ENOUGH, FOR TOO LONG

Posted at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) Reblog (0) MARCH 16, 2012

  THE ENTERPRISE--WHEN HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PRESIDENT'S DECEPTION? 




COUNTING DOWN just 9 days TO BUY HOPE IS NOTA STRATEGY: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency at www.amazon.com. OUR GOAL IS TO CONCENTRATE ORDERING OF AS MANY COPIES AS POSSIBLE OF THE BOOK INTO THE "LAUNCH WEEK"--MARCH 25-29. ORDER MULTIPLE COPIES; GIVE THEM TO YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND ANYONE ELSE WHO'S VOTING IN NOVEMBER. I IT WILL BE THE BEST "GIFT" (INVESTMENT) YOU HAVE MADE IN A LONG TIME! TO RECEIVE NOTICE OF WHEN THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE, GO TO THE WEB SITE: http://www.hopeisnotastrategybook.com AND SIGN UP!


 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW…OR WANT TO CONFIRM In the 2000's manufacturing productivity grew by 74%, but remember that means more work was done by fewer people. Productivity is critical to competitiveness, but only if that competitiveness leads to creation of new jobs--IN THE USA. If US companies improve productivity by outsourcing, that doesn't help the USA nearly enough. CHINA'S COSTS ARE GOING UP--ESPECIALLY WAGES AND JOB RELATED REGULATIONS Work is moving to other Asian countries, and even to Latin America. Soon some work might actually be headed back to the USA. There is a problem in the US. Over 500,000--a half million jobs remain unfilled in manufacturing, because of shortages of skilled workers in the right places. Instead of just handing out 99 weeks worth of unemployment … and food stamps to 44 million Americans ($72/wk. nearly $300/mo.) it's time to put "WORKFARE" in place of "welfare." Insist that these unemployed people go through training, run by companies who get first rights to hire the graduates, and monitored by the government with subsidies/rebates to employers upon completion, when the people DO go to work.

 I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO BELIEVE THE JOBS FIGURES Government statistics are known to be adjusted after the fact. The question is, in which direction will these be adjusted? Private job estimates for the past two months were only 181,000 and 149,000, not 243,000 and 227,000 published. I don't know which is right--but watch for adjustments coming! On issue is that the hard cuts in employment and the prolonged resistance to hiring, created a pent up rebound in job demand. The big question is, can it hold up with economic growth lingering below 3%. Time will tell.

 THINGS WE MIGHT NOT WANT TO ADMIT--OR ACCEPT One out of every five Americans relies on federal aid to get food, housing, education or health care. (That includes Social Security and Medicare, etc.) That's 67 million people. Government assistance programs now cost $2.5 trillion per year--70% of the Federal Budget. Worst of all, the US is creating a culture of dependence. The problem is that many pf us--myself included--don't think of ourselves as being part of the Federal budget problem! Even when we feel we are entitled, because we paid into those programs for decades--they are still becoming unaffordable. (Because Social Security funds were not "invested" a "market returns," they have not grown over time, and in fact, have been spent on other government programs.

 RECOVERY COMING ALONG--SLOWLY, FRAGILE The latest jobs numbers (227,000 jobs added last month, indicate a slow recovery is underway. Consumer debt increased during the month and that indicates that discretionary spending is not keeping up with consumer needs. No doubt more of the consumer's money is being consumed by high GAS prices. We've been down this road once before, back when Bush was President and oil speculation drove up prices at the pump. At that time, it became apparent that a new, better ENERGY POLICY was needed. President Obama's idealistic goal of "green energy" is a noble one--and it is also one that will cause enormous pain and suffering among Americans. Unemployment by the flawed measure remains at 8.3%, but in actuality, is more like 15-16%. New jobless claims have dropped to "only" 350,000 Americans each month--and that is still not a very encouraging level. High GAS PRICES will trim one percentage point from US growth if they stay up, but a mild winter has caused lower heating bills. Lower growth means lower consumer spending and thus lower employment, which means lower consumer income, which means lower consumer spending, which means….get it…sluggishness in the economy?

 THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEORY AND REALITY "Green energy" simply costs more to produce, and the sources are often far from where it is consumed (wind farms in the Great Plains or offshore (out of sight), solar farms in the SW Deserts, tidal power on the East Coast and hydroelectric in the Pacific NW). Meanwhile huge deposits of oil remain untapped in the ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve) and in Canada and the Dakotas (Oil shale). However a PIPELINE is needed to get that oil to where there are refineries (mostly along the Gulf Coast). Unfortunately, the President stalled the Keystone Pipeline for POLITICAL reasons--penalizing Americans in multiple ways--fewer jobs, less oil to refine and more dependency on foreign sources of oil. Meanwhile, the US has plenty of POTENTIAL ENERGY if only it were exploited and used (and that is without increasing reliance on "dirty" coal). Natural Gas is plentiful--and it is found and tapped by DRILLING! All of this would create thousands of US jobs and additional tax revenue to help repair Obama's staggering deficit spending.

 THE US CAN BECOME ENERGY INDEPENDENT--OF THE MIDDLE EAST, AND HUGO CHAVEZ, AT LEAST If the government would allow (gasp, encourage) drilling and exploration for all of America's vast hydrocarbon energy resources we could be free from the tyranny of OPEC and the Middle Eastern despots, and could actually reduce those unfriendly countries income sources dramatically. Why aren't we doing it? Because we have an appeaser and a Muslim sympathizer in the White House. The threat of the Straits of Hormuz being restricted by Iran would become a much less important issue to the USA. The other parts of the world would become much more aggressive with Iran in that case--relieving the US burden to rein in that rogue country's government


. PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS ALL BUT "DISAPPEARED" THE PAST 2+ YEARS OF MISERY IN HIS ARTFUL RHETORIC
It's like he's a magician who made the 2009-2011 malaise "disappear" amidst his speeches full of half-truths and outright illusions. He was quick to criticize Bush over high gas prices, but these are not his fault. After all, he only banned drilling and exploration for a couple of years, wasted billions on unproductive, failed green energy boondoggles and most recently, stopped the Keystone pipeline construction--blocking jobs and oil from which US consumers could benefit. The craziest part of this is that IF OBAMA HAD TURNED LOOSE THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY, IT WOULD HAVE CREATED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF JOBS AND PAID BILLIONS IN TAXES INTO THE TREASURY. Once again, the Prez. shot himself in the foot due to his unparalleled brilliance.

 WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE ELECTION? A LOT! CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE POSTED BELOW. The big challenge in Nov. 2012 is for the GOP to HOLD THE HOUSE AND TAKE CONTROL OF THE SENATE, WHILE REPLACING OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE. That's a tall order--but not impossible. Obamacare is still crippling Americans and taking away their inalienable rights to liberty (freedoms). Regulations still overhang small and mid-size job creator companies. Large companies are still hoarding cash, much of it off shore, to avoid the US high tax levels. Growth is still lukewarm at under 3%. 11 million people have simply dropped off the radar of joblessness and go uncounted, while 13-14 million are "officially" unemployed, and countless more are "underemployed." Housing is still way, way down, and still showing very little in the way of growth. This Obama recovery only feels good because what preceded it was so BAD.

 WE NEED A PROVEN LEADER IN THE WHITE HOUSE --Mitt Romney is a proven leader; a good man; and one who cares about America and knows how to get it on the road to recovery. --Rick Santorum is a passionate young man, but he is both light/narrow on leadership experience and too heavy on social issue zeal. --Newt Gingrich is smart as hell, and meteoric, and will not give up for some time. He's also not electable. --Ron Paul has a lot of good ideas and a lot of strange ones too. He wants to influence the agenda--(and maybe get his son a VP spot on the ticket?)

THE REAL QUESTION IS "WHEN" WILL AMERICANS COME TO THEIR SENSES AND RISE UP TO SAY "ENOUGH!" AND PICK A CANDIDATE WHO CAN GET RID OF BARACK OBAMA, HIS DEFICITS, HIS LIES, CZARS, AND HIS APPOINTED MINIONS, (AND THE HARRY REID LED DEMOCRATS IN THE SENATE TOO)? I HOPE IT'S IN 2012. BEST, JOHN




********************** NEW BOOK COMING VERY SOON: HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency, co-authored with D. M. Lukas, in paperback & Kindle editions at www.amazon.com GO SEE NEW WEB SITE: http://www.hopeisnotastrategybook.com Author of the Award Winner: THE COMPLEXITY CRISIS, and the exciting novel: THE CHINESE CONSPIRACY. Come see my blog posts on Forbes.com John L. Mariotti, President & CEO, The Enterprise Group, http://www.mariotti.net, http://mariotti.blogs.com/my_weblog/ Posted at 10:39 PM in WEEKLY NEWSLETTER | Permalink | Comments (0) Technorati Tags: HOPE, leadership, lessons, Obama, Presidench, STRATEGY Reblog (0) MARCH 14, 2012 Countdown to launch: HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency. Less than two weeks to buy it on www.amazon.com Posted at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)