Business rules!

Ford, without a Bailout, makes a profit.

How could this happen? Why do I think Ford went from beggar to profiteer? Simple, we, to our very core, are survivors, that’s why. Ford certainly could have taken a bailout, lose control of their own destiny, sell out the hard work of their employees, retirees, etc… They could have taken the easy way out. The easy way out often feels like a safe bet, and looks inviting, and could have offered insurances that the brand name would live on long past their current darkened view of the future. However, it’s also true that nothing of value has ever been ‘easy’ to obtain. Precious metals, nope; Money, not unless you are have a trust-fund (but believe me, someone up the chain worked hard for that luxury); fame, again, no; Heaven, good luck coasting on that one; it all requires sacrifice and hard work.

Let’s look at Ford now, still privately run (more correctly, non-goverment run), and now turning a profit through good old fashioned cash management; Once, against the wall, on the brink of bankruptcy, and yes asking for federal assistance. (But trust this could also have been a negotiating power play to gain union concessions, who really knows other than Ford executives), they have now added further proof that American ingenuity can overcome daunting odds in any situation.

This is going to sound completely like an endorsement, and maybe it is, but today’s news has inspired me and potentially earned my loyalty as a customer. When I think of a truly American car company, I will think of Ford. Maybe all of their products do not originate domestically, but I am more likely now to buy a Ford product through all of this. I am ready to see Ford bury GM as government bureaucracy will prevent GM from ever being efficient.

Now we, as consumers, as Americans, and hopefully as voters, can have an Apple-to-Apples comparison on how the government can actually make things worse by intervention (meddling). We get to finally compare Ford performance to that of government run GM.

I’m not so naïve to believe that some government assistance has helped Ford with their recent excess, but I am happy to know that they did not need Billions of dollars in aid. I am happy to see that survival instincts finally kicked in.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090723/bs_nm/us_ford

The irony in all of this is, our government can now learn a thing or two about running not only a car company, but a national budget from some of the examples Ford had put in place; not only Ford, but from other examples the business world.

Where am I going with this…well, I’m celebrating Ford’s success and attributing that success to sound business principals organized and obtained through business minded individuals.

Do you want to fix the economy? Elect businessmen, want to make more laws and stifle the American economy into further bureaucracy and unimaginable debt, continue to elect legislators (Obama, Reid, Pelosi).

Agree or not, a former business man, or even a governor of a state is much more suited to be president than any congressman, ex lawyer, or even community organizer. You then take a governor, with former business executive experience and a track record of success, well there is a winning combination. 2010-2012, make a difference, fix Washington, please?

Rant accomplished…

A reality 'check' you can cash...

Change, it's all the rage. From late night info-mercials to presidential campaigns. YOU need to CHANGE, WE need to CHANGE, CHANGE we can believe in...etc...

Well, quite frankly, you can keep your Change. Someone is...and spending it in unprecedented fashion.

Seriously, what about the last election cycle? Where is the change? What is 'New'? New rhetoric....not really. New tactics...no, not there either. You see, taxing & spending is not new. Not at all, the only thing different is that under the guise of "change" we have a whole heck of a lot more of it. Every time we have a Dem Executive branch (President) aligned with a Dem Legislative branch (House/Senate) we see an increase in spending and then taxes to pay for it. That’s same-'ol, same-'ol politics to me. Nothing changed...

I pray that next election cycle someone decides to run on a 'reality'. Slogan: "Keep the change, I want my country back... Vote XYZ Candidate 2012"

With all the new government controls (auto industry, finance, healthcare, even tobacco...), Unprecedented Spending, and...*newsflash*...taxes will increase; FOR EVERYONE...not just the $250k and above wage earners as promised. BHO is going to make an appeal soon...it started with the most recent 'roll up your sleeves' email, next will be 'empty your wallets, it's patriotic'. Trust me, its coming. In 2012, Someone needs to give the country back to the people.

We need to get back to what made this country great in the first place. Innovation, Values, Hard Work, Dedication...too many costly services are provided to too many 'eligible' (I use the term eligible very loosely) people.

Oh, but we can't cut these 'necessary' services. Really? Why not? Well, old folks may not get their medications, single mom's may not have reliable daycare, people may not get their Digital TV converter boxes, the auto industry may no longer produce cars in America, Congress won’t get new hybrids, the military will buy a few less tanks/jets/missiles, we may never see Universal Healthcare, etc...

I'm sorry, am I the only one who says that everything is negotiable? From medications, to WIC services, to defense spending...it's all fair game when you have multi-trillion dollar deficits.

The entire system is wrought with waste as well as opportunities to fine tune the budgets. Not all people who qualify for government provided social services (including welfare) need it. We've all seen the lady at the grocery store with the two carts full of groceries telling the cashier ..."Oh the front cart is for WIC"... while the back cart is loaded with junk food and cigarettes. I've always said if there were an actual audit service with a bonus structure to find waste, we'd find it, and it would more than pay for itself. BHO, are you listening? I just created X (insert your overly aggressive made up number here) jobs that would actually put money back into the taxpayers pocket. Daycare can be provided by other welfare recipients as an education/job training program. Did I just create more jobs? Wow! Most of all. Welfare is made temporary; with a set timetable that has a beginning and an end. Call it an 'exit strategy' for Welfare. The Social worker is simply a Program/Project Manager with set milestones and held accountable to his/her performance. Heck, bonus them for successful early conversions from welfare to work. Hey, you can make this a new job too! I'm on a roll!

The point is, we can all agree these are tough times, and tough times require tough decisions. The government is not responsible for my TV, my insurance, or my milk and eggs. Non-profits (with appropriate tax incentives) and other organizations can, and often do, pick up the slack when it comes to helping people thrive.

Also, at our very core, is an innovative, hard working American. Some of us lack the serious motivation to act the part when it is too easy to accept the easy way out.

No one was, or at least should have been, raised to fail. In fact, it can likely be scientifically proven that if you create a system, someone will find a way to take advantage of it. That, as poor of an example as there is, is innovation at work. Let's get people to take advantage of circumstances rather than our government.

Quotes of the day…

The union will be the death of the auto industry, and perhaps BHO’s presidency (for the obvious vote garnering payback, also known as “bailout funds”). Here’s a quote from President Obama in Chicago, addressing the AMA today:

"A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble," he said, "were the huge costs they racked up providing health care for their workers — costs that made them less profitable and less competitive with automakers around the world."

What?! So Healthcare costs led to the demise of two American auto-making icons? What about the unionized workforce that currently produces the American automobile?

Here’s a quote that seems so much more fitting.

“You can not pay someone $50.00 per hr. to build a car and sell it to someone that makes $12.00 per hr.”

I wish I could take credit for it, but alas it was an anonymous online poster responding to NASCAR’s considering allowing other foreign manufacturers into their circuits.

I make it no secret that I am a NASCAR fan, I have a yellow ‘17’ in the upper corner of the back window of my American made SUV (it’s a Ford, Explorer even). For not having a mullet, red neck, or a beer dispensing hat, I could fit into a conversation with any level of fan. I respect that they all have a passion for racing. But I digress…

I wish we had the time to talk about racing all day, me to write about it and you to read, but that’s not how it works in the real world, is it? Speaking of the real world again. Labor costs make up for a much bigger % of how profitable a business is rather than healthcare. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, profit margins exist in the narrow confines of production costs and retail price.

Kudos to Ford Motor Company for not taking any bailout money; also for negotiating with the UAW and getting the best concessions for their business to run…for now. I tend to negotiate with a little more logic, such as…”concede, or we are all out of a job”…but hey, I’ve never been much of a “union guy”. I understand how/why they were created. To protect the workers from abuse, unsafe conditions, etc…but today, those poor working conditions simply do not exist anymore. Wal-Mart, operates it’s retail/grocery store union free, and may get a bad rap for low-paid workers, but you’ve got to hand it to them…do we, as consumers, really care? The worker has federal laws protecting them from discrimination, long hours, unfair pay rates, and poor working conditions. The employee is not an indentured servant, if they disagree with the corporate policy they can file a grievance, or resign.

Back to the real world where folks are just happy to have a job, and public outcry is beginning to harden regarding labor disputes, strikes, etc. With near-historical unemployment numbers, and growing jobless claims. No one is happy to see their tax dollars go to obviously failing businesses. No one is happy to see workers fight for more money rather than making concessions to stay employed.

I am a consumer, these are hard times, if someone in China is making a better product cheaper…and I’m more apt to buy it. Does it make me un-American? Not at all…consider that China already owns our debt, our government has made the same decision, well before I did.

A prayer for President Obama…

Father, today I lift up President Obama to you. May your spirit enter his heart and provide him with Your Divine guidance. I pray that You walk beside him and guide him to act in a manner that would be more pleasing to You. Please grant him the wisdom to make appropriate decisions and lead this country as You would have us be lead.

I have personally forgiven President Obama for many of the anti-family and anti-life decisions and ask that You may be able to as well. As a follower of Christ, I fully believe in the power of redemption and ask that Your Grace be upon President Obama.

I pray that he is humbled in your presence and ask that President Obama be given every opportunity to succeed in his role. I also pray that the American people can learn to forgive each other, and ourselves as we move forward in a manner that is honoring and pleasing to You, Father.

All of this I pray in Your Holy name…

Soli Deo Gloria

Amen.

Obama's celebration of anything non-Christian

So Barrack Obama writes a proclamation to make June, National LGBT month. I wonder if he knew that June is also:

· National Adopt-A-Cat Month
· National Drive Safe Month
· National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month
· National Iced Tea Month
· National Rose Month
· National Safety Month
· National Tennis Month

As well as these other, non-National months.

· Potty Training Awareness Month
· Turkey Lovers Month (there’s a joke here somewhere…I just know it)
· Zoo and Aquarium Month
· Dairy Month
· Great Outdoors Month

I’m still finding it hard to believe the LGBT community deserves a month, but if Iced Tea (Not the Rapper) can have a month then I suppose it’s really no big deal, right? Well, its juts more ‘Change’ any of the Christians, primarily Catholics, who voted for BHO probably never counted on. Reflect for a moment, this is the same president who declined to recognize the National Day of Prayer; the same president who included, for the 1st time in History, atheists in his inaugural address while also omitting his Father’s religious preference (Muslim) stating during his inauguration speech that he is of Christian faith and his father was “agnostic”. Yet right now he is in the Middle East celebrating his Father’s Muslim heritage, almost wearing it as a badge of honor. Which is it, agnostic or Muslim? You certainly cannot be both.

I personally do not have an issue with either Muslims, Agnost’s or even Atheists, as a Jewish friend of mine would say “We can’t all be perfect” ;-) This is the same friend who said to me one time; “It’s not your fault you weren’t chosen” ;-) It is important to celebrate our Diversities, and even make light of them through humor…but to give a Day to anyone is a pretty big Deal; to give a month is a little ridiculous.

There is a trend with this president; he seems to adore, celebrate, and recognize everything. Everything that is, except the Christian faith. Challenge me on this, and I ask why has President Obama only been to Church (1) time since taking office. Don't tell me how busy he is, he makes time for basketball playoffs, baseball games, and a Super Bowl party at the White House. I don't know about you, but I went to Church Super Bowl Sunday and still made it home with hours to spare before the big game.

Say it ain't so, Lee?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090529/bs_nm/us_chrysler_iacocca

Oh no! Don’t take Lee Iacocca’s car! I hope it was one of those boxy mini-vans his group was credited with inventing and bringing Chrysler out of bankruptcy. If that were the case, I’m sure Lee’s all to ready to go out and buy a real car. "if you can find a better car, but it" - Lee Iacocca

Well Lee, I think they took your advice. It is an ironic turn of events when Lee Iacocca, the man credited with saving Chrysler from Bankruptcy in the 80’s is now the victim of the company’s lack of innovation. I read his book (autobiography) and briefly scanned "Where have all the Leaders Gone?" While waiting on my wife at Barnes and Noble (or some other mass bookseller), I can tell you that this man was innovative. He was also very charismatic in his time. Who could forget the C’s? Curiousity, Creative, Communicate, Character, Courage, Conviction, Charisma, Competent, Common Sense and the biggest one of all, Crisis. Apparently Chrysler did.

It’s a sad day, when, dare I say it. Politics, and the UAW take down the very source of their wealth. I’m not going to union bash, there are plenty of people that can and do that already. However, I will point out that in the ‘real world’ many of us have taken pay cuts just to keep our jobs. I was recently with an organization that filed Chapter 11; we had 147 retail stores along the east coast an nearly 11,000 employees. When we went into chapter 11 for the 1st time, we shuttered stores and markets, and those poor workers, that stuck it out on the promise of a payday were left holding the bag when the company decided to rescind the offer due to lack of funds. If they wanted their final paycheck, they needed to file a claim in bankruptcy court. Our CEO (very un-Iacocca like) was quoted with his famous last words; “It is what it is”. It certainly is, isn’t it Joe ;-) Our company emerged from Chapter 11 as a new company. Our assets were purchased at auction by a Hedge Fund manager who had no experience in our industry. Save the CEO and the founder, the majority of our Executives remained in tact. You know what happened? We didn’t change our business model to be more competitive. We kept marketing the same ways, selling the same ways, buying the same, etc…the only difference was a shrunken budget to try to do it all. Annnd then...We went into chapter 11 again less than 1 year later. I was fortunate to jump ship in May of 2008, the company no longer existed in any form after September 2008. No one got any form of payment, early retirement, or benefits package. This, my friends, is the real world.

Why the background on my former employer, simple, where was our bailout? We would never have asked for one, and our 11,000 workers were not union, therefore not organized to influence politics with their voting power, and not due a pay-off for future votes. (Did I say that out loud?) That, and all this happened under the Bush Administration, where you don’t bailout failing companies. AND you certainly do not invest in them. Companies fail for a reason; they are too big to afford themselves, no longer innovative, they refuse to change their business to accommodate the changing consumer, etc…

Now I’m hearing my tax dollars just earned us, as a taxpayers, 72.5% of GM shares…whoopty-doo. What a poor investment. What will be different when they emerge from Chapter 11? Will they make better cars, cheaper, and more efficiently? Nope…Anyone seen a do-do bird lately?

Rights, right?

If I say that the Prop 8 argument is about "rights" we would then be entering into a philosophical conversation, right? (It’s my blog, so I say yes) Right: So I begin with some questions: What are we entitled to, that can not be denied, and ultimately makes us all equal? Certain inalienable rights apply, and are truly constitutional. Like it or not, the US constitution was founded upon and drafted fully in the presence of men who firmly lived Judeo-Christian values. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…right? Is marriage an equality issue? Not at all, marriage is a choice rooted in religion, some would argue marriage was designed and is ordained by God. It certainly isn’t an inalienable right.

You may believe you can “choose” to be religious or not, and that choice has a specific set of guidelines you are to follow while calling your self religious. You can also "choose" to get married just as you can "choose" to be gay (save me the murky arguments about this undiscovered Gay gene, then why do people become un-gay? does the gene go away?). By making these choices, you are accepting some generally agreed upon operating guidelines, which are pretty well known. Choices are by no means rights, or constitutionally protected. If I chose to be married I let go of my ‘singleness’, I chose to be with my wife from this day forward forsaking all others, etc. If I chose to be gay, I accept that I may lose the opportunity to be married in a Church, I also chose to align myself with a minority group that can face adversity.

Here’s the deal: If we go around and label a choice as a right, then what happens when the choice sparks a new group whose choices translate into a new set of rights? Then what we are saying is, one’s rights are determined by the mere existence of any group that can rationalize choice, no matter how that group’s existence is viewed by the majority of society.

The homosexual community looks to challenge the definition of marriage by changing it from 1-man and 1-woman into 2-people; ironically by doing that, they in fact still leave a definition that would be an exclusion to any 3-people who want to get married. However, ask a homosexual group about it’s stance on that subject and you will hear that it is not valid. Where’s the tolerance for polygamist groups ;-) Laughably, the thought of 2 or more nagging wives is amusing…but that’s another rant for another time. I personally could not afford more than one wife, think about the unimaginable increase in toilet paper usage…but I digress.

How is it that a one group can change the definition for their subset, but not for others that want a more liberal definition taken into consideration? This is precisely why religion and politics are kept out of public schools; a subset of individuals can not monopolize rights that are certain, with rights that a particular group chooses to adopt. Poor kids are confused enough with high school stuff, like proms (ever try pinning a boutonniere on yourself?) Again, I digress.

It begs me to ask; where does it end? If everything is ok, then what is no longer ok? Society is not obligated to offer every single amenity offered to any individual to all individuals.

Unfortunately, this is what happens when we become all too “politically correct”. When we lose our moral compass, stop listening to tried and true principles of our faiths, our founding forefathers, and begin to follow our hearts rather than our minds. Let’s be honest with ourselves, “All progress begins by telling the truth” –Lou Cassara.

At the very least, look at your history book and begin to analyze the fall of Rome. People relied on the government for all of their services, and grew increasingly dependant. Government was so big it could not afford itself, nor afford to protect itself, and then…you get the picture.

I have grown weary of everything having to be politicized. Hence my lack of blogging lately. This moral and ethical argument is a non-point anymore; laws are created to favor the majority viewpoint. Politics are played to sway groups to form a majority opinion. The tool is the media and he with the bigger wallet (translated to media buying power) usually wins. This is how you force a minority “issue”, regardless of its moral and ethical standing, into a popular opinion contest.