Kamala and The Book of Fair!

By Rich Kozlovich 

As I watch the world's event unfolding I can't help but recognize most of what's wrong is as a direct result of bad leadership. In the Russian sphere of influence it's an abject mess, and Joe Biden is responsible for that entirely. Putin would have never attacked Ukraine if Trump was President, and for a number of reasons, one of them being Joe Biden's abandonment of America's energy independence. That made Russian energy supply far more valuable generating more sales and funded his invasion of Ukraine. 

But the small countries all around Russia are fighting also. The Middle East has exploded, and again it's Joe Biden's fault. His abandonment of Trump's very successful Abraham Accords and his weakness as a leader, and he's sent the most radical Islamic nations, including Iran and Afghanistan billions and billions of dollars, which have been used to fund their terrorist activity, including Gaza's attack on Israel.  Not to mention he's dumb as dirt and surrounded by far left lunatics who are creating policy for Ole Joe.  Some might even call them ....weird!

Now the Democrats have kicked out Joe because he's clearly demented.  One day he was sharp as a tack, and the next day he was so neurologically damaged they demanded he end his run for President, and he resents it.  

But he fixed them.  He chose Kamala Harris as his replacement by endorsing her for the job.  An absolute nitwit who before this was considered an absolute twit by everyone.  The next day she was the personification of domestic and foreign policy genius.  Remarkable how the left and their myrmidons in the media can shift gears, along with Hollywood.  It's hard to believe they could get dumber than dirt, but they managed it nicely.  That's the one thing leftists excel at.

Now Kamala is on a fairness kick. Now Kamala Harris' is on a fairness kick.  Kamala's understanding of economics is even worse that Joe Bidens.  Equity isn't equality, it's a formula for poverty, and a Kamala presidency would be very prohibitively expensive to everyone.  Sure, inflation has caused everything to cost more, but she's clueless as to the cause of inflation, government spending and borrowing, taxes, regulations, and crime.  All the DEI insanity is killing America, Harley Davidson goes woke, and might go broke as a result.

Price controls is historically a failure, as Silvio Canto observes,  Price controls an oldie, but no goodie, and it's a stupid idea.  But, until now, no one claimed Kamala had a brain in her head

Her view is it's not fair how much stores charge their customers, so she's going to tell them how much they can charge, how much houses can be sold for, how much drug companies can charge, and more, all because it's "not fair".  Except, there's no "book of  fair".   What's fair? Who decides? 

Actually everyone decides! Because everyone has their own definition of what's fair, and in so many cases I've found what's deemed to be fair depends on whose ox is being gored. Fair can't be codified without being "unfair" to someone. Fair has no universal definition unless it's so broad it has no meaning.  Fair has no modalities or parameters.  That means fair has no real logical foundation.   Fair often times ends up being nothing more than an emotion reaction!

However, I don't like the government deciding that issue.  The government is even less qualified to decide whether anything is fair or not than the rest of us.   I don't like minimum wage laws. I don't like people who've never had a job, never started a business, never had to write payroll checks, never borrowed money to keep the business afloat, never had their house on the line, and never went without a payday in order to pay their employees telling me or anyone else "what's fair". The market place fixes that - and admittedly - at times in unpleasant ways, but market place fixes eventually end up working, and they don't require another expensive and incompetent layer of bureaucracy leaching capital from the system.  And make no mistake, that's not fair.

A crucible is a vessel heated to extreme temperatures in order to refine substances, and America is now that vessel, and it's all because of seriously flawed leadership with goals that are antithetical to American values.  The question is what will be the end refinement?  That remains to be seen.

If it walks like a communist, and if it talks like a communist, it's a communist.

Tags: The Kamala Policy Conundrum, The Reality of Kamala, Kamala Now Reigneth!, So, It's Kamala? Really? Then We Need a Little History Lesson!, Intelligence Alert!, Kamala Harris Weekly, Almost!,Kamala Harris Weekly, Part I, Kamala Harris Weekly, Part II, Kamala Harris Watch, Part III

Leadership Is Like A String

By Rich Kozlovich

I thought I would share a few thoughts with everyone regarding my impressions of the latest NPMA Legislative Day. This was, for all intents and purposes a very successful event for NPMA, although there wasn't any direct pest control issue you could get your teeth into such as Colony Collapse Disorder, or water permit issues.  I think that made this year's event that much more impressive - since those issues lend a certain amount of emotion generating activity. It seems to me this demonstrates a high level of dedication by our industry to our industry nationally.

It also seems to me the big issue was overtime pay for salaried employees, and in truth, that resonated with me.  Let's be fair - do we really think all companies are really being "fair" to their salaried employees? I don't! Why? Because employers are people, and people will always be people, and there's no "Book of Fair". What's fair? Who decides? Actually everyone decides! Because everyone has their own definition of what's fair - and in so many cases I've found what's deemed to be fair depends on whose ox is being gored. Fair can't be codified without being "unfair" to someone. Fair has no universal definition unless it's so broad it has no meaning.  Fair has no modalities or parameters.  That means fair has no real logical foundation.   Fair often times ends up being nothing more than an emotion reaction!  I know...I know.... that's not fair!

However, I don't like the government deciding that issue.  The government is even less qualified to decide whether anything is fair or not than the rest of us.   I don't like minimum wage laws. I don't like people who've never had a job, never started a business, never had to write payroll checks, never borrowed money to keep the business afloat, never had their house on the line, and never went without a payday in order to pay their employees telling me or anyone else "what's fair". The market place fixes that - and admittedly - at times in unpleasant ways, but market place fixes don't require another expensive and incompetent layer of bureaucracy leaching capital from the system.   That wouldn't be fair!

I went to the NPMA Public Policy Committee meeting which I found to be very impressive. We have a group of young staff people (at my age they all seem like young people) who I think are smart, very well informed and totally dedicated working in this arena.  Most importantly - they "think" - they listen - and they do all of that really well. They also get along with each other, and work well together. And the reason I know that is I talked to Bob Rosenberg about this and he noted they're all team players. They're no fiefdoms among them. They're all about the mission, willing to jump in to help where help is needed and willing to accept it when required. And that attitude is obvious. I'm fond of saying - "It's not about me, it's about the mission". I think they exemplify that attitude.  With them - "It's all about the mission!"

A crucible is a vessel heated to extreme temperatures in order to refine substances. NPMA's refinement has required a number of crucibles over these many years eventually leading us to what we have now. 

"Wisdom is the application of knowledge and understanding."

We now have a new CEO, Dominique Stumpf,  and this is an important point - we have the staff remaining in place that were put in place by Bob Rosenberg and the Board of Directors.  The last two years have been constructive for the NPMA, and I think successfully.  I think we have good staff, and I include those involved in all the nuts and bolts background stuff that make things work. With all that in place, it was wisdom to have chosen a CEO who has no desire to eliminate that staff and start over again, and it speaks well of Dominique, and it speaks well of her relationship with the rest of the staff. 

My personal commendation to the staff, the CEO, Bob Rosenberg, the Board of Directors and the committee members who worked on this. 

However, for this growth to continue it's important everyone remember their roles. Staff is hired help, and I don't say that with one iota of disrespect, but as a point of definition.  It's important for the members to provide leadership.  The staff will follow.  In any partnership - and that's how the leaders at NPMA view this - everyone must understand their role and act accordingly. It's all about definition. Definition leads to clarity.  Clarity leads to understanding.  Understanding leads to good decision making. We've had a lot of that lately, I'm happy to see it, and I hope it continues.

So why is leadership like a string?  If you grab a hold of a string and pull, it follows along very nicely.  If you get behind it and push, it just folds up on you.  It works that way with people also.

Best wishes to us all!