Strategists trying to understand and influence the future of an organization will study the “containing system” surrounding it. That is, factors that affect the environment in which the organization operates. Social forces, regulatory changes, competitor actions, and global economic trends are examples. But rarely do strategists consider the notion of whether our nation remains a democracy or operates under capitalism as a component of that containing system. It may be time that we do so. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley‘s comments at his farewell ceremony moved me deeply. Appointed by Trump, he is voluntarily retiring. You might remember that when Trump refused to concede the election, Milley reached out to his counterparts in China. He said the US would not attack China during Trump’s increasingly erratic last days in office. For this act, Trump has accused Milley of…
Healthcare Costs Part One: Who Benefits from our Broken System?
To solve a problem, some say, look to who makes money from its existence. So, who benefits from the high cost of healthcare in the U.S.? At a minimum, looking at the beneficiaries will help us identify those who will impose barriers to changing the status quo. (In the next blog, I’ll look at root causes of the cost problem and worthy solutions.) High Cost U.S. healthcare costs exceed those of other developed countries according to several key metrics: as a percent of our GDP, cost per family, and cost of procedures and hospital stays, among others. Self-insured employers reported to MedCity News that the average per-person cost of healthcare would be $17,201 in 2023, a $1,339 increase (or 7.8%) from 2022. By way of comparison, median annual income was $69,021 in 2021. No wonder a significant lifetime achievement is securing a job…
Why are US voters so pessimistic about the American economy?
Economists (of which I am one) are cheering about recent economic measures for our nation. Inflation rates are falling without the high levels of unemployment expected to produce disinflation. Real wages have risen. Hard-to-employ groups are finding jobs as employers drop prior credential requirements. Indeed, the soft landing the US Federal Reserve Bank is shooting for may be achievable (underscore “may,” as so much uncertainty remains). So why does most of the nation (7 in 10 according to a March 2023 CNN poll) believe the economy is still bad? One hypothesis is that people are upset because, although the inflation rate is falling, prices remain significantly higher. They feel they need to spend a larger percentage of their income on meeting their needs. Yes, prices are up. And, higher prices make them worse off. But incomes are also rising. If incomes increase more…
Five mistakes in Twitter’s new brand name and symbol
Branding is a strategy for differentiation and growth. So too, is changing a brand name. Elon Musk’s Twitter has plenty of problems that require new strategies. It finally has a powerful competitor of size in Meta’s Threads. It lost nearly 60% of its ad revenue last year. The platform has regular bugs that hurt users’ experiences. And Musk reduced oversight of hateful and pornographic posts, leading brands to fear reputational damage and reduce ad spending on the platform. Musk’s goal for Twitter is ambitious. He wants it to be a single platform for all things online. For example, as one of the founders of PayPal’s predecessors, it’s not surprising he wants to add a payments business on Twitter to reduce reliance on ad dollars. He wants open and unconstrained communication among users, with users calling out and limiting the behavior of bad actors….
Bidenomics vs Trickle Down – It Depends
US President Joe Biden and his team are traveling the country spouting the success of his economic policies. The package is called “Bidenomics.” It’s best understood as a contrast (which I’ll get to shortly) to traditional GOP economic policy recommendations. The latter argues for lower taxes, less government regulation, and minimizing social welfare spending. The fear underlying GOP dismissal of Bidenomics is that we will become a “socialist” nation. Think of Scandinavian nations with high taxes and high social spending. (The fact that these nations do not engage in socialism – a system where the government owns the means of production, distribution, and exchange – is beside the point. But discussing that would be a digression here.) The GOP policy prescription is based on core assumptions such as: The private sector can spend money more efficiently than the government. Low taxes on corporations…