Public Company Disease

Businesses provide product(s) and/or service(s), but they exist to make money. There are altruistic business owners who are not trying to make money hand over fist, but to stay in business they still need to make money. Whether a company is privately held (does not offer shares to the general public) or publicly held (its registered securities--stock, bonds, etc.--are for sale to the general public) the profit it makes goes to the owners. How much ends up as profit is adjustable. Once obligations are covered (e.g., paying for utilities, rent, purchases, etc.) the remaining money can be put back into the business (e.g., buy more machinery, facilities, etc.) to grow that business or the money can be declared profit and dispersed among the owners. If the "excess" money is never reinvested back into the company and the owners keep taking it as profit all the time, the business will never grow and most likely it will fail. I understand this is a simplistic explanation, but I don't want to bore you too much. :-)

People generally buy stock in a public company to make a profit and the sooner the better. Because public company owners are focused so much on making fast profits, the managers who run public companies are also focused on the fast buck. I remember reading about a computer company CEO a few years back who increased the company's stock value by over 50% in a short period of time, but was fired because the owners expected even more! Because managers want to make a lot of money now too often they sacrifice future profits and value of the company. This is the public company disease and it doesn't just affect public companies.

There's been a lot in the news lately about sports figures on steroids. In an attempt to be big and strong and make the big bucks now, those athletes are seriously endangering their future health. Others in society take illegal drugs because they want to feel good now. They risk not only their short- and long-term quality of life, but life itself.

Any body--be it human, business or government body--that sacrifices the future for the now, jeopardizes the long-term health and viability of that body.

In an attempt to feel good now by getting out of the recession immediately instead of letting markets correct themselves over time our government is throwing money at the problem. Current estimates are that they will stop at 5 trillion, but there's no guarantee of it ending there. I ran some calculations in an earlier post, but maybe I drew the payback out too long (over 2000 years) so the debt didn't look so big. So let's recalculate.

Whenever we hear people mention the national debt we typically hear them say we are indebting our children. Sometimes they also say grandchildren. I don't remember ever hearing anyone in the media say anything about great grandchildren, so let's just suppose our grandchildren need to finish paying it all back. Let's stretch the time line out and let's start with those who just became adults: 18 year olds. Let's say they start having children about 10 years later (right around the average nowadays) and the same holds true for their children and their grandchildren. In other words, their children are born 10 years from now, their grandchildren are born another 28 years after that or 38 years from now. Those grandchildren will then only have 46 more years to pay off the debt before their children arrive at adulthood and have the burden passed on to them (28+18). That totals 84 years.

Before we go any further I feel it's important to mention that our government is telling us that we won't have to pay off the full amount because they expect to make money on the bailouts. If "experts" in the field of finance got us into this mess and couldn't get themselves out of all that bad debt that the government is taking off their hands, what makes us think that the "experts" in government can get out from owning all that same bad debt? But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that we'll get at least some of it back. Of course let us not forget that while we're waiting to get it back we have to pay interest on all that money now. So let's just say that the money we get back balances out the interest we're paying in the interim so it turns out to be a wash and we have to pay off $5,000,000,000,000 total.

Divide that five trillion dollars by 84 years and we have to pay off over 59 billion dollars ($59,523,809,523.81 to be exact) every year ... and that's just so our great grandchildren aren't indebted by it. That sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but on a per taxpayer basis it comes out at under $500. That doesn't sound too bad, but do you want your taxes to go up by that much (not to mention for everyone else for the next 84 years)? Aren't taxes high enough already? We keep being promised by this administration that our taxes will go down, not up. How's that supposed to happen when we have more and more debt to pay off? Remember, these calculations aren't taking into account our current indebtedness. Just like in the infomercials we can say, "But wait, there's more. Now how much will you pay" in higher taxes?

The public company disease is already at pandemic proportions. It's time to bite the bullet and take our medicine now before our government body gets any sicker.

The Lighter View

At times what's going on around us and the troubles of the world can weigh down on us. Sometimes we just need a break. So today, rather than write about something serious, I thought I'd take a lighter tack. I hope you don't mind and I hope my friend who exchanged emails with me doesn't mind my publishing a slightly modified version of her prose. What follows is friendly banter between two friends through email.


I know, I know, today's not a special occasion or anything, but I thought I'd write anyway. Mainly because I have something out of the ordinarily drab day-to-day life that happened to me so I actually have something to write about. Now don't get your hopes up, it's not all that much, just something that doesn't happen every day (thank goodness).

I almost sliced my thumb off a few days ago. See, I told you it was noteworthy (and something I'm glad doesn't happen on a regular basis). OK, so I am exaggerating, I didn't even cut to the bone or anything, but I probably should have gotten stitches. However I'd rather not spend my money on doctors. I don't know how it was in your family, but me not going to the doctor's is not too different from how we were raised: you practically had to be on your way to the morgue before my dad would take you to the doctor. I was so scared when I got hit by a car when I was seven; not because I thought I would die from the accident, but because I thought my dad would kill me from having to go to the hospital!

Anyway, back to the present ... We put gauze on my thumb and secured it with a couple of band aids (oh, excuse me, that should be Band-Aid brand or, since we go for the cheapos, "adhesive bandages"). When I took the gauze off in the morning my thumb was still bleeding quite well, thank you (hopefully this is interesting rather than just grossing you out). So I resorted to my home remedy stitching. No, I'm not some macho guy who took out the needle and thread like you see in those westerns or war movies. I used super glue (oops, there I go again, Super Glue brand aka cyanoacrylate glue) and ARM & HAMMER® Pure Baking Soda. The baking soda kicks off the glue quickly which stops the bleeding. It puts a protective coating over the wound and acts kind of like a synthetic scab (see, now I really am grossing you out). Of course I covered it with an "adhesive bandage" so I could stem the flood of people questioning me as to why I would walk around with a big glob of Super Glue® and baking soda on my thumb! In case you're wondering, my thumb is healing well and I only cry once a day now when nobody's looking. Of course I'm milking it for all it's worth and while I'm milking it, I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I'm making to type with an gimp thumb and the pain I'm experiencing with every space bar press (just kidding, I'm pressing the space bar with my other thumb).

Please write back and let me know about all the exciting things that are new in your life. You know, like how your laundry's coming or how you just can't wait for the next episode of your favorite TV show, stuff like that. :-) Just kidding. Your life is probably much more exciting than mine.

Take care,

Your Super Glued Friend


You didn't respond to my last email so it looks like my worst fears have been realized - you really DID get super-glue-poisoning in your thumb, then had to type one-handed until you got carpal tunnel in your "good" hand, and now since you have to type only with your toes, it's slowed you down so much that you can only type a sentence a week... am I right??? And if that's the case, I'm going to be really, really patient in waiting to hear anything from you.

Seriously, I hope your stitch-less-ness is working out for you, and that your injury is healing properly. Although we've never had much money in either my current family or my family of origin, we always thought that scrimping on life-or-death (or maiming) issues was (just barely) out of the question. Really just checking on you - hope everything's okay for you and your family.

Take care!

Your Concerned Friend

P.S. Wait - did you ever say how your slashing came about??


I like your excuse much better than the one I was going to make up. You're sooo funny!

Sorry it took way too long to write back to you. Got a question for you: If someone's expected to speak and doesn't, we say the cat's got their tongue. What poor defenseless animal can we blame for not writing back?

The other common household pet, the dog, doesn't work because he's too engrossed in eating my homework to blame on this. Besides, he's too lazy to do anything else anyway. I'd certainly like to blame it on that dang monkey on my back (he's so annoying) but he's having too much fun pulling out my hair (no wonder I'm balding). I could get rid of him if I'd pull a tiger by the tail (monkeys don't like sticking around when there's another animal up the food chain from them) but I'm not too fond of man-eating tigers, though that would certainly provide a great excuse for not writing back (hard to do when you're dead, you know).

No one would ever believe a fox did it; they're far too sly to have blame stick to them. It's like they wear Teflon or something. The owl's too wise, the bee's too busy, and the lark is just too freaking happy to keep anyone from doing what they should. I've got it! I'll blame it on the mule. You see, I've been trying to write you back, but that mule won't budge, that stubborn animal! (Actually it was my fingers that wouldn't budge, but they act just like mules sometimes.)

My thumb is doing much better. Thanks for asking. I can use it normally now ... well, normally for a grossly scarred piece of meat (just kidding). It's too early to tell how bad the scar will be, but it looks like it won't be too bad. I guess I'll have to go on the road and declare the merits of Super Glue to the world.

To answer your question on how I slashed my thumb: it was while I was building a computer. Yeah, I know, computer geeks are considered to have a low-risk lifestyle--sedentary with lots of pizza (hmph, and they call that low-risk! Think of all the artery clogging!)--but computers can be downright mean. Computer cases are usually made out of pretty thin metal, i.e., razor thin. My hand slipped while I was trying to put something in place and, zing!, slice city. Oh the risks we take to bring the world technological Nirvana.

Well, I've been silly long enough, so I'll sign off. Hope this email finds you and yours well and happy as a freaking lark.

Take care,

Your Super Glued and Healing Friend

Apathy, Interconnections, and Rude Awakenings

"Let them do what they want. It doesn't affect me." How many times have you heard that statement (or something similar to it)? How about, "Mind your own business"? Do things other people do--even perfect strangers from far away--affect us? And should we do something about it?

Have you seen that new show with John Quiñones called "What Would You Do?" It's basically about strangers (paid actors) doing things that most other people would normally find unacceptable and whether the observers will decide to get involved. The implication of the show is that they should get involved. I guess it's that age-old apathetic (and pathetic) question: Am I my brother's keeper?

Before we go on, a little quiz. What is the best-selling nonfiction audio book on tape in history? It's an international bestseller that has sold (as of this writing) more than 15 million copies in 38 languages throughout the world and still going strong. And in 2002, Forbes named it one of the top 10 most influential management books ever. Give up? It's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Why do I mention this? I feel there are principles in this book that are insightful and accurate ... and apparently so do a lot of other people from many different walks of life. Not that, in and of itself, that proves the truthfulness of his words, but at least it should give us reason to have an open mind and find out for ourselves if his words ring true.

He writes about the different stages of maturity that we (hopefully) go through in life. We start out as defenseless babes, unable to take care of ourselves and therefore dependent on others to take care of us. Then we grow and become independent: capable of taking care of ourselves and making our own decisions. Unfortunately too many think that's the highest level. But it's not. The greatest maturity is to be, and to recognize, interdependence. This is the stage where we realize we are all intertwined and that we must cooperate--or as he puts it, synergize--with others to achieve greater heights than any one could achieve individually or that could be achieved at all by one person alone.

When you think about it, aren't phrases such as "becoming who I really am" or "doing my own thing" just expressions of selfish seclusion? How about doing things for others and becoming better than "who I really am" today for the benefit of society as a whole tomorrow? Even Bill Gates who, depending upon the year, is named the richest man in the world, could not have grown Microsoft to the behemoth it is today all by himself. He is only as rich as he is because other people give him money. I'm not familiar with his personal habits, but more than likely he depends upon others to grow and package his food, make his clothes, build his cars, etc., etc., etc.

We are all interconnected. A year ago how many of us would have thought about our neighbor who let his house go into foreclosure, "Let him do what he wants. It doesn't affect me"? Look at where our economy is today because of others defaulting on their home loans. Do what our neighbors--or even perfect strangers clear across the country--do affect us? Yes. Does what we do affect others? Yes. We are all tied together.

We may not always be able to tell how the actions of others will affect us or our society, but they do to one degree or another. We can't just sit back and be like the three monkeys: deaf, dumb and blind. But what if the effects of people's actions are not immediately apparent (like the housing crisis) and we don't recognize the harm that can be done? That's where it gets tricky, but we can't ignore the potential. Remember the "butterfly effect"? Even little things can have huge consequences.

I'm not trying to be an alarmist here, I just think it would be nice to avoid rude awakenings.

California's Constitution Wants God's Blessings

We the People of the United States ... and so begins the Constitution of the United States. Most of us are familiar with that famous first line. The Constitution of the State of California is in the news right now due to Proposition 8 being on trial. But how many of us are familiar with its words? The first line reads, "We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution." Hmm, I wonder what would happen if a lawyer tried to argue in court that their position, rather than their opponent's position, will secure blessings from the Almighty God for the people of California?

Many are arguing that Proposition 8 is taking away their rights. I've written about "rights" before, but I'd like to address the issue again. What is a right? According to a legal dictionary I found it is: a power, privilege, demand, or claim possessed by a particular person by virtue of law. The key here is "by virtue of law." In other words, the law giveth and the law taketh away rights. In my view it's not a matter of what is or is not a right by virtue of law, but what should be a right. It looks like, for California at least, the laws should be based on what will secure blessings from God.