Over Scheduled, Some Quick Wisdom and A Story

I have spent the last several months trying to survive my own mire. It was one of those situations that I just kept saying yes to projects and people. I have most of the brightly burning fires put out and actually have just a couple of major on-going projects.

 I need to write the final part (part 3) on the Colonial System and Its Impact and I have some new, what I think are exciting, ideas to discuss. I believe they will be helpful and interesting.

 For today’s economic thought I want to quote from Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, which he gave in a speech in 1999. “About every ten years, we have the biggest crisis in 50 years.” That statement needs to be plastered on every wall around your desk. Just a gentle reminder that every crisis is not new or earth shattering in spite of what the financial news or talking heads may insist.

 To get into the proper spirit of things I want to tell a story which happened to me at one of the activities I was involved in this past month. Wood Badge. For those unfamiliar with it, this is adult leadership training for the Boy Scouts of America. Very good training not only for scouting but also for corporate, non-profit or other organization assignments. Among other things it teaches principles of working with small and medium sized groups. All around good stuff.

 My story relates to something that happened during the second half of the course. For this story I will tell you that there are actually a couple of true facts, one  of which is that I damaged my little toe. It was black and blue and I think I probably broke it, the toe, and definitely broke a blood vessel in my foot. I had a bruise that spread across all my toes and a little bit up the inside of my foot. It hurt like all get out and is still a bit sore and swollen some 2½ weeks later. My wife asks me every so often if I am going to get it looked at by competent professionals (i.e. a doctor) or not. I am still deciding.

 So, I heard a commotion outside my tent one evening a couple of weeks ago. I was attending Wood Badge with several others and was in my tent in the staff area of camp. Now I know you will tell me that what I did was really dumb but I stepped out of my tent in my bare feet. I know, I know, really dumb but there you have it. Well, I stepped out and looked left across a small creek into a stand of quaking aspen, beautiful trees, just in full leaf. Our camp was up pretty high in the Uintah Mountains just south of the Utah border on the Wyoming side. We had received 5 inches of snow earlier in the week. Anyway, as I looked into the trees I was a bit surprised but not alarmed to see my friend KC coming toward our camp pretty fast and being tailed by a bear. Now you may find it a bit hard to swallow that KC was being chased by a bear but the bear wasn’t some ol’ grizzly, only a black bear, I would guess about 2 or 3 years old and if worse came to worse I figured the bear wasn't that much heavier than KC and KC knows how to fight dirty. I wasn’t too concerned for KC at first but became more concerned as I watched. The problem, the bear seemed to be gaining on KC. Now it wasn’t gaining real fast but appeared to definitely be gaining and KC was looking a bit worn. As KC was headed my direction I figured I should try to help a bit. So as KC and the bear came by I decided to reach out with my foot... Ah now, I see that you caught the implication of my act immediately. Bare foot, bear. Anyway, I reached out without fully thinking things through and with my foot roundhouse kicked the bear in the backside. Wouldn’t you know it, my little toe got caught in the bear's hide and it separated itself from its fellow toes like one of Spock’s Vulcan greetings. It really hurt and I went limping off as fast as I could in the opposite direction from KC. The bear was so startled that it stopped dead in its tracks and turned toward me. This gave KC enough time to get around a large tree and I hobbled to another one. The bear was so disgusted with the two of us he huffed and shambled off in another direction. I am afraid you won’t be able to collaborate this story with KC, however. If you ask KC about it he will tell you that the story isn’t true. He will tell you that the bear was not gaining on him but that he was running so as to keep the bear just behind him. Yes, he admits he was looking worn but it was a ruse to fool the bear into thinking he, KC, was getting tired. He says he was wearing it down and would have had it, the bear, all tired out in another 20 or 30 minutes and so didn’t need my help. In fact he accused me of cruelty to animals and thought about reporting me to the proper authorities. He decided in the end not to report me because he said he thought it would be hard to convince the bear to be a material witness. Well, that’s the story and I am sticking by it.

 Anyway, don’t believe everything you hear, either from me and not from the Federal Reserve or from economists. The sky may be falling or not but the news isn’t likely to know one way or the other regardless of what they say. Plus, always remember, bankers (investment or commercial) are always friendly but seldom are they your friends (in a professional capacity).

 

And that’s the rest of the story.