During 1967, Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a French journalist, published an influential book, Le Defi Americain (The American Challenge). In it he argued that France and Europe were losing a “silent economic war” with the United States. The book sold more than half a million copies in France alone, and provoked both serious policy changes and a [...]
Continue reading …“Do you cut yourself with knives, razor blades, broken glass, needles, nails, paper clips, pins, scissors, tacks, anything you can get your hands on? Do you bang your head against walls? Punch walls till your hand goes all bruised and bloody? Do you throw yourself through panes of glass? Expose your body to extreme weather [...]
Continue reading …Is Colorado Springs drowning in red ink because of overcompensated city employees and the city’s failure to privatize governmental functions when appropriate? Can Rock Ledge Ranch, the Pioneers Museum, the city community centers and even city parks be sustained by some combination of volunteer labor and private funding? Colorado Springs is not the only city [...]
Continue reading …Couldn’t sleep last night and found myself surfing the Web at 2 a.m. Checked the New York Times site, which, strangely enough, was dated Jan. 29, 2020. There was a story about our own city that seemed … well, even stranger. Good thing I copied the text — my computer blackscreened, and I could never [...]
Continue reading …Here we are, 15 months from the 2011 City Council elections, and the maneuvering has already begun. According to the usual unreliable sources, some of our self-appointed leaders are trying to construct a slate of “appropriate” candidates who, fueled with money and credentials, will sweep into office and replace our present demoralized, delegitimized, and disrespected [...]
Continue reading …Flown anywhere lately? If so, has your experience been anything like that of Ryan Bingham, George Clooney’s character in “Up in the Air,” who’s on the road 300 days of the year? Bingham moves effortlessly through “air world,” as he calls it, scarcely inconvenienced by lines at security check-ins, cancelled flights, endless delays and [...]
Continue reading …Got an email on Monday from a reader who shall remain anonymous. Here’s the text: “John, Perhaps with your exposure to matters of a civic nature you can explain the relationship between: DreamCity 2020 — Project 6035 — Leadership Pikes Peak — Center for Creative Leadership. I have about 4 terabytes of space dedicated to [...]
Continue reading …I’m tired of gloom and doom-so here are my foolishly optimistic predictions for the year to come. A quiet boom will re-ignite our local economy, driven by government spending and renewed consumer /business confidence. New businesses will form and thrive, and existing enterprises will grow, modestly prosper, and even hire new employees. And here are [...]
Continue reading …Looking back at 2009…well, I’d rather not. It has been a dreary and dismaying year for many in the business community. The continuing impact of the “Great Recession” has made this a time of survival, not growth; of keeping existing customers, not finding new ones; of paying slowly, and being paid even more slowly; of [...]
Continue reading …I spent a few minutes chatting with one of our state representatives early this week, and politely inquired what we might expect to come out of this year’s legislative session, which will begin Jan. 4. “You can expect nothing,” he said. “We have no money.” That might be an understatement. The recession might be officially [...]
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