Economic Bailout and Impending DOOM!

Saw this post on twitter of Peter Finch from the Movie Network – "I don’t have to tell you things are bad; everybody knows things are bad..." and that is pretty much how I feel.

The stocks are crushed and the only solution (we are told) is to give 700 Billion to wall street bankers. We have a bailout tracker and npr states.

The Bush economic team has been saying for weeks that the financial
world as we know it would end if a rescue plan was not put in place in
short order.

And after record losses by points on the stock exchange yesterday, today we hear they may have a new plan and stocks are rebounding this morning. Banks are being rescued and purchased.

And while all of this is going on, well, we are getting angry. Really angry. But it is a very hard anger to direct. And for the euphemistically named "main street" where we all live, we don’t quite see the problem yet.

No really, so all of the investment bankers are going broke. OK, so
if we went out of business I’d be broke. Nobody bails me out, and I
don’t even have a home in the Hamptons like they do! What is with the
double standard?

Tightening of the credit markets you say? That we won’t be able to get a home loan or a car loan or a business loan on inventory! Well gee, those are all ASSET BACKED LOANS.
What makes you think banks will stop doing that? And if so, give me a
bill in congress that insures direct to consumer and direct to business
loans.

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2008 Sarasota International Design Summit

I am really looking forward to my presentation in Sarasota Florida at the 2008 Sarasota International Design Summit on Oct 27-29, 2008. And they completely take care of their speakers (click the image for more on that).

But without further delay, here is the description of my planned talk:

Design patterns of Social Media through the power of Story: The hero’s journey will be Twittered

From the "12 people you meet on Twitter" to the traditional Archetypes found in storytelling, there are expected characters we meet on the road who perform integral parts in our society and community’s stories. These characters play roles from hero to mentor to whiner to seductress to the perpetually peppy-guy.

We all know them (the guy who Tweets what he had for breakfast or the entrepreneur who Tweets his investment meetings) and love to love/hate them. But what roles do these characters really play in our online communication lives? Where do you fit in, in the grand Twitter and Social Media story? How do you best position your plotline and character development for maximum effectiveness?

Let’s take a look at how designs from the past can help us understand this new Twitter medium. Humans and their stories change very little over the course of time, and when used strategically Social Media tools like Twitter can give you the powerful platform to broadcast and share as never before.

The Republican 700 Billion Tax Increase of 2008

We are witnessing the biggest tax increase in American history.

The President is advocating a 700 Billion tax increase to be under the control of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Rushing in fact. Urgent.

Let me repeat that – the biggest tax increase in history is being pushed forward by George Bush in the form of a 700 Billion bailout of wall street.

The blame for this 700 Billion tax increase is left clearly at the feet of Phil Gram, an Aggie, like me. Which is embarrassing. But facts are facts, and as we say in Aggieland “an Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do.”  That said, Phil did not act alone. But his lone actions could have prevented this.

So while I don’t understand all of the subtleties of the current
situation, what I *do* know is that NO politician wants to be known for
a tax increase. So they borrow and leave it for another politician to
take the blame.

My point is that while the iron is hot, while desperate measures are needed, the CURRENT POLITICIANS are completely 100% accountable for this tax increase.
Sure they don’t believe in balancing the budget anymore, but make no
mistake, we need to give a pass to any future politician who raises
taxes to cover this commitment from the current lot.

So in this case, the Republicans are championing the biggest tax
increase in history. And the Democrats are walking behind them saying “yes sir.” Both parties clearly walking away from their base with a “hey, we gotta do it” mentality with no long term solutions.

Indeed, here we are. Here’s to new taxes, tonight is kind of special.

Jonathan Haidt 5 Moral Foundations Theory and Politics

I am not sure who linked Jonathan Haidt’s "The real difference between liberals and conservatives" TED talk to me on twitter. But wow, the talk is awesome. After watching the talk several times I felt the need to take notes so here is a summary, probably more for me than anyone else.

Haidt’s "Moral Foundations Theory" holds that there are five fundamental moral values that extend across cultures and even to some primates. From the TED talk they are: (and AGAIN – these are just my notes – watch the video for more)

Haidt’s Five Moral Values

1. Harm/Care – agreed on by both liberal and conservative
2. Fairness/reciprocity – agreed on by both liberal and conservative
3. Ingroup loyalty
   1. liberals are more independent
   2. only among humans do you find large groups
4. Authority/respect
   1. liberals reject authority, conservatives embrace it
5. Purity/sanctity
   1. political right moralizes sex
   2. left moralizes food as examples

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Hurricane Ike hits Houston Hard

Hurricane Ike hit Houston this last Friday night. And he was deadly.  And very damaging to say the least.

First and foremost my thoughts and prayers are with those in Galveston and south of the city who lost the most.
Lives were lost, homes destroyed down to the foundation, businesses
closed for good and the corresponding jobs were lost. Families and
friends are hurting.

I am typing this on a Tuesday September 16th and power at my house is
still out. The office is back online and, if only for Air Conditioning
and to charge our cell phones, quite a few folks are already back at
work.

The city has a week long 9:00 PM curfew so we are working short days, 9:30 to maybe 4:30 to allow time to get home without most traffic lights. We are talking a lot.

Hotels are full of evacuees and downtown is closed and in bad shape. The Chase tower in particular was transformed into broken glass on the streets.

If you want to help, this one client reached out to us to help spread the word.

If you would like to help out a strong organization in the Houston community, Catholic Charities (a non profit organization client that serves over 100,000 Houstonians) is in need of donations as they are trucking out water, food and supplies to hard-hit Hurricane Ike areas in Texas.

The psychological impact
of witnessing 100+ mile an hour winds, having our houses shake, hearing
the explosions of transformers at 3:30 in the morning, these things are
challenging. People experience grief, but learn to cope and move on.

"There is a common misperception that people are going to fall apart
and they are going to have lifelong psychological consequences," said
Herrmann. "But the reality is that most people who experience traumatic
events are psychologically resilient.

There are so many blog posts and photos that should have been taken.
Having no power or Internet at the house somewhat limits my self
expression.

What I do know is that Houston and the surrounding areas is one amazing
community. That our people are strong down to earth people who look out
for each other. What I do know is that Houston, Galveston, Bolivar and
our entire community will rebuild. We will get back on our feet. We
will be back.