Underneath a few headlines

We get so consumed with the person who shall not be named, we lose sight of other stories. Here are a few on this Father’s Day.

– Hong Kong citizens reminded the financial city leaders they are promised a different path forward by their owner. One million people equal to 1/7 of the city’s population protested the proposed law to extradite people to mainland China. The law was postponed, as a result. It should be noted some big money investors threatened to move money to Singapore to aid their cause. I applaud their protest and shows the power of people. China can ill-afford the notoriety or flight of capital away from Hong Kong.

– An issue that needs attention today, is a subset of our US debt issue. Social Security will soon pay out more than its revenues. This will draw down the trust fund in a way to require automatic 20% cuts in sixteen years. Of course, we could act now and make less onerous changes, but politicians are not even talking about this issue, which is par for the course, in my view. Why plan ahead they ask by their failure to act? I have seen exercises where a group of locals solve the Social Security funding dilemma. It should not be that hard for our representatives to act like such.

– Another shooting at Costco in the Los Angeles area occurred this weekend. Public shootings are now so commonplace in the US, it made page four of my newspaper. And, that shows how derelict our so-called leaders are in failing to do anything of substance. We have become too inured to gun deaths in the US. This makes me sad and angry that our representatives are failing to address a huge problem that is killing people. If Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings can’t bring greater change, I truly do not know what will.

– Both Brazil and the US need more doctors, especially in rural areas. Brazil is seeing visiting Cuban doctors bail on them, as they are not getting paid what they are owed. Why is a good question? In the US, medical students are going more into specialty areas. With student debt, it is hard to practice in low income areas and in lower margin general services. There are good ideas with telemedicine, but doctors need to see their patients up close to assess risk, physical and environmental.

If you have not heard of these issues, it reveals how little we pay attention to news and news not related to a someone who commands so much attention. I am hard pressed to ever remember an occupant in the White House consume so much attention.

I could use a heavy dose of boring competence in a leader who need not be the center of attention. Maybe then, we could address some of these issues. So, let’s celebrate Hong Kong’s successful protest and speak to issues like these and others. Again, I hope fathers are having a wonderful day.

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Just to be clear

Cutting through a lot of noise in the news, just to be clear:

– Getting dirt on a campaign opponent from a foreign entity is something of value – it is illegal to do this no matter how much it is rationalized by sycophants in your party. The message lost on the man in the White House is you don’t want to be beholden to a foreign government – that is why the law exists. The key question for me is the man speaking only of the future?

– Watching the US Open at Pebble Beach on Monterrey Peninsula, my wife and I recall playing this course in 1992 about two months before the US Open at the same course. It is as beautiful as it looks on TV. The pros make this hard course look easy. Yet, one thing they don’t tell you on TV is guard your valuables and food as the seagulls swoop down and take them from unattended golf carts.

– When the Special Counsel in the Justice department, who the president appointed, says someone on the president’s staff is in violation of the Hatch Act (politicking on the taxpayer’s dime) after multiple warnings to cease and desist, action is required. Yet, unless she resigns, the “law does not apply to me” president won’t take action.

– On the same trip we played Pebble Beach, my friend (we traveled with another couple) and I played Spyglass Hill as well. Pebble was hard, but Spyglass was painful. The first hole is over 600 yards – I thought I would never get to the green. We also played a course named Spanish Bay where the marshes are protected by law. You could see the result of an errant golf shot, but could not reclaim it due to the postings.

– Senator Mitch McConnell is the key blocker in passing a bill to further protect our election process. I have heard a security expert and a conservative pundit be critical of McConnell’s weak-kneed response. Both of these commenters said it us because McConnell did not want to hurt the president’s feelings as he gets volatile thinking people are questioning his legitimacy. Note the major take away from the Mueller report is the Russians influenced our elections. And, just today, there is an article that the EU thinks the Russians impacted their recent vote through social media.This is an indicting criticism of McConnell. Please ask him why.

– The golf trip in 1992 led us to wine country for two days of tours. Too many tastes of wine will get you snockered. An interesting memory is the owner of one winery was out mowing the grass as we visited. Our final two days were in San Francisco, my favorite American city. We took the advice of our B&B chef and enjoyed some neat restaurants, one of which the wait staff sang opera and Broadway songs while serving.

– As with the US president, if the Brits end up with Boris Johnson as Prime Minister the two leading English speaking countries will be led by two people who have a very hard time with truth. That makes me sad for democracy. If Johnson wins, it will be interesting to see how Trump and Johnson handle their first disagreement when neither’s word is worth a darn. It is already apparent, Angela Merkel is the leading voice in the western world as she commands respect far more than either person.

I intermixed our trip to the San Francisco area with the current US Open there. I felt just talking only about the real news might be too depressing.  I hope all the fathers out there have a pleasant day tomorrow with their families.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that this Wednesday

Happy hump day. Let’s cruise into the downside half of the work week. With multiple themes percolating in my mind, here are few little bits of this and that to bite into.

Former host of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart has been fiercely active in helping gain funding to pay for the medical costs of the 9/11 first responders in NYC. He gave an “out of the pool” criticism to a Congressional Committee in person as the funding has run out. He said in essence the first responders did their jobs, now you do yours. Forceful is an understatement. Let’s hope it sinks in. Congress and this president need to be shamed like that when they fail to do the obvious. In essence, he said I don’t give a crap about your politics, do the right thing. Amen brother.

The greatest talent of the current US president is marketing schtick. He can make a pair of twos look like a full house better than anyone. Like this analogy, most of what he does is untrue or blown way out of proportion. He knows fear sells, so he sells it daily, if not hourly. One of his greatest triumphs is to convince his followers that everyone is against him and that only he speaks the truth. He has his followers parroting his remarks saying “you just don’t like him” or have “Trump derangement syndrome.” In other words, it is your fault he lies far more than he does not.

The best line I read recently in a letter to the editor was an attempt to combat this. The letter writer said it is not the media and not the Democrats who are causing all of this chaos. He noted that the US president does not need any help in causing chaos and defaming his own character. He does a very good job on his own. I have said it differently – the greatest enemy of Donald J. Trump is the person who looks back from the mirror when he shaves. One of the reason why the volume of criticism is so high toward him is to combat the significant number of mistruths and the fact he has so many followers who see his lies on their phones.

Kudos should again go out to Republican Congressman Justin Amash from Michigan and Senator Richard Burr from North Carolina. Amash is an attorney and has read the Mueller report. He is a very lone and lonely voice in saying in writing that there exists grounds for impeachment of the president. It should be noted over 1,000 former federal prosecutors agree with him. Yesterday, he resigned from the Freedom Caucus and the vindictive president said he would “squash” Amash. To me, I see Nikita Khrushev pounding on the table at the UN with his shoe saying “we will bury you.” Fear sells.

Burr is also a lonely man, but he at least got a little air cover from Mitch McConnell. Burr subpoenaed the Junior Trump in to testify to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Burr got backlash, but Junior was a “no-show” twice, so Burr asked a judge to get Junior’s fanny in to talk. The issue is Junior may have lied to the Committee about his awareness of the Moscow Trump tower that attorney Michael Cohen briefed him on. Junior said he was only a little aware of the Moscow development issues, but Cohen said he briefed him 10 or 12 times. Like father, like son.

Finally, I have been conversing with our astute British blogger Roger. We are of a like mind (note he is astute even when I don’t agree with him) that the Brits are looking to a very Trump-like prime minister in Boris Johnson. That is not meant to be a compliment. The only poetic justice is if the he wins and the Brits do a hard-Brexit, Johnson will be front and center in the mess he helped create by being untruthful. I understand the rationale, but am not a fan of Brexit – it will dampen the British economy and global clout and that saddens me.  But, if the UK follows through, please, please work out a deal. A hard Brexit, so says business leaders, would be as unwise a decision as the country leaders could make (or fail to make in this case). It should speak volumes that Trump, Johnson and Nigel Farage want a hard Brexit.

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

 

Out of the pool

I think it is time to fire any politician in Washington who is forgetting why they are there. We could start with the White House incumbent and then take out hundreds of members of Congress in both houses. I understand fully Congress must investigate and provide oversight over the Executive Branch. That is part of their job and the current incumbent has given them cause to dig further.

Yet, I have this simple idea that leaders of both houses sit down with legislative liaisons from the White House and figure out some things they can pass and sign into law. I think a civilian board could list about a dozen major issues to focus on and say work these out. It should not take a civilian board, but these folks are too beholden to funders to come up with a workable list.

A key reason for not listing the problems is too much discussion occurs around whether not solving an issue helps them politically. A curse word comes to mind, so please insert your favorite. A good example is a bipartisan Senate immigration bill was passed in 2013, but the House refused to take it up as leaving immigration unaddressed would help the Republicans in the 2014 midterms. The Democrats should not be smug as they do the same thing.

Because of the Republicans unhealthy focus on dismantling the Affordable Care Act, the party justifiably lost seats in the 2018 midterms. To be frank, they should have lost seats with a rushed process that did not follow form and came up with several awful ideas. They should also thank Senators John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski for saving them from themselves by voting against an ill-conceived vote.

But, what have Dems done with improving the ACA with their winning back the majority in the House – nothing other than “beating on their chest” bills that went nowhere? Not that they were bad bills, but don’t wait until an election in 2020 to address healthcare. The ACA is imperfect, but is working OK and needs some more stability and improvements due to initial design flaws and several efforts by the GOP to sabotage it.

So, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. McConnell, and Mr. Pence, get your fannies in a room with a white board and figure out how to get something done. I do not care which party benefits from what comes out of this. The key is we benefit. Do something that will be signed into law by the mercurial man in the White House. So, Mr. Pence you better have the Queen of Hearts’ blessing to make deals or you may lose your head.

Here are few items for the list:

• Stabilize the ACA: pay insurers what we owe them (yes we reneged on two deals with them) and invite them back to the market to have more competition. Consider expanding Medicare to age 62 as a trial to improve the risk pools in both the ACA and Medicare. Push for the remaining states to expand Medicaid.
• Address better gun governance: another mass shooting occurred yesterday and nobody in office cares. More suicides occurred yesterday and nobody in office cares. A few accidental shootings and homicides occurred and nobody in office cares. It is a holistic problem that needs holistic solutions. Do something, anything that will help even if it is just a little. Universal background checks and elongated waiting periods would be well received by the majority of Americans.
• Address climate change at the federal level: Cities, states and some industries are moving forward without an active federal government role, which is rightfully being sued by 21 children for failure to address what they have known about for three decades. They actually have a good case. This is also a jobs and economy issue as we can look backwards and get passed by or look to growing renewables industries. As a good example of looking backward, we let China seize a significant majority of the rare earth metals market share from us which is now a threat to national security.
• Address the debt and deficit: Trade deficits are not a big thing as we are a consumer driven economy. The far bigger crisis is our national debt and growing deficit. We have to pay for things and the less we do, the more risk we have with a growing interest cost as a percent of our annual budget. We must increase taxes and reduce spending, both. The GOP has forsaken its role in being a budget hawk passing a tax bill that made a growing problem worse. Revisit the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction plan and do some of those things.

I will stop there, but there are more problems to address. Immigration is a problem, but it has been made worse under this president by cutting funding to help some Central American countries improve the lives of their citizens and the lack of judges to address the increased migration. A wall is not an answer. It is merely a structure. Dusting off that bipartisan Senate bill from 2013 would be a good start as well as addressing DACA. We need to keep educated young people in our country, as growth is an issue.

So, legislators, please get in a room and do some things that will pass. The focus should be on helping Americans, not helping legislators. Stop worrying about keeping your job and do your job. And, yes continue your oversight role as we are a republic not a kingdom.

 

 

 

Credit and blame

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is stepping down today. This imperfect person has received a huge amount of blame for the failure to deliver a Brexit deal. Yet, I believe she had an unenviable task of herding the many and varied egos in Parliament who did not focus on getting the job done.

Living in America, we see this first hand, as posturing is more important than doing. Even before the fear-mongering and storytelling that has replaced civil debate, I have been disappointed in the demise in bipartisanship behavior.

Ironically, the last period of significant legislation occurred when GOP Speaker John Boehner ignored the Freedom Caucus and worked with moderate House Democrats to pass bills the Democrat led Senate would pass into law. He did this enough, that he retired before the Freedom Caucus rebellion ousted him.

Now, only handfuls of significant laws are passed as neither major party wants the other side to get a political win. Actually helping people is secondary to the perception of looking good. We have a president who does the same focusing too much on perception. He even controls his messaging taking credit for things he has little to do with and laying off blame on others when he the finger could be pointed at his efforts.

Blowing a problem out of proportion, making it worse by not addressing the real issues, threatening an action that gets push back from all sides and then coming to agreement on efforts that are already underway, is all a show that is harmful to relationships and commerce. People and companies need more stability in their lives, not less. When applecarts are upset, they have to look at other options.

This month, the US economy will be celebrating ten years (120 months) of economic growth. The president has been sure to pat himself on the back for this and he did provide some short term tailwinds with the tax cut and regulations cuts. Yet, he has only been president for going on 29 months. That means, 91 months of this growth were under Obama and the stock market more than doubled under his watch.

To be frank, presidents get too much credit and blame for the economy, providing at best headwinds and tailwinds. The headwinds this president has caused are more long term – debt, tariffs, immigration focus, pulling out of trade deals, etc. The economy is slowing its growth and more slowing is expected to occur. But, a given is this president will lay blame on others as it slows – he started last fall making the nonpartisan Federal Reserve the bogeyman.

Credit and blame. I have often quoted a leadership consultant I know, who said a great leader deflects credit to others; a bad leader accepts credit even when not due. Think about that as you hear or read tweets from leaders.

Don’t be difficult to work with

A lesson I have witnessed often is the more difficult you make it to work with you, people will find other resources. Challenging employees better be good at what they do or they may be shown the door or encouraged to leave. If a company makes it difficult to work with them, buyers from and sellers to the company, will seek other options.

Here are a few real examples:

– A company known for shopping for services annually eventually ran out of bidders because the cost of doing business became too high (one company would just throw their Request For Proposal in the trash can). Sellers and buyers who promote relationships have more fruitful long term experiences.

– When Master Service Agreements became commonplace, the attorneys in our headquarters were as difficult to work with as attorneys at some of our clients. We lost a $1 million sale on an idea we raised and the client loved because of our legal obstinance. The second bidder got the work on our idea. That hurt.

– An employee of ours could never be satisfied and complained often. After she complained in my office for the tenth time about how her last employer did better at something, I said to her “We are obviously not meeting your needs. You are doing good work, but why don’t you look elsewhere.” She did and left. What she did not know is we had a continual growth mindset, so we were always talking with people. Her replacement was one of the best project managers I ever worked and she was a very congenial person and eventually an effective manager.

– A fellow consultant had an arduous client who was always asking for added scope services, which he often refused to pay for. After many months of this, the client called our CEO to complain. My colleague pulled up three competing consultants contact information and provided them to this client. In essence, he fired the client. He said it was one of the best decisions he ever made.

A US farmer noted on PBS Newshour yesterday, we cannot just turn off the tariff spigot and start the pipeline again. His buyers have found other options. As a business person, I have noticed this president fails to appreciate what it takes to get things done. We have witnessed this repeatedly in rash mandates that have people (even his own) scurrying. That is poor leadership and worse management.

Do you have any examples?

A few observations – big and small

Let me offer a few observations trying not to only speak of the man who shall not be named.

– A friend used to have sayings on his voicemail greeting. My favorite one is “always tell the truth as you don’t have to remember as much.”

– The man who shall not be named (MWSNBN) said he did not like “negative and critical” people while referring to a couple of British leaders. Really? Have you read your tweets?

– Another friend said “a man will never be shot while doing the dishes.”

– The MWSNBN failed to get buy-in from his caucus on placing tariffs on Mexico. Apparently, the caucus is not happy, with the Senate leader saying the MWSNBN would use “tariffs to solve HIV and climate change.”

– A person who is accountable and says I am sorry for a mistake is an exemplar for others to follow,

– The MWSNBN once again claimed he did not say something when a released audio recording said he did. What should have been a minor issue with a mea culpa, became a bigger one. This is not an isolated occurrence. “I am sorry” should not be so hard to say.

– A person who awakes and believe it will be a good day stands a better chance to have one than someone who believes the opposite.

– The MWSNBN awakes and tweets in a stream of consciousness. By the time he gets to work by mid-morning (per Bob Woodward’s book “Fear”), he tends to make his day worse not better. His biggest enemy is the one who looks back at him when he shaves.

– Our leaders should help us be better people. They should represent our better angels. Nelson Mandela, Warren Buffett, Paul O’Neill (retired CEO of Alcoa), Bill Russell (who won 14 NBA, NCAA and Olympic championships) are examples of great leaders. They made their organizations better.

– Great leaders do not tell 10,000 lies, do not bully people and think largely of themselves. A great leader deflects credit to others, while a bad one assumes credit even when it is not due, per a lesdership consultant.

Now, I am going to go do the dishes.