I'm beginning to think our country is in a funk.  I'm not sure I've ever seen it more divided than it is today, and I wonder how did WE let this happen?  I can only assume that in the process of "living" we have not paid attention to what's going on around us, and here we are in this malaise. 

The problem is that the national condition affects us in so many ways.  It makes it difficult to make a living.  It causes stress that doesn't need to be there, and it pits one person against another, or one group against another for reasons that would not have been an issue a decade before.  It's a great prescription for a national disaster.

It's time to return to common sense, openness and honest governance and commerce.  Let's look at some of the examples of things that are distracting us while we look for solutions.

• Honest governance.  In the last weekly jobs report, the total number of new jobs created were listed at 103,000.  That doesn't sound too bad, but in that number is 43,000 Verizon workers who were on strike and went back to work.  Was the number honest?  Absolutely not!  The Verizon workers were not new jobs.  It paints a picture of an improvement, but it's a false number.  We need to hold our government (national, state, and local) accountable for openly and blatantly lying to the American public.  This simple example is one of hundred.  The ballet box is a great paddle to punish lying politicians. 
• Why are more jobs not being created?  It's not simply because the rich aren't sharing their wealth as some would have you believe.  One of the primary reasons is because there is an extremely low demand for products and services.  When people are concerned about the future, they tighten their belts.  If they aren't spending there is little to no demand.  
• Government isn't designed to be a job creator.  The long-term jobs government creates are government workers.  Government workers are paid through taxation.  If the public is struggling financially, additional taxation becomes one more financial burden.  The best job creators are in the private sector.
• Corporations are in business to make money.  That being said, our question should be, "Why can't companies make money in this country?"  If they can, and greed is their sole motivator to move overseas, then the easy response is to stop buying their products.  If you cut off their source of income, they will adjust or take their products to other markets.  If they move to another market, that will open the door for a new product provider in this country.  If they can't make money in this country we should ask, "Why?"  The US has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world.  If our government policies are structured so that corporations are being punished for making profits the corporations will leave, and so will jobs.  If some corporations are leaving the country to avoid taxation, we need to adjust our tax policy to make it possible for them to stay, make a profit and be a good corporate citizen.  If companies are not paying taxes, like GE, we need to find out what created an environment where they could escape taxation while making massive corporate profits.  Don't be afraid to ask why, why, why.
• Common sense needs to reign.  If you complain about the pain in your thumb, but you keep banging it with a hammer, you need to stop that!  Einstien's famous insanity saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is true in business and government.  So much of what our government does makes little sense, but it tends to cost lots of money.  Business tends to get pretty lean when times get tough. Government tends to stay the same size and potentially inefficient.  I think the post office is a great example of a government born operation that has not made the adjustments necessary to stay relevant.  Common sense would demand that it become lean and more efficient, but the most common approach to it's failing business model is to increase postage rates.  The increases drive customers away while other mediums of delivery increase. 

We could discuss these issues over a hundred blogs, but don't be afraid to ask tough questions, and don't be satisfied with answers until you have uncovered every truth.  Our nation's future is something that needs to exceed partisan ideologies.  I want my children to live in a country that offers them the same opportunities it offered me.  It won't on the current track.  It's time to get out of this funk and make some serious changes.  This time, let's make changes that make sense and make improvements.

 

********************************************************************************

Give me a call for all your real estate needs, and let's make something amazing happen. 

Mike Cooper @ Cornerstone Business Group, Inc., 888-722-6029

Real Estate Sales and Property Management

 

(Disclaimer:  All grammatical mistakes, punctuation breakdowns and misspellings are purely for your amusement and entertainment.  Feel free to cackle.)