Civility
Civility and thoughtfulness and manners–it was George Washington’s forte and ‘competitive advantage,’ and it’s worked for me in far, far, far more humble settings.
–Tom Peters
Costco publishes a monthly magazine called the “Costco Connection,” and in each issue the editors pose a debate question and asks readers to respond. A recent issue of this magazine asked the question “Is civility dead?” Interestingly, 71% of the respondents answered YES. It appears that the vast majority of people (who read the Costco Connection) believe that civility is indeed dead.
Obviously, this is not a scientific poll and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But, I think it does say something about our U.S. society. Of course there are many caring, and giving, people all across the nation, but I think what is being considered here is the everyday experience of interacting with our rapidly changing narcissistic culture.
What do you think—is civility dead, or dying, in the U.S.?
Winter Olympics
Well, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver kick off tonight with the opening ceremonies. So, in keeping with the spirit of the games, I thought I’d share a bit of trivia for your contemplation.
- NBC paid $820 Million for the broadcast rights to the games—34% more than they paid for the rights to broadcast the 2006 games.
- The 2010 games are costing Canada $7.85 Billion, of which $1 Billion is for security alone. (What has happened to our world where so much security is needed for a “sporting” event? What is mankind becoming?)
- The most profitable Olympics were held in Los Angeles in 1984, with $464 Million (today’s dollars) profit.
- Rumors estimate the cost of the next winter games in Sochi, Russia at $33 Billion.
- The most expensive Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008 where they dropped a cool $40 Billion. (I imagine much of that expense was for facilities that did not exist prior to the games).
- The Royal Canadian Mint extracted gold, silver, and copper from 6.8 TONS of electronic trash headed for the landfill, to make 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympics medals.
- Today’s Olympic Gold Medals are 92.5% silver (the rest copper), covered with 6 grams of gold plating.
- The last all-gold medals were made for the winter Olympics in Stockholm—in 1912.
I hope these Winter Olympics are profitable for Canada, and I wish the best of luck to all the participants!
For The Holiday Season
This is a message I received from Mark Johnson of Playing for Change, and I wanted to share it with everyone:
“Behind the storms of daily conflict, crisis and struggle, it is the artist, and the poet and the musician that continues the quiet work of the centuries, building bridges of experience between peoples, and reminding us the universality of our feelings, desires, and despairs, and reminding us that the forces that unite are deeper than those that divide.”
(email subscribers, view on my blog)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!
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Wake Up Business People!
It is well enough that people of this nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
—Henry Ford
The banking and monetary system Henry Ford was referring to is the system that recently plunged our country into the worst recession since the 1930’s. Now, that same system is up to their old tricks again.
Paul Krugman wrote an OP-ED piece for the New York Times yesterday, and here is the first paragraph:
Americans are angry at Wall Street, and rightly so. First the financial industry plunged us into economic crisis, then it was bailed out at taxpayer expense. And now, with the economy still deeply depressed, the industry is paying itself gigantic bonuses. If you aren’t outraged, you haven’t been paying attention.
Please take the time to read Krugman’s article here.
The antics of Wall Street are currently constructing the exact same scenario that just required taxpayer bailouts. According to Krugman, Andrew J. Hall, of Citigroup (the bank currently propped up with $45 Billion of taxpayer money) is now owed $100 Million, according to his employment contract.
Why does any of this matter to the small-business person? First of all, because Wall Street is using taxpayer money (your money) as part of their operating capital—with no benefit to you or your business.
Secondly, it is small business that will rebuild our economy and put people back to work—not Wall Street. It will therefore fall on small business (and their employees) to pay the bills of government assistance to failing companies….and there is no end in sight.
Are we “…ready to face up to the fact that we’ve become a society in which the big bucks go to bad actors, a society that lavishly rewards those who make us poorer(?)” (Paul Krugman)
I would like to hear from anyone who agrees, or disagrees, with Krugman’s assessment of our current financial system.
Global Competition
The July 20, 2009 issue of Fortune magazine published its annual Global 500 special section, giving information on the performance of the 500 largest companies in the world. Some interesting things can be interpreted from this special report. Let’s take a look.
Top 7 corporations in the world, by Revenue:
- Royal Dutch Shell – Netherlands
- Exxon Mobil – U.S.
- Wal-Mart Stores – U.S.
- BP – Britain
- Chevron – U.S.
- Total – France
- ConocoPhilips – U.S.
Note that Wal-Mart Stores is the only non-oil company on this list. Is oil a really big business in the world, or what? Do we really think that big oil will support alternative energy?
Top 6 most profitable corporations in the world:
- Exxon Mobil – U.S.
- Gazprom – Russia
- Royal Dutch Shell – Netherlands
- Chevron – U.S.
- BP – Britain
- Petrobras – Brazil
Well, apparently, oil pays well, since the six most profitable businesses in the world are all oil corporations.
Interesting Observations:
• Of the top 100 largest corporations in the world, there are only 5 American manufacturing companies.
- General Motors – no. 18
- Ford – no. 19
- Hewlett-Packard – no. 32
- IBM – no. 45
- Proctor and Gamble – no. 68
• The two most profitable banks in the world are Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.
• America has 6 of the top 10 money-losing companies in the world, and only two of them are financial institutions.
• Since 1998, the number of American companies in the Global 500 have dropped from 185 to 140, a 24% decrease.
• Since 1998, the number of Chinese companies in the Global 500 has risen from 6 to 37, a 616 % increase.
What can we learn?
First, it is obvious that big business in America has trouble competing in the world market. If it wasn’t for U.S. oil companies, our position would be even more abysmal. Considering the declining number of U.S. companies on the Global 500 list, it is easy to conclude that the future for big business in the U.S. is pretty dismal.
The good news is that small business can pick up the slack in world trade left by the big guys. Every small business in America should be factoring world-wide trade into their business plans. From a sales and marketing standpoint—think globally!
UAW vs. the UAW?
One of my readers asked what my take was on the ownership of Chrysler and GM stock by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. Here is what I see today.
Restructuring of the auto industry by the government auto task force (Treasury staffers, and the Boston Consulting Group) requires the United Auto Workers (UAW) to become shareholders in both Chrysler and GM. This is because the union’s employee trust–VEBA–(this is the one that manages health care for workers and retirees) is owed about $9 billion by Chrysler, and about $20 billion by GM. Yes…that’s BILLION dollars. So, the government task force is forcing the UAW to take shares of stock for one-half of those obligations.
The UAW has taken about 55% of Chrysler’s total shares, and is expected to take about 39% of GM’s total shares. Although the union plans on selling their shares “eventually,” they are now faced with some unusual issues for a union. Here are just some of them:
- The union’s trust (VEBA) needs the money owed them in order to remain solvent. So, if the value of the shares received does not go up rather quickly, so the union can sell their shares, the trust will run out of money. Hard to say which will come first, or if Chrysler, for instance, ever does create shareholder value.
- Many people have the perception that the UAW is to blame for the downfall of the auto industry, and now owns a great deal of it. This will be a problem when the union tries to organize the workers of other industries, like casino workers in Atlantic City.
- When the UAW tries to organize another automaker (Honda?), they will be viewed as a substantial owner of competitors, and therefore will have a conflict of interest.
- When bargaining for the next contract, every dollar the union gains for the workers is a dollar of value the UAW may lose from their shares in the company. If bargaining reaches an impasse, and the union goes out on strike, thus crashing the stock value…who are they actually hurting?
There are other more subtle problems the union is going to have in this situation, but as UAW President, Ron Gettelfinger pointed out…this is still the best option available.
What do some others think about this situation?
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