Special Interest Groups

Why did Bill Gates deserve his money? Conversely why did Bill Gates’ Microsoft Crop. deserve to be prosecuted and split apart by the federal government? It is because having an entrepreneurial idea and ethically and morally running a successful business are two discreet and not necessarily related concepts. Many people can “brainstorm” and come up with ideas under duress or financial hardship. Maybe it takes an MBA degree to learn the administration skills to run a successful company. Evidently genius programming skills are not akin to being a successful CEO, or at least that is what the stock market is saying. Microsoft has yet to match their original achievement of replicating the Macintosh operating system on an IBM personal computer via “Windows.” There have been multiple attempts to be competitive in the multi-media world, such as copying a Sony Playstation or an Apple iPod, but as for original ideas… Microsoft should have stuck with what they did well, designing and creating reliable software for personal computers. While the suite of software known as Microsoft Office has made inroads into the business world, have they been as influential as the original version of “Word?” Stick with what you know and what works. There really is no need to click the “Software Update” icon in a menu of Mac OS-X. It only demands that the user learn a newer version of something that may have all ready been reliable the way it was. This is the disposable world of personal computers. It has continued to run amuck creating incompatibilities beyond comprehension, while a version of Mac 8.5 may just have served the user’s needs. Bill deserved his money at the time, but has that ingenuity continued? Has Microsoft continued to break boundaries in the world of personal computing? Longevity. Longevity is learning to plan for the duration. It, unlike the false promises of Capitalism or the Lottery, includes the table of probability, that which upon most insurance premiums are based. A Table of Probability? Probability. Chance. Taking into account things may advance or digress and planning ahead for them. Does the system of Capitalism do this? The majority of lotto winners, big winners, end up losing all of their money. They do not have the financial skills to handle such a cumbersome amount of money in the “Old West” of America. It seems as soon as Ed McMahon makes that call… “Sir, you have won the sweepstakes,” frauds, shysters, and hokems are lined up on the phone lines to offer you ways to lose that money. It is not easy in Capitalism to become financially independent, and our social, political, economic, and educational systems don’t necessarily teach it. This may be why Capitalism is failing. Three distinct players in the game don’t fully understand what their role is. The government, private business, and the public workforce are misinformed and confused about how to go about cooperating in a successful Capitalist socio-economic system. The easiest “check” is to measure consumer product prices against current salaries. If salaries have remained stagnant (which is the case in the United States) how can we as a country, the federal government as a watchdog, and businesses ethically raise prices? Why should prices rise anyway? In the current day and age the price of petroleum continues to drive market prices. The cost of oil is governing our way of life in America. Let me say that again. THE PRICE OF OIL IS GOVERNING OUR WAY OF LIVE IN AMERICA, because….. Are you ready? Because this is what special interest groups have wanted all along. What special interest groups are these if they are not drug companies, insurance companies, and credit firms? The data has not changed, it has just slipped out of sight due to aging. If our educational system fails to stay current, then students and therefore mainstream America will become uniformed about our own state of affairs. Automotive manufacturers have always wanted the car to be the supreme being. Simply look at our way of life as Americans. Auto insurance. Auto parts. Auto inspections. Auto sales. Roads. Tolls. Gasoline. Oil. The automobile became the center of our existence, because that is what special interest groups wanted. What about the greater needs of the country? Was it really necessary for Dwight Eisenhower to build the interstate highway system? In terms of national defense it certainly helped to have a reliable mode of transportation, but didn’t that all ready exist with the railroads? The National Strategic Rail Corridor is the hub upon which national defense turns, not the interstates. Automotive transportation was the will of the auto industry, and that alone. If the intellect of the United States had wanted to re-direct away from the automobile, certainly like the rest of Europe it could have succeeded. Choices are being made for mainstream America by special interest groups. They and they alone are determining what is good for America, and they are failing.