WHAT DID WE LEARN IN 2018?

     At the close of our inaugural year for JAM Views, I thought we should review a few highlights of what we all have learned in order to solidify the foundation for increasing our understanding in the new year.  The Friends of JAM (FOJ) tell me that we began with 4 monthly readers, and now just a few months later we have over 400 monthly readers.  In order to spread more enlightened business and economic thought, shall we make our 2019 goal of sharing JAM Views with 4,000 monthly readers?  We will label this year's mission, "Helping people help themselves," or as Jerry Maguire emphatically urged Rod Tidwell in the Arizona Cardinals' locker room, "Help me help you!" (while Cuba Gooding, Jr. famously "air dried").
     We learned that so much of what we believed, what we accepted at face value, was actually not true.  We discovered that what the experts told us are economic causes and effects, are in reality simply correlations which become accepted thought by after-the-fact confirmation bias ("Destiny or Feather").  We now don't blindly accept their truths.  We find our own.
     In our organizations we learned to implement A-Player cultures which our competitors were too "mentally lazy" to bother with.  We realized that a new employee's first day has ramifications for the next 30 years and decided to knock their socks off.  We decided to operate starfish and spider web companies, instead of silos, so that all of our teammates understood deeply what we did, how we did it, and most importantly, why we were all there ("First Day Means Everything"/"Critical What How Why").
      We shook off the cynicism long enough to understand the big picture of capitalism's role in man's relentless march upwards.  We realized 137,000 people everyday for the last 25 years have been lifted out of poverty, and that today 70% of the people on Earth live in some form of democracy while only 1% enjoyed this liberty 200 years ago! ("We are Winning").  We figured out how growth is a million times more important and effective than higher taxes, with just 1% more GDP creating an extra 1.2 million jobs, and we even now understand that 6-8% growth is a reasonable target. ("Growth Trumps Taxes").  We also realized that capitalism + philanthropy can save the world faster than a trillion dollars of government spending ("Capitalism + Philanthropy").
     Yet with all of our optimism, we still didn't lose sight of the fact that we are in a war against a much larger army replete with miseducated elites and the masses they control with their misinformation.  We figured out why they intentionally do not provide economic education in our children's schools ("Money Illiteracy by Design").  We now understand how regulations, taxes and licensing are simply special interests scams which block small businesses, create homelessness, and imprison the poor. ("Mandates-Taxes-Regs-Homelessness"/"Licensing is a Scheme").
     We learned to stay diligent and build cash reserves for the inevitable market corrections ("Black Swans"), to stand up against fraud with our taxes and shareholder dollars ("Government Has No Money"/ "CEO Pay is Ridiculous"), and to build better education for our citizens ("Corporate Universities").
     And, of course, we learned how to mix business with pleasure by maximizing our entertaining returns with class and grace. ("Business Entertaining"/"Holiday Business Cocktailing").  Our guest blogger, Bob Vukovich, imparted great wisdom.
     It has been an eye-opening start for JAM Views, and I now truly understand the axiom, "The teacher learns more than the students."  Also, I believe one reader's comment summarizes our inaugural efforts best, "You just don't know what you don't know until someone explains it in language you can understand."
     Now as we approach 2019, let us remember to lead our organizations as the Captain we always wanted to be ("Captain vs. Coach"), and maybe one day we, too, will be worthy of a Wall street Journal Obituary ("WSJ Obits").  It is a privilege to provide these weekly posts, and I want you to know how much I appreciate your partnership in our mission.  Please remember to Subscribe to JAM Views through the Email Subscription or the RSS Feed, and please continue to share on FaceBook, Twitter, and all those amazing platforms you may frequent.  We have quite a large crowd to bring into the light.  A special thank you to Friends of JAM for administering this blog, the website, and the continuous legal challenge.  You are an amazing group of friends.

ps.  Next week we start off the new year with "Tales of the Almost Congressman" as my friend, Jeff, provides shocking inside details of what they are truly doing with your money...you won't want to miss it.

pss.  If you would like a refresher, the highlighted Posts are logged into the Archives Section on the JAM Views home page along with the rest of this year's writings.

psss.  Jeff's book "The Fall of MICG" is now available on Amazon Kindle, and a special promotion of free downloads runs December 31st to January 4th.  Get your free copy at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MD9PRKK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_awdo_b63jCb64W5N3G

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.  We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power."  -  George Orwell, 1984

* For more info on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
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* Thank you to the WSJ, Forbes, Fortune, & amazing authors for this year's statistics and quotations.
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DUMB ECONOMICS HURT REAL FAMILIES

     The country's labor market is healthier than it has been in a very long time, but it could be even healthier for the poor and lower middle classes if our politicians had the education and the fortitude to simply follow Adam Smith.  As our JAM Views readers have come to understand, a great majority of our corporate and national problems would disappear if we only allowed people to work in their own self interest and we compensated them for their results, not their time, or not as a gift based on their station in life (means testing).
     We must memorize Mr. Smith's words that "(i)t is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."  To surprise our dinner guests, we should also memorize a lesser-known "Wealth of Nations" passage which reads, "We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."
     Currently, I am teaching a 25-hour course titled "Building Special Companies" to a room full of prior business owners, and I must admit that I have been a little shocked at their comments and case studies insisting on "only pay for performance."  As I read and listen to the media, I had begun to believe that these simple truisms were dead, but I am re-invigorated when I get to converse with true business owners who have been in the trenches.
     Unfortunately, two recent reports confirm that the Government still just doesn't get it (or as we have discussed, they do and this is how they control the masses by ensuring we do not prosper also).  The Farm Bill is legislation which is meant to support our agriculture industry, but is actually a special-interests scam in which the large players, such as wealthy sugar producers (see Russian Oligarchs), pay congressmen to implement protective import restrictions and regulations to protect their own interests.  Beyond this, 80% of the money allocated to this bill is actually for food stamps, but by calling it a Farm Bill less congressman will publicly oppose the redistribution economics.
     Recently a few members of Congress attempted to ensure that the food stamps came with a 20-hour per week work requirement for able-bodied workers with no small children to care for.  This 20-hours per week (3 hours per day) could be work, volunteering, or even government-funded education.  What a wonderful gift to these 9 million able-bodied citizens, mostly men, to help them help themselves and improve their station in life.  Also, this a huge number to add to our economy's worker participation ratios and productivity percentages.  But, because the politicians either don't understand behavioral economics, or they are intentionally trying to keep their constituencies poor and uneducated, this part of the bill was canceled.  You can't make this up.  So, 40 million Americans now receive food stamps, more than double the number 20 years ago.  It is a crime.
     But, it gets worse.  Daryl Purpera, Louisiana's legislative auditor, conducted a study in which they discovered 82% of Medicaid recipients should not have qualified for all the benefits they received.  Most recipients had underreported their income and taken advantage of enrollment rules which now allow people to join Medicaid without any verification (Can you say "No-Doc Loans?").
     According to Robert Doar, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration, the previous Presidential Administration streamlined the enrollment process in order to enroll as many people as possible (No-Doc & No Money Down!), and even prohibited states from verifying participant data.  Next, in total disregard for Adam Smith, the state governments are responsible for enrolling participants and managing costs, while the federal government pays all the bills with "federal matching."  The states are incentivized to spend more and care zero about cost.  How ridiculous is that?
     All of these debilitating programs, packaged and marketed as helping the less fortunate, only destroy our nation's middle and lower classes.  Even worse, the government-designed inherent fraud steals our taxpayer dollars away from the families, and most importantly the children, who truly need the helping hand, the hand up, and the better opportunities.  Dumb economics hurt real families.  See through the rhetoric.  Understand how the math works.  Do something about it.

"Contradictions do not exist.  Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises.  You will find that one of them is wrong."  -  Ayn Rand

* For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
* To access JAM Views directly, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
* Thank you to the WSJ, Forbes, and Fortune for specific quotes and statistics.

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PLAINTIFF BAR ATTORNEYS DESTROY OUR FREE MARKETS

     Plaintiff attorneys continuously bring class-action lawsuits against corporations in schemes and artifices to defraud shareholders and consumers.  They manipulate American citizens, once again, by claiming to defend the "little guy" when in reality they create a never-ending stream of lawsuits to line their own pockets with tens of millions, and many times hundreds of millions, of dollars in blackmail fees.  Most of the time, if prevailing, the end "clients" are each left with a check for $4.95 for their participation.
     This is one of the biggest scams being played upon the American public, but the reason it is allowed to continue is because all of the players are attorneys, members of the Bar.  All are members of the American Bar Association (ABA), as well as the individual state clubs, such as the Virginia State Bar Association (VSBA).  These are likely the most corrupt "trade organizations" in our country, and unfortunately in this facade of an adversarial system, the plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and members of Congress are all members of the same club.
     I, personally, have a great deal of experience with these Bar associations, and even I, one well-educated in the corruption of our bureaucratic systems, continue to be shocked at the Bar's violations of due process and cult-like conspiracy and collusion to protect its members.
     One quick example is how politicians, judges, and lawyers have for years written laws, ordered regulations, and orchestrated multi-million dollar marketing campaigns to promote transparency and public access to the records of complaints and violations against licensed securities brokers.  With the click of a button, we may now find out if any stockbroker has ever been accused of a violation, much less convicted.  Yet, why will the Bar not release this same information for you to perform proper due diligence before hiring an attorney?
     When presented with incontrovertible documentation of attorney theft and fraud against uneducated, poor clients, why is the Bar not mandated to investigate these claims?  Why don't the lawyer judges and the lawyer politicians ensure this system is equal to other professional service organizations?  Maybe it continues because we citizens and free market enthusiasts have allowed for one elite club to control all facets of our system while providing a facade of defending the individual.
     One more quick example is how I paid $25,000 to James Broccoletti of Zoby Broccoletti in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for representation on appeal.  After a few weeks, James resigned as counsel due to a perceived conflict of interest.  He provided no drafts or work papers or any documentation of any work performed, yet for five years he has refused to refund the appeal deposit, or even any partial payment.  The Virginia State Bar has been noticed repeatedly yet will provide no remedy, no due process, will not reveal this complaint publicly, and will not release any information concerning prior complaints about James Broccoletti.
     I know that I promised not to make fun of California for a while, but we have to explain how the Ninth Circuit (The Appeals Court in California) is now attempting to even expand these class-action plaintiff attorneys' powers in the case "Apple vs. Pepper."  Apple revolutionized our world of digital applications by providing a platform to cover all of the overhead expense, intellectual property protections, and financial transaction infrastructure for developers' new apps.  This freed up developers to innovate and greatly expand their distribution capabilities, creating over 2 million apps for us ravenous consumers.  For this incredible service, Apple charges a 30% commission to the developers, who are each free to set their own pricing.
     Because this service has been wildly successful and profitable, the class action attorneys now see an easy target for huge blackmail fees.  Unfortunately, many times the targeted company chooses to simply write the attorneys a large check to go away, and the unaware company shareholders pay this huge tab, but in this case I applaud Apple for standing up to the looters.
     Next, the Government attorneys gets in on the theft as they draft right behind the plaintiff attorneys by authorizing their lawsuits and adding their city, state or federal district to the class action list, so that they can get a large slice for their district and be promoted from Assistant Attorney General to the head honcho position.  In the Apple case, 31 states have joined the relevant cases, claiming they need more power to "protect consumers."  Does any JAM Views reader actually believe this? (If so, please re-read Posts #1 - #38).  This particular case, if successful, would have a great impact on Google and Microsoft's similar platforms, plus be extrapolated to blackmail e-Bay, Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, and Airbnb, whom all fund their incredible platforms with commissions.  Ironically, the app developers themselves, the supposed victims and beneficiaries of any settlement, have filed appeal briefs in support of Apple and against the class actions.
     Do you remember how state attorney generals recently persuaded the courts to overturn online retailers' exemption from paying each state's taxes?  Because of that, even more small retailers, especially Mom & Pop companies, transitioned to these service platforms to handle the financial and tax transactions.  Now the attorney generals are suing the platforms to take another bite of Mom & Pop's livelihood.
     We have Bar attorneys attacking the free markets, Bar state and federal government attorneys adding the Government's weight and threats behind the case, Bar attorney politicians enabling the pillage of free markets for their own photo opportunities and political contributions, and Bar attorney judges making the decisions on how much blackmail ransom is to be paid, all radically hurting the end consumer citizen they all profess to be defending.  How were we dumb enough to let all of these Bar attorneys rule everything in a closed shadowy system?  Why do we let it continue?
     JAM Views members must stop and think.  We must see through the surface rhetoric and educate ourselves in order to understand what is actually occurring in our economy, in our country.  I know you're tired of hearing me say it, but if we just follow the money, we will find the truth.  There is no other truth.  The rest is merely the play of consciousness for the masses.  This week seek more truth.

"Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's character: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it." - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

* For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
* To access JAM Views directly, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
* Thank you to the WSJ, Forbes & Fortune for specific quotes and statistics.
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           ECONOMIC EXCUSES vs. JUST DO IT!

     The Federal Reserve last week signaled that interest rates are "just below" a "neutral level," which is their code for the right interest rate to achieve the Fed's two current goals:  full employment and 2% inflation.  JAM Views believes there is not sufficient empirical evidence that a 2% inflation target is necessary, much less not detrimental, but we will address that in another Post.  For now, the financial markets rallied in the belief that The Fed will not need to "take away the punch bowl" from the current strong economy and jobs growth.
     What's most telling is that success begets success, increases optimism, and opens our eyes to what is possible.  I heard Larry Kudlow, the President's Economic Advisor, speaking recently on the John Bachelor Show, and Larry said that we really should be creating 6% to 8% GDP growth rates in this country.  I chuckled thinking that Larry must be reading JAM Views!
     Prior to this Administration's aggressive efforts to cut tax rates, cut regulations, and jumpstart GDP growth, what did the elites tell us for a decade?  They asserted on every talk show that 1) we cannot grow the workforce because we are at "maximum participation rate" (the % of Americans who are able or willing to work), 2) we will not achieve more productivity growth expansion because we have maxed out technology's impact, and 3) we will never again achieve a GDP growth rate above 2% because of the demographics of our country.
     Well as for participation, Americans have been rushing back into the job market since, recently, having a job has become much more appealing, and companies have been able to offer many more of these appealing jobs.  The previous "facts" that we blindly accepted on the talk shows have been proven false.  The Fed also pointed out "there may still be some further room for participation."  Women of prime working age and men ages 25-34 are rushing back into the job market, but still at percentage levels below year 2000.  If we see entitlements and benefits soon require more work or training mandates, we will see these percentages rise even further.  But, didn't they say this was impossible?
     As for productivity growth, The Fed stated that productivity is growing at 2% this year as compared to the previous decade average under 1%.  Productivity growth means that, due to positive technology enhancements or less regulatory overhead and bureaucracy, each worker is free to produce more output inside the same work hour.  Therefore, there is not higher wage cost for more output, and thus not inflationary but actually working against inflation.  This means companies can actually pay workers more per hour without raising the end price of the product for the American consumer.  But, didn't they say these gains were impossible?
     And, of course, they said on every Sunday morning talk show that growth rates above 2% for our country were now impossible.  Those growth days were over.  What is truly sad is that most of the country believed them, and lined up excuse after excuse for our lack of exceptionalism.  They rolled it right into the apology tours.  To borrow some descriptions from Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, this "grotesque and coordinated" manipulation was "a national disgrace."  Now, our growth is 50% to 100% greater and capable of going much higher if the collectivists and looters don't put on the breaks.  Unfortunately, history repeatedly proves that the great majority of humans prefer excuses over sticking their necks out for overachievement.  And, the humans will do everything possible to crucify the ones who prove their prior excuses were simply lies.
     I recruited Lyle to join our company from Morgan Stanley in hopes that he would be a positive mentor for our younger financial advisors.  But, I soon discovered that he had an excuse every month for why targets were missed and deadlines were pushed back.  Soon, his underachievement began to alienate the A-Players and even create a small sub-culture of C-Players.  You all know the employee.  His worldview infected others around him to have them also believe that our strong performance was not sustainable, and that we should be more "realistic."  Following GE CEO Jack Welch's advice, I eventually encouraged Lyle to spin off a small practice on his own, away from our growing enterprise, but unfortunately not before his negative ideology affected many in the organization.  I should have made the change much earlier.
     For recorded history, no one had ever broken the 4-minute mile barrier until May 6, 1954, when Roger Bannister ran a 3:59 mile in Oxford, England.  Then, less than six weeks later, a blink in time, Australian John Landy ran a 3:58 mile.  Six weeks later in Canada, both men ran sub-4-minute miles in the same race, and the idea quickly spread throughout the world with tens, then hundreds, of runners breaking this unbreakable human barrier.  The mind now believed it was possible.
     In economics and business, just like in everything else, we create what we believe is possible.  Optimism and exceptionalism are what true Americans believe.  We always have.  Stay guarded and mentally strong, and don't let the underachievers convince you that success is not possible, or even probable.  Asset prices, such as the stock market or home values, will fluctuate greatly, and the economy will go through its natural booms and recessions, but never let the Government tell you that great success is not possible.  Educate your mind and strengthen your resolve.

"We often decide that an outcome is extremely unlikely or impossible, because we are unable to imagine any chain of events that could cause it to occur.  The defect, often, is in our imagination."  -  Amos Tversky

*  For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
*  To access JAM Views directly, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
*  Thank you to the WSJ, Forbes, and Fortune for the statistics and quotes.
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MINIMUM WAGE POLICIES = MORE BAD ECONOMICS

     JAM Views exposes business and economic policies which consistently hurt the very beneficiaries the politicians are claiming to help. Injecting artificial minimum wages into free markets is high up on the bad policies list, and soon you are going to be hearing about it constantly in the news, again.
     Anyone who makes it past Econ 101 knows that minimum wage laws drastically harm poor people, the middle class, and the overall GDP growth of the country. Unfortunately, less than 1% of the country takes the Econ 101 class (because "they" don't want us to take it - "Money Illiteracy By Design" Post 4/21/18). Also, at least prior to the current Presidential Administration, everyone has been afraid to honestly discuss how these policies destroy jobs. Now, Representative Bobby Scott, a long-term Congressman from Hampton Roads, Virginia, and the upcoming Chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, is the latest politician to manipulate his own constituency into fighting for the $15 minimum wage. He and Nancy say that this is on the agenda for the first 100 hours of the new Congress. Do they believe that we are not educated enough to understand how this hurts us, or are they not educated enough, themselves, to understand the math? I constantly struggle with this question.
     Michael Saltsman, Managing Director at the Employment Policies Institute, recently released some minimum wage history and discussion of how we even came up with the current $15. In 2013, President Obama declared that a $9 federal minimum wage was ideal. In 2014, Democrats decided $10 was the correct wage. Then in 2015, Rep. Bobby Scott declared $12 was the right price! (Almost sounds like fraudulently inflating a stock price in a hedge fund, but I digress). Then in 2017, Bernie Sanders introduced the $15 Raise the Wage Act. So, why would anyone believe that there is any economic analysis or validity behind this number, or that there is a beneficial impact to a mandated minimum wage to begin with? Have you ever heard the story of how President Trump, off the cuff, mentioned a border wall during an early campaign speech, the crowd went nuts, and then it became the foundation of his Presidential run? This is how the world works.
     If you adjust for inflation, the previously-implemented minimum wage has fluctuated from $4 to $11 in today's dollars, with the average wage minimum being $7.50. Therefore, the current $15 policy is double our nation's historic average.
     Studies by Miami and Trinity Universities show that by 2020 over 40% of the hourly workforce would be covered by a $15 minimum wage, but 2.3 million jobs would likely be eliminated. A Harvard and Mathematical Policy Research study determined that in San Francisco each $1 increase in mandated minimum wage created a 14% increase in restaurant closures. In JAM Views we have previously covered how the wait staff and bartenders, themselves, have violently opposed a $15 minimum wage law in Washington, D.C. Bartender Valerie Graham told the D.C. Council, "We chose these jobs because we make far more than minimum wage!"
The University of Washington released a study last year claiming that Seattle's minimum wage, raised in 2016 to $13 and next year to be $16, has caused a nearly 10% drop in hours worked. This has a net result of $75 to $125 less in the monthly paychecks of low-wage earners. No politics, no good intentions, and no Marxist policies can repeal the fundamental laws of economics. We consume less of what costs more.
     What does not get any press is the fact that thousands of employers today, to include Amazon, McDonalds and Wal-Mart are actually implementing base pays as high as $15, but because of low unemployment and lower taxes - not government mandates. Private equity investor Andy Kessler summed it up as, "In February 1962 U.S. non-farm payroll stood at 55.2 million. Fifty-six years and several major tax cuts later, jobs stand at 149.5 million. Call it basic and universal capitalism. Let's stick with that, shall we?"
     Since everything, everyday comes down to money, and all the rest is noise, why don't we demand that every politician pass an economics competency exam? "They" love to use licensing to control our free markets ("Licensing is a Scheme to Stop Competition" Post 10/7/18), so why don't we require them to have a license in basic economics and the principles of capitalism which built this country? Doesn't that make sense?

"It is sometimes easier to make the world a better place than to prove you have made the world a better place." - Michael Lewis.

* For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
* To access JAM Views directly, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
* Thank you to the WSJ, Forbes and Fortune for the above statistics and quotes.
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BLOG #36: THE NEXT ADVENTURE

This Thanksgiving weekend as we all take a moment to be thankful for how incredibly fortunate we are, I want you to do some thinking, some real contemplation, about your next Act. Once the mayhem in the house dies down, and Uncle George is snoring in your favorite Lazy Boy, I want you to take a beverage to the chilly back deck and think honestly about what you want to do for the next twenty years. 
Sometimes life hits us with a thermonuclear warhead, like I have recently encountered, and this forces us to re-think everything: what we believe, what's important to us, and what we're going to do about it. But for most people, the routine and malaise of life just washes them down the river until one day they wake up wondering what happened to their dreams and aspirations. Jimmy Buffet captures it as, "He liked the quiet clean country living, and twenty more years slipped away." 
Odds are if you are reading JAM Views you have accomplished more than most, and, relatively, you have your act together. Yet, you know that you could be doing so much more if you became inspired, or re-inspired. JAM Views readers don't believe that we came down to the planet this time around to earn our pension and finally get some rest. We believe that we came down this time to work off our karma, attack life, and make tremendous progress towards enlightenment! We cannot "go with the flow" if we want to make tremendous progress, and we must accept that life is about constant change. Ancient saints teach that a person "may never cross the same river twice." 
Bob Buford wrote "Half Time: Moving from Success to Significance" to address these issues, and I urge you to hop onto Amazon and order it this weekend. Bob made a zillion dollars in business and then decided to do something totally different. But, Bob didn't have the millionaire guilt, and he didn't leave everything he built to join the Peace Corps or work in the soup kitchens. Bob figured out what he was now passionate about, and then he created a new life plan which built upon his skill set and experience, which served his selfish self-interest (very Ayn Rand), and which would have a tremendous impact on the world before he moved onto his next adventure. He described this effort as Altruistic Egoism which recognizes self-interest as central to the human design and aligns efforts to gain personal satisfaction by helping others. 
How do JAM Views readers believe that we help others? We build companies and provide people jobs, respect and dignity. These beneficiaries then take care of their own families, provide for their children, and support their communities as they pay it forward every day. Legendary management consultant Peter Drucker taught us to "work only on things that will make a great deal of difference if you succeed." Peter also proclaimed, "The beginning of adult life is when you ask the question, 'What do I want to be remembered for?'" 
Now, as you figure this all out on the chilly deck (better refresh your B&B), remember that the more wealth you create for yourself and your own family, the more significant and positive impact you will have on the rest of the world. Don't let the looters and collectivists convince you otherwise. But, you are going to need to make some change, tomorrow. Business advisor Charles Handy instructs us, "It is one of the paradoxes of success that the things and ways which got you there are seldom those things that keep you there." And, we all know Edison's definition of insanity. 
Charles brilliantly details in "The Age of Paradox" how we need to start these Second or Third Acts when we are at our strongest, even if life seems too hectic to take on one more thing. "The right place you start the second curve (path) is when there is time, resources, and energy to get the new curve through its initial explorations and flounderings before the first curve begins to dip downward." In other words, if you want to finally start your own global staffing company to make a significant impact on the world, start the project while you are still leading IBM's HR Department, your stock options have grown in value, and you have a small cushion enabling you to take a risk. Generals in war know that timing will never be perfect, and you will never have all the information you need to make a perfect decision. Nevertheless, you must press through the fog and friction of warfare and make a command decision. Your family, and the world, is counting on you. 
In "The Legend of Bagger Vance," Steven Pressfield wrote, "Life is action, Junah. Even choosing not to act, we act. We cannot do otherwise. Therefore act with Vigor! Stand now, Junah, and take your place. Do honor to yourself and your station!" 
In great detail I have written out my Second Half Plan, and the JAM Views Blog creation was on the list. I have also put a great deal of thought into what I want to be remembered for once I, too, move onto the next adventure. If you'd like a copy, just send me a note. 
This Thanksgiving I am incredibly thankful for many things and some very special people. I know you are also. Now get back in there, get Uncle George out of your chair, and start scribbling down all those Second Half commitments. I can't wait to see a copy! 

"Our life ultimately comes from within." - Ram Butler 

* For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com. 
* To access JAM Views directly or to subscribe, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
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THE ART OF HOLIDAY BUSINESS COCKTAILING 

As we enter the holiday party season, I thought it would be best to review the substantial book of guidelines for maximizing our "cocktailing business opportunities." To ensure we deliver top-quality advice I have also conferred with Bob Vukovich, the enigmatic mentor in the soon-to-be-released narrative "Just One More" by Ash Press. Of course, when meeting with Bob, he always demands that you join him for two "perfect martinis, half-Goose, half-Bombay, a whisper of vermouth, and one olive." I respectfully complied and took copious notes. 
Volume is key, not of drinks but of events. Get your buns off the couch, turn off House of Cards, and take advantage of the never-ending holiday opportunities. Business cocktailing is like cold-calling; the more you dial, the more "luck" you receive. By attending more functions, you learn of many more invites, and very soon your charming self is on everyone's invitation list. Ensure that you convey your relevance by hosting your own holiday event, which could be a simple company happy hour, to a small cocktail party at your place, to a wine tasting benefitting your favorite charity, to a major holiday blowout party. Remember that you will quickly become known as "the one with the rolodex," and your influence and access will grow significantly. 
Have a great time! People are drawn to people whom exude positive energy and who have fun just because they can. Laws of attraction are very real, so pay attention. Compliment everyone about everything. Congratulate all of your business alliances on a great year, and especially congratulate your competitors. Class and grace at all times. 
Deflect all cocktail discussions away from you and your business, and focus totally on them and their business (a very rare talent). Consciously search for ways you may use their services, and tactfully mention how your firm might help them with their challenges in the new year. Then when you follow up to help them in the first quarter, your conversation is already "warm." 
You keep forgetting your business cards during the holidays, on purpose. Since you don't have yours when they ask, you must get one of theirs and promise to send them your information. Now you control the connection. As we know, if you just give your card to the lazy masses, the odds of a follow up are slim, because they have to get back to watching American Idol. The next morning you send Tom a quick email, "Tom, greatly enjoyed meeting you at the Children's Benefit. Attached is my contact information as I promised, including my personal cell. I'll follow up after the holidays to see if we can help you with those training difficulties. Happy Holidays! Tom is also now fully integrated into your CRM. 
Look sharp, be sharp, and be on your A-game. View these parties as important interviews and important public-speaking events. As Steve Martin claimed in the movie "Leap of Faith," "Always look better than they do." If the invite says "Black Tie Optional," "Optional" does not apply to you. 
Always bring a small gift for the host, whether a bottle of wine or something unique. The host sincerely appreciates your thoughtfulness, and without a doubt, a check has been placed by your name on the list. Those who know, know. 
Employ every Dale Carnegie chapter in the book at your holiday events. Remember names! Introduce your spouse to everyone whom you cannot remember their name. Introduce Gloria to Susan with, "Gloria, this is Susan who owns Fantastic Printing, and I thought she could possibly help with that new brochure idea. Susan, Gloria's commercial real estate team is the best in the business and can probably help with the office relocation you were kicking around." When Gloria and Susan become fast friends and business associates, they will always remember you as the connector. Spend your holiday connecting and giving referrals, and you will never have to ask for one, yourself. All of these new relationships will build concentric circles and networks, with you at the center. 
Remember to simply repeat what everyone says, and they will then believe you are a genius. When George says, "I took my kid skiing, the powder was incredible." You say, "That's great you took your kid skiing, wow the powder was incredible." "Yes, he even moved up from the blue trails to a black double diamond." "Wow, from the blue trails to a black double diamond!" When George is pulled away by his wife, you can ensure he now thinks you are the smartest guest he has ever met. Studies repeatedly prove that George now labels you with extremely positive attributions from only repeating what he, himself, spoke. 
You must always depart the event a little early as you have another holiday function you promised to attend, if not two. You, of course, graciously thank the host and solidify your strengthened connection. Once home, even though exhausted, you organize the business cards and cocktail napkins you have been given, and you make a quick list of takeaways and follow ups, so that tomorrow you will remember to document the new business opportunities. It may sound robotic, and maybe like more work than required, but this is what separates the A's from the B's (the C's weren't even invited to the party). 
Have a safe and wonderful holiday business cocktailing season. Make good choices, call Uber, and take advantage of the amazing opportunities throughout the season while your competition is coasting. 

"All things being equal, people choose to do business with their friends. All things not being equal, people choose to do business with their friends." Jeffrey Gitomer

* For more information on Jeff's Blog, Books, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com 
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  POVERTY HAS BEEN ELIMINATED IN AMERICA, BUT...

     Poverty in America is essentially eliminated today in America, but the Government and the media will never report to you the correct economic numbers, as the truth would defeat their agendas and raisons d'etre.  In keeping with our JAM Views mission, you must learn and understand this truth.  Yet, the truth also confirms that although this nearly 15% of our country is not living in poverty, it is living in bondage and servitude to the very people who claim to be their benefactors.
     John F. Early, former Assistant Commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Phil Gramm, former Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, have released an updated report on wage and taxes in the country, and I want to explain some of these facts, along with a few other relevant analyses, so you may understand the true economics.
     Following World War II, through capitalism and growth our nation was able to radically reduce the portion of the country living in poverty from 32.1% to 14.7%.  Then in 1964, President Lyndon B.. Johnson declared that his new War On Poverty is "not a struggle simply to support people.  It is an effort to allow them to develop and use their capacities."  What his War actually did was remove this amazing group of Americans from the game and rewards of capitalism, and cause them to become dependent on the Government.  Their drive, hope and stability of the family unit disintegrated in opposite statistical correlation to the tremendous expansion of Government.
     The Census Bureau reports that in 2016 some 12.7% of Americans lived in poverty, virtually unchanged since President Johnson declared his War (sounds as effective as the War On Drugs - Another Post).  But, the Census Bureau, inexplicably, does not count transfer payments when calculating "income."  It excludes food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare to low-income families, Children's Health Insurance, the refundable part of the earned-income tax credit, and 87 other federal and state means-test payments.  If the Bureau counted all income, apples-to-apples, they would have to include this $1.5 trillion allocation, and the reported poverty rate would fall below 3%.
     Flipping the tables and only counting the consumption side, these numbers confirm this 3% exactly.  This number also reconciles with the recent Department of Energy Residential Consumption Survey which tracks the rising spending among poor families on cars, home electronics, cable, appliances, and smartphones.
     Now, if we add the $500 billion of private charitable giving in our country, this 3% drops to 1% - 2%.  Isn't that hard to reconcile with everything the world tells you each evening?  Tom Giovanetti, President of the Institute for Policy Innovation, points out that a family of four earning $80,000 will pay a 15.3% combined rate for Social Security and Medicare, amounting to $12,240 per year on top of their federal and state income taxes.  This is where the $1.5 trillion in transfer payments come from.
     But, by design, the Government and the elites, have coerced this amazing 15% of Americans out of capitalism and into "self-imposed" bondage.  Otherwise, we all would not not believe that we need a Government even 1/10th the current size, and the elites would have 50 million more brilliant Americans competing with them in education, innovation, and leadership of the country.
     White House economists recently confirmed that a person can lose up to 35 cents in food stamps for every extra dollar earned from working.  Two-thirds of adult food-stamp recipients are not disabled or seniors, yet more than 50% of this group reported working zero hours a week while receiving the benefits.  These transfer payments now constitute 84% of the disposable income for the poorest group and even 58% for lower-middle-income Americans.  The poorest group has 37% more families than the middle-income group with a prime-working age head and no one working. The middle-income group has 5-times as many families with two or more workers than the poor group.  What happened to President Johnson' pledge to help everyone become self-sufficient?  He didn't understand Economics 101 like JAM Views members do.  Or, did he?
     I have struggled forever with the question of, "Do all of these bureaucrats, redistributionists, and seemingly well-intentioned people just not understand economics, or are they truly selfish and evil and only promoting their own self-interests veiled as a cause for equality and helping others?"  What do you think?  Please let our Friends of JAM members know your thoughts.  I have been baffled by these ironies, these paradoxes, my entire adult life, my entire career.  If we simply set up financial models which allowed, and required, individuals to work in their own self-interest (Adam Smith), not only would our country's wealth and prosperity exceed all expectations, but all of our citizens would fully participate in the American Dream.
     So now you know that by the true numbers we have eradicated poverty in the United States of America.  Or, have we intentionally, inexcusably, guaranteed its continuance?

"The lessons of history show conclusively that continued dependency upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber."  -  President Franklin D. Roosevelt

* For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
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* My thanks always to the WSJ, Forbes, Fortune, and the above-noted authors.
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21st CENTURY LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION

     It's strange what things we remember from our childhood, the things that many times stand out for no apparent reason. For me, one of those seemingly unimportant events, which I remember as vivid as if it occurred yesterday, was when my father, an aeronautical engineer by training, said to me, "Once you are out of school for a few years, you will likely never use the technical skills you learned earning your degree. Everything becomes about dealing with other people, managing other people." And, how correct he was.
     Yet, why are we all so terrible at communicating with other humans, even when we, intellectually, know exactly what we should say and what we should not say? Since this skill set is paramount to our business and life success, JAM Views periodically focuses on the tips and guides for effective communication. This talent is just like all the rest; we think certain lucky people just naturally have it, and most of the rest of us do not. But, in fact, this great talent is an acquired skill learned with great focus, great effort and innumerable mistakes and failures along the way. The list of reminders is probably infinite, but let's just touch on 10 quick ones this week:

1. Become a Dale Carnegie expert. As many of you know, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" has been required reading for every organization I have had the privilege to lead, to include investment firms, restaurants, charities, and even federal prison classrooms. Let's address two easy concepts here. First, remember and use people's NAMES. The sweetest sound to another is the sound of their own name. Stop using the weak excuse that you are "bad at remembering names." People in your company, civic groups, and neighborhood will be shocked that you now remember their names, and your status, likeability, and wealth will skyrocket simply from this new skill. Second, give others a fabulous reputation to live up to. If you constantly tell your spouse how amazing they are, your children how brilliant they are, and your employees how exceptional they are, they will be. They want to believe that you are correct, and they will, eventually, do everything possible to emulate your opinion. Then when you constantly reiterate this opinion of them to the full company, the community, and the entire industry, your people will naturally rise to the reputation you have cemented for them. It is magical to watch.

2. Outside of those rare moments when you must correct unacceptable behavior, in private, everything else must be positive, all of the time. As the leader, the world is constantly watching you, especially when you least expect it. For the Boys and Girls Club to raise enough money to build the state-of-the-art center for the kids, and for your investment firm to outbid Goldman Sachs to handle Uber's IPO, the only option is to be wildly optimistic. Michael Lewis wrote of Israeli psychologist Amos Tversky, "Amos willed himself to be optimistic, because he had decided that pessimism was stupid. When you are a pessimist and the bad thing happens, you live it twice."

3. The Buddhists and Siddha Gurus know that people feel you much more than they see you or hear you. This is a little difficult to understand initially, since we are conditioned that we communicate through our voice. But, we are beings comprised of pure energy, deep inside every cell and atom in our body. When we are communicating with another person, or with an auditorium full of shareholders, we are bombarding them with our energy, positive or negative. They like us, believe us, and want to do business with us because of this energy. Most of the time they don't even understand what we are talking about, or what the PowerPoint slides explain, but they want to do business with us because of how we make them feel. You cannot fake this energy. For it to be positive, welcoming, compassionate, and full of hope and excitement, you must truly believe this in yourself. You must develop a strong, positive, courageous self-belief for you to then be able to exude this energy and lead others.

4. Oldie but a goodie - Every correction must use the Sandwich Theory. "Bob, thank you for working all weekend on this report for the Board of Directors. I so appreciate your commitment to the team. Now, unfortunately, in this analysis we've used the wrong parameters and assumptions which radically skew the conclusions. I am going to need you to pull an all-nighter to fix this before the meeting. And, listen, even though we stumbled on this project, I want you to know that I greatly appreciate the effort you are putting in. I can truly see it rubbing off on a number of your partners in the AI group."

5. The goal is to accomplish the mission. It is not to focus on "the principle." 99% of the world is unprincipled, yet they constantly argue for themselves, or hold a grudge against someone else, "because it's just the principle of it!" Get over it, forget it, and focus on the goal.

6. Repeat what they say. Aside from the fun we have at cocktail parties repeating back to people exactly what they say to us (Another Post), reiterating back just a little of exactly what your co-worker or investor spoke to you, verbatim, neurologically produces in their brain feelings of validation, trust and teamwork. Try it this week, and watch their reaction.

7. At the end of a meeting or conversation, reiterate and write down exactly what is expected, by whom, and when it is due. This extra 30-seconds saves contracts, relationships, and companies while the rest of the world leaves everything "floating." Lack of execution destroys all great intentions.

8. Don't speak in cliches, and don't say what everyone expects a normal manager to say. Start meetings exactly on time, and don't say to the latecomer, "Nice of you to grace us with your presence Ms. Murphy." When introducing the speaker at the charity ball, don't say, "And, without further adieu." Be original. Don't be predictable. Don't allow others to place you in the standard, mediocre box.

9. Leadership by example communicates more than one hundred years of speeches or memos could ever accomplish. To reiterate a quote from last week's post, "I can't hear what you're saying, because I'm too busy watching what you're doing."

10. Every communication must bring us back to our mission, our purpose, our goal. I, as the leader, must examine all of my statements to ensure they are congruent with our values and our game plan. Our communications must be laser-focused, consistent and constantly drive home why we are here. The superfluous commentary and distractions need to be deleted. Our company's culture "Cool-Aid" needs to be re-emphasized at every quarterly meeting and every annual retreat. All communications bring us back to the understanding of why, together, we started this journey in the first place.

     This week let's all promise to pause, breathe, and focus on exactly what we are communicating to the world. We may be surprised at how much success a little focused effort in this area will bring. Practice, Practice, Practice.

"Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning, and I find myself careening." - James Taylor

** For more information on Jeff's Blog, Books, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com
** To access JAM Views directly or to become a subscriber, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
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CEO PAY IS RIDICULOUS! 

We are foolish to pay CEO's so much of our money, almost as foolish as we are to hand over our tax dollars to incompetent bureaucrats. You probably never thought you would read a JAM Views post that claims someone makes too much money, but let me explain how this CEO pay is totalitarianism, not capitalism. 
Recently, Larry Culp was installed as the new CEO for General Electric (GE). JAM Views has previously covered the GE disaster of replacing Jack Welch's meritocracy with redistribution personnel policies, as well as the embarrassing removal of GE stock from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)("America is a Meritocracy" 7/29/2018). Larry's base pay is set at $2.5 million with bonuses of $3.75 million which he will also definitely receive. He also receives $15 million per year in stock, which we call "performance share units" so that we can manipulate the tax treatment of this income. Now, follow me on how the math works. GE stock has been crushed to $12 per share due to the above-noted failures plus 1,000 more. GE stock will rebound to $18, or even $30, if Larry just stabilizes the company, stops making more mistakes, and turns on the GE Public Relations Department to claim the worst is over. When the stock recovers to $18, just $6 higher, at any time over the next four years, Larry will receive $45 million extra. When the stock recovers to $30 at any time over the next four years, Larry gets $227 million. If by chance Larry fails at this task, we still have to pay him $12 million to leave, for failing! 
I keep saying "we" because GE is a public company. Larry is not the entrepreneur founder of GE. Larry doesn't even own 1% of the company's stock. Larry has no risk, no skin in the game. Larry didn't mortgage his house, pledge his kid's college fund as bank collateral, or sell the golden retriever to pay for the first company brochure printing. Larry did not design and patent the titanium turbine blades which revolutionized the industry. If he did any of these, he deserves to make "more money than God." But, Larry is a technocrat working as an employee, and he is paid with Other People's Money (OPM). 
So, how does this happen? Let me explain. Larry was represented by an executive headhunter who gets paid one-third of Larry's first year pay. I have been pitched by recruiters to accept executive jobs (not for $227 million unfortunately!), and I have also paid these recruiters for executives I have hired in our company. Headhunting is a small, specialized community similar to sports agents who obtain ridiculous $300 million Major League Baseball contracts. Just as the team owner has been brainwashed to believe he needs that player to win and he needs to appease his fan base, the corporate directors believe this is just the necessary price to get the "good" CEO. They believe that if they do not pay this extortion then an activist hedge fund will have them all replaced, and their own gravy train will end. 
But, it is actually more insidious than just the blind leading the blind with other people's money. Larry most assuredly comes from the schools of Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), KPMG and other consulting groups who advise and run companies once the founders with the brains and the guts have long since left because they couldn't deal with the inevitable bureaucracy. Larry was already on the Board of Directors for GE. He was already in the club. The Directors and the Executive Inner-Circle all have a tremendous number of stock options, or performance share units, and their self-interests drive them to make decisions for short-term share price movements. 
The Board of Directors and the Executives all grant each other stock options and then implement the financial engineering, mainly stock buyback programs, which move the shares past the option strike prices. The repurchases shrink the number of shares outstanding and therefore simply increase the earnings per share, which then triggers bonuses which were based on this metric. Between 2007 and 2016, the S&P 500 companies spent over $7 trillion, 96% of their total corporate income, on these programs instead of spending it on research & development, infrastructure, and cash acquisitions which create a healthier and more valuable company long-term (after these guys retire with their parachutes). 
Just as with government secret economic decisions, the problem here is that no one ever clearly explains to us how this terrible economic behavior occurs inside public corporations. Their misdirection causes us to focus on how much beer someone drank at a high school party 30-years ago, while they are writing each other $227 million checks. But, all of us can calculate how Larry's pay is, literally, 500-times the pay of the factory line worker who makes the GE titanium turbine blade which must meet incredible torque and fatigue standards or someone dies. Most importantly, the worker himself can calculate it, and this is why he votes for unions, higher taxes on people like Larry, and more government control which inevitably causes him to lose his own job. It's Larry's fault. It's GE's Board of Directors' fault for not leading by example, for not living by the ideals of free market capitalism, themselves. Larry and his gang are robbing the future of GE and making it impossible for others to teach and persuade the masses on the benefits of capitalism.  
Republicans recently saved the country with lower taxes and less regulation but then blew it by raising spending and increasing debt just like all the politicians who came before them. Therefore, educated people know that everything the establishment says, regardless of the party, is simply designed to promote their own self-interests and likely has no relevance to the truth. The GE Board stated, "Larry is a proven executive with a long track record of superior execution, and the Board's package to attract Larry is overwhelmingly tied to performance." 
Have you ever heard of the "dead cat bounce?" In investing, we refer to the inevitable stock rises after a company's share price has taken a dramatic beating as, "If we threw a dead cat off the top of a building, even the cat would bounce a little." Without question, Larry's GE stock price will at least have a dead cat bounce, and he will collect hundreds of millions of dollars from a public company in which he carries no risk. How can we teach people proper economics when this type of behavior is going on out there? The people will rightly reply, "I can't hear what you're saying, because I'm too busy watching what you're doing." 

"I will dress him in your royal robes, and I will give him your title and your authority...He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall...the time will come when I pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it." - Isaiah 22:21-25 

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* For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com. 
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BE WORTHY OF A WSJ OBIT #2 

Continuing our education as JAM Views members, I want to, once again, highlight the lives and characteristics of some interesting people who turned off the TV and put down the potato chips. As children, and as adults, we learn most from observing and experiencing others. If we study those who have lived great adventures, we can expand our own fishbowls, our own realm of possibilities, and the Wall Street Journal obituaries section is a worthy archive for studying what may be possible. Remember, JAM Views members want to lead lives of significance, whatever that term may mean for each of us individually. 
Dr. James Gips and a couple colleagues developed the technology to control a computer cursor by moving the eyes, but he didn't realize the potential impact until one mother begged him every day to test this technique on Michael, her paralyzed son. Michael quickly utilized the technology to communicate, create art and play games, even graduating from public high school in 2002. Dr. Gips spent the remaining years of his life refining this breakthrough which has enabled so many more people to escape locked-in lives. He began his next discovery last June at age 72. 
Robert Danzig from the age of two was shuttled from one foster home to the next. At age 17, he was hired as an office clerk by the Albany Times Union newspaper and soon proved a star advertising salesman, even working his way up the ladder to be appointed Publisher at age 37. Eight years later, he was promoted to head the entire newspaper division at Hearst Corp. in New York. He later became an author of books on leadership and self-confidence and a motivational speaker. He credits much of his success to a social worker who, when Robert was 10, looked him in the eyes and said, "You are worthwhile." He claimed those words were a revelation and wrote, "I held onto them like a lifeline." He received his last promotion in August at age 85. 
H.A. "Hap" Wagner was quarterback of his high school football team, captain of the Stanford University basketball team, and an Air Force officer before earning his Harvard MBA while married with three children. He joined Air Products & Chemicals in Allentown, Pa., and worked his way through research, sales and management, eventually being elevated to CEO. He expanded the company in Spain, China, and India before retiring in 1999, and was well-known for reciting, "If you are not the lead dog, the view never changes!" Mr. Wagner took on his next challenge last July at age 82. 
Stan Brock quit school in England at 16 and found work in British Guiana on the northern coast of South America. He worked on cattle ranches and created his own backyard menagerie which included jaguars, ocelots, and tapirs. His writings of this adventure were published in books and magazines, and earned him an offer to co-host "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" alongside Marlin Perkins. Yet, his awareness of the lack of medical care for people in remote places compelled him to found Remote Area Medical (RAM) which has cared for 740,000 people in a dozen countries over the last 33 years. He did hundreds of sit-ups and chin-ups daily, always wore his khaki bush outfits, and retained his British accent and dashing looks in old age. Having given up most belongings, he slept on a grass mat next to his desk at RAM's office, and began his next adventure in August at age 82. 
Gerry Lenfest worked as a farm hand in Iowa, an oil-field roughneck in North Dakota, and as a mate on an oil tanker while earning his economics and law degrees. He joined Triangle Publications and eventually took charge of Seventeen Magazine. When the company decided to sell a tiny cable business in Lebanon, Pa., he and his wife leveraged everything and bought the company for $2.3 million in 1974, running the business from their home. They grew it to 1.3 million customers before it was acquired by Comcast in 2000 for $5.6 billion. After becoming billionaires, they continued living in their three-bedroom home which they purchased in 1966 for $35,000. But, their mission has been to give away their vast fortune in their lifetimes rather than create a foundation whose trustees later may stray from their vision. Gerry continued to ride city buses and fly coach, because people there were more open to conversation. Wendy Kopp was riding the train to New York and was slightly perturbed by the chatty old man seated next to her, but she eventually opened up about the charity she founded to send teachers to work in low-income areas. Chatty Gerry moved onto nicer transportation in August at the age of 88, but not before donating $14 million to Wendy Kopp's Teach for America. 
These amazing stories show us that we all are capable of great adventures, if we only follow our dreams, lean into our fears, and choose "Yes." These people were not smarter or stronger than us, and they were not handed an exciting life on a silver platter. They took risks, they made choices, and they followed their passions. What are you going to do about yours today? 

"Success listens only to applause. To all else it is deaf." - Elias Canetti 

** For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com. 
** To access JAM Views directly or to subscribe, please visit jeffreyamartinovich@blogspot.com. 
** Thank you to the WSJ.

4th QUARTER UPDATE
(FORBES, GRISHAM, OVERFLOWING TAX COFFERS!)

     Here at JAM Views we like to check in on our previous theories and predictions once per quarter to give a voice to others and to provide for objective updates.  We have new data for 7 recent posts, so we will be succinct in order for you to still get that 18-holes in today before the beautiful fall weather leaves us.  Remember, "Winter is coming" (Upcoming Post).
     Recently we discussed the sad state of education in the United States, to include our colleges and universities (CORPORATE UNIVERSITIES, 9/30/18), and now we find that immigrants to the U.S. know more about our country than we do.  The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation put questions from the U.S. Citizenship Test to current American citizens, and two-thirds failed the multiple choice!  60% didn't know which countries the U.S. fought in World War II, and 37% thought Ben Franklin invented the light bulb.  81% of under-45 Americans failed the test, reflecting the declining state of public schools.  I'm having flashbacks of Jay Leno asking people on Hollywood Boulevard to name the current President of the United States.
     Reference California's new law mandating each company have a required number of women on their board of directors (MONEY GOES WHERE IT'S TREATED BEST, 9/23/18), Thomas Nast from Seattle states this is a violation of "the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of association...This is a clear equal-protection violation."  Dave Berndtson from Vienna, Virginia points out that "California has had 39 governors since 1849.  Not one of those 39 has been a woman.  Maybe Gov. Brown could also decree that change."  Certainly many lawsuits and, sadly, huge attorneys fees to follow.
     A quick look at the growth of the economy (GROWTH TRUMPS TAXES EVERY TIME, 6/3/18) notes that even the non-believers are starting to admit that the recent tax cuts have almost already paid for themselves.  Everything forward is icing on the cake, playing with house money, you get the idea.  The Congressional Budge Office's August 2018 Economic Forecast increased the GDP growth rate for the next decade from the report released in June 2017 before the cuts.  Even if the growth later goes back to the dismal 1.9% path, the compounding effect of the growth already achieved adds $6 trillion in additional GDP.  Stay with me.  The Government captures approximately 18% of extra output in tax revenue.  That's $1.1 trillion more taxes paid instead of the $400 billion expected loss when the uneducated campaigned against the cuts on your favorite talk shows.  This year alone, states and cities will receive a $20 billion windfall in revenue.  Maybe these new converts were reading JAM Views!
     In a follow up to the story of the U.S. Attorneys Office's conduct destroying the New York money management firm (DAVID GANEK AND LEVEL GLOBAL, 8/12/18), famous novelist John Grisham, also a defense lawyer, surprisingly released an opinion piece to inform the country that "some prosecutors cheat and even break the law.  It has been proved, repeatedly, that prosecutors across the U.S. have (1) concealed evidence that would benefit the accused; (2) fabricated evidence that would convict the accused; (3) made false statements to judges, juries and defense attorneys; (4) offered perjured testimony; (5) cut sleazy deals with jailhouse informants who will testify to anything in return for leniency; (6) employed junk-science 'experts' who mislead jurors; and (7) intimidated witnesses."  Hopefully, eventually, Mr. Ganek receives redress and relief.
      I think Steve Forbes, Editor-In-Chief of "Forbes" magazine has also been reading JAM Views.  In "THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY", 4/1/18, I stated, "There is no money sitting in a Social Security bank account holding all of the contributions you gave them out of your paycheck for all those years.  The extra 'savings' was raided by politicians years ago.  There is no money."  I took a lot of grief from some of our readers, even being called a "conspiracy theorist!"  But, recently Steve Forbes advised the country, "Anyway, Social Security's reserves, ostensibly almost $3 trillion, are illusory.  There's not a penny in there, just a bunch of nonmarketable IOUs from the Treasury Department.  In other words, all of those trillions were spent as soon as they were collected."  Maybe everyone will believe Steve.
     With our post utilizing the Boeing-Airbus competition to describe all the varied derivatives of tariffs and government subsidies (HEAVY METAL, 3/24/18), we attempted to explain how Airbus is simply a "government corporation."  Just as China, France and Germany use these unfair government corporations to attempt to compete with the United States, while Macron and Merkel speak of free trade out the other side of their mouths.  Recently, Airbus replaced their CEO.  The Wall Street Journal reported, "The French and German governments remain the largest shareholders at the company.  The nationality of the chief executive has rotated between French and German after the company abandoned a co-CEO structure representing both nationalities."  Sounds like communism to me.
     In "AMERICA IS A MERITOCRACY", 7/29/18, we explained Harvard's anti-American policy which discriminates against Asian-American overachievers.  Recently, the Justice Department and Education Department opened a similar investigation at Yale University, on top of the Harvard investigation, with it all started by the Asian-American Coalition for Education.  Libertarians and Jack Welch meritocrats are really enjoying this one.
     Staying with Jack Welch meritocracies, Nike announced they are overhauling their compensation structure.  Instead of individual bonuses based on performance, the company said the changes will "support a culture in which employees feel included and empowered" and "will measure success based primarily on companywide performance."  This will bring "pay equity and reshape the company's culture."  Well, it's been an amazing ride for the Shoe Dog.  The Portland Greens finally got to the one remaining capitalist in town.  Time to short Nike stock?
     It appears that we had some successful conversions last quarter, but there obviously is so much yet to be accomplished.  I greatly appreciate everyone's comments, participation, and support.  Now get out there, and keep it in the short grass!

"People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but will always remember how you made them feel."
         - Maya Angelou

** For more information on Jeff's Blog, Books, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com.
** To access JAM Views directly or to subscribe, please visit jeffreyamartinovich@blogspot.com.
** Always thank you to the WSJ, Forbes, & Fortune for statistics and specific quotes.

LICENSING IS A SCHEME TO STOP COMPETITION

     Licensing is another scheme in the United States largely utilized by government and Big Corporate special interests to retain power and destroy competition. JAM Views members believe that free-market competition is at the heart of capitalism and success for our nation. We believe that steel sharpens steel, top teams welcome top challengers, and great minds tested achieve higher wisdom. Contrarily, licensing is a tool used to protect those in power and protect those at the top of the pyramid, which unfortunately makes everyone softer, less innovative, less cost efficient, and less educated. 
     Yet, the elites always present licensing as a form of consumer protection, skill development, and as a system to ensure individuals are "qualified." A Founding Father, or a rugged individualist, would find it absurd that we must have a government agency or a city council member tell us which hair braider, local florist, eyebrow threader, or even financial advisor we may patronize. A step further, why do we allow these special interests to shut down their competition in payday lenders, for-profit colleges, and even generic drug distributors? 
     In our current society, city council members, government agency personnel, and union officials are some of our least-educated and least-experienced members, but we are brainwashed to believe that we need them to make our decisions, filter our choices, and protect us from ourselves. How ridiculous is that?
     To compound this artifice, we allow them to demand onerous fees for applications, permits, licensing, and continuing education, all which enter the coffers of the most-ineffective allocators of capital in our society. Why do we go along with this? Is it Freudian fear of authority indoctrinated in us as children, or is it Skinner behavioralism learned throughout our lives, which causes us to blindly let these people control our companies, our economies, our lives? Do we not have confidence in ourselves to select an appropriate eyebrow threader? 
     The Louisiana Agriculture Department requires large fees and 202 days of education and experience to obtain an occupational license in order to operate a florist. Governor Edwards, attempting to eliminate these barriers to competition, found that state records show no history of anyone ever being harmed by a poorly arranged bouquet, yet the state senate shot down his efforts claiming, "There's a certain amount of regulation to make sure the public gets what they pay for." 
     On a more-intelligent note, the Institute for Justice, a libertarian nonprofit, brought a lawsuit against Louisiana's Board of Cosmetology to eliminate the requirement for eyebrow threaders to take 750 hours of courses and three exams, as well as pay up to $13,000 in fees. Having no defense and not wanting to spend the money to defend the suit, the Board reduced the requirements to one test and a $50 permit. 
The New Jersey Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling requires hair braiders to complete 1,200 hours of training at a cost up to $17,000, and enforces hefty fines on those who attempt to braid their neighbors hair without the state's authorization (1984?). Governor Murphy recently defended these requirements by admitting that "burdensome licensing requirements" disproportionately hurt "African-American women, immigrants from African and Caribbean countries, and others," but he concluded that reducing these rules would jeopardize consumer safety. Remember, those who claim to be working in the interests of the poor and the minorities are usually the ones manipulating and hurting this very demographic = JAM Views Truism. 
     Detroit recently lost the opportunity to host this year's NCAA Basketball Final Four, as well as recent NFL Drafts and the NBA All-Star Game, all due to a lack of large hotels. Last month the City Council voted 6-2 to deny a hotel permit to Crowne Plaza for a new 28-story tower expansion, a $164 million investment with zero cost to the city. But, for years these hotel owners have resisted the UniteHere! Labor Union from organizing their employees. Even though the last employee vote was 80-15 against organizing, labor rep Janee Ayers said she could not support building a second hotel tower "until we get things done right in the first tower, 100% correct." Councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez claimed that she was disappointed that the hotel hadn't done more to compromise with the union, and she must vote against the expansion. Who are the top campaign contributors to city council campaigns? Labor and education unions. Detroit just missed out on 1,785 temporary construction jobs and 250 permanent jobs, not to mention tremendous revenue from the NFL, NBA, and NCAA. 
     Every week JAM Views attempts to help us at least think twice before accepting the news, the economic reports, and the politicians' explanations at face value. If we can train ourselves to understand that humans always operate in their own self interests (thank you Adam Smith), and that we only find the truth when we follow the money, we will continue to improve our business decision making capabilities and live a more-congruent life in the truth. Moving forward, let's take back responsibility for our own decisions and discretion, and let's allow entrepreneurs access to free markets in order to better their station in life, which in turn will raise up so many others. 

"I must uneasy make, lest too light winning make the prize light." - Shakespeare, The Tempest 

** For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com. 
** To access JAM Views directly, please visit jeffreyamartinovich@blogspot.com. 
** As always, thank you to WSJ, Forbes, Fortune for statistics and quotations.

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