The Wizard of Orange

I have used this analogy before, but there is a certain Presidential candidate who is doing his best impersonating the Wizard of Oz. The other night on PBS Newshour, two financial reporters, who had delved deeply into this candidate’s business affairs, used that term to describe his poor business management skills – he does not want you to look behind the curtain. They did say he was superb at public relations skills equating him to P.T. Barnum, of circus fame, who once said “There is a sucker born every minute.”

A lot of this poor management is likely apparent in the candidate’s tax returns, yet he is the lone Presidential candidate to not release them since Richard Nixon started the practice. Some have provided two years, while guess who has provided the most in-depth release of 39 returns – one Hillary Clinton. While the man said no one cares about his returns, it turns out 67% of Americans do in a recent Rasmussen poll. The reason cited is he is under audit, but he would not be the first one to do so under audit, nor is an audit preventing him from releasing older accepted tax returns.

But, the lack of tax returns did not prevent these reporters from reviewing the man’s business history. His early career was heavily laden with debt financing, so much that it led to several bankruptcies of his companies. The corporate bankruptcies almost led to his personal bankruptcy. They noted the stories of his looking out only for his interests, while screwing others over through stiffing contractors, employees and co-investors are “all true.” They said he was quoted as saying about others “that is their problem.” This is a key reason for his many lawsuits, which number more than 3,500 per a USA Today article in June.

His later career is not using debt as much. He is “renting” his name to other developers where he has nothing to do with the property. This is so they can charge more to unwitting buyers. The candidate gets his royalties and goes about his business. I personally find this exploitive at best and unethical at worst, but he would not be the first person to sell his name. My guess is he loves this, as he gets money for very little risk, as he can pull out at any time, which has led to even more lawsuits.

These reporters were not high on the candidate’s business acumen. They added that he also seems to have less grasp of financing than he touts and has made several errors attempting to equate this business knowledge to federal financing. When pressed, they noted his consummate skill at PR. He can sell his name better than anyone can theirs. This is not the kind of man we need leading our country as he would not be putting the interests of others first.

 

 

 

Mid-week Musings

Happy Wednesday everyone. Since I am having trouble coming up with a topic, here are a few miscellaneous musings.

In our country and others, there are some nativists who are arguing retrenching and involving themselves less with the world. That is a huge mistake as you cannot shrink to greatness. A global economy provides opportunity for all with jobs growing here and there. The entire equation of foreign companies expanding here must be included to get the full impact, along with accessing the global job market for young workers.

The best indicator of how a politician will govern is his or her history. If someone has a history of exploiting others, it is a sure bet they will exploit people while governing. This is the best reason not to vote for Donald Trump. It is all about The Donald and always will be. It would be out of character for Trump to think of the welfare of others before his.

Congress is back in session after being away for seven weeks. So, at least for seven weeks, we did not have to listen to the BS that permeates the place. They have some urgent things to do in only three weeks such as funding the government and Zika prevention efforts. Yet, I am sure the GOP will spend more time trying to discredit Hillary Clinton. This imperfect woman has faced more unfair criticism than any candidate I can recall, but she remains a better candidate than any of her competitors, even with her faults.

I am excited that China and the US have ratified the Paris Climate Change agreement. The two biggest polluters offer an important signal to the rest of the world. Good progress has been made, but we must leverage our efforts even more. Without the leadership of these two countries, progress would be minimal.

That is all I have for now. Have a great rest of the week.

A Labor of Love – why Mother Teresa should be so honored

Happy Labor Day everyone. Even if your country does not celebrate today, best regards for your toil for you and your family.

Irrespective of where we live, we work to make a better life and to keep a roof over our heads and feed our families and selves. Whether we like our jobs, we do what we have to do.

Yesterday, Pope Francis honored a hardworking woman officially making a Saint out of Mother Teresa. The Pope even said, while she is now a Saint, she will always be our Mother.

To be a Saint, the person has to perform at least two miracles. I find that a little over the top, myself. With respect to Mother Teresa, her miracle was helping people in need with care and kindness. She did these things throughout the day. Then, she got up the next day and each day thereafter to do them again.

I read in her diaries, she wrote how on occasion she did not know how she could go on. She would pray for strength to carry on. I find this humanity and humility so very compelling.

To me, these confessions to her diary show that even one of the finest people to ever walk the earth had doubts. Her doubts show that it is OK to be human. Just do your best and honor your God, your fellow people and yourself by treating people the way you want to be treated.

The miracle of Saint Teresa is she lived the words that Jesus taught us. Irrespective of one’s religion or spirituality, admiration for what she did is pervasive. Thank you Mother Teresa.

Leadership is not beating on your chest

I have written before that a key characteristic of a great leader is to deflect credit to others. Such a leader understands that most achievement is leveraged by a team of people who executes ideas or serves its customers.

Conversely, when you hear a leader or wanna-be leader take credit, even when undue, it is a sure sign that this person’s ego will get in the way of organizational success. If you hear too many “I’s” and “me’s” and too few “”we’s” and “us'” then that should give you pause. A candidate recently said ” I alone can solve this” which  should be sufficient by itself to discount his candidacy.

Our blogging friend Persia, who writes under a blog called “Blog of a Mad Black Woman,” has written numerous posts about exiting a narcissistic relationship. While she is from the UK, she does not have full advantage of how accurately she has defined the candidate I quoted from above who is running for President.

Her latest post, which can be linked to below, is a perfect example. In this post she compares the leadership attributes versus those of a psychopath, which is an extreme version of a narcissist. It is a quick read, but well worth it. In it, you can easily see why this candidate is scary.

https://blogofamadblackwoman.com/2016/09/02/leadership-trait-vs-psychopathic-trait/

Letters from Tolstoy to Gandhi

A friend of mine sent me a wonderful link which reveals, in summary, the contents of letters written by Leo Tolstoy to Mohandas Gandhi. Tolstoy was strongly advocating that love and passive resistance were needed to free people from disenfranchisement.

Here are two quotes from Tolstoy that I plucked from the link.

It is natural for men to help and to love one another, but not to torture and to kill one another.

As soon as men live entirely in accord with the law of love natural to their hearts and now revealed to them, which excludes all resistance by violence, and therefore hold aloof from all participation in violence — as soon as this happens, not only will hundreds be unable to enslave millions, but not even millions will be able to enslave a single individual.

Given the gravitas, causes and notoriety of these men, this is a fascinating read. The summary is not too long, but does offer links to the letters.

A key takeaway that resonates still today is fear mongering has been around for a long time. It serves as an enabler for a few to oppress the many. Per Tolstoy and Gandhi, it is defeated with love and passive resistance, not violence. In fact, Tolstoy rightfully asserts violence only begets more violence.

What makes this so impactful is Gandhi was an influence on Martin Luther King, so these writings are a terrific window into the seeds of civil disobedience.

https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/08/21/leo-tolstoy-gandhi-letter-to-a-hindu/

 

Can we start this date over?

Mind you, I am far from perfect, so please remember that as you read on. Like many, I have well intentioned friends who set me up on blind dates.

Now, I have been married for over 31 years, so these dates were before the Internet and social media. So, my dates were truly sight unseen.

One of my blind dates was a teacher, but on our first date in June, she told me she was headed to be a camp counselor for the summer the next day. So, why didn’t we delay? It went fine, but it was a sole date.

One of my blind dates told me she had only one kidney. I found that to be in the too much information category, at least for a first date. It is a hard comment to respond to as conversation goes down a different path. She was nice, but we did not connect.

Another was very nice and we went on several dates, but I think I was more into her than she was into me. The excuses not to go out were more frequent, so our brief relationship waned. What I remember today about her is her cousin was a successful pro golfer and she was cute.

Another blind date was going well. She was very inquisitive and when I returned the favor, she’d caught me off guard. “What do you do?’ I asked. “I am a minister,” she responded. Had I been older and more mature, I would have been OK with this. But, at the age I was, having carnal knowledge with a minister was something I was not ready for.

A final blind date I will mention turned out to be rude. Even as a young man, I have always tried to be polite. So, irrespective of how pretty she was, her rudeness was off-putting. I could not wait to end this date.

I know I have bored the hell out of some dates or just was not their cup of tea. They likely have similar stories. I do know I am so glad I no longer have to date. My wife invited me out for a drink with her brother and his wife for our first date. She says it was because she had noticed me while on crutches. I guess I was looking pitiful.

Tell me about some of your interesting dates, blind or otherwise.