BE WORTHY OF A WSJ OBIT 

     From before I can remember, my nightly prayers have included one final pitch to "please let me live a life of significance." I have seemed to always have a fear of finally meeting St. Peter for him to only say, "That's it? You went to all that trouble to get back down there for that?" 
     I, of course, have never known what a life of significance might hold, but possibly an email from my Air Force Academy buddy Paul after I had settled into Federal Prison provided some insight. Paul wrote, "Well, you always did seem to live life with a higher standard deviation than the rest of us." Now, I believe wisdom and maturity would urge me to continue to strive for upward deviation, but do a much better job controlling the falls from grace! 
     Perhaps this mission has always made me curious to read the obituaries posted in the Wall Street Journal. I have read these well-written narratives regularly in search of understanding and context for this tremendous challenge we call the human experience. The recent suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, along with 863 other fine Americans last week, have brought this issue to the forefront, while almost as a paradox, Fox News's Charles Krauthammer also announced "my fight is over" after his cancer returned on top of his courageous and inspiring lifelong battle paralyzed from a diving accident. Life is incredibly unfair. 
     But, there are clues and wisdom wrapped inside these WSJ obituaries. Rarely are these overachievers born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Robert Campeau, a real estate and retail tycoon, quit school at 14, worked in factories and drove trucks until he began building modest homes one at a time. Dan Ohlmeyer, who produced Monday Night Football and oversaw NBC's "Seinfeld" and "Friends" success, used baseball to get into Notre Dame and made his money as a pool hustler, fortunately one late night reaching deep into the pocket of a visiting ABC Sports executive. Michael Novak, the well-known writer of "The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania: the working class town of steel mills, coal mines, and immigrant Slovak families where my father also grew up. Edward Rowny fought the Nazis in Italy before becoming a Lieutenant General and later a consultant for President Nixon, Ford, and Carter working to control the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal expansion. David Tang arrived in Britain at age 13, not able to speak a word of English, before building Shanghai Tang global brand, making Cuban cigars cool in China, and being part of the British Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. (Author's note: I have only included gentleman in this post since I regularly send the narratives of the amazing ladies to my beautiful bride-to-be, Ashleigh) 
These interesting people have all of the human failings as the rest of us, if not more (standard deviation?). A critic of Spencer Johnson's books once wrote that his writings were a work of "stupefying banality," yet his "One Minute Manager" and "Who Moved My Cheese" later would sell 28 million copies in 44 languages. Don Ohlmeyer was brutal at times on his executives, smoked heavily in the office, and underwent treatment for alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center. Mr. Campeau battled his partners, periodically fell into spells of despair, and had numerous public battles with estranged ex-wives and bill collectors. 
     These A-Players have taken many great falls, but they always kept swinging, maybe getting up off the canvas just one more time than the next guy, or having that rare courage to make a radical change in their life. Vanu Bose chose not to join in his father's stereo-equipment business, instead earning engineering and computer science bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at MIT before working to bring cellular service to underserved areas. He recently donated base stations to restore connections in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, saying, "That makes it all worthwhile, right there." He died at age 52 of a pulmonary embolism the day he was to play a violin recital with his daughter. Spencer Johnson gave up his career as a doctor to write children's books before meeting Ken Blanchard at a party and deciding to self-publish their first business advisory book. Michael Novak challenged his strong Roman Catholic upbringing and socialist ideology to embrace capitalism to help people, to urge religious leaders to focus on how wealth is created before redistributing it, and to push business leaders to think of their careers as a calling for the billions around the world still locked in poverty. Robert Campeau started in the factory, later bought Brooks Brothers and Ann Taylor for $3.7 billion and Federated Department Stores for $6.6 billion. At the end, he was living modestly in a rented townhouse, but with an enthralling story for St. Peter, I am sure. 
     With daily stories like these, how can we whine that our boss is a jerk, our spouse doesn't understand us, our back hurts, and "they" and "them" are unfairly sticking it to us? Turn off the TV, study interesting people, take a moment to truly think, and assess your station. Let's all set the alarm a little earlier tomorrow. So many opportunities. Such an amazing gift... 

"Be worthy of your suffering." - Viktor Frankl 

*For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com

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GROWTH TRUMPS TAXES EVERY TIME 

One of the most frustrating economic fallacies is the recurring belief that raising taxes raises government revenue. Throughout history this belief has been proven false 100% of the time, yet a substantial number of politicians and everyday citizens still continue to promote these terrible ideas. 
Taxes and regulations deal with basic math (1+1 = 2), but people always have a difficult time understanding growth's escalating equations (1+1 = 3, 4, or 5). For instance, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) easily calculates the federal revenue to be generated from a simple tax hike, but they are always billions, if not trillions, of dollars off calculating the actual results because they have no accurate models which project the effects on business, both positive and negative. Remember that the CBO is staffed with government economists and accountants who have never run a real company and who have never made a Friday payroll. As you notice a theme in JAM Views, we must realize that the great majority of the people whom we blindly follow, because of their authoritarian position, likely have no idea what they are doing. They are, just like the rest of us, trying to figure it out one day at a time. 
Here's one recent example. The previous Administration's tax increases were projected by the CBO to increase federal revenue by $650 billion over the following ten years. Yet, because the increased taxes and regulations slammed the brakes on the economy, by the end of this Administration's term it was estimated that federal tax revenue would actually be CUT by $3 Trillion over the same ten years. That is a 5X error in the opposite direction! Now a trillion here and a trillion there, and soon we will talking about some real money! 
America is about multipliers. If you prefer taxes and regulations, you should try opening a new business in France, and then enjoy even more trying to get the government to let you fire the employee who decided to never show up for work! We must understand growth and multipliers. One tax dollar redistributed into an entitlement program equals one dollar. But, one tax dollar spent on defense, on private companies rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, or on manufacturing jobs turns into three or four dollars in our economy. And when we say manufacturing, most of us picture Rudy coming back to the steel mill in his blue hard hat to hand his Dad the letter of acceptance to Notre Dame, but we need to also picture Intel engineers in their white clean room suits, biomedical scientists, and 3-D printing manufacturers. 
Let's review a few numbers. An extra 1% growth in our country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is our "company's total revenue," adds ANOTHER 1.2 million jobs. Higher taxes cut jobs 100% of the time. Increased taxes can only produce a fraction of the Government revenue that 1% more growth creates.  
Here's another example. In the the seven years prior to President Reagan entering office, GDP grew an average of +2.5% per year. President Reagan then cut taxes and regulations, and the GDP growth (your company's growth rate) nearly doubled over the rest of his presidency, with Government tax revenues growing double-digits in 4 of the last 6 years he was in office - huge numbers for Government receipts. 
Unfortunately, for nearly two decades now we have been brainwashed to believe that growth is over and the "new normal" is under 2% growth. From 1947 to 2001 our GDP growth averaged +3.5% per year, but from 2002 to 2016 we averaged only +1.9% (a 45% drop). The C-Players have rolled out numerous excuses, to include aging baby boomers and lower labor force participation rates. But, these are only smoke screens meant to confuse and mis-direct us. These excuses are analogous to the mediocre CEO telling shareholders that it's okay that sales were down this year due to bad weather, fickled consumers, or supply chain hiccups. But the A-Player owners, you educated citizens, know that slow growth has a simple cause and effect relationship with raised taxes, regulations, huge debt service, and the refusal to reign in entitlements. 
Econ 101 demands, "If you're not growing, you are dying." Or, as Red states in the movie "Shawshank Redemption," "Get busy living, or get busy dying!" Raising taxes and creating more government bureaucracy in hopes of achieving a beautiful worldview always, always creates the opposite result. We must think growth. Teach your friends and neighbors about multipliers. Then very soon when someone recalls that ridiculous phrase "new normal" we will all laugh, toast, and ask, "What were we thinking?!" 

"Work only on things that will make a great deal of difference if you succeed." - Peter Drucker 

**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.

* SUBSCRIBE TO JAM VIEWS