The day of "Change"

Chad and I went out to breakfast this morning and of course, the buzz is all about Obama and his inauguration. He's a Rock Star baby!~ With as emotional as people are about this, you would think the Beatles have come to town. The events began and the TV was turned up in the restaurant, which we just happened to be sitting under. Yay. It's hard as a logical, left brained person, to understand the frenzy that surrounds this event. So even if I had voted for Obama, I don't know that I could relate. He is an amazing orator and I wonder just how much substance is actually behind his speech today.... I'll read it, but I can't listen to it. In fact, I had to make my exit quickly out of the restaurant as he made a comment about self sacrifice, specifically about workers cutting their own hours in order for a co-worker to not lose their job.

On the surface, that seems like a noble thing to do. It seems like the right thing to do. But, once you dig a little... once you start taking that act, and applying it globally and expanding the underlying premise of that seemingly innocuous statement, you see the beginnings of the destruction of capitalism. I am not a fan of dog eat dog. As I've said in previous posts, there are many people out there that will take advantage of the weak, sick and stupid. We MUST have an ethical "M.O." in business. This does not mean, however, that we should keep "dead weight" employees employed just because they have bills, kids, health problems etc etc etc.

Business has been slow across the board. Companies are losing money, employers are having to cut back, budgets are being slashed, benefits are being cut, jobs are being lost. It's tough no doubt, but we can't save everyone; we just can't. When the Titanic is sinking, there are only so many life boats to go around. Sorry, it's just a fact. It's reality and it is what it is. Chad and I offer you this quote from Atlas Shrugged that Chad coincidently read this morning:

"Did it ever occur to you, Miss Taggart," said Galt, in a casual tone of an abstract discussion, but as if he had known her thoughts, "that there is no conflict of interests among men, neither in business nor in trade nor in their most personal desires- if they omit the irrational from their view of the possible and destruction from their view of the practical? There is no conflict, and no call for sacrifice, and no man is a threat to the aims of another- if men would understand that reality is an absolute not to be faked, that lies do not work, that the unearned cannot be given, that destruction of a value which is , will not bring value to that which isn't. The businessman who wishes to gain a market by throttling a superior competitor, the worker who wants a share of his employer's wealth, the artist who envies a rival's higher talent- they're all wishing facts out of existence, and destruction is the only means of their wish. If they persue, they will not achieve a market, a fortune or an immortal fame- they will merely destroy production, employment and art. A wish for the irrational is not to be achieved, whether the sacrificial victims are willing or not. But men will not cease to desire the impossible and will not lose their longing to destroy- so long as self-destruction and self-sacrifice are preached to them as the practical means of achieving the happiness of the recipients."
Ayn Rand; Atlas Shrugged, pg.798 ln.16

Here comes "Change" alright. Brace yourselves.