As we attempt to plan our futures, we need stick our finger in the air!
“In order to be in control of your life, you have to have a purpose—a productive purpose… A central purpose serves to integrate all the other concerns of a man’s life. It establishes the hierarchy, the relative importance, of his values, it saves him from pointless inner conflicts, it permits him to enjoy life on a wide scale and to carry that enjoyment into any area open to his mind…”
This said by Ayn Rand? Of course, we know it as wisdom from the ages, as good minds seem to do little more than relay the durable messages from our past. But, we all have friends that tell us it’s all different now, a new age!
As we ponder the message, we think of all those people in Washington DC, what useful purpose do they serve?
And now today’s muse….
When you are in the middle of planning, it’s best to have a map, and at least know where you are.
A revolution we’ve gone through? No NO! We may not have found the middle yet! So how does a person or company plan?
Perhaps we review some of the mistakes, individuals who invested every dime in sure things, and lost it all. Or maybe a Telco that bought a 25 million dollar switch to find out they didn’t need it? Or, how about the company that bought a large room of new servers later finding out that they were not certified secure by the Government and could never be used for the intended application. But is it a larger note that those who made the purchase didn’t put a word in the contract that the product would meet all criteria for the intended Telco use? I have the questions, you need provide the answer..
I wrote of the Telco’s attempting to plan, and many of them owned their own houses (central offices) , they were built in the past, when rules were different, when their customers had no where else to go, when they were assured to receive a portion of cream from the lucrative long distance pot.
Their houses are full of holes, their income predicted to drop each month, their meetings each month about doing more with less? Can you imagine how these people might day dream about a government job? How they imagine using the printing press to fund any need, to climb any mountain, to shout tally ho, and march onward… Don Quixote Del A Mancha! Patty Murray, has she ever known a power bill too large? And if she did, was it something for the Government (tax Payers) to pay?
How were those buildings designed? As with most… a pile of assumptions were made. Just how insanely different are things today, and when is it time to pull up stakes and leave the game? You now ponder what Telco was, and who really owned it? At the heart of many pension funds were utility stocks. did they hold them too long, are they on their way to being insolvent now?
Some will say..many of the best players left the game long ago, it’s new people attempting to make a go of it now, and do they have a clue that the ground still quakes beneath their feet?
The question becomes, will you consider where you live, the cost of energy to survive, your tax load today, and what it could be tomorrow? So many variables.. one is age.. If you are 65, you need play this game for fewer years than a 35 year old man…
But you too can side step all these questions, you can join in selling the Hojo! As I ponder what Rand wrote.. “we must have a purpose, a productive purpose.” And how does that message ring when we think of 500 plus people on the hill?
I wonder… how is it that a one percenter (DIYer) spends even a moment attempting to persuade another to see the world through his eyes? Forget it, and move on with your own work..
GB