Chautauqua: An Overload of Stimulation

Recently, Kitty and I had a chance to spend time with good friends who are regulars at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State, an intellectual/spiritual/arts paradise on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in New York State since 1874.  (See www.ciweb.org)  It creates nine theme weeks each summer within programming for symphony, opera, theater, books, religion and exercise at a place with no cars allowed.  Our theme week was:  "Markets, Morals and the Social Contract".  They bring in experts, many of them famous, to speak on the theme ... as well as arranging more than 40 events daily to meet all interests.

Some of our takeaways from very stimulating and dynamic speakers:

Michael Sandel, Harvard's "rock star ethicist"

•  There are very few things that money can't buy.  You can hire people to stand in line for you so you don't have to (www.linestanding.com).  In Santa Barbara, as a prisoner you can buy an upgrade in your accommodations.  We've drifted from being a market economy, a tool for organizing productive activity, to a market society, where everything is up for sale.

•  If wealth provides access to only a few luxury things, it doesn't matter much.  But when it influences the big things in life for all of us, then inequality matters more.

•  At a certain point, money changes perception of what's good.  Should kids be paid to read books:  Reading as an essential intellectual endeavour in itself, vs. pay me to do it.  A Swedish audience was asked, would you be willing to live near a nuclear waste site?  51% said Yes.  Now, if we offered you 6,000 Euro to do it, would you?  Only 25% said Yes.

•  Today, perhaps too often, we are yielding the responsibility for a moral decision/behavior to a market value, allowing a pride-money decision to determine validity/value.  We have fallen out of the habit of reasoning.

•  Our country was founded on philosophies, not economics.

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist

•  What are our core values that shouldn't be compromised by money?  For children, education, food and health care.

•  We are constantly tempering morality with money, and individuality with community.

•  Markets work, but only when they are enforced by moral limits (some of which are defined by government regulations).

•  Capitalism is great at serving needs where demand is sufficient to allow a profit.  But, what about insurance for sick older people?  

•  What is a FAIR rule or regulation?  One where there are no exceptions.  No corruption or payoffs or "special considerations" to insiders.

•  If liberty is to thrive, we must make each other's condition our own.

David Brooks, New York Times columnist

•  Augustin writes of the two worlds we are considering this week as represented by Adam I and Adam II.  The contrasts:  Success vs. Love/Redemption.  Accomplishment vs. Understanding.  Economics (input leads to output, investment leads to return) vs. Moral (give to receive, surrender to gain strength, conquer craving, to find yourself you have to lose yourself).  Too much we live in the world of Adam I and let it dominate Adam II.  Not good.

•  No person can achieve mastery on his/her own.

•  Defeating weakness means quieting the self ... finding the external strengths you need, finding your Purpose.

•  It's ironical:  You build your internal self by understanding outside your self.

•  You can't teach the heart in the classroom.  The heart is developed by experiences, by living.

•  What feels good today?  There is lots of social repair going on.  We've gotten really good about blending people from around the world into our organizations and structures.  Socially we're in pretty good shape.  Politically we have a problem, but social movements usually will take precedence.

•  Per Aristotle:  1.  Develop your Habits ... small things within your control, and do them well ... morally well.  (Remember people's names!)  2.  Be around good people, and copy them.  Be a Model!

Ali Velshi, commentator who is moving from CNN to Al Jazeera America in August

•  Markets, the essence of Capitalism, are amoral structures, which can be used for good or ill.  We make it moral by surrounding it with regulations and habits that we consider moral.  They are important, because in their uncompromised state they have brought more to more people than any other system in the history of mankind.

•  Two moral values are essential to markets/capitalism:  Justice and Equality.  (Equality in the sense of equal access to the marketplace; not equality of reward/output/takeaway.)  Government's role is to translate the will of the people into regulations which bring appropriate morality to capitalism.  What's bad, what compromises its integrity, and deflates people's confidence in the system ... is when regulations are created to benefit one group at the expense of another ... instead of benefitting everyone.  Another is when the representatives of Government benefit from doing the regulation they put in place for the benefit of special groups.  That corruption creates injustice and inequality ... and diminishes the effectiveness of markets/capitalism.  We've gone overboard with that today.  Other countries are much worse.

•  Is it criminal for a CEO to make several hundred times the income of the lowest workers?  

•  It's our job to turn markets to the social good that we need them to ... insuring a better society.  Balance between individualism and community.

•  Bangladesh:  Low wage workers in unsafe conditions in poor countries ... vs. the income the business provides that wouldn't be available otherwise.

•  Government becomes the problem ... SubPrime Mortgages:  In the past, wouldn't have happened because the issuing bank would have been on the hook.  (Self-interest!)  But, then mortgages could be sold to a government entity (which turns around and packages them as derivatives, which can themselves become losers), allowing the bank to book profits while passing on a "moral hazard" (the likelihood of default).

•  Human nature is a bit dishonest, so we need to have regulations in place.  Regulations tip the scales against one party for another party ... but that second party should be society, not any "special interest."

•  The challenge:  Protect Ambition while Protecting the Weak.

Tom Kinnear, University of Michigan Business School professor

•  Sometimes we don't like the results of markets, yielding prices too high because supply doesn't meet demand.  Think gasoline.

•  Too often, "negative externalities" aren't priced into the system ... such as pollution by plants.  These are called "market failures."

•  Three types of markets:  1.  Products/Services, where money is made for most people.  2.  Capital/Savings ... Reduction of savings via government deficits, trade deficits, and consumer spending without accompanying saving ... hurts our ability to invest because we must borrow.  3.  Financial ... Takes money from the product/service market and invests it in financial instruments.  Very easy to make a lot of money there by behaving badly over a short period of time.  Didn't happen in Canada because banks there are reasonably regulated and behave morally.

•  Unjust regulation:  Can't buy a car on the internet because of dealer lobbying against it.

•  Messing with markets:  Washington DC legislates a $12.50 living wage, so Walmart pulls out, costing an estimated savings of $2500 annually for a poor family.

•  Keynes:  We have it all wrong.  Go back to his writing.  What he advocated was deficit spending ONLY for capital projects that would produce fully-offsetting income later ... for nothing else.  Not for entitlement projects and many earmarks that have no payoff.

•  This past recession/depression was different.  It was an Asset Value Deflation recession, not a Reduced Spending one.

All interesting comments.  At least thought-provoking, because the relationship/tipping point between unfettered markets and regulated ones is unclear ... our public debate.

Chautauqua: An Election Spending Proposal

Kitty and I had a chance to spend several days at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State several weeks ago.  It's an intellectual/spiritual/arts paradise.  If you've never heard of it, go to www.ciweb.org.

Among the speakers we absorbed, in a week whose theme was "Markets, Morals and the Social Contract," was former Federal Elections Commission chairman Trevor Potter, a Republican who is furious at the amounts of dollars spent on elections and to "influence" (read 'buy') our federal legislators.

(We also heard a number of other speakers, some one this topic, some not ... and my notes from them are in the next Post.  We also heard symphony concerts, recitals, rehearsals, and much more.)

Ultimately, he pointed us to nine efforts he feels we should take to control this influence that are constitutional ... pushing back against the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.  They are detailed below, and in writeups about the Anti-Corruption Act that he and others are co-sponsoring.  The idea is that no legislator will sponsor these changes unless WE, the electorate, demand it.  It starts with us.  (http://anticorruptionact.org)  To access his organization:  www.campaignlegalcenter.org.

Among the points in his presentation:

•  Only 1/3 of 1% of the electorate (not the population) contribute at least $200 to candidates in the election cycle.  Of these, only 600 give 90% of the dollars raised ... which totaled almost $7 billion in 2012.

•  On an average day, a Congressperson allocates FOUR of the 10-hour days to fund-raising contacting.  

•  New Committee Chairs saw a 74% increase to their campaign funds from industry PACs.

The Nine Efforts of the Anti-Corruption Act proposal:

1.  Stop Politicians From Taking Bribes.

•  Prohibit members of Congress fromsoliciting and receiving contributions from any industry or entity they regulate, including those industries' lobbyists.  Prohibit all fundraising during Congressional working hours.   Statistics indicate a new Committee chair immediately gets a 74% increase on average in contributions from those impacted by the Committee.

2.  Limit SuperPac Contributions and "Coordination".

•  Require SuperPacs to abide by the same contribution limits as other political committees.   Right now, they can spent unlimited money influencing elections as long as there is not direct coordination with a candidate's campaign.

3.  Prevent Job Offers As Bribes.

•  Close the "revolving door" where elected representatives and their staff sell their legislative power in exchange for high-paying jobs when they leave office.  Create a "cooling off" period on private employment that will last 6 years for all Congress members and all senior staff (currently 2 years for Senators, 1 year for House members and senior staff).

4.  Call All People Who Lobby, Lobbyists.

•  Significantly expand the definition of and register all lobbyists to preventinfluencers from skirting the rules.  Today's definition of who must register as a lobbyist is weak.

5.  Limit Lobbyist donations.

•  Limit the amount that lobbyists and their clients can contribute to $500 per year.  Federal contractors are already banned from contributing to campaigns.  There are numerous other ways they get around the rules, too.

6.  End Secret Money.

•  Mandate full transparency.  Require any organization that spends $10,000 or more on advertisements to elect or defeat federal candidates to file a disclosure report within 24 hours.  Elections are being flooded with secret money funneled through "501c" organizations that aren't required to disclose donors' names, and contribute to the SuperPacs.

7.  Empower All Voters With A Tax Rebate.

•  Create a $100 Tax Rebate for qualified contributions to federal candidates, political parties and political committees.  This will flood elections with small-donor contributions.  Politicians depend on less than 0.1% of the population for their funding.

8.  Disclose "Bundling".

•  Require federal candidates to disclose the names of individuals who "bundle" contributions for the specific candidate.

9.  Enforce The Rules.

•  Federal agencies routinely fail to enforce the anti-corruptions rules that already exist because their leadership are appointed by those they are supposed to regulate.

Random TEC Member Insights ...
•  I've been very surprised  to learn recently how far 3-D printing has developed!  I thought it was just a technical concept which would have impact far into the future, but now I find it's being USED today ... and I found out that two of my members, fairly large, high tech operations, already have and are using them.

•  Getting a lot of good PR from members who are involved with the E-Business Consortium coordinated through UW-Madison.  A great learning opportunity, with thrusts for technical understanding, marketing, and social media.  Several hundred company members, including all the forward-looking ones in the state.  Great sharing/learning mechanism.  Go to www.uwebc.org.

•  Several members are talking about how high tech companies are organizing their work areas on the two coasts.  Whereas we're still into cubicles, they're organizing work groups with no panels or walls; people work in close proximity with each other, with frequent interaction.  Energy, they say, is palpable when you're nearby.  Everyone helping each other, interacting, working towards the goal.

•  ObamaCare:  A lot of analyzing and waiting going on.  But one action step being taken by MORE THAN A FEW:  To set the effective date of their next annual insuror agreement BEFORE Jan. 1, so that it extends a year to late next year.  Buys time to see how the initial thrusts of ObamaCare shake out.

•  We're used to talking about salespeople as either Hunters or Farmers ... Hunters driven to find the next customer, Farmers are the account servicing people.  Now, I'm hearing about Carpenters ... not in sales, but the type of person who gathers materials and does the job!  A Farmer has to plan much further ahead, dealing with the ambiguities of seed availability, weather, fertilizers/weed chemicals.  All this is important in the interviewing process, to make sure you're getting a habit/mentality that fits the job needs.   Requires open-ended questions, where you know the responses you're seeking.

•  At one meeting, got onto the topic of company picnics and lack of attendance.  Opinions were that some people like them, and others don’t ... so do it for those that do.  Regarding “Holiday” parties, one success story was to have it at noontime on a day the afternoon would be free, for employees only, and have a program and treats.

•  TEC members are attuned to following the economic forecasts of Brian Beaulieu and his team at ItR Economics in New Hampshire.  Right now, we're watching his forecasts of a boom in 2015/2016 followed by a downturn in 2017/2018 ... and how the current energy explosion (fracked natural gas) would impact it.  View was that subsidized alternative power would continue, but never be a major energy factor for the U.S.  Lower cost energy would be offset by implications of the federal debt debacle.  He's also forecasting a global debacle eventually due to so many countries letting their welfare states drive incredibly increasing deficits, and creating a financial/economic doomsday.

•  Safety:  A new member reports that he fosters workers to build a collage of photos of family members and remembrances at work ... as a reminder of why they want to go home in a safe condition every day.  They also publicize photos of unsafe conditions.

There's lots more ... for next time!

Executive "Presence"
    Just about every conversation a leader or speaker has, the intent is to convey information in an impactful way that will move an opinion or belief.  Studies show that what we say is only 7% of the impact, that 55% of the impact is how you present yourself, and 38% is how you say what you say.  In effect, you can't be your normal self.  If you want to be a leader, you have to have a "presence" that impacts.
    Gwen Resick-Rennich of Colorado is a TEC presenter who provides these pointers in her workshops with members:

•  Start with a Story, and a Bang!  Don’t explain what you want to talk about, as we often do; Don’t provide initial perspective.  Instead, tell a very short story that tells about the Pain that you will be talking about, the Pain that they recognize.  That immediately gets to the audience’s emotions, and commands their attention.  Then ... you can provide additional perspective.
-- Also, at the end, end with a Story that is a Bang(!) as well ... that further illustrates your main point.
-- People REMEMBER STORIES, NOT BULLET POINTS!  (Like this!)
-- Even use Stories to illustrate your solutions.  Describe what the solution will look like, feel like, experience like.
-- Make the Stories PERSONAL to you ... explaining “what you’re on!”
-- Stories are SHORT ... 30-60 seconds.
-- Exhibit PASSION!
•  Indeed, if you can’t exhibit PASSION:  Don’t show up!
•  Space Fillers (“Um,” “Uhh,” etc.) ALWAYS diminish effectiveness.  Have others tell you when you use them inadvertently.  They tell your audience you’re not prepared, haven’t been thoughtful ... both characteristics you want to convey the opposite of.
-- Replace them with .... SILENCE!  Silence makes you appear thoughtful, even impactful!  Even creates Drama.
•  If what you are conveying is analytical ... and much of what a CEO explains is (what the P&L is saying, why the market will allow our expansion, what competitors are doing that will allow a price increase, etc.) ... then you need more VOICE VARIETY ... emphasizing important words.
-- Includes putting “feeling” into words ... by minorly “stretching” them out.
•  The Content:  Make sure how you talk is ALL ABOUT “THEM” ... how your audience will be better off.  It’s not about you.  Period.
-- Asking a question is good:  “What kind of risk did you take?”  Even if rhetorical.
•  Projection:  Get POP.  Now ... Is    The ... Time ... For ... Change!
•  Articulation:  The Brain wants Completion.  Both in what it observes and what it hears.  So, DRESS completely (buttoned, zipped, together).  FINISH your words ... ALL the letters.
•  Eye Contact:  Small groups, make contact with each individual for 1-1.5 seconds.  Large groups, look at each quadrant for 5 seconds.
•  Physical Presence:  Be Solid/Upright ... and OPEN.  Shoulders wide, arms bent and hands gesturing; At worst, one hand in a pocket, never two.
•  Movement is good ... but not too much.  Don’t sway.  Don’t constantly be moving.  It distracts the brain’s concentration on your messaging.
•  “Rehearse” = Re-Hear!  Do it again, and again, and again ... until ...

In addition, Gwen provides a handout with additional key points.  They are:
1.  People receive too much information.  Provide no more than THREE concepts in a 30-min. presentation.
2.  People’s attention and retention spans are short.  So, stick to Guideline #1.
3.  Effective speaking requires not only good content, but also some ENTERTAINMENT.  Can be physical ... but also “light additions.”  “Why is the word for ‘one syllable’ “monosyllabic”?  “What are the first four letters of “analytical”?
4. The very reason for a presentation is to convince the audience, to change thinking.  Early, cue the benefits/advantages for the audience members ... WIIFY.  “What’s In It For You.”

On Wisconsin's Low Job Creation ...

Much has been said about Governor Walker's pledge to create 250,000 jobs coming out of the downturn.  During his administration, about 70,000 jobs have been added on a net basis, about half of what was lost in the downturn years prior.  Once our job creation rate was in the 40s of the 50 states, but recent improvement has us at 33rd.  Still, not good.  So, why?

First of all, Governors/Mayors/Presidents don't create jobs.  They work with legislatures to put in the environment that will foster/incent people to want to create businesses that can grow and need workers.  Or not.

So, I asked "those who know" why we're doing so poorly.

One theme is that much is now in place in Wisconsin, but it's also in place in other states ... and they are more appealing and effective.  It's a question of degree.  We're doing most of the right things, just not as well ... either due to culture or situation.

Their answers:

1.  We have a very high percentage of manufacturing jobs, which took the biggest recession hit.  Productivity increased, so they're being added back at a slower rate.

2.  We're not a Right To Work state ... meaning that if your company is unionized, that all workers must belong to that union.  24 states are, and they happen to be most of the fastest-growing.  Where would you locate a new business/office/plant?

3.  We're still not a strong state for rapid siting and permitting requirements, slowing and defeating expansion decisions regarding Wisconsin.

4. More of the jobs we create are low tech, not the higher-paying, hard-to-duplicate high tech jobs.

A recent study also noted that from a productivity standpoint, Wisconsin ranks lower.

We do have much going for us; we're focusing where studies say we should to achieve growth.  We just need more entrepreneurialism, more world-class operators.

John Bergstrom On Developing His Bergstrom Customer Experience Culture

John Bergstrom, principal and co-founder of the more than 30 Bergstrom auto dealerships in Northeast Wisconsin, which are on the cusp of reaching $1 billion in annual volume this year, has an organization famed for its consistency of high customer service experiences.  While they have been refined and customized for situational reasons over the years since they purchased the first dealership in 1982, there is a set of values ... each of which is grounded in a story ... that drives how each of the 1290 employees is expected to treat customers (and each other). 

He expressed these in a presentation this Noon to the Green Bay Chamber's CEO Roundtable group.  

Here are some of his points:

•  The values are based on his very Catholic and Scandinavian mother, who ran a family of five kids and a father who worked for his uncles selling pulp.  From her, he got the idea that everyone will be a "Guest."  Every Sunday at 4 PM, the extended Bergstrom family was invited to gather at their home ... and the kids were grilled in advance to welcome each family member, shake their hands, say Welcome and Thanks For Coming.  Another time, John received a phone call from his Cub Scout Packmaster giving him some information, and he forgot to say Thank You.  His mother whomped him, saying that the Packmaster was taking his valuable time to help him out, and he must be respectful!

•  Note that the Values stated below make up the Bergstrom Customer Experience Culture that John and Dick have inculcated ... and that they are articulated in SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS!!  (What are the specific BEHAVIORS that make up the top 5-8 elements of your organization Culture??)

•  He began his presentation by talking about a recent day, when he was involved in three significant events ... none of them remarkable ... but each representing a group of people actively trying to make Northeast Wisconsin a better place to be ... just naturally, as a HABIT.  It wasn't remarkable.  It was what they DO.

•  After graduating from Marquette, he became a used car salesman ... and then with his brother borrowed $40,000 and opened a bar (one of more than 80 in the area)!  How could they be distinctive?  They took their Mom's suggestion ... and made it a point for their seven employees to try to remember as many patrons' names as possible, and what each drank.  They made it a contest, and applied memory techniques.  They got to where between the seven of them they knew 80% of the clientele and what they drank.  At one point, the police closed them down because too many people were in the bar.

•  They opened additional bars, not as successfully ... and eventually sold them to buy a hotel, and then an auto dealership.  Entrepreneurial!  Following are some of the Values that make up the cultural that makes the organization successful today.  Each is told as part of an actual STORY, which makes them more memorable!

1.  Greet everyone.  Shake their hands, look them in the eye ... and try to get their name.  "I'm John.  What is your name?"

2.  Ask about their lives ... but don't dwell on the drudgery of life.  If they ask about yours, stay positive.

3.  Pay attention to that ONE person.  Make that person the sole focus of your attention.  Make him/her feel valued.

4.  Weekly, the staff will meet ... not to talk about sales and expenses and profits ... but about the Customer Experience!

5.  If the customer or prospect is a mother with kids, they get priority.  Go into the parking lot and help them out.  After the experience, accompany them to their car.  Carry what they have if appropriate.  Why?  Because everyone has a hectic life, especially a mother with kids.  At 10 PM that evening, when all is quiet, she will go on Facebook or the internet and tell her friends about her day, especially the wonderful experiences she had.  We want to be part of that.

6.  At the conclusion of the discussion, say Thank You.  Twice!

7.  As a boss, never be special.  Do everything you ask your employees to do.

8.  Take advantage of every opportunity to participate in making a customer's day brighter ... and in fixing a specific problem, especially if it involves your product or service.  If you do it well, not ingratiatingly, just naturally ... the word will spread!

•  They employ Mystery Shoppers to sample the service levels of every operation monthly:  Service, Parts, Body Shop, New Cars, Used Cars.  The experiences are compiled and graded ... and ranked.  And discussed.  "What opportunity do we have to be even better?"

•  At the end, he told several other stories that represented how leaders convey values through their actions, setting the Cultural Behavior expectations.

•  And he ended with, "That's Our Story!"  

It's all about your Stories.

Rational Conservative Meanderings ...

A Medicaid Cost Reduction Idea ...

A tiny Oregon experiment may be showing the way to a more effective way than just covering the costs ... getting people "better" so they don't need the system as often.  At a health system in tiny Bend, Oregon, which has 144 people utilizing the Emergency Room more than 14 times a year under Medicaid, they've provided "behavioral improvement specialists"  (social workers) to work with the 60 % of the 144 willing to be worked with ... and have cut the ER visits in half and saved more than $3,000 per person per year.  It's providing personal attention to help the high users develop better lifestyle/habits that keep them out of the sick care system.

On the Street
•  ALL TEC members I talk with will NOT take advantage of the ObamaCare penalty (paying it and moving employees to the individual exchange).  They feel they have a moral responsibility to continue coverage since they can afford it competitively ... reserving a final judgment until they see the impact of actual exchange costs.
•  I talked recently with a tuned-in local observer who knows of a 65-person employer, with low margins who employees low-wage workforce, will cut employees hours to 29 so that he doesn't have to provide health insurance.  This may be the bigger "unintended consequence"; there have been stories in the media about companies with low margin products and services planning to do this.

Harry Dent Redux (and Mark Parrot)

     Remember Harry Dent's Age/Demographics way of looking at economic growth ... that we are driven by our age/time in our lives to be consuming certain things given our lot in life?  In our 30s and 40s we're major consumers of housing, education and cars.  But beginning about age 50, we switch to saving to pay down debt and save for retirement, spending less on major stuff.  

     The last of the Baby Boomers are now passing age 50 ... so that massive purchasing power isn't any more.  Do you think that is part of our sluggish recovery?  Duh!
 
On Health Insurance/Medicare paperwork:
•  A friend of mine who runs a small independent provider is retiring.  "If the objective of Medicare was to run me out of business with excess paperwork and aggravation, they have succeeded.  I want no more of it.  For every five minutes I spend with a patient, I have to hire someone to spend an hour dealing with the back-and-forth of insurors and Medicare."
•  Another friend, talking with his primary doctor:  "Cost Savings?  I'll tell you about cost savings.  At this location, we have 12 physicians ... and 50 people who deal with the paperwork."

Advance head Fred Monique on our local economic development competitiveness:

No, we're not as good as we think.  Here's the truth:
     1.  Not a Right To Work state, which would attract business expansion.
     2.  Incentives to relocate here are weak, comparatively.  "We lost Bass Pro Shops because we wouldn't provide a tax break."  (It's businesses that create jobs, using last year's profits to fund development of new jobs.  Why are they taxed on their income at all?)_
     3.  Our sites and permitting requirements are less than favorable.
     4.  Our state efforts are "inward-focused," not externally-focused.
     5.  We're not great for Young Professionals ... fast-growing, exciting businesses.
     6.  At home, we need to provide more support for Second Stage companies ... those with $2-to-$50 million, and growing ... strategic alliances, leadership education, etc.
But ...
     We're very good for families ... low cost of living, low housing costs, low crime, good schools.
     Very good for entrepreneurs.
Nationally, we're in the bottom quartile of areas:  Our missing components are Right To Work, investment companies, and a research Institution.

Meanderings ...

•  Legislators, almost by definition, are not leaders.  It's the role of LEADERS to provide the Vision ... and the Guidelines!  Then, legislators can create the programs within those guidelines.

•  High taxes and many, complex regulations are THE major indicators of "Crony Capitalism", a bastardization of the economic system that results in today's distrust.  Regulations always have winners and losers, and taxes take from losers and reward winners (sometimes the general public, oftimes special interests).  These always demoralize and de-energize ... the feeling that the game is stacked against me if I become entrepreneurial and take risks.  Which brings us to this great quote ...

•  "The argument for limited government is really an argument for not overburdening politicians.  Leave as much as possible to the market, to the law of contracts, to the courts.  Don't pile up on politicians more and more impossible choices they have to make on our behalf."  By WSJ columnist Holman Jenkins on March 23.