The Old Druid's Spot: The Failure of the American Business Economy: Hubris

Hubris is a word you may not know the definition of and I will eventually define it, so be patient.

Why is the American business world failing? Is it the huge CEO salaries and bonuses that have created a top heavy economic model where the top 1% hoard more money than anyone can spend in several lifetimes, taking that money out of circulation and starving the economy below them? The answer is probably very likely, but have you wondered how it got that way? How did we become a 3rd rate or less manufacturing based economy from the top of the food chain in just a generation or two? Could the answer to both those and more questions be the same: Hubris?

George came in and had been watching the day after summation dinner with the Republicans as the top dogs discussed why Romney/Ryan didn't win. They were brandishing such reasons around as: (1) improper branding, (2) publicity didn't properly insulate him from the accusations (3) yada-yada-yada-braf.... At no point in time did anyone simply say, we nominated two lying, idiots for the office of president running on the same old policies that got the country in this mess and few people were fooled. However, the American people have already pointed that out.

So, one might ask why no one at the top seems to see that.

It seems the man (and it always is a man) at the top cannot make a mistake. If his grand new product fails, it wasn't properly branded and introduced. No one ever says it was a bad idea and no one wanted one of them. If his economic policy fails, accounting must have made a mistake. If his employment guidelines fail, the American workers are lazy dolts. If his products fail in every sense, the workers aren't putting them together right. Heads will roll and they are always the rank and file. Bonuses will be given at the top no matter how many failures. The saying too big to fail should be too high up to fail because apparently CEO's are actually gods and cannot fail.

Why on earth do we, the lazy dolts, accept this travesty of logic?

It comes from a simple psychological concept introduced some 50 years ago. You know it now under the headings of "no child left behind" and other names. Put simply, children were rewarded whether they actually succeeded or not. Everyone was getting a star. Everyone was passing the grade. It seems to have slipped everyone's mind that some children were not ready to pass because at almost a 100% rate those children not ready to pass were immature males who had been made that way by over indulgent rich mothers with nothing else to do.

When you work, you clean, you cook, you wash and you have no help and more than one kid, the concept of spoiling and protecting one goes right out the old window. You don't have enough time. However, when the little darling is your meal ticket by carrying on the family name and legacy, you are going to wrap him in plastic bubble wrap and destroy any teacher that says he just isn't smart or mature enough to pass the grade.

Our problem is, they never got smart enough or mature enough to pass the grade and they are running things now. The fact that Romney didn't win can't possibly be Romney's fault. I keep flashing to the image of John Bohner with tears running his face because he didn't get his way...he is the Speaker of the House, not a 2 year old! Grow Up! You blow it, you take the fall, just like the rest of us. The fault REALLY is YOURS!

This insanity flows through all of American Business and Politics. THEY CAN NOT FAIL! Therefore, when we are out of work, being foreclosed on and don't have enough food to eat, they can't even conceive of the problem because THEY CAN NOT FAIL! This simply cannot happen. They have a permanent safety net. We must have one, too. Unfortunately, we can't find it.

When I was in psychiatry, I quickly noticed a disturbing trend. It was called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it was skyrocketing. This disorder is not just a disease of the military. It affects huge numbers of "survivors" of traumatic events. When I grew up, there was the Korean War and WW II. Some men returned with this problem, but most did not. Now I was seeing most returning with it and it was spreading into the general population like a wild fire. So, I looked at the family histories of this disorder and it wasn't hard because the families were usually sitting in my office crying. It was then I saw the pattern. The closer knit, more supportive the family, the worse the condition and the more the sufferer was pushing them away. Those of us who grew up in the take care of yourself universe and don't expect us to bail you out world didn't get PTSD.

When the support mechanism the person had been conditioned to expect, Mommy and Daddy bailing them out and taking their side, failed in an accident or war, the person was first lost and traumatized, then angry that these people didn't show up and fix it and then angry at the entire world for letting them down. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Now, everyone is supposed to do it for you as you reap the rewards if you come from the top 53%.

The model of free loading welfare recipient (though false) is easily inserted into the psyche of the average American to replace the model of a hard working poor person who needs help with their struggle because EVERYONE HAS A SAFETY NET. No one can fail or be left behind. These people are just to lazy to use it.

After all, you attract and create your own reality. Yes dear metaphysical friends, you, too, have been duped by a well organized, psychological con game whose purpose is simply to bilk you out of the last penny and vestige of freedom you have.

News Flash: THE CEO'S FAILED. THE POLITICIANS FAILED. EVERYONE FAILS SOONER OR LATER.....It's how you learn and grow. Unfortunately the first two groups get paid billions of bucks to fail. Trust me....you won't be getting a check when you fail.