Right to Work

The attached is a very interesting article about what it means to our economy to have the "Right to Work."  Forced unionization is very costly for everybody involved. 

It either kills your ecomony or costs you your job in the long run. 

Keep in mind that the union bosses stand to gain a great deal if we don't allow people to choose for themselves.

Read more at http://bit.ly/rtLYLN

Leftist Explained

Maybe you listened to our President last night and are riding high.  If you are don't read on.

I my opinion the attached article does a wonderful job of explaining the left wing.  Which in my opinion is where our President comes ideology comes from. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576532623176115558.html

Credit goes to 1500 ESPN's Joe Soucheray for drawing the article to my attention.

Ronald Reagan

Last week Justin and I took our Dad to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA.  It was awesome.  It was fun to spend the time with two of my best friends. 

It was also fun to walk through the museum and reflect on the great career of the Great Communicator. 

Ronald Reagan is clearly one of the greatest Americans.  If it were up to me it would say it is time to raise the money to put a 5th profile on Mount Rushmore.  (In honor of Reagan the funds would need to be private!)

We were inspired as we walked through the exhibits.  I don't recall him blaming his predecessor for the problems of his Presidency.  I remember him getting down to work and moving the country forward.

Book suggestion

A few years ago a read the classic "Raise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer.  It was fascinating.  It is a huge volume weighting in at 3 pounds and is 1264 pages long.  As its name and size implies it gives us great detail the Nazi regime and the leaders that brought us World War II.  It is a great but chilling read.

Based on my love of that book I recently purchased the book "Goering" by Heinrich Fraenkel.  Which as you might guess is about Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler's right hand man.

Both books bring me to the same question.  Could this story even repeat itself again?  Could it happen in America?  I always still back on the answer of yes.  I would imagine that shocks or offends you.  But before you think of me as un-American.  Let me explain.

Germany calls itself a Christian nation.  It is the homeland of Martin Luther.

Germany was a democracy in the 1930's when Hitler took power and it still is today.

The Germany of the 1930's certainly was as diverse as the USA of today.  After reading both books you will see that it was a melting pot of sorts.

As Winston Churchill told us "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Public Foolishness

I went on a trip with my family to Kansas City this weekend to watch the Red Sox beat up on the Royals.  The two teams spilt the 2 games we went to, so the trip wasn't a complete success.

But the general public did give us several teachable moments with our kids. We saw two people vomit in public and a group of people that partied so hard they had to spend the night at our hotel.

Let me recap our young examples.

1. Guy throws up from a moving car leaving Oklahoma Joe's.  No idea why he threw up.  Could have been illness.  It was gross.
2. "Lady" throws up on silverware waiting in line for omelet.  Stays in line and has hardy breakfast.  My kids wondered why a sick person wanted to eat breakfast.
3. We rode elevator with group of people still dressed from a Saturday wedding party at 11am Sunday.  They looked like death. Talked like fools.

Because of their public displays of drunkenness and hangovers our kids were able to see first hand  that getting hammered is more likely to lead to negative consequences rather than endless fun.  (Incident #1 was just gross but set the tone for the weekend.  It didn't give us any life lessons. )

Cost Savings

Yesterday I met with Misty Lauer, Regional Administrative Manager, and she shared with me several cost saving ideas.  All of the idea were very minor.  The ideas were things like changing how we clean the office, type of paper we pay, and licenses for seldom used software products.  The sum total of her ideas totaled about $5,000 or more per year!!!

The best thing about these savings is that nobody will notice a difference.  Certainly our customers won't.

I wonder how many millions of tax dollars could be saved by the government if we told them they needed to save some money. ( I realize we need to save Trillions but every nickle counts.)

Magic Solution

On a political note, i would like to pose a question.

Let's say we could magically eliminate the federal deficit without raising taxes or cutting a single government program.  Of the 435 members of congress and 100 Senators, how many of them would be willing to make the following choice.

Balancing the federal budget but being banned from serving in future congresses.

or

Being allowed to stay in office but have the country maintain the status qua of continuing to pile up debt.

My guess is that the lips of nearly all of them would say something to the effect of "yes if we could solve this crisis I would be willing to move on and let others serve" but in truth in their hearts they would be unwilling to move on because it is power they seek rather then solutions.

Maybe I have too little faith in our elected officials.  What do you think?