An idea is conceived
Amid so much 'who knows what'
Whether forced
Or just flowing
Bringing contentment
Then building upon
That initial idea
With a flourish
Or lyrical twist
That you hear
Gives a character to it
And promotes growth
Not unlike raising a child
Or meeting the love
Of your life
The Hours
In progress with Jay Graboski and Dave Kelly
I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.
-Michael Jordan
Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
-Thomas A. Edison
A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
-Winston Churchill
All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.
-Albert Camus
To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first.
-William Shakespeare
Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
-Lucretius
If you have no critics you'll likely have no success.
-Malcolm X
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
-Epictetus
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
-Henry David Thoreau
and my personal favorite. . .
An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.
-Charles Horton Cooley
I realize the importance of stimulating the economy and economic growth. I also know that when it comes to increasing profits (or should I say the 'accumulation of wealth'?) the human race is most certainly on board. Dylan Ratigan (in his book GREEDY BASTARDS) says that there is good, long-term greed - the type where someone provides a valuable product or service of high quality and reasonable price, and profits from it at a reasonable rate over a long term - and then there is bad, short-term greed (the one practiced by the 'bastards') where someone provides something of little to no value (or even swindles through questionable means) and reaps gigantic profits very quickly. I fear that pursuit of the latter type is much more prevalent these days than the former . . .
(from http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/nervous-retailers-hope-post-christmas-rush-1C7659314)
". . . The biggest holiday of the season is over, but retailers are hoping that you aren’t done with your holiday shopping quite yet.
“The next few days are critical for retailers. They’ve got some catching up to do,” said Marshal Cohen, retail industry analyst with NPD Group.
On Wednesday, big chains including Macy's were already pushing their post-Christmas bargains, while major discounters including Wal-Mart were encouraging shoppers to redeem their gift cards right away. But the fallout from a big Christmas storm could hurt their efforts if shoppers decide they prefer a cozy rest of the week at home instead. . ."
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newest release:
AMBIENCE & WINE
(from http://economywatch.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13728411-weak-jobs-growth-beyond-governments-control?lite By John W. Schoen, NBC News)
". . . No matter who ends up occupying the White House in January, many of the forces that have kept unemployment high and jobs growth slow will be beyond his control.
With employment growth stuck at a slower pace than in any recovery in the past half-century, the presidential campaign now turns on which candidate -- President Barack Obama or former Gov. Mitt Romney -- has the better plan to boost employment. The latest jobs data will do little to change the debate.
The economy added just 96,000 new jobs in August, well below the roughly 130,000 economists had been expecting. Gains in the prior two months were revised down by a combined 41,000. Manufacturers cut 15,000 jobs last month, while another 7,000 government jobs were lost. Temporary employment fell by almost 5,000 workers.
Other recent reports had painted a somewhat brighter picture. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, and a private survey by payroll processor ADP found that companies created some 200,000 new jobs in August. Another private report showed that service sector companies, such as hotels, retailers, and financial services firms, expanded at a faster rate last month. . .
. . . That uncertainty – and reluctance to hire – will be stoked by a series of other forces holding back the four-year-old recovery:
While subpar economic growth feels like a recession to many Americans, Europeans are coping with the real thing. The economic contraction that began in troubled economies of Greece and Spain is now spreading to Germany, the flywheel of Europe’s economy, the largest in the world. China, along with the developing economies that feed its massive manufacturing machine, is in an economic slowdown that Beijing has so far been unable to reverse.
The budget impasse in the U.S. is due largely to huge, and rising, cost of providing health care and retirement income to an aging population. The dearth of private retirement savings will bring a slowdown in consumer spending as baby boomers continue to tighten their belts. Those trends are irreversible.
With wage growth stagnant, growth in spending remains weak for consumers in every age group. The boom in borrowing during the 2000s helped offset sluggish wage growth. The resulting housing bust destroyed trillions of dollars in household wealth. Though the housing market is beginning to recover, it will take at least a decade for prices to recover to the 2006 peak.
As private employers have slowed the pace of new hires, state and local governments are still shedding workers. The Obama administration’s massive federal stimulus program – now criticized by Republicans for failing to produce the number of jobs originally projected – helped blunt those layoffs. As those funds have dried up, local governments have been hit with lower sales and property tax receipts, cuts in state aid and, in some cases, mandated tax caps.
Even the Federal Reserve – the economic fire brigade of last resort – seems to have run out of tools to fight the fire. Friday's weak jobs report give the central bank more reason for another big money drop known as quantitative easing or QE. But after two rounds of more than $1 trillion in pump-priming, and short-term interest rates already at zero, most economists see diminishing returns from another effort to stimulate growth by pumping more money into the system.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
You can NOW download
your
very own copy of Ray Jozwiak's
newest release:
AMBIENCE & WINE
(from NPR http://www.npr.org/2012/04/27/151456319/is-moderate-growth-good-for-the-economy)
'The U.S. economy hit the recession exit ramp nearly three years ago,
but it's been lost on the back roads somewhere near Recoveryville ever
since. Growth rates have been modest at best
compared with the 4-plus percent growth in the years well before the
U.S. began slouching toward its worst post-World War II recession. On
Friday, the government reported that the economy grew at a 2.2 percent
pace in the first quarter, down from the 3 percent rate at the end of
2011. The Federal Reserve this week said it expects growth to "remain
moderate over coming quarters and then to pick up gradually. "Common
sense says high growth rates are good and slower, more modest ones are
not so good. But is that always the case? After all, the "irrational
exuberance" of the early 2000s helped bring on the recession as people
borrowed and spent their way to prosperity. Economists
say growth will remain low and consumers will be cautious as long as
unemployment stays high. Last month, the jobless rate stood at 8.2
percent. We asked four economists for their
take on the growth rate and whether it has triggered any permanent
change in consumer behavior. They are Chris Christopher, a senior
principal economist at IHS Global Insight; William Dickens, an economist
at the Brookings Institution; Gary Hufbauer, a senior researcher at the
Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Ken Matheny, senior
economist at Macroeconomic Advisers. . ."
It's time we re-examine our expectations and our standards. Let us redefine 'growth' and calibrate our expectations to a more realistic and natural level. Paraphrasing Dylan Ratigan in "Greedy Bastards", short term greed is practiced by greedy bastards; the largest payback as quickly as possible. Long-term greed is what capitalism is all about. Provide a good or service of value and reap a profit over a number of years . . . yes YEARS; a concept quite foreign to U.S. business.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
Also download
your
very own copy of
AMBIENCE & WINE
by Ray
Jozwiak
