Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are Heroes.
October 12th, 2013 // 3:11 pm @ Oliver DeMille
At some point, America is going to have to face reality. We can’t keep increasing government spending, debt, and borrowing without eventually paying for it. But the problem is deep:
When Americans are asked if they want to get rid of our $17 trillion debt and huge deficits, they say, “Yes.”
When they are told that we need to cut any actual government spending program, any program, they say, “No.”
What gives? Essentially, Americans want to get more from government but pay less. Ted Cruz was popular among conservatives when he stood against Obamacare, but when the media pushed back, conservative support decreased.
Mike Lee was popular in his home state when he took the same stand vocally, but his popularity decreased a little when he took real action to help slow the negative facets of Obamacare. Other leaders have seen the same thing.
Too many of the American people want our leaders to reduce our out-of-control debt and deficits, but they don’t want it to be hard. They want it to be easy. They support those who talk tough, but withdraw support when a leader takes courageous action.
Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and others, including a number of House Republicans, who take a stand against expanding government are heroes, pure and simple. This is true of anyone, from any party, who stands for what our nation really needs. Their stand against the expansion of big government deserves a lot more support.
Our national economic problems are going to get worse and worse until leaders take a stand to reduce spending and borrowing. But when some leaders do this, popular opinion frequently turns against them. If this remains true, Americans deserve the economic difficulties that will keep growing. If we want something better, we need to stand up for it.
Instead of complaining that our leaders don’t do enough of the right things, we need to strongly support the few leaders who actually do take action. Instead of repeating the national mantra, “Why can’t everyone just get along in Washington?,” we need to be the kind of citizens who know that a better future is worth fighting for. Thank goodness some of our leaders understand this.
Lee or Cruz for president. Or, if you’re a Democrat, look up the recent speeches of Joe Manchin. Bring in Paul, Rubio, Ryan, and anyone else who is standing for common sense. We need to stand behind leaders, regardless of party, who actually see what is needed and do something about it—regardless of how it plays in the polls. Those who do this are today’s heroes.
Oliver DeMille is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling co-author of LeaderShift: A Call for Americans to Finally Stand Up and Lead, the co-founder of the Center for Social Leadership, and a co-creator of TJEd.
Among many other works, he is the author of A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century, The Coming Aristocracy, and FreedomShift: 3 Choices to Reclaim America’s Destiny.
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education. He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.
Category : Blog &Citizenship &Current Events &Economics &Government &Independents &Leadership &Politics &Prosperity
The Death of The Middle Class
July 19th, 2013 // 10:51 am @ Oliver DeMille
Columnist Joe Klein said on The Chris Matthews Show:
“This is the biggest problem that we’re facing going forward. We were a homogenous, middle class country, by and large, for the fifty years after World War II.
“Now we’re no longer homogenous, and there’s a good aspect to that in that we have become a true multiracial country. But there’s a bad aspect to that, in that the middle class, which was the heart of this country, is beginning to fracture, and to panic, in many ways.
“And unless we figure out a way to find jobs for the vast middle class in this country, it’s going to be really hard to sustain democracy. We now have a plutocracy in this country.”
This is exactly true, and many Americans feel Wall Street and Washington are working together against the middle class.
Worse, many people aren’t sure that any solution is ahead.
Many experts suggest that education can solve the class divide, but the people realize that most schools are actually increasing the gap between elites and the rest.
Modern schooling has become a huge part of the problem, not a solution.
The only real solution is a widespread shift from the employee mentality to entrepreneurship.
As David Ignatius points out, many immigrants to America see the United States as a great place to start businesses.
Sadly, most native-born Americans are afraid of entrepreneurship and feel that jobs should be plentiful—as if it were a birthright.
The future of American freedom hinges on this question: will the current generation of Americans embrace entrepreneurialism, or will we keep whining about Washington while waiting for more jobs to somehow appear?
Is the American spirit dead, or is free enterprise still one of our greatest American traditions?
Only the regular people can make this choice.
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Oliver DeMille is the chairman of the Center for Social Leadership and co-creator of Thomas Jefferson Education.
He is the author of A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century, and The Coming Aristocracy: Education & the Future of Freedom.
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education. He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.
Category : Aristocracy &Blog &Business &Citizenship &Culture &Current Events &Economics &Entrepreneurship &Featured &Leadership &Producers
A Looming Crisis — & a Call for Solutions
May 6th, 2013 // 3:51 pm @ Oliver DeMille
Most Americans have no ideas it is coming. But it is just around the corner.
It’s one of those technical changes that only wonks pay attention to, so few people realize how big this will be.
In fact, it’s a serious crisis in the making. And unlike the Y2K scare in 1999, this crisis is a sure thing.
What is it?
Well, put simply, this coming January, many companies will be required to extend Obamacare health care to their employees.
The costs of this are significant, and will force many small and larger businesses to make some very tough choices.
The result will be a lot of layoffs, downsizing, reduced pay, and outsourcing.
Service will suffer, and response times will plummet.
Most families and individuals plan on a yearly basis, running January 1 to December 31, so they may not know how that a lot of businesses run on a fiscal year—from April 1 to April 1, July 1 to July 1, or October 1 to October 1.
This is very important, because we just witnessed the first big round of businesses (whose fiscal year is April to April) factoring in the costs of the January 2014 Obamacare requirements.
The number of layoffs and cuts is a serious concern.
But those who run April to April have only had to factor in three months of Obamacare costs so far, so the damage has been minimal.
It’s going to get increasingly worse on July 1, and then by October 1 it will start having a major impact.
By the first of January, when everyone will have to pay the higher costs, the effect will be huge.
Again, because this is a numerical concern, most people aren’t paying attention. Here’s the crux of the problem:
- Our economy is already struggling with a weak recovery.
- The increasing tax and regulatory burden on business has dampened innovation.
- The schools seldom teach innovation or initiative—indeed they usually promote the opposite.
- International innovation is rising.
- Business is reticent to invest or spend, because the current environment in Washington is highly uncertain.
- Big business, which has a high surplus right now, is finding better political environments in other nations—so the money will naturally flow to where business is treated better.
- The Obamacare requirements are making business a lot more costly, and they mostly kick in this coming January.
A lot of businesses are scrambling.
For example, in the past few months I’ve received email from a number of friends who are business owners or who consult with small businesses—saying that their only choice is to either lay off a lot of employees or shut down their business.
One company, for example, is trying to prepare for next year, but has realized that the additional cost of Obamacare for their firm will be at least $18,000 a month.
This is a fairly small company, with close ties to its people.
The last thing it wants to do is lay off employees. But what to do? The costs are simply prohibitive.
Laying off is the obvious option; and after digging deeper, it may be the only option.
How would you counsel companies in this predicament? (Note that most companies are dealing with this right now.) What ideas do you have? I’m sincerely asking for input.
What can they do?
Thousands of companies are asking the same thing right now, and many others will do so before the end of 2013.
This is going to be a real shock to the economy.
A crisis is coming.
But back to the question. How can small companies that are already financially tight comply with the new regulations—without laying off or cutting salaries?
I’m hoping you see some real solutions.
The obvious one is to innovate—to expand sales into new markets and make a lot of extra cash.
The regulatory challenges of such a strategy are, alas, a serious problem. At least in the United States.
So, thinking like an owner, what would you do?
I know you don’t have financials or details in front of you for any one company facing this challenge, but take a stab at this problem anyway—because almost all businesses are doing the same thing right now. It’s the only realistic way to look at Obamacare, because it’s the way pretty much every business owner is looking at it.
Specifically: Costs are going up significantly, with no offsetting increases in income.
In fact, higher taxes and increased regulations make growth even more difficult.
In this environment, how can you absorb the Obamacare costs without laying off a bunch of employees?
Or letting them go and hiring all new people who are desperate for jobs and will work for much lower pay?
Or simply taking your business to Brazil or India or some other country where growth is actually rewarded?
Please send me your responses. What can be done?
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Oliver DeMille is the chairman of the Center for Social Leadership and co-creator of Thomas Jefferson Education.
He is the author of A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century, and The Coming Aristocracy: Education & the Future of Freedom.
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education. He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.
Category : Blog &Economics &Entrepreneurship &Featured &Government &Leadership &Producers &Prosperity
Is China Really a Threat?
March 11th, 2013 // 1:01 pm @ Oliver DeMille
I try to read most new books on China, because I think the growth of China on the world stage will continue for some time and eventually conflict with America’s interests.
Whether the conflict turns to cooperation or serious difficulty remains to be seen, but keeping abreast of what is happening in China is essential for today’s leaders.
A new book, Is China Buying the World? by Peter Nolan, is an interesting addition to the field and adds several key ideas to the dialogue.
First, it makes the case that no, China is not buying the world any more than Japan bought it in the 1980s (despite widespread fears that this was occurring).
Second, however, China is certainly growing economically and in world influence.
Chinese firms have purchased ownership in a number of companies around the advanced world, as well as tying up access to a lot of natural resources in the developing world.
And numerous multi-national companies have heavily invested in China.
This growth will likely continue, and even expand.
Third, China’s major challenge is restricted access to oil and energy.
As it grows, its thirst for energy will continue to increase and drive its international business expansion.
Fourth, China wants to be a much bigger player on the world scene, and it is following a specific strategy for global influence.
This strategy includes major investments in two key sectors of the world economy, banking and the aerospace industry.
Chinese leaders hope that together, these things—increased investment in the developing world, increased ownership of international resources especially oil, growing global investment in China, increased ownership in multi-national companies, major growth of Chinese influence in the banking and aerospace sectors—will significantly strengthen China’s world role.
Fifth, advances in the aerospace industry are significant because of the close ties between military and business technologies and projects.
As China increases its role in this endeavor, along with banking, it becomes more powerful economically, technologically and, if it chooses, militarily.
This book is a detailed and important read for anyone who cares about the future of the big powers in world relations.
More to the point, more people need to read and think more about the specific issues currently at play in China’s growth.
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Oliver DeMille is the chairman of the Center for Social Leadership and co-creator of Thomas Jefferson Education.
He is the author of A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century, and The Coming Aristocracy: Education & the Future of Freedom.
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education. He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.
Category : Blog &Book Reviews &Business &Current Events &Economics &Featured &Foreign Affairs
China v. Japan
March 1st, 2013 // 10:18 am @ Oliver DeMille
Interesting commentary with visuals:
Category : Blog &Current Events &Economics &Foreign Affairs
