Are We Up To The Challenge?

I have been reading a lot of commentary about the economic bailout plan over the last few days. I have seen some well-reasoned analysis and some good suggestions to make for a better proposal. But mostly I have seen a lot of negativism and anger about the perpetrators of this crisis.

We can whine and lament 'till we are blue in the face. We can curse the thieves and liars and play the blame game (I, too, can see a lot of malfeasance and corruption, and don't mind calling a spade a spade). But, at the end of the day (most likely this one!) we have to roll up our sleeves, do what we ought to do as Americans, and start bailing out this sinking boat.

It is not going to be fun and it is not going to be pleasant. It is going to be anything but fair and neither is it going to be easy. But unless we get our priorities straight (salvation instead of damnation) we are headed for economic meltdown and possibly anarchy.

Markets need to be as free as possible, but a little oversight is a good thing. It’s like the US doctrine during the cold war: Trust! (But verify). Our markets over the last decade could have benefitted by some appropriate oversight. But they had little, and now we are in a crisis.

I have been a republican all of my life (borderline libertarian!) but I also realize that the undeniable and inescapable consequence of absolute libertarianism is anarchy. At this juncture I'm not ready to face that, and I am betting that, nihilists notwithstanding, I am in the majority.

Complaints are dime a dozen and totally worthless unless they engender a motivation to fix the problem. Discontent is a natural human reaction to dire circumstance, but discontent without a commitment to action and sacrifice is useless at best, and cowardly at worst.

The America I grew up in and the America I love was created out of discontent, but was built by courageous men of action, not whiners.

I'm not suggesting that the many bright people who have offered intelligent rebuttals to Paulson' plan are in that latter category. Quite the contrary. The more well-reasoned alternatives to the Paulson bailout that can be proffered to the national debate, the better our chances at avoiding catastrophe.

We truly are at a watershed moment in American history. We can rise to the challenge and work at salvation of our economic system. Or we can degenerate into whining malcontents and work toward the damnation of the perpetrators. That latter course would certainly be morally satisfying. But the satisfaction would be short-lived as we find ourselves rushing into economic destruction and the mother of all depressions.

America, we are about to see what you are made of. Will you whimper and whine, shrinking away from hard choices into self-destruction? Or will you dig down deep into the inner core of commitment and fortitude that has been our hallmark at every critical juncture up until now?

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. -Joshua J. Marine

Simple Wisdom

Perhaps your mother told you (as my mother told me) that you should be honest and always tell the truth. Perhaps, also, she admonished you that if you lied, it would eventually be found out and you would have to reap the consequences (and you'd best believe that those consequences would not be pleasant). Mothers everywhere over the years have been dispensing such simple wisdom, but apparently few in power today listened to their mothers.

Business leaders have been playing a shell game with honesty, and the moral consequences have most decidedly caught up with them. The shells have been overturned and the house of cards is tumbling. Just like the Wizard of Oz, they have had the curtain pulled back and their bogus sorcery revealed. Unlike the Wizard of Oz, however, they are anything but benevolent. The kind hearted, but bumbling, Wizard of Oz meant only to do good. The financial industry wizards responsible for the perilous state of the economy have had anything but goodness in mind.

The simple reason that our economy is in crisis is that our society is morally bankrupt. Honesty is eschewed in favor of expediency. Half-truths and outright lies in business and government have become commonplace, and we simple, powerless souls have tolerated the misdeeds because we saw no alternatives or recourse.

Few of our business leaders are motivated to create public value. Few of our elected officials are motivated by altruism. In business and government, self-aggrandizement is the mantra. Greed is the guiding principle. Greed camouflaged by lies and half-truths is the primary modus operandi in the American brand of capitalism.

The Golden Rule has no utility in our "me first" society. Its morally uplifting guidance has degenerated to a vicious rationale: "Do unto others... before they know what hit them."

Until we insist on honesty in business and idealism in government, we will continue to flounder as a nation. Until we impugn the rascals and scoundrels and decry their vandalism of our ideals, we will continue to suffer economic indignations. Only when we run the knaves out of town and replace them with knights of unimpeachable integrity will we be able to resume our world leadership, reclaim our moral authority, and restore belief in the American Dream.

There is, however, a fundamental problem with materializing this vision. Honest men and women of integrity seem nowhere to be found. Oh, they exist, alright. But they are in short supply, and they have learned that honorable, benevolent service is rendered impotent by the slime and slurry of avarice that pervades American society.

The American Spirit is lifeless. The national conversation is vapid. Should we despair, or should we embrace the challenge?

Voters must take back the reins of government. Stockholders must insist on principled transactions, conducted with transparency. Ordinary lay citizens must eliminate the "me first" mentality. And everyone must decide to accept the maternal wisdom imparted to us at an early age.

It's a simple recipe, but it will work.

There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets. --Robert G. Ingersoll

This Time, It's Different

I am seldom given to hyperbole of this sort, but this time it's different.

We are at a watershed moment. Future historians will no doubt consider the events that unfold this week to be the defining events of the twenty-first century (and perhaps of capitalism).

Already we have seen the financial system deteriorate into the worst shape it has been in since the 1927 stock market crash and the Great Depression that followed. Many journalists are glibly reporting the demise of the financial services industry, but few seem to realize the epic proportions of this crisis.

We are currently balancing on a pivot-point which has our economy and the American lifestyle teetering between letting the banks go under, or destroying the free markets. Nothing good can come from either of those prospects.

If the banks go under and are not bailed out by the government, the fallout would be devastating to our financial system. Credit would dry up. Many fortune 500 firms, as well as most small businesses, would go belly-up and we would see a depression, the likes of which has never before been seen in this country.

On the other hand, if congress adopts Treasury Secretary Paulson's plan to bailout the financial industry, we will have kissed free markets goodbye and anointed Paulson the King of America.

Paulson and his cronies created this financial mess (he was a partner at Goldman Sachs before becoming Treasury Secretary). They got rich off of the games they played with financial instruments, and now Paulson wants the U.S. taxpayers to subsidize that folly. The crooks will retain their ill-gotten wealth and the taxpayer will foot the bill.

If Paulson's proposal gets approved as it was submitted, he will become, arguably, the most powerful person (elected or not) in America! Section 8 of his proposal reads (italics mine):

Sec. 8. Review. Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

You'd better read that again. It is unbelievable! This act would give Paulson absolute authority over the entire US Financial Services industry, a $700 billion budget, and furthermore put him above the law! Under this proposal, there could be no review of anything he does by the courts or by the administration!

Goodbye free markets. Goodbye capitalism as we now know it.

What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system. -Milton Friedman, economist.

Image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

Aggregation

I have noticed, lately, a polarization over environmental issues. There seems to be a sharp divide between those who understand how important it is to change our way of life and embrace environmentally responsible practices, and those who either don't believe it is necessary, or don't believe that they can make a difference.

This is the greatest challenge that environmentalists face today - getting the reluctant and disbelieving masses to overcome their skepticism and their inertia. It is made even more challenging by the fact that today's world is overwhelming. We are all working long hours and are victimized by information overload. Too much is coming at us too fast. It is hard to get someone's attention, let alone make a convincing argument which compels them to change their habits.

My neighbor, who is a very intelligent man, has a hard time getting his brain wrapped around the changes he needs to make in order to do his part to save the planet. Not only that, but he is put off by buzzwords and slogans. I have to admit that often the media latches on to words like 'green' and 'sustainability', and phrases like "carbon footprint," and uses them with abandon. Its as if every journalist is shouting, "Me, too! I'm hip!"

I understand how someone (particularly someone who has not yet been convinced of the immediacy and urgency of the issue) can get a little tired of having every article they read, and every conversation they have, peppered with these buzzwords. Pepper is nice, but a good chef knows that it must be used judiciously. Use too much and it can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Use it too often and it soon ceases to have the desired effect.

So it is with some reluctance that I tender a new buzzword. But I have a strong belief that it can make a difference.

***

Epiphanies don't come often and they don't come easily. But I would be willing to bet that they occur often enough and to a wide enough audience that they can be considered part of the universal human experience.

It is an interesting and reliable phenomenon that when one has an epiphany, it is hard to understand why others just "don't get it." It is equally hard to keep from feeling superior because of newly won wisdom. But suppressing that tendency is important if you want to help others see the light.

So I must offer my new shibboleth with sincere humility.

***

I have a keen understanding of the dire consequences of mankind continuing down the same profligate path which has been followed for centuries. I also understand that it would be very easy to succumb to this fate. We all have a tendency to despair at complex, abstract problems - to shrink from enormous issues. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, and it is very hard to make meaningful changes in our lives. But perhaps one more touchstone might help.

In discussions with my neighbor and others I have noticed that there is a palpable tenor of helplessness and hopelessness. There is often an admission, sometimes tacit, sometimes reluctant, that perhaps the environment is in trouble. But along with these realizations there usually is the resignation of inevitability. The changes we need to make seem hard and the benefits hard to quantify. Why make an effort which most likely will entail some sacrifice if there is no assurance that it will make any difference?

That is why I need to interject a new byword into the environmental lexicon. It is because of a simple mathematical proposition that I am convinced that individual efforts do matter and individuals can make a real difference in the environment. I know it.

***

It is true, a priori, that the changes that I make and the changes that you make to use fewer resources and to preserve environmental integrity do not, by themselves, make much difference. But it is equally true that when many, many people take these same measures it makes a huge difference. It is the aggregation of small steps and small effects into huge steps and huge effects that will truly make a measurable difference to our planet.

The thing that we need to keep foremost in our consciousness is that individuals who come together with a like-minded focus and a unified purpose can overcome large obstacles. That is why, in addition to being green and reducing our carbon footprint, we also need to realize that aggregation is what will lead us to success.

I hereby propose 'aggregation' as the new environmental battle cry.

By remembering that our aggregation will allow a serendipitous accumulation of benefits, we can overcome our despair and our apathy. When we realize that we are part of a great effort which is propelled by great energy, we can resist succumbing to feelings of hopelessness. In our aggregation we will succeed.

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people. -- Lee Iacocca

While We're on the Subject of Annoying Advertising...

I have to point out that junk mail marketing is particularly egregious because it is so devastating to the environment - millions of trees harvested simply to fill the landfill with unwanted mail. A response rate on mail campaigns is considered good if it is 2% - 3%. When you think about that, it leads to the undeniable conclusion that about 97% of all mail marketing pieces are pure junk, in the fullest sense of the word!

That unwanted mail just goes straight to the landfill, much of it never even opened! Yes, I understand that between the forest and the landfill a lot of jobs are created by this pipeline. Yes, I understand that responsible marketing is necessary to let people know about the purchasing choices they have. However, I submit that mail marketing is anything but responsible!

We would all be better served by a pipeline that actually produces something desirable, rather than this extremely wasteful, annoying, and environmentally irresponsible system. Don't tell the telemarketers (it'll be our little secret) but I actually prefer phone calls to junk mail because phone calls don't ravage the environment or fill up the landfills!

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising. -- Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)

Telephone Spam

Perhaps you have noticed (as I have) a recent increase in the number of marketing solicitations that are coming into the house via the telephone jack. My original speculation about why this might be so was that perhaps my federal do-not-call registration had expired. A quick perusal of the registration web site, however, produced this notice:

Your registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm.

I then came up with this hypothesis: hard economic times may have produced more unscrupulous marketers who don't care whether you are on a do-not-call list or not. When I think back over the last few telemarketing calls I have received, I see signs that this, indeed, may be the case.

What can be done? For starters confirm the do-not-call status of your number(s). If your do-not-call status is not what you think it is, sign up or renew your do-not-call registration. Remember, though, that this registration does not shield you from calls made by:

• Anyone with whom you have conducted business in the past


• Charities, charitable organizations, and those that call on behalf of such organizations


• Unscrupulous marketers

OK. We can protect ourselves from legitimate marketers, although charities and their agents have a free pass. But what can be done about the unethical annoyances? I'm afraid that there is not much that one can do, other than letting the answering machine answer all calls.

A recent unscrupulous (and downright illegal) marketing campaign concerns your "expired vehicle warranty." (See this report at KEYE TV). If you have a home phone (or workplace phone, or even a cell phone - yes, their insidious lack of ethics allows them this latitude) you have no doubt received a recorded call which apprises you of the dire situation: your vehicle warranty has expired. You are asked to respond so that this problem can be "fixed."

Upon responding, you will be told that you can remedy your untenable position by buying an extended warranty. Never mind the fact that if you ask which vehicle has an expired warranty they can't tell you. Never mind the fact that you may not even own a vehicle.

These calls have been reported in virtually every state and they are going to every phone number, listed or not. There has been no effort to pre-qualify the call list to ensure that it only goes to people who own vehicles, let alone those that actually have an expired warranty. And it does no good to ask to be taken off of the call list because there is no call list. The automatic dialers call a number, dispense a message, then hang up and dial the next number in sequence (previous number + one).

This telephone scam has been reported to local police, to the Better Business Bureau, and even the FBI. Yet the calls continue. The operator of this scheme has hired many work-at-home operators who are set up with automatic dialing systems and recorded messages. The poor economic conditions have engendered an environment which makes it easy to find and hire such operators, and there are too many heads on this snake to be able to kill it.

What to do? I'm afraid that, short of deliberately sending each of the callers down a blind alley with a fictitious purchase order for a car warranty (non-existent car, fake credentials, etc.) not much can be done. I am not advocating that anyone actually do this. It would raise new ethical and legal questions. And if you are annoyed because this unsolicited call has wasted your time, why waste even more of it in a blind pursuit?

If I were king of the world, I would totally outlaw telephone marketing. But, alas, I am not king. I am not even president - though I will accept a write-in campaign on my behalf.

I see no silver bullet for this problem. Do we all need to just resign ourselves to suffer the annoyance of all of the unsolicited, undesired attempts to get into our wallets, while wasting our time?

What's your opinion?

Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless. -- Sinclair Lewis