Archive for 2010
Monday, March 8th, 2010
The United States of America enjoys many riches, inherent capabilities and positive attributes, as well as shortcomings, unresolved issues and a converging set of existential threats.
The challenge is to be aware of the upsides of the United States without becoming defiantly hostile to any discussion of specific shortcomings or ways ...
Posted in Cultures, Econ / Finance, Outside the Fishbowl, US Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
“…our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are … testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” – Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
*******
The United States ...
Posted in Cultures, Econ / Finance, Geopolitics, Outside the Fishbowl, US Politics, health care reform | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
More than 9 out of 10 patients do not change their lifestyles in response to their doctor’s recommendations.
More than 70 percent of corporate change efforts fail.
Humans hate change.
It’s a simple fact of life. There isn’t any easy way around it. In general, humans hate change.
That rule extends beyond individuals into ...
Posted in Business, Cultures, US Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
As any school kid can tell you, the quickest way to get from point A to point B is a straight line.
However, life doesn’t usually work in straight lines, and just like driving a car, getting anything from A to B is usually a long series of slight corrections: a ...
Posted in US Politics | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 1st, 2010
The federal government of the United States of America is divided into three branches: executive (the president and vice president), judiciary (Supreme Court and federal judges) and the Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). Of these three, two branches are elected, the executive and Congress, while the judiciary ...
Posted in US Politics | No Comments »
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
Americans often have suspicions regarding their elected officials and money. Specifically, what are the politicians doing with all that money they are swimming in, and does any of that money stick to their fingers?
It’s difficult to not be suspicious when the 2008 elections rang in at a cost of $5.3 ...
Posted in US Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
In the posts Show Me Your Budget and Buying Boxes I addressed the components and priorities of the United States government budget and how we as a nation pay for that budget. What I did not address are the components of that budget that are on rapid growth curves and ...
Posted in Econ / Finance, US Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
In the post Show Me Your Budget, I addressed the U.S. federal budget via an illustration that used proportionally sized boxes to reflect spending priorities. What I didn’t cover was how we pay for those boxes, both the overall box of the entire budget, as well as its constituent departments ...
Posted in Econ / Finance, Geopolitics, US Politics | 1 Comment »
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
In my book, How The World Works, entry 512 is Priorities vs. Budgets.
It reads:
“As a business management consultant I heard a lot about priorities. In the introductory meeting and group management team interviews, senior executives would drone on endlessly about the organization’s priorities. Top priority this and critical priority that; it ...
Posted in Cultures, Econ / Finance, US Politics | 4 Comments »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
One of the little known facts of Apple’s history is that Apple wasn’t the creation of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Apple was actually founded by three guys: Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Ron Wayne.
The equity split was Wozniak 45%, Jobs 45% and Wayne 10%.
Wozniak recalls, “Steve had 45 percent ...
Posted in Business, Sci / Tech | No Comments »
