Several prominent companies have publicly, and in today’s political climate, bravely reinforced their commitment to their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Costco and Chase are among them. Others have dropped DEI efforts, also publicly—some behaving as if a yoke has been removed from around their financial necks, some because they feared brand and reputational damage. The remainder are likely confused about how to proceed in today’s charged climate. Stephen Paskoff, Chair and founder of ELI, Inc., has been working in this arena for more than forty years. The situation Despite the current dismissal of DEI, Paskoff reminds us that its aims are laudatory. Every organization wants the best talent. Looking for it in diverse pools helps us find it. We need equity, if structured lawfully, to have a fair and motivating workplace. Success is advanced by everyone at work feeling included, so…
Between a rock and hard place: Business under Trump
I recently attended an educational session for board members of private companies. Common themes included uncertainty, confusion, building costly redundancy in supply chains, and the need for agility. But not once did the CEOs and directors mention a significant root cause behind these trends: the Trump administration and its policies. In private, Trump is frequently criticized, as evidenced by the reporting from a Yale University meeting of CEOs. · His tariff policy has been costly, according to 2/3 of the businesses in attendance. · Uncertainty is reducing investments. · They are concerned about Trump’s shift toward state-sponsored capitalism, as reported in The Wall Street Journal. · On net, Trump is bad for business, Forbes summarizes from the meeting. Yet publicly, the business community and its leaders have remained silent or conciliatory. Why the silence? It is a whole new world, and a scary…
Relearn Economics 101 to Judge Trump Policies
Call it the Big Beautiful Bill. Or view it as the Big Bad Betrayal. Trade Liberation Day or Disaster. Whatever your political leanings, make sure you remember basic economic principles when formulating your opinion about them. A principle is a foundational truth that drives economic behavior, e.g., people choose a product based on its perceived functional and emotional value. In this blog, I’ll review five fundamental economic principles that are central to understanding the impact of the BBB and tariff policy on our economic growth. Opportunity Cost When making purchasing decisions, we assess the value of the product or service. We also compare this value to what else the money could have been spent on, i.e., its opportunity cost. One opportunity cost of a purchase is lower savings. Another is forgoing a different purchase. If the perceived opportunity cost is higher than the…
Trump is taking advantage of America’s economic illiteracy – or is he illiterate?
Trump quickly responded to news that ships from China are no longer delivering goods to the US: “We were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China. Now, we’re essentially not doing business with China. Therefore, we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s very simple.” Why Trump is wrong No, it’s not so simple. Trump wants us to believe that if we decrease imports, everything else that factors into our economic wellbeing will stay the same. After all, he’d argue, the definition of Gross Domestic Product (GDP, which measures a country’s output) shows imports as a subtraction. We measure GDP as the sum of: Direct government expenditures (excludes transfer payments and interest on the debt. It’s federal personnel and purchases of goods like weapons) Domestic Consumption, which equals total Consumption minus the Consumption of goods and services we import Domestic Investment, which…
If federal government spending bloated? The facts will surprise you.
Is our federal government bloated?