The Profit Prophet

I thought, now that the elections are behind us, and we have been inundated with thousands of hours of hyperbolic advertising, debating, and otherwise misleading statements about such and such doing this and that, I thought I would ponder why politicians (and to a large degree marketers) can seemingly be saying two different things about the same subject. Are they just liars, or is there something completely different going on? As it is often said, there are two sides to every coin, and in debating anything you should be able to equally argue for the pro or con of an idea. I think this little testimony from a Texas legislator sums it up best. In 1952, Armon M. Sweat, Jr., a member of the Texas House of Representatives, was asked about his position on whiskey. What follows is his exact answer (taken from the Political Archives of Texas): "If you mean whiskey, the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the h...

Here is a contrast of cultures: one that spends money wastefully, on a problem that has an easy remedy, and the other, well that does not. What is your business like? Paralyzed by procedure, or free to make quick, market drive decisions? California ... The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural. He calls animal control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months whi...