American Failure

NATO is still with Us, and expresses all the incompetence of the League of Nations, which failed in the 1930s. It started out as a Defense Protocol, thought to metamorphose into a ideological platform to espouse an agenda of its own manufacture, and feels justified in attempts to reorder the internal structure of its members; contrary to traditional practice of the societies involved, and often at cross-purposes to the legal entities of responsibility in the area. NATO seems to ignore the EU and its edicts, and entices Entrants with Aid promises, basically to eliminate member countries’ needs for a military budget of their own; basically by the promise of American assistance, which the United States can no longer afford. The area of Operational Control has been shifting Eastward, every since Roosevelt and Churchill signed the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization Accord in the northern Atlantic in WWII. No one explains why the United States should be in a regional alliance when it is not a geographical entity within the region, why the United States should supply a great Share of the Expense of the funding for the Organization, or why the EU is not the controlling force within NATO. I have espoused American withdrawal from NATO since the 1980s, and know that I could get a majority of Americans to support such a Withdrawal at a Savings of perhaps $80 billion per year; why do We allow American Military and Leadership cadres retain this membership, when it costs great amounts easily spent elsewhere, and has the effectiveness of the prior mentioned League of Nations.

A great part of the American modern tradition and Problem resides in the political refusal to rid itself of old ineptitude, before plunging into a matrix of new horrors. Floyd Norris spells out the new implications of the Bear Stearns Bailout. Commercial Banking divested itself of Deposit protection guarantees established by the Federal Government, in order to avoid the Regulations imposed to sustain the viability of those Deposits; doing this by venue of financial instruments which were unregulated and capable of raising Cash without restrictions. They pulled in the Cash, made the bad loans, and demand protection from the Government now that the entire structure is failing. The fact is Government will not enforce adequate Regulation, when it is imposed against the desires of Those regulated; yet, protection from failed performance is still demanded. The horror of all this destruction is that Federal Reserve Regulators placidly watched this debacle develop for thirty years without Comment or Reproof, knowing that sooner or later the other Shoe would drop!

A great part of the current American tragedy comes from the self-serving attitude portrayed rather effectively by this article. It basically complains of the lack of Corporate leadership talent, then proscribes exactly the wrong curatives for the ailment. A half-dozen Trainees can be supervised for about the same Cost as can One, and Trainees serve as excellent Staff for the busy Executive; the Trainees finding a great education on the needs of effective management by the hands-on experience. In-house promotion is much cheaper than Market-Search for effective talent, who has to be retrained in Corporate procedures anyway; remember, in-house promotion allows for prior-Wage connectivity. The value-concept of New Blood for innovation remains too expensive, especially as the New Blood does not understand the Contact procedures of the organization he is about to join; new ideas must attain a Consensus acceptance, and this requires knowledge of Who to reach and how to reach them. Americans have a tendency to excuse failure gently, when it should not be accepted at all. lgl