We went to James Bond movie the other night. It was packed and people actually cheered for the trailers. When Sly Stallone showed up in Rocky 6, up to his old Philly tricks, it was met with disbelief, derision and nostalgia. From behind us I heard:
“Rocky was my parents first date — that was 30 years ago!”
So the American people have thrown the bums out. This administration embodies incompetence– what are the lessons to be gleaned from their mistakes?
1. Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true.
2. Credibility, once lost, is not easily restored.
3. There’s a fine line between optimism and deceit.
4. Actions speak louder than words.
5. You can’t say one thing and do another for long. People catch on.
6. Arrogance is tolerable only if you’re competent.
7. People see through word games. And hate you for trying to deceive them. (definition of torture)
8. Listen to your customers, not yesmen.
9. Facts and performance are everything.
10. Getting elected is the easy part. Delivering the big picture is hard.
11. The world is becoming more transparent. Cheating doesn’t work in the long run.
12. People see your true motives.
13. Strategic Thinking- planning and avoiding problems is the hard part. It isn’t as visible.
14. Feed people deception and they will seek truth.
15. You are not as smart as you think. Learn from history and others.
16. Being a nice guy helps. Being competent matters more.
17. Fear is not a sustainable motivation. Hope and vision are.
Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000
Economic mobility - moving from one income group to another over a lifetime - has actually stopped rising in the United States, researchers say. Some recent studies suggest it has even declined over the last generation.
An Internal Revenue Service study found that the only taxpayers whose share of taxes declined in 2001 and 2002 were those in the top 0.1 percent.
