Tuesday, December 14, 2010

An Open Letter From One Business Leader To Another

<My dear friend, John McCoy, made this open letter as his endorsement for me. I sincerely appreciate it, John.>
            
             It has become customary to bash big government, and for good reason. Government gets in the way when it tries to interfere with the private sector.   But things got so bad in 2008 that everyone turned to the Fed, the Congress and the President, and his Treasury Secretary, to do something to avert the train wreck we all saw coming. They did do something; and most people were grateful, including the business community and the financial community.  But in allowing them to intervene as they did, we – and I mean business leaders -- shirked our responsibilities.  It was our mistake in the first place.  Now it is the turn of the business community to take drastic steps.  We need to start by telling our government leaders, “Thanks, but no thanks” to their further efforts to jumpstart the economy.  They simply don’t know how to do that, and why should we expect them to do what they are not designed to do? 
             So, what is the next step on the road to recovery?  The first step is a painful one; it is the recognition that we in the business community erred.  What kind of error am I talking about?  I am talking about a failure of imagination.  We pride ourselves in the business community for our ingenuity, our creativity, our willingness to think outside the box.  We have done nothing of the sort.  If we had, we would have avoided this train wreck long ago.
             So, now for the next step – after we admit to ourselves the horrendous mistake we made, and I do mean “we” in the broadest sense.  The next step is for someone to step forward and make the gutsy call that he has come up with the solution.  It takes a lot of nerve to tell everyone else that they are wrong and you have it right.  For one thing, they may not listen.  They might even laugh at you.  And why shouldn’t  they?  If it’s one against the world, whose view usually prevails?  That’s why it’s so gutsy, but someone has to do it.  That someone happens to be Luke Lee.
             Luke Lee may be new to this country but he knows what has made this nation great and, more to the point, the dominant economic force it became starting in the second half of the 19th century.  Yes, it’s important to have superior natural resources.  Yes, it’s important to have a political system that promotes economic growth.  It’s important to have  persistence to get through the bad times.  We Americans did not throw in the towel at any time during the worst of the Great Depression.   We persevered along with our allies to a favorable outcome in World War II.  We then seized upon the opportunity to make ourselves the dominant economic force in the world.  Need I also add, we had luck on your side – many times.  But the last ingredient for what has made us a great economic nation is that we encourage innovation.  We encourage somebody with great ideas and vision to succeed in this country, and then we reward him for his vision.  All the great names have formed our pantheon of great leaders:  Rockefeller, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan,  Andrew Carnegie, and even great innovators-inventors like Thomas Edison.  Admittedly, they are a rogues gallery for those who despise the system, but not to those of us who prize great men willing to make personal sacrifices that ultimately benefit all of us.  Luke Lee may just be such a business leader.  I’ve been reading Luke Lee’s articles and I must say they make a lot of sense.
             We value somebody with great ideas then – and now.  After we criticize them for being someone who bucks the trends and the system.  Then, all it takes is for one or two, or ten, or more to start to listen.  When people are willing to try something new, and get others to join – the Internet, Google, Ebay, Facebook – a tsunami takes place.  The good kind of tsunami, I should add, not the bad one that sweeps everything away in its path.  
             Luke Lee has some great ideas.  Now that the naysayers have had their day in downplaying something they don’t understand, is someone now willing to listen? 
             Lee has spent the better part of the last 10 years on developing a technology that will fix the market system once and for all.  He has also spent most of that same 10 years in trying to convince someone, anyone, that his system will work.  Painfully, he has tried to press his solution forward as he has watched our entire economic system come apart.   
             Where does he get the audacity?  It comes from his belief in the free enterprise system.  The beauty of the free enterprise system, once you’ve made it a part of your personal belief system, is that it is predicated on the firm belief that innovation will always trump staying the course.  But it’s hard for people to change a losing course when, first of all, they don’t recognize the mistaken path they are on, and, secondly, when they lack the training, ability and creativity to come up with a solution to what everyone else cannot see.  That’s called vision.
             Again, Luke Lee is that someone.  So, take a few minutes to read his most recent blogs.  And if you agree with him, write to him and tell him.  Then, tell a friend.

John V. McCoy


Suggested articles to read:
"Breaking Down the Economic Death Spiral – and Saving the World Economy" http://t.co/8pMwQh7  
"A Real Market Revolution as a Solution for the Current Economic Crisis: A Reappraisal of Current Forecasts of Upcoming US Federal Deficit and Employment" http://t.co/2bLXYqT

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