The U.S. is pumping billions of dollars into a struggling economy to save sinking businesses that have failed to keep pace with world-wide changes.
Do we need to ‘save’ GM or should we let the pieces go to the highest bidders? Those with the capital to buy up the failing businesses could start new ventures.
We need new ideas, new services and new products for a permanently changed economy. We spend, waste, far too much money trying to keep things the way they were. It can’t be done. Do you see the grammatical difficulty? Keep things the way they were—too late, ‘were’ is past tense.
We’ve fallen several more trillion dollars into debt trying to stay the way we were. Too late.
After 911, it was universally proclaimed by government officials and media pundits that “life will never be the same”. Okay, things changed on 911.
So why did we spend over $1 trillion dollars trying to return to the past? Couldn’t we have spent the money more wisely on security at home? Couldn’t we have purchased at least some support in the Muslim world by providing much needed aid to the poorest of the poor? That’s how Al-Queda recruits suicide bombers. Why can’t we create suicide heroes? Pay families thousands of dollars and make heroes of those who turn in the terrorist plotters.
Back to GM. Should we spend billions to extend the life of the internal combustion engine driven automobile or would it be wiser to spend our last billions on developing new mobility technology?
America is in decline. If we squander our diminishing resources to preserve things the way they are or were, we’ll sink. Tempus Fugit.
The majority of people on this earth are not happy with the way things are. They plan to change the way things are. They want more for themselves. India and China alone have nearly 2.5 billion people. That’s more than 6 times the population of the U.S.
This applies directly to your business. If you are spending and working to get back where things were, forget it. You’re going to lose your butt.
We all must work on inventing where things will be. Most of the future isn’t thought up yet. Start thinking. We can invent tomorrow. If we don’t, we’ll be stuck in today while other countries move to tomorrow.
Chris Reich, Author of TeachU’s Business Talk Blog
Chris@TeachU.com