James Pyle – Author

I’ll bet you think we live in a representative democracy where our elected leaders go to Washington filled with native intellect and the milk of human kindness to enact legislation for the benefit of all citizens.

Well,  friends, I’ve got some unsettling news to share.

First, the average intellect of a member of the House of Representatives is slightly below that of a great white shark.  Most could not string ten words together to form a sentence, let alone construct a complete bill to send to the floor for a vote:  which, by the way, is their only job.  But, you say, they have a staff to do those dirty tasks; while they, the anointed ones, plot their re-election.  Not so fast!

How big are their staffs?  Not surprisingly, it’s hard to tell. Like Washington itself, there is a lot of murky water hiding the snakes.  Each Representative is legally permitted 18 staffers, Senators have state imposed limits based on the size of the state.  Most recent estimates show there are approximately 8,200 house staffers for 435 members (~19 per member) while the senate employs 5,400 (~ 54/ senator). Purposely confusing  – but so what?

The point is: In the House, where bills (Laws) are supposed to originate, there is limited staff to do the mundane stuff of writing laws in an environment where administrative, travel arrangements, speaking engagements, office management and other tasks take up so much time.  What is one to do? You might ask.

Enter the lobbyists!

While there is a dearth of knowledge workers on the hill, K Street is bubbling over with bright young lawyers, old retired lawmakers and outright bandits willing to take on the menial task of drafting laws that govern your life and mine (and, lest we forget – our kids and grandkids’).  Yes. dear friend, according to a recent Reuters report, there are currently an estimated 12, 588 registered lobbyists busily engaged in drafting laws designed to enrich their clients (and their clients’ companies) at your expense.

And who might these clients be?  Take a peek at the top five spenders on lobbying activities.

1. Pharmaceuticals and Health – ($2.08 Billion)
2. Insurance – ($1.49 Billion)
3. Electric Utilities – ($1.41 Billion)
4. Business Associations : i.e., Chamber of Commerce, NRA, AARP – ($1.17 Billion)
5. Computer/Internet companies (1.14 Billion)

The skillful writing outputs of these guys result in the bills submitted for approval to our democratic government. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But he lives on K Street, not at the North Pole.  Problem is: we’re all naughty – so he keeps the goodies for himself.

Think about this as you listen to the incessant pontificating over replacing Obamacare with something better and bigger.   We are headed for single-payer health care and the insurance companies and drug companies are not going to be the payers. We just won’t feel the pain because they’ll call it by some other name created by the K Street charlatans. Health insurance, by the strictest definition, does not exist!

Remember this warning next year when you trudge back to your local voting booth tempted to pull the lever for the self-same asshole that gave us this mess in the first place.

You are welcome.

For more: go to   http://www.jameshpyle.com

The Gallup polling organization just released a report showing public approval of Congress has fallen to 24%, those disapproving was 67%; no opinion 9%. (`No opinions’ obviously didn’t answer the phone.)

Consider one possible reason for the malaise:

The adolescent pique shown by Democratic members of both houses over the nomination of Judge Gorsuch has  certainly played a role in unmasking the true, childlike behavior of those to whom we entrust our children’s future: and their petulance is a colossal disgrace.  In particular, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have revealed themselves to be the pond scum on the swamp Trump has vowed to drain.

However you might feel about Trump’s positions (I have reservations of my own), you have to admit he has nominated a near-perfect judge for the Supreme Court. Even the rancorous Democrats concede that Gorsuch is highly qualified.  Their veiled objections are baseless and the decision to withhold their vote is based on naked revenge, an action that flies in the face of the objectivity they have sworn to maintain when deliberating on the country’s future course.

They are a disgrace to the nation and an embarrassment to the ill-informed voters who blindly voted them into office.

My own CT senator, Richard Blumenthal, who received five draft deferments and then lied about having served in Vietnam, is one of Gorsuch’s most vocal opponents. Prevaricating senators who live in glass houses should recuse themselves on matters of grave importance.

You are welcome.

P.S.: Blumenthal is up for re-election this year.  We can only hope he’s ousted; but then again, this is CT.

For more go to: http://www.jameshpyle.com

I admit it.   I’m conflicted.

I don’t know which I despise more:  pharmaceutical companies or the insipid, advertising wonks whose bogus creativity in the cause of peddling pills is designed to mislead.

No one can avoid their ads. Every TV program, newspapers, magazines – even the sides of buses are stuffed with them. Now we name sports stadiums after them.  Children are growing up thinking pills are an essential part of life.

Side effects, anyone ???  Give me a break!   Four hour boners are nothing compared to `excessive bleeding’, ` stroke’ or `vision loss’.  All of which are casually mentioned as side effects – minor issues which we are encouraged to ignore. These guys and their mantra, `profit at any cost’, are killing us.

Whatever happened to truth in advertising?  Yes, there are laws governing information that gets spewed over our airwaves. Ads are supposed to be monitored by the Federal Trade Commission, another useless government entity with a budget of $342 million and 1,250 employees. What a joke.

The role of doctors in America has diminished to the point where young students no longer want to study medicine. ”The doctrine of ‘do no harm’ has been whitewashed by ‘profit with no remorse’. As a result, doctors are leaving the profession in droves, turning over their practices to pill salesmen who have become ubiquitous in every medical waiting room in America.  And we, the public, are swallowing their bait like mullet wanting to be tuna. Jewish mothers now gush about “My son the pharmaceutical salesman.”

In politics, they say we get the government we deserve.  In medicine, we should strive to do better. A politician is unlikely to kill you.  Pharmaceutical companies –  Not so much.

The top five: GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead, Merck, Sanofi, Roche –  Each had 2016 revenues between $25-30 Billion.  When is enough, enough? Unfortunately, many doctors struggling under Medicare payment restrictions have become their willing allies – often compensated. (Cash, trips to resort area conferences, gifts, etc.)

Personal truths:

• Last year I was prescribed the highly regarded Eliquis by my cardiologist (who died in December of a heart attack at age 49) to prevent a stroke in the event I suffer an attack of atrial fibrillation. ‘Much better than aspirin or Warfarin’ I was told. Result: large volume of blood in my urine. I switched back to aspirin – problem solved.
• Several years ago, I had an enlarged prostate – non cancerous. My urologist/friend prescribed Flomax, Rapaflo, Cardurin and two others, names of which I can’t recall, in succession over a one year period. Result: no improvement. Surgery (TARP) was the eventual solution, but all those drugs precipitated a problem of ED. And Medicare would not reimburse the doctor for surgery until I had exhausted the pill regimen. By then it was too late. Bastards!

My solution:  VODKA – ask your doctor if it’s right for you!

(Insurance companies and class action lawyers are subjects for a later discussion.)

You are welcome.

For more go to: http://www.jameshpyle.com

The kerfuffle over repealing ObamaCare has caused me to wonder: How many laws actually exist in this, our nation of laws?

The answer, dear reader is; ‘nobody knows’. The United States Code alone is 51 titles, each with multiple volumes numbering 23,000 pages. If you want to learn the difference between the United States Code and the Statutes at Large, (another monster dealing with case law and regulatory matters) you’ll need to hire a lawyer, or several.

Ron Paul has estimated that over 40,000 federal, state and local laws and regulations are passed every day.

Ron: Are you serious?

Yes, he is. And while no one can prove him right, no one can prove him wrong.

Despite the plethora of data bases filling terabytes (whatever they are) of storage, the world-wide-web, Internet clouds and even Watson, the number eludes calculation.

Example:  There are currently over 21,000 laws pertaining to guns nationwide. And still, liberals plead for stricter gun laws: Though no one seems able to stipulate what ‘stricter’ means. And did our moronic legislators really consider and pass 21,000 meaningless laws?

Sadly, they did. And not just in regard to guns. Health care, Insurance, Securities law, Torts, Tenure. . . Lordy, the list is endless.

How can that be? you might ask.  If ignorance of the law is no excuse, we’re all probably guilty of something or other right now. The bad news is that the prisons are already full and we’ll likely have to share a bunk with a dude named Big Willie. . . . and shower with him and his friends.

It’s hard for elites to admit that Ron Paul and Texas can teach us anything; but the legislature down there only convenes on odd numbered years – resulting in fewer laws by state than any other.  Hmmmmm.

Perhaps the U.S. Congress should follow Texas’ example. We’d have fewer laws by half; but then we’d have an additional 535 worthless dummies collecting unemployment benefits. At least they wouldn’t be competing with the illegals and clogging WalMart’s parking lots, hammers in hand.

At least the illegals know which end to grab hold of.

You are welcome.

For more: go to http://www.jameshpyle.com

The second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence begins as follows: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

That endowment stems from the idea of natural rights, meaning humans are naturally free to make their own choices (within the bounds of national law) and to prosper.

There is, however, no parenthetical paragraph guaranteeing all persons with an equal share of the national treasure.

But not all persons develop equally. It is that development process that determines where one eventually ranks in the social and economic order of life.

Making proper choices at various stages of one’s development is the true determinant of success and/or happiness.

Should not, then, a parent’s primary responsibility be: teaching their child how to make such choices?

To delegate that responsibility to a teacher or care-taker is a dereliction of parental duty.

Those who do are left at the margins – screaming, “It’s not fair. The government must do something for my child.”

Really?

You are welcome.

For more go to: http://www.jameshpyle.com

Every Thursday morning in our little Florida retirement community a group of old timers (exclusively men) gathers for a kaffeeklatsch, appropriately called ‘The Liar’s Club’.  Most talk centers on fishing and golf, ready topics for lies, but frequently turns towards fanciful remembrances of our ‘working years’.

Participants are mostly retirees from middle management or small businesses and the conversation frequently turn to ‘forks-in-the-road’ or critical decisions that changed our paths in life, more business-like than personal. (We are, after all, men.)

One pervasive theme is the failure to develop a Plan B – what to do now that we’re no longer gainfully employed. Sitting in a rocker by the dock of the bay is, in actuality, the pits. Without exception, friends in Florida and elsewhere, are wrestling, with varying degrees of success, with that selfsame dilemma. Some take menial jobs or volunteer for social services just to get out of the house or from underfoot. Others try reinventing themselves as sole entrepreneurs or consultants, usually with limited success.

But what is success? And, how is it measured once one leaves the office behind?

We want our opinions sought, the freedom to travel and explore new opportunities (on an expense account), we want to make decisions and have the force to see them properly executed. We want to find young talent and mentor it to new heights. We want to leave a legacy (not unlike former presidents).

However, success is largely an internal evaluation and therein lies the dilemma. What is ‘enough’ success? When does one say, “I’ve done all I can,” or “I’ve made enough money, now it’s time for others to take over”.

I have worked, both for and with, hugely successful men by measure of the companies they’ve built, the teams they forged or their contributions to the arts. Some examples:

• Robert Sarnoff, Chairman and CEO of RCA – forced out of office by his Board of Directors for trying to expand the company into unrelated businesses (Random House, Hertz, Karastan Carpets, etc.) Bob died a bitter man five years after his ouster.
• Arthur Collins, Chairman and CEO of Collins Radio Corp. – developed a very successful ham radio and avionics business only to be forced into a merger with Rockwell Intl. after incurring too much debt to venture into the computer arena. Art died seven years later after failing to start another company.
• Joe Paterno, Head coach of Penn State University, my alma mater – was forced to resign in disgrace after a sexual scandal involving an assistant whom Paterno foolishly tried to defend. Two years later, Joe “Pa” died of cancer.
• Loik Le-Floch Prigent, Chairman and CEO (of Elf largest oil company in France at the time and an investor in my company, Saber Equipment Corp.) – was found guilty of bribing African potentates in a pay-to-play scandal involving French access to African oil reserves and refineries.  Loik is still in a French prison.
• Lord John Brown, Chairman and CEO of British Petroleum, another Saber investor – Built BP into a major oil company through merger with Amoco, created TNK-BP a partnership with Russia to explore and develop Russian oil reserves. He was forced to resign after accusations he lied in court about his relationship with a male associate. Lord John still serves as a crossbench member of Parliament but was stripped of his interests in BP.
• Ross Perot, founder and CEO of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) – I first met Ross in a meeting with Art Collins when Perot expressed an interest in acquiring Collins Radio. The offer was rebuffed but Ross went on to build EDS into a colossus in data processing until he sold it to General Motors for $2.5 billion and a seat on GM’s board. After selling his ‘baby’ he became bored and frustrated by what he termed the ‘sleaze’ in American politics. He ran, unsuccessfully, for president in 1992 and today operates the SuperPAC United We Stand America.

Whether toppled or felled by circumstances beyond their control, all suffered a loss of pride, ego and self-esteem. Bob Sarnoff said to me over a few drinks one evening: “It’s not the money. What hurts most is the loss of platform.” He meant the company plane, the secretaries, the speaking engagements, the deference paid him by his peers.

My guess is that, sadly, like the Greek legend Icarus who flew too close to the sun, they had no Plan B. When their metaphoric wings melted, they too fell into the sea.

Others that I never knew personally, like Harold Geneen of ITT, Brian Williams of NBC, Dick Grasso of the NY Stock Exchange, Dennis Kozlowski of TYCO, Ken Lay of Enron, Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, Robin Williams, Vincent van Gogh and others too numerous to mention all suffered after having reached what mere mortals would consider the ultimate in life – success.

Fame – how quickly the flame can flare, and then die.

My ‘PLAN B’?  You’re reading it !  Though, it is still a work in process.  I’ll keep you posted.

You are welcome.

For more go to: http://www.jameshpyle.com

Dear Donald:
In past months I’ve been critical of your decision to build a wall at our southern border, but I just read your book, The Art of the Deal, and now realize how brilliant your idea really is.

It could be the largest outdoor billboard in the world. We can sell advertising space on both sides;  English for the folks in El Norte, Spanish for those down below. Your shirts and hats will sell by the billions.

Think of the additional revenue streams.  Job Postings: Every lettuce farmer in the Imperial Valley will advertise for seasonal pickers.  Maids will have multiple offers from which to choose.

Mexico’s share of the profit on the south facing wall will provide El Presidenté Peña Nieto  a face-saving incentive to pay for at least half of the construction cost.  A huge Win-Win!

Every newspaper and TV outlet in the country will provide non-stop coverage.  Billions of eyeballs will see it.  Much greater (huge-er) than the Super Bowl or Inaugural Ceremony!

And, come to think, that’s not all!  How about a Jumbotron – spaced every ten miles for the entire 1,300 mile length?  A incentive for Sylvania to start up a U.S. factory again.

The mind boggles at the potential.

Thank you, Donald.  I no longer think your wall is a dumbass idea.

You are welcome.

For more: go to http://www.jameshpylecom

DATA  ≠ INFORMATION

INFORMATION  ≠  KNOWLEDGE

KNOWLEDGE  ≠  WISDOM

Technologists predict that Artificial Intelligence will one day control our lives, freeing us from the drudgery of labor.  IBM’s Watson, drones, robots and processors of all size are now ubiquitous in our transport, our purchase of goods and services and most assuredly in our entertainment and communication. According to the ‘super-intellects’ there is little that man can do that artificial intelligence could not do better and with greater efficiency – from sweeping our carpets to carpet-bombing our enemies from a base in the California desert.

Sounds good, right?

Well . . .  Not so fast.  What is the end game here?  Do we really want to lie idly about while machines manage our lives? There can be no satisfaction, nor fun, in that.

Technology’s advance began by gathering massive amounts of personal data, with or without our knowledge and frequently against our wishes; falsely promising that said data can be magically transformed into wisdom and personal fulfillment. For whom?, I ask.

Currently that data is being sold to advertisers who annoy us with febrile ads to buy their crap whether we need it or not; or it is sold to the Russians and Chinese who are determined to leak and/or manipulate it in a fashion to overtake our government, destroy our water supply, or disable our electrical grid… OMG!

Our economic well being, our happiness and satisfaction with life have not improved – in fact, the opposite is occurring. To all you little propeller-heads with pocket protectors, I say, ENOUGH ALREADY!

Your ‘advances’ have exceeded society’s ability to cope with the rate of change. Results have included chaotic wars and genocide in North Africa, Indonesia, and much of the Mideast. Governments are toppling at historic rates without regard to any orderly succession. Rioting and genocide are rampant.  Social media is changing the world – and not for the better. Laws, rules and common decency have yielded to mob protests and terrorist acts.

Thus far, the U.S. has been spared much of the anarchy but, even here, education has succumbed to entertainment, knowledge historically gained through analysis has been supplanted by 140-character rants. Violence on the part of aggrieved minorities, abetted by instant messaging, is on the rise.

Alas, we cannot un-blow technology’s horn: but I submit it is time to re- inject the human element between data, information, knowledge and wisdom. There is still time for rational human intellect and humanitarian effort to influence science. Are you there, Mr. Musk?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

You are welcome.

For more: http://www.jameshpyle.com

The year is done. I spread the past 365 days before me on the living room carpet, point to the one where I decided to shed everything not deeply committed to my dreams, refused to be a victim of self pity. Here is the week I slept in the garden. In the spring I wrung the self-doubt by the neck, hung your kindness up, took down the calendar, danced so hard my heart learned to float above water again. In the summer I unscrewed all the mirrors from their walls. No longer needed to see myself to feel seen, combed their weight out of my hair. I fold the good days up and place them in my back pocket for safe-keeping, draw the match, cremate the unnecessary, the light of the fire warms my toes. I pour myself a glass of hot cider to cleanse myself for January. Here I go, stronger and wiser into the new.

The year is done – by Rupi Kaur

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE

Donald Trump’s recent phone call with the Taiwanese president has raised alarms to a level not heard since Reagan’s ‘Evil Empire’ speech.  Left-leaning headlines blare:  Donald Trump terrifies world leaders.

Really?

What should be America’s role in the world order?  Should we be active participants, passive observers or Swiss-like ostriches?  Are we the world’s policeman? (Remember Teddy Roosevelt’s admonition: Walk softly and carry a big stick.)

I suspect we can guess the answer by careful reading of Trump’s public utterances and tweets.

Perhaps a better understanding of America’s role can be glimpsed by a look back at our history since the 1945 end of WWII.

• In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea because Truman excluded South Korea from America’s Defense Perimeter thus removing fears of intervention.
• Eisenhower used threats of Nuclear Armageddon and increased military spending to fend off Communism in the days of Stalin and Kruschev.
• Reagan is credited with neutering Gorbachev by demanding he “tear down this wall”.
• By contrast; Johnson tried restraint in Vietnam only to see Hanoi pour troops into South Vietnam.
• Carter’s timidity caused numerous nations to fall to Communism and the U.S. Embassy in Iran to fall to anti-American extremists.
• Obama’s failure in world affairs was marked by his infamous Red Line in the Sand. He also caused panic among allies who feared he would let them down (Israel and Turkey in particular). NATO nations are certain he would not come to their aid if threatened – Estonia, Latvia and Finland in particular. Trump must somehow reverse these fears.

Weak presidents have harmed this country and led to the loss of thousands of young lives.

Whether they like America or not; other nations look to the U.S. to protect them in threatening times – and not just militarily. When sovereign nations default on their debt they look for help from American financial institutions. When all other world markets look weak, money flows into U.S. stocks, bonds and treasury securities.

But the U.S. can’t fight multiple wars in multiple theatres simultaneously. Partners must be willing to share the good times and the bad. A proven negotiator and deal maker is the right leader for these times.

America’s allies are encouraged. Our enemies are right to be afraid.

Donnie is coming – and he’s pissed off.

You are welcome.

For more go to: http://www.jameshpyle.com