall street expectations still play too large a part in corporate planning. This step would not solve all the problems, but would put pressure on the top of an organization to really plan ahead and if they don't have one-three good quarters, but five good years it would be better for the company.
This would create more innovation because more talent would be used to develop business not react to immediate/quarterly earnings. Develop the business, plan it and expect some bumps and in the long run you will have many years of profits because you can always think and plan ahead instead of reacting to trends that other entities place upon you.
Another example is many people fearful that we would lose more employment if oil production slowed down by switching to alternative or NEW sources of energy. Not really if you think about it, the people on the off shore oil rigs would still have jobs for years because a change wouldn't happen overnight. What would change would be new workers coming on board, rather they would go to the new opportunities so the generation still working the bulk of the oil business would still work while the transformation in great abundance would happen over a half a generation or so and the newer workers or young engineers or managers would have grown up in the new sources of energy and their livelihood would be intact and the oil workers would be retiring as the change is happening. Again we need to think long term to be successful in this country before another country takes away what is staring us in our face.
Think about job creation if we started selling two million electric cars a year to India, China, or South America. If we beat everyone to the punch then we rebuild our automotive industry. Takes some forward thinking though.
We have it in our country we just need to realize the potential within ourselves again.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Solutions are simple sort of
Been thinking a bunch of late, but no time to write. Still wanting to sit down and hash out some ideas that are workable. Still feel the answers are there, we just aren't implementing them.
Public policy can be productive once you get the people to realize they are in charge and hold their representatives accountable. Until then, the special interests will continue to rule and unfortunately all their goals are short sighted so problems will persist.
The middle class is still the key to succesful democracy,but if we don't act then we lose.
If we put the housing crisis on the front burner, build true economic development that encourages more independent wealth and job creation then our economy and our country will thrive.
I can sit here and think of a hundred productive economic development projects and I know mine aren't the only ones. What does it take to get Congress to create productive public policy? It is scary how the answers are there, but the special interests keep us from achieving them. And what is truly ironic they would even benefit more if they let our economy and new industries develop.
Quick thoughts till I can sit down and spell out more specific ideas.
Spring is here in Dallas, March Madness is upon us and it seems everyone's bracket is shot with all the upsets. This is what makes the College basketball tournament so great. Of course until your team is hit. Ughhhhh
I am down to praying for the Mavericks now. Oh well, still enjoy rooting for them year in and year out,,, 11 years of playoff basketball, not too shabby.
Public policy can be productive once you get the people to realize they are in charge and hold their representatives accountable. Until then, the special interests will continue to rule and unfortunately all their goals are short sighted so problems will persist.
The middle class is still the key to succesful democracy,but if we don't act then we lose.
If we put the housing crisis on the front burner, build true economic development that encourages more independent wealth and job creation then our economy and our country will thrive.
I can sit here and think of a hundred productive economic development projects and I know mine aren't the only ones. What does it take to get Congress to create productive public policy? It is scary how the answers are there, but the special interests keep us from achieving them. And what is truly ironic they would even benefit more if they let our economy and new industries develop.
Quick thoughts till I can sit down and spell out more specific ideas.
Spring is here in Dallas, March Madness is upon us and it seems everyone's bracket is shot with all the upsets. This is what makes the College basketball tournament so great. Of course until your team is hit. Ughhhhh
I am down to praying for the Mavericks now. Oh well, still enjoy rooting for them year in and year out,,, 11 years of playoff basketball, not too shabby.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Trying to get a little bit of context around things
Been thinking about how things got to be the way they are. Funny to me it goes back to the fifties. Yes, many people I think point to this timeframe, but where it seems to have started is pretty simple and there are no evil monsters to blame for some of our troubles. Well let me back up a bit, there are some monsters to blame but for today's thoughts I am not going down that path.
In some ways the trouble for the middle class in America is because in the fifties the middle class in America achieved something that no other group of people who weren't rulers had ever achieved. After WWII things in America were great, they really were. Oil ( read energy for future discussions) was cheap and plentiful, we were building, jobs were plentiful, material possessions were truly possible ( though not the consumer madness we have now), technology was starting to creep into our daily lives, and the middle class in America decided to,,,,, well enjoy it. And that really is to be expected. This was a historic time.
Middle class living was something new in world history. We were a powerful nation, economically strong and totally ignorant of what was going on around us. Not bad ignorant, just no one really could expect us to understand what was happening. Now people like me can look back and say oh yeah we should have done a better job ( and really the opportunity was there), but no one in history had ever faced the wonders we were facing.
So for the fifties we cruised thru (pun intended if you know pop culture of the fifties) and rested on our laurels,not rested as in did nothing, people worked hard, again technology was growing and people were developing new products, producing them in factories, middle management jobs were on the rise, engineering and science were growing at rapid rates, all sorts of development was going on, but it was going on to satisfy a need to continue to be middle class. The future was just that ,,, the future, no one thought truly about the possible impact (some did, even a presidential candidate) but for the majority the idea of improving the future was an abstract thought.
The sixites came along and the youth questioned morals and lifestyles and all sorts of crazy things. There was questioning of what was going on, but not at how can I improve the future, but questioning what kind of life was being middle class and "establishment" in America. A well known problem, the Vietnam War unfortunately sidetracked much of the youth's attention in the sixites so that any development of new ideas was thwarted by attacking establishment and the war. Unfortunate diversion to progress to the future.
Then the seventies,,,we went back to thinking about ourselves and unfortunately it became the "me" generation. This is really an outshot of what we wanted in the fifties. America developed a mental snapshot somewhat incorrectly that we should always be like the fifties. That there was a perfect Norman Rockwall existence and we could always regain it and some in our country developed a political allegiance and philosphy that we should always have it.
We can still have our middle class and be successful, but we need to adapt to the world. Fifty years ago we just couldn't get that through our heads. So to cut to the chase we end up with a middle class that is dying, a economic situation that doesn't seem to improve, but is that the end of it all. Actually no,,,, we still have the ability to rebuild our middle class to a dynamic group, but if we do; will we learn that next time we have to pay attention to the future?
Rebuilding the middle class will continue to be a theme in my posts going forward. America will never have the fifties again, but we can have a strong middle class with some forethought and some changes and some hard work. IF democracy is to thrive so must the middle class. Rebuilding both takes us down the same path.
An example of what happened comes from our public education system. We built this system that produced great teachers, principals, academians, administrators, but we never learned anything from ourselves. Go back and do some research on what we researched. We started doing excellenet work in child development, it took awhile to really get it going, but now there are mountains of information on child development, but we never changed the way we educate our children. We still use many of the same ideas and practices we used in the fifties. Really think about it for a bit. Yeah we made some changes, but really most of public education is memorization and simple writing. No critical thinking, no ethics development, no what are the best topics for certain age groups, yet all that is there and documented for us to implement. We just never do, of course now we are stuck with an economic crisis in our public education system. Again though if we had thought about the future, the priorities would be there for us to put our resources where we need it. This example isn't meant to be about all our problems, but rather an example of much energy used, but what did it get us,,, when we actually have a great result, we just didn't take the next step.
Just some food for thought for now. And hopefully we can start digesting it now before it is too late.
In some ways the trouble for the middle class in America is because in the fifties the middle class in America achieved something that no other group of people who weren't rulers had ever achieved. After WWII things in America were great, they really were. Oil ( read energy for future discussions) was cheap and plentiful, we were building, jobs were plentiful, material possessions were truly possible ( though not the consumer madness we have now), technology was starting to creep into our daily lives, and the middle class in America decided to,,,,, well enjoy it. And that really is to be expected. This was a historic time.
Middle class living was something new in world history. We were a powerful nation, economically strong and totally ignorant of what was going on around us. Not bad ignorant, just no one really could expect us to understand what was happening. Now people like me can look back and say oh yeah we should have done a better job ( and really the opportunity was there), but no one in history had ever faced the wonders we were facing.
So for the fifties we cruised thru (pun intended if you know pop culture of the fifties) and rested on our laurels,not rested as in did nothing, people worked hard, again technology was growing and people were developing new products, producing them in factories, middle management jobs were on the rise, engineering and science were growing at rapid rates, all sorts of development was going on, but it was going on to satisfy a need to continue to be middle class. The future was just that ,,, the future, no one thought truly about the possible impact (some did, even a presidential candidate) but for the majority the idea of improving the future was an abstract thought.
The sixites came along and the youth questioned morals and lifestyles and all sorts of crazy things. There was questioning of what was going on, but not at how can I improve the future, but questioning what kind of life was being middle class and "establishment" in America. A well known problem, the Vietnam War unfortunately sidetracked much of the youth's attention in the sixites so that any development of new ideas was thwarted by attacking establishment and the war. Unfortunate diversion to progress to the future.
Then the seventies,,,we went back to thinking about ourselves and unfortunately it became the "me" generation. This is really an outshot of what we wanted in the fifties. America developed a mental snapshot somewhat incorrectly that we should always be like the fifties. That there was a perfect Norman Rockwall existence and we could always regain it and some in our country developed a political allegiance and philosphy that we should always have it.
We can still have our middle class and be successful, but we need to adapt to the world. Fifty years ago we just couldn't get that through our heads. So to cut to the chase we end up with a middle class that is dying, a economic situation that doesn't seem to improve, but is that the end of it all. Actually no,,,, we still have the ability to rebuild our middle class to a dynamic group, but if we do; will we learn that next time we have to pay attention to the future?
Rebuilding the middle class will continue to be a theme in my posts going forward. America will never have the fifties again, but we can have a strong middle class with some forethought and some changes and some hard work. IF democracy is to thrive so must the middle class. Rebuilding both takes us down the same path.
An example of what happened comes from our public education system. We built this system that produced great teachers, principals, academians, administrators, but we never learned anything from ourselves. Go back and do some research on what we researched. We started doing excellenet work in child development, it took awhile to really get it going, but now there are mountains of information on child development, but we never changed the way we educate our children. We still use many of the same ideas and practices we used in the fifties. Really think about it for a bit. Yeah we made some changes, but really most of public education is memorization and simple writing. No critical thinking, no ethics development, no what are the best topics for certain age groups, yet all that is there and documented for us to implement. We just never do, of course now we are stuck with an economic crisis in our public education system. Again though if we had thought about the future, the priorities would be there for us to put our resources where we need it. This example isn't meant to be about all our problems, but rather an example of much energy used, but what did it get us,,, when we actually have a great result, we just didn't take the next step.
Just some food for thought for now. And hopefully we can start digesting it now before it is too late.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Bigger thoughts brewing
Been hard to find time to write, but my head is full of more ideas. Working on even more specific examples of better policy ideas. I hope to find time soon to start writing them down.
I think we need a moratorium on lobbyists in Washington and campaign funding until 09/01/2012. Lets put our representative's to the test. Let them do all the work and then let the voters decide if we should keep them or replace them. This way they are accountable for what they do and cannot gather campaign money by working with lobbyists until the next election year and really down to the last couple of months. I think if they had to sit down and work on our country's problems by themselves and be accountable to the true majority of this country we might see some better policy from our government. Anyway food for thought for now. I hope to have some more ideas out soon.
Its not about changing the government (constitution) its about making it work.
Even capitalism can be good as long as the people run the policy and not the economy running the government. Enemies can be external and internal and the internal ones can just be people being self absorbed and not thinking of others. Solutions are easier than you might think.
I think we need a moratorium on lobbyists in Washington and campaign funding until 09/01/2012. Lets put our representative's to the test. Let them do all the work and then let the voters decide if we should keep them or replace them. This way they are accountable for what they do and cannot gather campaign money by working with lobbyists until the next election year and really down to the last couple of months. I think if they had to sit down and work on our country's problems by themselves and be accountable to the true majority of this country we might see some better policy from our government. Anyway food for thought for now. I hope to have some more ideas out soon.
Its not about changing the government (constitution) its about making it work.
Even capitalism can be good as long as the people run the policy and not the economy running the government. Enemies can be external and internal and the internal ones can just be people being self absorbed and not thinking of others. Solutions are easier than you might think.
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