Zane Safrit

Healthcare Reform: What about the children?

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well
And let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty
They possess inside

Whitney Houston wrote and sang this in The Greatest Love of All.

The lyrics came to mind as I read this statistic:

Uninsured children are 60% more likely to die in the hospital than insured children regardless of medical condition, according to a large-scale study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Modern Healthcare (registration and annoying Dell popups req'd.)

Regardless of medical condition. That phrase caught my attention. All things being equal (same gender, age, condition, stage of diagnosis), the child with no health insurance coverage has a 60% greater risk of dying IN the hospital than their counterpart whose parents can afford health insurance.

Maybe that statistic rings...abstract. Maybe it does not connect. Here's where that statistic starts to apply: Lack of health insurance may have contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths among hospitalized children nationwide in the past 20 years...

17,000...in 20 years...That's 850 children per year, nationwide. 17 children per year, per state. 17 children per year, per state, for over 20 years died because their parents could not afford health insurance.

17,000 sets of dreams and skills, talents and strengths, lost.

17,000 families...devastated with the loss of a child.

17,000 parents being forced to bury their child.

And all because...what? Profit? Stock prices? Shareholder concerns? Quarterly results? CEO bonus plans? Companies too small to afford health insurance for their employees, too small to pay the wages necessary to provide health insurance for their employees and their families?

Sadly, the conversation on healthcare reform centers around costs. The costs are measured in...dollars.

What if we changed that term to lives?

What if we measured the costs of our current system, and any reforms, by the lives it saved? Or did not.

What if we discussed healthcare reform in terms of the lives saved, and the families, the dreams, the contributions with those saved lives...to our communities?

Would that make a difference? 

* Photo credit: istockphoto, pixdeluxe

"No “Free” Healthcare to Illegal Immigrants!"

When people say (shout ) No “Free” Healthcare to Illegal Immigrants! here’s what I think they’re saying:

Go home.

You’ve entered our country without proper documentation. Back when our ancestors did it, that was ok. And lucky for us, too.

But, you’re not part of our family, so...it’s not ok...anytime.

We don't know, nor care, that our nation is a nation of immigrants. Who cares that we serve, once served maybe, as a beacon of hope for those with the motivation and courage to come here as strangers and forge their own opportunities.

We're scared. And besides, we’re scared. We’ve been told to be scared of ‘others’. You’re ‘others’. We’re scared of you.

And things are changing. That scares us. You're change. You scare us.

We don’t want you.

But...hang on a minute.

We do want you to do all the jobs we refuse to do. Like, clean our hotels and our restaurants, and work the lines in meat-packing plants and be janitors in our office buildings when we’re at home with our families because we believe in family-values.

We like the cost-savings from your low wages. Can you imagine how expensive our bacon and ham would be, or our hotel rooms, if we had to pay wages and benefits high enough to convince us to work there? Can you imagine the impact of those higher costs on corporate stocks?

We do want you to live in cramped quarters, separated from your families, though. That’s less expensive. For us. And it leaves the nicer areas of town for us, not you. Because you can’t afford them. Because we won’t pay you enough to live there.

We like your work ethic. We don’t like to acknowledge the hours you must work in order to send money home to your family where they live in towns where there are no jobs. But, we like how much money it saves the companies we buy from. That keeps our prices low, so we can live better.

But...

We're threatened. The poor jobs, the low wages, the cramped living quarters, the distance from your family don't slow your motivation to come here. You see the opportunity to make a life for yourself, if given the chance to work. We, on the other hand, complain about commutes in our air-conditioned cars , an office chair that squeaks and co-workers with funny smells.

So...

Our hospitals are for us. You can keep those jobs. We don't want 'em. We need 'em to be done. We just don't want to do them. But don’t you dare come bringing yourself to our hospitals for ‘free’ healthcare. That’s for us and our families...because we're entitled; we've earned it. Have you?

That's what I hear. What do you hear?

Our Healthcare Reform Debate is The Tragedy of the Commons; Now What?

Have you been...experiencing...our healthcare reform debate? Like democracy, it’s a messy experience. The alternative is what we’ve had until now: silence, acquiesence. And the system, we have in place now. That’s a system our silence allowed. It’s best described as the Blob that’s about to eat a nation.

The debate we’ve experienced so far has almost consumed us. And, it seems the debate is less about healthcare reform than it is a debate about our values. I wrote about this early in my post: Healthcare Reform Debate: It’s really about our values.

But what’s bothersome about the debate, regardless if you have health insurance and/or can afford healthcare or whether President Obama is a socialist or a failed progressive or not. It's the tone. Would you agree? Or maybe, it's the imbalance between tone and substance.

I’m reading Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody. If you haven’t read it, you should. Around page 45, he discusses the different forms of sharing and collaboration everybody can use now. At the end he discusses [t]he commonest collective action problem is The Tragedy of the Commons*.

This is where individuals are incented to damage the collective good.
As long as everyone refuses to behave greedily, everyone benefits...

And this is the Tragedy of the Commons: while each person can agree that all would benefit from common restraint, the incentives of the individuals are arrayed against that outcome.

People who benefit from a resource while doing nothing in recompense are free riders.

The resource here is...the commons. That’s our treasured right to have a debate, in public. The free riders are those who offer nothing to, or worse, benefit from this commons while effectively destroying it with vitriol and names, half-truths, and outright lies and money and resources to propagate those lies in order to defend their positions.

Mr. Shirky says we have, generally, two ways to deal with the problem of free riders.

1). Eliminate the commons. In this case, eliminate the debate or the opportunity and means to have a debate. But, we’ve already tried that. In fact some of the pent-up anger from either side in this conversation is the result of having this conversation denied for 10-20-30 years. Here’s a timeline for the changes in our healthcare system over the past century.

Looking at it, I remember little debate over these incremental changes that have occurred. Oh sure, there’s the debate in the ’90’s. It was effectively squashed by many of the same industry players and their representatives in Congress who remain in their positions in this debate. We allowed it, mind you.

2) Governance. The other option, from Mr. Shirky, for mitigating the Tragedy of the Commons is through governance, or mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon. We’re disallowed in some way from acting in our own interests at the expense of the group’s interests. Taxes are a common way. So are civil and criminal penalties.

We have those in place now, even for this debate:

* Peer approval. There’s peer approval that regulates our behavior with each other. That’s been long gone judging by the recent town hall behaviors and members of Congress.

* Taxes. Taxes already exist in our current healthcare system, though they are hidden and disconnected from their source. The taxes are paid in the costs of a healthcare system that’s the most expensive while at the same time failing to deliver the highest level of care for the highest number of people. Everyone shares in this, even those with health insurance and who can afford the costs of their healthcare. The costs of those unable to afford the costs of our healthcare are borne by those who can afford them. Multiple points of data show this. They include:

• costs of personal bankruptcy borne by customers of the companies whose services remain unpaid by those filing for bankruptcy
• higher hospital costs as hospitals seek to recoup their losses
• lower productivity from higher numbers of sick days by employees and their families
• higher health insurance premiums
• etc, etc.

So, now what. We have a Tragedy in our Commons. We have tried the two generally agreed upon measures: elimination of the commons, a fragmented or non-existent discussion and mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon.

Now what?

* The Tragedy of the Commons was brought into our national discourse in 1968 with Garrett Hardin, a professor of biology at UCSB in this article published in 1968.

Our Entrepreneur Values: Espoused vs Operational

"Espoused values"are ones that we think we should have. "Operational values" are the ones really working in our lives. Sometimes there's a huge gap between the two. The Leader's Guide to Storytelling, P. 132.

I've always assumed, maybe like many, our nation is a nation of entrepreneurs. Our forefathers came here for the freedom to create their brand of religious, political and/or financial vision. That drive, with that diversity of ideas and peoples, and the freedom to pursue our dreams created a robust economy. An entrepreneurial economy, at heart.

But that may be a sentimental illusion now.

Look at the graph below.

John Schmitt and Nathan Lane, Center for Economic and Policy Research.

As a nation of entrepreneurs, we now rank...20th among industrial nations. Gasp! We rank behind the following bastions of espoused* socialist worker values and healthcare systems in France (France!), Switzerland, Sweden(?), Denmark, Germany, Italy (Italy!). Greece is the number one entrepreneurial nation with over 1/3 of their nation, self-employed.

This graph illustrates the recent results compiled in a study sponsored by The Center for Economic and Policy Research.The report concludes that:

1. self-employment and small-business employment may be a less important indicator of entrepreneurship...

I think they are generous to the point of being disingenuous. What other metric would better measure entrepreneurial activity than self-employment and small-business employment?

2. United States has something to learn from the experience of other advanced economies...

Clearly, these other economies do things differently. Their results are different from ours, too. Think there's a connection? Yeah, me too.

What can we learn from these other economies? Maybe, it's time we asked.

It is important we ask for several reasons:

1. We need new jobs to drive us out of this recession. Small business, startups and entrepreneurs, create these new jobs. A more robust entrepreneurial community would drive a more robust recovery. What if we moved from 20th on this list with 7.2% of our population self-employed to...say tie with Austria with 14.4% self-employed?

2. We have enough hypocrisy and distrust. [Countries] where executives purport to have certain values but don't consistently act on the values they profess end up with espoused values. The hypocrisy involved in espousing values that are not acted upon generates significant distrust. The Leader's Guide to Storytelling,P. 132.

Do we need more hypocrisy and distrust? If you hesitate, then Google the term Town Hall Meeting.

* espoused socialist. That's a tongue-in-cheek reference to all the nonsense now in the debate about national or universal healthcare systems and those countries that offer it.

Link from Economix Blog.

Healthcare Reform Debate: Value vs Values

I'm enjoying The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative. A wonderful book written by a wonderful person. It's one of those rare business books that continue to improve as you read.

And recently I came across this passage. It's lengthy. But, it's important to consider in light of our healthcare reform debate.

Douglas Smith, in On Value and Values, suggests that...society has lost sight of the importance of 'values' and instead pursued 'value': "Value arises in conversations about economics, finance, shopping, investment, business, and markets. People worry about getting value for money or shareholder value or market value. The use value to describe business or economic prospects. Value connotes a pointed estimation of current or anticipated worth never too distant from monetary equivalence. There is no value that is not a dollar value.

Smith notes that the meaning of the plural values is something very different from the singular value. "Values are estimations not of worth but of worthwhileness. Unlike value, talk of values ignores money; it opines on timeless appraisals instead of transient ones. There is a deep backward- and forward-looking quality to values. If value is what makes us wealthy, values we assume and regularly assert, are what make us human.

Now, our culture has become obsessed with the single overriding value of winning.

As the screaming and shouting gets louder in the name of a healthcare reform debate, the ability to look backward or forward even superficially to stands taken but a few months ago become impossible. What's lost in these dreadful escalations of rhetoric (I'm being generous) is our ability to converse from a common appraisal of our shared values as a nation, as a people, as families and neighbors, co-workers and fellow citizens. Our culture's obsession over winning at any cost manifests itself as a collective and growing memory-loss of what we share in common with each other, those values that make us...human.

Data Worsens with Personal Bankruptcies, Healthcare and Health Insurance

* 50% Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.

* 2,000,000  2 million of our friends, family members, colleagues, neighbors...are affected by these personal bankruptcies caused by healthcare expenses.

* 56% of those filing bankruptcy for healthcare costs owned a home.

* 30% of those filing bankruptcy for healthcare costs had their utilities cut off.

* 61% went without needed medical care.

* $13,000 The amount of uncovered medical bills at the start of an illness by those with health insurance.

* $35,000+ The average medical debts for those with cancer.

The statistics above were reported in 2005 from a study conducted by jointly by Harvard's Medical School and Law School and published in Health Affairs. The article Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy, Study Finds was published in Consumer Affairs in February, 2005. 

And this data inspired the leaders of  the best healthcare system in the world to improve since then, right?

Wrong.

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.- BusinessWeek, June 2009

Wrong, again.

A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine has found that bankruptcies due to medical debt rose 50 percent from 2001 to 2007.- Health Related Bankruptcies Up 50%

I want to see the costs of these personal bankruptcies to business.  The costs to business would be in lost productivity and lost revenues. And compare them then to the costs of health insurance for their currently uninsured employees.

I would love to see the costs of these personal bankruptcies compared to the costs of social programs with medicare, medicaid, Schip, healthcare clinics, that compensate for the lack of affordable and complete health insurance.

 I'll bet my senator Chuck Grassley and Nancy Pelosi, both, a year's supply of one daily latte at Starbucks that universal, single-payer, healthcare that covers all healthcare expenses will prove ultimately more affordable.

Note: I choose Starbucks for he convenience of their gift-card So, Senator Grassley or Speaker Pelosi, if you can present data that shows the costs to our economy and our federal budget is less from the current system where 62+% of all personal bankruptcies arise from the uncovered costs of medical care (even when 78% of those filing for personal bankruptcy as a result of uncovered medical expenses had health insurance) I'll buy each of you one latte each day for 365 days. ( That's a small latte.)

And you can drink that latte and continue with our current healthcare system.

But if you can't (and you won't), then you have two options:

1. Buy me and every American the same.
2. Do the right thing. Honor your oath to us. Work together to devise a healthcare system that delivers the same level of care you receive as a member of Congress...without risk of personal bankruptcy.

Can Healthcare Reform Reverse the Trends in Obesity?

Daphne Leigh blogs at Just So You Know...Getting Feisty about Healthcare Communications. And she tweeted* a question the other day. It was How's health reform gonna address this? The this in her question was the obesity epidemic.

Now, unlike the swineflu whatever, obesity is an epidemic. Check out this interactive map she linked to. It's provided by the CDC. Scroll down quickly or just hit refresh. You'll see the changes over the past 20+ years for the rates of obesity here in the US.

Here's the comparison of the first and last years of this survey.

* FIRST: 1986. ALL states reported LESS than 15% of their population were obese.

* LAST: 2008. ALL states reported MORE than 15% of their population obese.

According to the CDC's site: Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

And USAToday shared this article Cost of Treating Obese Patients Soars to $147 Billion. WASHINGTON — Obese Americans — those who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight — cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double what it was a decade ago, a new study shows.

Overall, an obese patient has $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight.

Issues like single-payer, socialist healthcare, rationing by bureaucrats in a health insurance company (now) or the federal government (possible) or by income (now), medicare reimbursements, mandated health insurance, uninsured...are what's being discussed in the media and DC.

Issues like the real epidemic of obesity and its impact on our companies, our communities, our nation, our families, our lives...now and in the future, seem to be overlooked in what's called the  healthcare reform debate.

Maybe, that's the problem. 

The healthcare reform debate we see going on around us in the media and in DC, is too little about our healthcare and too much about our money: who gets it and how much. And we're not even invited to participate.

Daphne Leigh is on twitter at DaphneLeigh. You should follow her there and read her blog, too.

What-if...a 'low-car' diet?

What if...you gave up your car for 30 days?

• How would that change your life, your habits, your diet, your sleep patterns, tv-watching/websurfing patterns?

What if... you were part of a group of 30 that gave up your car, followed, a low-car diet, for 30 days?

• What would happen to you, your small community of low-car colleagues and maybe your larger community where you live?

What if...your entire community gave up their personal cars, or joined a low-car diet, for 30 days?

• How would that change your lives, your community?

What if you committed to a life-time of a low-car diet?  For good. No mas, as Roberto Duran asked.

What opportunities would arise for a change in lifestyle, diet, health?

What opportunities for new products or businesses to meet this change in lifestyle would arise?

These would arise in the proverbial long-tail of a shift in lifestyle and consumption such as ...a low-car diet.

Maybe we'll see. There's a campaign sponsored in part by ZipCar in each of its 13 cities for 30 plus residents to give up their personal cars for 30 days and instead walk, take public transportation, bike, or rent a ZipCar.

The self-interest for ZipCar is obvious. On the other hand, so's the obvious self-interest for residents in traffic-clogged cities with high rates of obesity, air-pollution, long-commutes, tired workers. That makes sense then for the campaign to be co-sponsored by EveryDayHealth and HealthCentral.

So. What if? And what opportunities do you see if that happened?

Link  from reenymal on Twitter.

BlogTalk Radio Guest Highlight: Gary Hoover, Founder of Hoover's Inc., July 1

I am enjoying so much listening again to Gary Hoover from our conversation last week. You can listen here on-demand. There's so much he shares. Here is a transcript of but a few of his salient points.

Gary Hoover studied economics at the University of Chicago, worked on Wall Street as a securities analyst, worked for two giant department store chains, founded a pioneering book superstore chain (BOOKSTOP, now part of Barnes & Noble), and founded the company that became Hoover's, Inc., the operator of www.hoovers.com.

Laurence Kirshbaum, CEO of Time-Warner Trade Publishing calls Gary a true visionary. Gary shared his ideas and solutions for small business growth, strategy, innovation and principles that separate winners from losers. You can listen on-demand at this link.

I saw 2 1/2 minutes of your envision presentation from 2007. There you talked about 8 principles that separate winners from losers in business. Would you share with us those 8 principles and what makes them cull winners from losers.

Eight Principals that separate Winners from Losers in Business

1. Curiosity: the people who lead and create great enterprises are always looking for answers in unexpected places. People tend to see or discover new breakthrough ideas from outside of their industry. Information is everywhere; it is just waiting for us to see it.
2. Sense of history: learning the lessons of big history and learning the trends and how things change over time. Nothing in business is really new, but there is a huge amount to be learned from the past and its visionaries. Trends – you can only look as far forward as you are willing to look. If you want to see 5-10 years into the future, you have to look that far into the past. Trends happen slowly over time. Look at demographic changes or the changing role of women in the workforce...these changes have slowly evolved over time. Study them.
3. Sense of geography: 90% of the business world does not know the metropolitan geography they live in. Americans are probably worse than most people at not knowing what is going on around us. You need to visit your own neighborhood. Discover that area. Explore! We need to understand where it us comes from. It shapes us. Having that sense of context is one of the most important advantages of an entrepreneur. The winners figure it out and put their business in context.
4. Clear Vision: Clarity: no buzz words, plain English. Straightforward plain talk
5. Consistency: once you figure out what you are going to do and it works, stay with it. Be true to what you love, what you are good at, your passion.
6. Service: The only valid reason for the existence of any enterprise is to provide goods and services! You must put the customer first.
7. Unique: need a unique vision to be successful. Do not copy other companies. You won’t be another great by doing what someone else does. Do your own thing and make it the best.
8. Passion: You must love what you do and without that passion, you won’t be as successful. Whatever you love is where you have the greatest chance of success.

28:46

Business is better learned during observation, exploring, and traveling; not just in the academic arena. People who create successful enterprises have a breadth of vision. The best of them have such varied interests that do provide more of a well rounded impact on their businesses.

Can you change to become any of these principles?

Yes! Especially curiosity. People are naturally curious, but as we age, we lose our sense of wonder. This begins in the school system where we are instructed to listen to the teacher, the lesson and do not question the information. This is the way it is.

We should always wonder!

Most people do have passion and if it is lost, it can be rediscovered!!! Our brains are just packed with information and memory capacity. Exercise it! We all have passions for something. Practice it.

Let’s say we have a roomful of business managers who want to develop an entrepreneurial mind. And they’ve asked you to tell them 3 things they can do as soon as they leave the room, and do them every day to develop an entrepreneurial mind. What are these three?

1. Make sure you are in touch with the birth down to earth. See things in context! Getting back to basics – being real! “Hanging out on the streets and getting close to the ground.”

2. Travel to unexpected places you wouldn’t think you would like. Travel with your eyes open.

3. Start reading business history! Abe Books for used books. Read backgrounds on who started your business or your industry. There is so much to be learned from the past. Don’t overlook it. Read old Fortune Magazines. The best business book to read is, “The Visible Hand,” by Alfred Chandler, telling about how American big business rose up.

43:13

I’ve read a lot over the years about the need for entrepreneurs to hurry up, fire-aim-load. But in a blog post on Monday at hooversworld.com you encourage readers to Ponder First, Act Later. Does anyone have the time to do that?

Think about what you want first and then how to execute your plan. There is always a balance in how you build an enterprise. You must really think about your business at every level. If you are going to be a successful startup, you need to be one of the best experts. Do whatever is necessary to really think about it, the lessons you have learned, what has been before you that you have just never taken notice of. Pay attention!!!

This brings us to understanding the role of failure in a business. And, you’re very public with sharing your failure, such as it was with Travel Fest. I admire you for labeling this as a failure when it wasn’t your fault that the airlines cut your commission.

Why do you call it your failure? What did you learn from that experience? What did you apply in starting Hoovers and your future projects?

You must be accountable for the failure and learn the important lessons. Look hard at what you could have done differently. What would have made the difference? There is always something to be learned from a failure, making it a success strategy for the next time. You learn what you can from it and how do you pick yourself up. Keep on moving.

What are the three biggest trends you see effecting entrepreneurs here in this country?

Depends on the industry: we are moving to a service economy. Most opportunities in the service industry. Manufacturing is declining on a global scale... takes less to create the same products because everything in automated.

There are so much greater opportunities in the service industry: healthcare, arts and entertainment, the Presidency, pet services, or financial services. People will have to add services to their businesses or enhance their current offerings.

The next thing is globalization and trade. We really are at turning point where it is pervasive in our lives. Huge shares of the things we buy are made overseas. It is the biggest force for world peace in the history of the world. People are much less likely to attack each other when you are economically intertwined. It touches all of us!! You must understand the globe if you want to be a successful enterprise.

Let’s say we talk a year from now. What’s going to be the biggest change in our culture for business.

Nothing earth shattering in the next several years. It will be interesting to see how the government unfolds. We are all linked together – Europe – China. At the end of everyday everyone should ask themselves, “What did I learn? How might it relate to my enterprise, my mission?”

We are developing a nation of entrepreneurs and that last statement ties into the curiosity factor of becoming a business owner.

One of my favorite quotes from you was Saying a business exists to make a profit is like saying a car exists to get good gas mileage.

Can you leave us with one more inspiring quote for entrepreneurs, their passion and purpose?

“You can not know too much about your customers.” Get inside their head; find out that correlation that your competition does not see. Do whatever it takes to get in touch with your customers! Ultimately the understanding of your clients is up to you!! Get in touch with your customers and get deep in their eyes. Not just fluffy focus groups!

You can follow Gary on the web at his website:

HooversWorld

LinkedIn.

Where are the entrepreneurs?

We are currently experiencing a bulge in the 45-64 age group which, naturally, will mean a bulge in the over-65 age groups in coming years...

Why does this matter for entrepreneurship? Contrary to popularly held assumptions, it turns out that over the past decade or so, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity (a measurement of new business creation) belongs to the 55-64 age group. The 20-34 age bracket meanwhile-which we usually identify with swashbuckling and risk-taking youth (think Facebook and Google)-has the lowest.

In every single year from 1996 to 2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34. - Jack Schultz* in his BoomTown Institute newsletter. ;

So. Again. Where are the entrepreneurs? Data...points to them, us, being in the boomer bulge.

* Jack Schultz of BoomTown Institute . If you're interested in entrepreneurship, community development, rural development or just learning from someone smart, focused, knowledgeable and who offers pragmatic solutions from a range of sources....subscribe to his newsletter.

Note: Jack shared his thoughts recently with me on all the above and more ; on my BlogTalk Radio show. You can listen at this link.

Immigrants, Startups and Jobs

I've never understood the fear of immigrants in our communities. I don't like the tone of the term for its labeling of groups of people as 'others', different, folks to be wary of...

We're a nation of immigrants. In every family, there is an an ancestor that entered our country, now theirs too,  under terms we'd now call illegal.

Our nation was created from the collective efforts of our forefathers to come here, illegally, to pursue their dreams of freedom. Freedom to worship. Freedom to speak out. And freedom to pursue their dreams of owning their own business, owning their destiny.

That drive for freedom, to build a better life for themselves and their families, has served all of us  well. It serves as the source of highly motivated workers and role models.  Anyone motivated enough to walk here from...Guatemala or El Salvador or...pack up their belongings, and travel to a land where they don't speak the language of their new neighbors, to pursue a dream...are the very definition of motivated. These are the role models who lead by example to show the power of self-discipline, commitment, sacrifice, determination, delayed gratification, focus, planning, goal-setting. We need more, not fewer.

And surprisingly, immigrants are 30% more likely to start a business than non-immigrants. They account for 11.6% of all U.S. business income...according to this article in today's USAToday.

Business startups are the source of new jobs. Business startups led by those motivated enough to travel to a new country or continent are led by exemplary role models. Jobs and positive role models are positive contributions to their families, their communities, their new country which is our country which only becomes a better country with a more diversified economy....

What's my point? Before we craft attitudes or policies, rules or laws, may we first consider data, current and historical? The data I see shows that immigration is a source of startups and jobs for our economy. Right now, we need both.

There's no recession for health insurance lobbyists

It may be a recession for the rest of us, but lobbyists for the health insurance and big pharma industries are having a great year. According to an article in the USAToday The largest medical insurers and drug companies spent 41% more on lobbying this year.

There's a lot at stake:

• 17% of our GDP with a growth rate twice that of inflation.*
• $2.5 trillion in spending every year expected to grow to $4.3 Trillion by 2017.*

And they, the health insurance and big pharma, see their cake and their ability to eat it, too, being threatened by concepts like..c-c-c-c-ompetition (And by the federal government, no less. I mean you have to be so inept to be afraid of a competitor whose cold call starts with I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help) and greater FDA oversight.

Congrats to the lobbyists for the health insurance and big pharma industries. You're doing a heckuva job for the country.

* National Coalition on Healthcare

China Shuts Down Social Media Sites

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing.

And China honors their citizens in the same manner they honored them in 1989: shut the conversations and their opinions down.

Government officials have shut down message boards on more than 6,000 websites affiliated with colleges and universities, says the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. - USAToday.

YouTube’s been unavailable from within China since March?

Twitter and Flickr are no longer accessible. Microsoft’s new Bing search engine, Hotmail, and other social media resources have been blocked by the government of China ‘on behalf’ of its citizens.

The  efforts here are darkly amusing. In an attempt to stifle discussion, they have only inspired others to carry the conversation forward. Like corporations who attempt to ban their employees from blogging or block access to social media sites in an effort to control the message, China’s efforts have and will continue to fail. The issue isn't talking or the use of social media. The issue is you have given only negatives for your customers and employees (citizens, too) to discuss. 

I remember watching the broadcast on network TV back in 1989 (back in the day). And over the years,  I had forgotten that this week was the 20th anniversary of Tiananment Square.

Now, I remember. Now you do also. Now all those readers of Reuters and USAToday, and many other publications remember what happened 20 years ago. And it’s all thanks to the efforts of an organization to stifle the memory and the conversation.

You can’t control the conversation. You can only offer something better, something more inspiring, something more meaningful, to your customers (citizens) to talk about and hope they agree.

One sure way to do this is to first listen. But if you won’t let them talk...how can you listen?

The alternative is to take China's approach. Inspire your citizens (customers) and the world to remember your crowning mistakes of the past...for decades to come.

Obama Cuts Chrysler's Ad Budget in Half

Lots of people are a-twitter with this news.  I closed my eyes and heard The sky is fallin'...Chrysler's ad budget is halved...by Obama!  The articles and tweets usually lead with Obama Cuts Chrysler's Ad Budget in Half.

Overlooked is this: Why was Chrysler advertising anyway? Clearly it wasn't effective. Neither was their management team or they would have looked at the results from their advertising and realized...there weren't any.

Chrysler's decision to continue to advertise when A. all signs pointed to their product list being outdated; B. their ads being ineffective was the sign of a top-down management out of touch with the market. That's how we describe it in our capitalist, free-market, economy.

But we've seen this mindset in other economies as well. It is the mindset of former Soviet-style state-run industries who built stuff based on their needs and then expected the proletariat, er, consumer, to buy it.  Here's your car. Now buy it." Chrysler said Here's your truck; now buy it.

Smart, engaged, leaders in any economy would have asked why.

• Is it our ad campaign?
•  Do we need another agency?
• Or is it our products?

They would have done this long before the company ran out of cash.

That the leadership at Chrysler continued to advertise, and see no results, shows...how to say this nicely, they were disengaged?

And that leaders of the federal government, that federal government, the one that's oh so inefficient (and yes, I tend to agree) were able to see this basic strategic, operational, tactical and competitive failure at a glance....is a sign that Chrysler wasn't able to compete in any market, free or not. 

With so many people depending on the success of Chrysler, it was time someone, oddly it was the federal government, brought basic principles of free-market competition and marketing back to Chrysler's decision-makers.

Swine Flu and AIDS

( Unsettling topic for a Sunday morning? Sorry. )

The media alarms us with news that:

An outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and the United States is a quickly evolving situation that has "pandemic potential," the head of the World Health Organization said Saturday before an emergency meeting of flu experts. USAToday: WHO = Mexico Swine Flu has Pandemic Potential

The stats so far are: 62 people have died; 1000 have been sickened.

By no means do I diminish anyone's death for any reason. If a family member were to die then my entire universe would be consumed with that news.

However, consider the impact of AIDs, an existing pandemic after 20 years(?).

* 270,000 children died of AIDS in 2007. Children. 270,000. That's over 20,000 children per month. Per month. 700 children per day, 30 children per hour. By the time I finish writing this post, 30 children would have died from AIDs in 2007.

* 2 million people died from AIDs in 2007. That's 160,000+ per month. 5,000+ per day. 200 per hour. By the time I finish writing this post, 3 times more people would have died from AIDs than died to date from this outbreak of swine flu. And that total is from one day, of one of the 20 years.

I'm not saying the Swine Flu outbreak doesn't deserve attention, and urgency.

However, if 62 deaths are alarming enough to convene an emergency meeting of the WHO to consider closing borders, trade restrictions, etc...what's their response to a real pandemic that's claimed from their own reports over 20 million people (200 people during the time I've written this post ) and after 20 years still hasn't been eradicated?

Just curious.

* UNAIDS/WHO statistics

THE Golden Rule has Morphed into 10

In the good old days we had THE Golden Rule. I say we, because, it’s a rule expressed nearly identically in almost every culture, religion, age. THE Golden Rule goes like this:

• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Or something to that effect.

The Babellian (?) Tower that is our world with social media has mandated that  THE Golden Rule now morph into ten. The 10 New Golden Rules for Living in a Web 2.0 World. It’s by Richard Smith, bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, CNN Contributor.

The list is excellent. Thank you Mr. Smith. My faves ( they speak to me, and if they did and asked “do you feel me, Zane?” then I’d have to say “Yes, I DO!”) are:

1) Do unto others as you would have them announce to 100,000 people you have done.

3) You will always remain only one degree of separation tomorrow from a bridge you burn today.

9) The day your name hits the top of the Google search rankings will NOT be a good day.

10) It is more compelling than ever to simply do the right thing for yourself and for the world. Positive actions have now been gifted with incredibly long tails.

I think he’s onto something with this list.

But I still like THE Golden Rule:

• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Or something to that effect.

Link from Tim Berry in a guest post at SmallBiz Trends

Congress Cuffs Executive Bonuses

Unlike the rules issued by the White House, the limits in the stimulus bill would apply to top executives and the highest-paid employees at all 359 banks that have already received government aid.

"This is a big deal. This is a problem," said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the nation's largest financial services firms. "It undermines the current incentive structure." - Washington Post

Do you know where to begin to address his comments?

Scott. Maybe you've been busy of late. But..our banking system is in near-collapse. Ours and the world's. US banks, and their executives you represent, are holding us taxpayers and our businesses hostage for their unwillingness to use our taxpayer money to jumpstart our economy. Your clients won't disclose how they are using our taxpayer dollars funds...and the chief lobbyist for the nation's largest financial services firms...is worried that the current incentive structure may be undermined.

Well, Scott. Maybe, it should be undermined. Because the current incentive structure has delivered the results that we, the taxpayers, have to rescue you and your clients from. You and us. Together.

Your incentive structure has been a bit undermined by your performance under your incentive structure. And, OUR incentive structure has been undermined....because of this performance of your clients. Have you read about the unemployment figures, the decline in spending..., Scott?

But it's our money that's funding your incentive structure...without our money you would have no meaningful incentive structure. You would have no incentives.

Scott sounds like a patriot when he says he's worried that the top traders at these banks we're rescuing will leave for European banks whose incentive structures are not restricted. Really? See many banks on any continent intereested in traders and their leaders from American banks who led their banks to the edge of the cliff and then asked for somebody, somebody...Yes, the American taxpayers will do...to pull them back from the cliff because they can't help themselves?

And, if these overseas banks are interested...do they have the means to offer a meaningful incentive structure?

Scott. The incentive structure (along with the lack of regulatory oversight...) is part of the problem. And you're not helping, either.

Final Four - January 25th

If the Final Four happened this weekend, here's who I'd expect to see play:

UConn
UNC
Pitt
Louisville

In the wings are:

Duke, Wake, Michigan State, Kansas, Gonzaga

Falling fast:

Georgetown, Tennessee, the SEC as a whole, Texas (pending injuries), Miami.

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech

From caseywright on twitter.

I am thankful we're nearing the end of this period

And this period is the period of secret prisons, and lost lives shuffling between our secret prisons and those of our allies(?) who volunteer to help us terrorize those with no rights and do so on the basis of whispers and idle gossip and greed for a bounty offered.

It’s not going to happen immediately. We’ve allowed an infrastructure of contracts and money, careers and influence, and illegal activity to flourish. And it’s brought us nothing but shame as a nation and served to incite our enemies.

However, the first signs of the end of this period are slowly happening.

And, I’m thankful we’re nearing the end of this period.

NY Times: An Ex-Detainee of the U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal