Thinking about the financial crisis, the recession and now the auto "Big 3" bailout that is being bandied about, one has to wonder what this country is coming to. Government intervention always carries a much bigger price tag than we were originally promised. And sometimes it is a price more than just in dollars.
We have just witnessed how when we bailed out financial institutions, other institutions also come looking for bailout money at the federal trough. Reminds me of back on the farm when I was growing up. Dad always had hogs. Nothing wrong with that. But when you went feeding hogs, you wouldn't just feed one. They would all come rushing in, pushing and shoving each other aside to be able to be at the trough. They didn't care whether or not the others got some or not; they were just concerned about themselves and did what they had to in order to take care of themselves.
There was a time when top management for a company would be people who had come up "through the ranks" and actually knew something about the company and the business they were in. Now you have to have a MBA or some such degree and you are hired from the "outside" to come in and "run" this company the way that you were "trained" in college that such companies should be run following some "model".
Well I don't know about you but it seems to me these people may be the best trained people in the world, but if they lack "real-world" experience (and they do) and if they don't have common sense (many of them don"t), how are they going to successfully manage this institution or company so that this company will perhaps not only post a profit this season, but be here for as long as the goods and services provided by this company are needed?
I remember working for a company who "hired" one of these managers who came in and started to "run" the company. It was instantly obvious to us drivers on the road that this guy with some big management degree had no idea about what life is like on the road. I guess there was no "model" for that. He had never been a driver. He only had a degree. Within 6 months he was gone. And the company was worse off for his being there.
Are these the types of big name managers in the financial institutions and now perhaps auto makers that we are trying to bail out? No wonder we are in trouble.
The same could be said for career politicians. I understand that originally it was the intention of the founding fathers to have everyone come up and serve their two to four years in Washington, then return back to their farms and businesses. Can you imagine the level of common sense and wisdom we would have in Washington if that were the case?
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