Tweet

Maintaining Our Spending Superiority

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: Now that the long-awaited second Carter term is entering its fourth year, we should not be surprised that the president is finally getting a handle on defense spending. He was on the TV contraption the other day, announcing we'll be slashing our defense budget, but "we'll still maintain our military superiority." After all, he argues, we ought to be able to get by on a budget still greater than that of the next ten nations combined....

Maintaining Our Spending Superiority

Another Brilliant Obama Plan Comes To Life! Now that the long-awaited second Carter term is entering its fourth year, we should not be surprised that the president is finally getting a handle on defense spending. He was on the TV contraption the other day, announcing we'll be slashing our defense budget, but "we'll still maintain our military superiority." After all, he argues, we ought to be able to get by on a budget still greater than that of the next ten nations combined.

President Carter was all about slashing defense, and I remember being in the army when his first term was entering its fourth year. I remember soldiers from my post jumping on helicopters to go rescue those Iranian hostages. And I remember how super THAT worked out!

Several things to warm your heart here, though! First, it's good to know we'll still be superior to, well, to somebody, I guess. It's like sacrificing your knight and two rooks, but hey, you still have that one-pawn superiority. It's like Tebow against the New England Patriots, committing turnovers in the first half... we were way ahead, but we can get by if we still have even a one-point superiority, right?

Also, I'm sure the bad guys will be adjusting their terrorism budgets, too. The eccentric zillionaires who want to kill us all? They don't need to invest so much of their zillions now... so I'm sure that extra money will go to some other worthy cause. It's kinda like giving the terrorists a much-needed raise! That, combined with all the apologies and bowing, should finally get them to love us.

But the big thing is this: we'll still be spending more on defense than the next ten countries combined! Woot! I wonder how much we were spending, relative to other countries, during those heady days in 1980 (the year of the aforementioned rescue attempt) when obviously no one dared mess with us. No matter, really, as long as we're deciding things like our defense budget relative to what other countries do.

In fact, wouldn't it be cool if we based our entire federal budget on what other countries do? You might vote for a candidate who said he or she would tell every federal bureaucracy that they had to get by on what the next ten nations (combined) spend on the same stuff. Think of all the money we'd still have if we used that principle on things like turtle bridges and loan-guarantees to failed solar companies.

I can't wait to see the president rock on with this brilliant budgeting scheme! It'll really get interesting when we slash our entitlement spending - and foreign aid! - to a number equal (or even a little bit superior) to what the next ten nations spend. And if we limited our bureacracies and regulations to a taxpayer burden roughly equal to that of the next ten countries, why, people would even be able once again to do CRAZY stuff like start a business!

That will really transform the presidency, radically. We used to call the U.S. president "the leader of the free world." Soon this notion of a "free world" will be relegated to the ash-heap of history; and when we're basing what we do on the budgets of other countries, it's clear the notion of American leadership is already there.

Related Articles
  Creating The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  To Blog or Not to Blog
  Search Engine Marketing: Your Way Cost-effective Business
  How Will the Debt Ceiling Deal Affect Small Businesses?
  Hiring and Promoting Emotional Intelligence
  Failure of HQ & Sales to Communicate Effectively
  What Counts Most
  BRAND LEADERSHIP COACHING
  Are you still in business?
  Struggling For A Healthy Balance In Your Life?
  Watch Out for People Who Belong to the
  Leading companies “mining” workforce for emotional intelligence
  Positioning: The core of corporate communications
  How To Get The Best Home Gym Equipment
  Today's rant - TV Sales Managers
  Home Stagers, Survive Tough Economic Times By Living Within Your Means
  It’s my judgment, so it must be right!
  Many Countries Fall Short
  Entrepreneurs - Want To Grow Your Company?
  Remember to Control Your Finances in Your Home Based Business

Article Tags: entrepreneurship, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility, wealth building



Related Forum Posts
What are your success criteria? - Out of curiousity, what has to be present for you to know that your business is a success? The top three things for me are: 1. Maintaining a 6 figure income year in and year out. 2. Creating and promoting my own products. 3. Income not solely dependent upon my personal effort. How about yours?
Re: What are your success criteria? - [quote="DwayneGarrett":1igrdgib]Out of curiousity, what has to be present for you to know that your business is a success? The top three things for me are: 1. Maintaining a 6 figure income year in and year out. 2. Creating and promoting my own products. 3. Income not solely dependent upon my personal effort. How about yours?[/quote:1igrdgib] I would have to say mine were: 1. Monthly Residual Income that exceeds all expenses by 110% 2. Free time to create and promote my own products (relies on #1) 3. 5% of all revenues generated by my team going to feed starving kids Now that is "feel good work".
Re: Fill in the blank: The biggest thing I waste my time on is: - I thought of online games as a way to relax a bit or to get a break from writing. I used to play RPG too like Ragnarok and I'll admit that sometimes I do like to try the RPGs on facebook whenever i see my nephews and nieces playing them. But I know that once I get started, i would be addicted, so better not even Try. David is right! Spending time on internet marketing is far more productive and can be fun too! [quote="Mal Tindle":14m5rb9v]Hi members, Like Rachel, my biggest waste of time was when I was invited to be a neighbour for a friend on Farmville (or was it Farmtown, not sure). Being quite competitive I found myself spending time on that which I thought was a harmless diversion at the time. I came back to my senses after a while and got back to Internet Marketing. Mal.[/quote:14m5rb9v]
Re: E-Commerce Spending Down? - Spending might be down, but there's still plenty of spending being done. Only a 2% decrease is hardly anything to worry about. As Kevin pointed out, I've noticed eBay sellers offering free shipping, but increasing the starting cost or Buy It Now price. So, in reality you're still paying for the shipping. I'm one who likes to buy online, mainly because it's a lot easier and I don't have to deal with the mad rush at malls and shopping centers. I'll shop around for the best price online, mainly looking at eBay or Amazon. However, if I happen to get into a crunch, then I'll just suck it up and go to the store and pay full price. Sometimes you just have to, but I try to avoid that situation. As Kevin also mentioned about shipping prices on eBay, I, too, have noticed that some sellers really inflate the price, even for US shipping. I avoid those sellers unless I can still get it cheaper through them than someone else, but most of the time you won't. It doesn't make any sense, and I would hate being out of the country and getting completely ripped off.
Web Pro News' "Mom's Top 10 Reasons to Social (Web)Mark - I belong to WebProNews, a weekly eletter which provides lots of good info. I reproduce their whole article below on "Mom's Guide To Social Marketing" (No intent on violating copyright - if you think this is good info you too should subscribe to Web Pro News too.) Your mother, if she did her job right, taught you everything you need to know about how to get along in the world and how to get ahead in it. When we were kids, we thought these rules were silly, but later we learned her advice was pretty valuable. In honor of Mother's Day (May 13), we've put her wisdom to work in online marketing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's Note: Social marketing is quickly becoming an integral part of generating business online. While search is the on-ramp, social networks are the destination. And just like any social setting, your rep is important. Mom's Guide to Life, we thought, was a great Guide to Everything. Did we forget some valuable tip? Let us know in the comments section. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mom's Top 10 Steps To A Good Online Reputation 1. Put Your Best Foot Forward: As recently as a year ago, when things were newer, more experimental, a presence on MySpace only was fine. Not so anymore. You have to be everywhere, treating branding in the online world the way you would in the real world. Most social networks allow you to set up a profile page for free (the ones that matter most do anyway). Create your online persona (a polite one), then clone it as necessary. 2. Make Eye Contact: Just like in the real world, wallflowers don't get noticed. The wallflower is most likely an incredible resource – it's just that nobody knows her because she doesn't put herself out there. Be a participant by commenting, inviting, giving. Show up at your new neighbor's door with a gift. It always goes over well – just remember to button your blouse. 3. You Are a Reflection of Your Mother (Company): Nobody likes a poorly kept lawn except the lazy bum that lives behind it. Maintain your public face on the social networks, shine your shoes, crease your pants, embrace your OCD. It may not be your homepage, but it is a home away from home. Maintaining several of these online presences is work, but so is business. 4. Keep An Open Mind: There's an appropriate cliché for every situation – all your eggs in one basket comes to mind here – but I prefer my grandfather's chestnut: "You drove your ducks to a damn poor market." Poetic, that man was. For a long time it was search, search, search. Before that it was email, email, email. But now you need to integrate your campaign. Search is a staple, a pillar of your online campaign, but we also know that Wikipedia ranks consistently number one in the SERPs. That means you need a Wikipedia page, too. Note: YouTube also ranks well. 5. Become Necessary: Viral marketing is tricky, difficult business. But maybe it doesn't have to be. Maybe if you realign your approach to reflect what you, as an individual enjoy, instead of being a salesperson, you can find a more intuitive connection with what the public wants to see. It's often been said that a salesman sells himself more than the product. So if you want to make linkbait, think about what would cause you to bite first. If you look at your viral attempt and see more corporate talking points than linkable material, it's time for a do-over. 6. Like the People that Like You (Even If You Think They're Annoying): Barack Obama's campaign people did something brilliant, and followed up with something not so brilliant. That makes it a great case study. An Obama fan set up a MySpace page and soon attracted thousands of friends. Instead of competing with his biggest fan, Obama endorsed the site as the official MySpace campaign headquarters. That was the brilliant part. After the page "got too big" for the original operator, the campaign crew took staged a coup to wrest control of the page from their biggest fan. That was the not so brilliant part, even if politics is mean by nature. 7. Watch Your Mouth: Again with the clichés that still hold true – if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. Steve Rubel learned the hard way that stream-of-consciousness blogging can have you saying something you wish you hadn’t. Transparency doesn't mean total access. 8. Don't Be a Fake: Who do we dislike most in civilized society (aside from the violent)? Liars, cheats, and thieves. We don't like them because we view them as betrayers. That principle applies online, too, when your network discovers you're not what you say you are. And the mob's wrath is one that is hard to endure. Ask Edelman PR about their Wal-Marting Across America campaign. 9. Mind Your Manners: Mom's favorite Bible verse still applies: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Commonly referred to as the Golden Rule on Earth, in Cyberspace, manners and etiquette are becoming increasingly more important. People are getting angry about anonymous drive-by (rude) commentary, salesy and useless comment spam (spam in general constitutes harassment in some form)…the list of ethics and etiquette violations is a long one, so it's probably best to ask yourself: Would I appreciate this if it were done to me? 10. Stay Hip. Right now, MySpace, Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube are essential, but they're still relatively new. Few really saw SecondLife coming as a virtual marketplace. Still yet, only the early adopters are talking about Twitter. But change online is swift, and the smart marketer keeps up with what's hot. The last thing you want to do is look outdated. Just don't sell out your core identity in the process. While that's just ten guidelines out of many, Mom always had one rule that ruled them all: Use your head, dodo bird! This is a thinking man's game. Indeed it is. Good luck with your campaigns.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Qualities of Leadership Part 1

Four Secrets to Earning Income as an Author

How to Set Sales Goals that Work

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.