At the close of our inaugural year for JAM Views, I thought we should review a few highlights of what we all have learned in order to solidify the foundation for increasing our understanding in the new year. The Friends of JAM (FOJ) tell me that we began with 4 monthly readers, and now just a few months later we have over 400 monthly readers. In order to spread more enlightened business and economic thought, shall we make our 2019 goal of sharing JAM Views with 4,000 monthly readers? We will label this year's mission, "Helping people help themselves," or as Jerry Maguire emphatically urged Rod Tidwell in the Arizona Cardinals' locker room, "Help me help you!" (while Cuba Gooding, Jr. famously "air dried").
We learned that so much of what we believed, what we accepted at face value, was actually not true. We discovered that what the experts told us are economic causes and effects, are in reality simply correlations which become accepted thought by after-the-fact confirmation bias ("Destiny or Feather"). We now don't blindly accept their truths. We find our own.
In our organizations we learned to implement A-Player cultures which our competitors were too "mentally lazy" to bother with. We realized that a new employee's first day has ramifications for the next 30 years and decided to knock their socks off. We decided to operate starfish and spider web companies, instead of silos, so that all of our teammates understood deeply what we did, how we did it, and most importantly, why we were all there ("First Day Means Everything"/"Critical What How Why").
We shook off the cynicism long enough to understand the big picture of capitalism's role in man's relentless march upwards. We realized 137,000 people everyday for the last 25 years have been lifted out of poverty, and that today 70% of the people on Earth live in some form of democracy while only 1% enjoyed this liberty 200 years ago! ("We are Winning"). We figured out how growth is a million times more important and effective than higher taxes, with just 1% more GDP creating an extra 1.2 million jobs, and we even now understand that 6-8% growth is a reasonable target. ("Growth Trumps Taxes"). We also realized that capitalism + philanthropy can save the world faster than a trillion dollars of government spending ("Capitalism + Philanthropy").
Yet with all of our optimism, we still didn't lose sight of the fact that we are in a war against a much larger army replete with miseducated elites and the masses they control with their misinformation. We figured out why they intentionally do not provide economic education in our children's schools ("Money Illiteracy by Design"). We now understand how regulations, taxes and licensing are simply special interests scams which block small businesses, create homelessness, and imprison the poor. ("Mandates-Taxes-Regs-Homelessness"/"Licensing is a Scheme").
We learned to stay diligent and build cash reserves for the inevitable market corrections ("Black Swans"), to stand up against fraud with our taxes and shareholder dollars ("Government Has No Money"/ "CEO Pay is Ridiculous"), and to build better education for our citizens ("Corporate Universities").
And, of course, we learned how to mix business with pleasure by maximizing our entertaining returns with class and grace. ("Business Entertaining"/"Holiday Business Cocktailing"). Our guest blogger, Bob Vukovich, imparted great wisdom.
It has been an eye-opening start for JAM Views, and I now truly understand the axiom, "The teacher learns more than the students." Also, I believe one reader's comment summarizes our inaugural efforts best, "You just don't know what you don't know until someone explains it in language you can understand."
Now as we approach 2019, let us remember to lead our organizations as the Captain we always wanted to be ("Captain vs. Coach"), and maybe one day we, too, will be worthy of a Wall street Journal Obituary ("WSJ Obits"). It is a privilege to provide these weekly posts, and I want you to know how much I appreciate your partnership in our mission. Please remember to Subscribe to JAM Views through the Email Subscription or the RSS Feed, and please continue to share on FaceBook, Twitter, and all those amazing platforms you may frequent. We have quite a large crowd to bring into the light. A special thank you to Friends of JAM for administering this blog, the website, and the continuous legal challenge. You are an amazing group of friends.
ps. Next week we start off the new year with "Tales of the Almost Congressman" as my friend, Jeff, provides shocking inside details of what they are truly doing with your money...you won't want to miss it.
pss. If you would like a refresher, the highlighted Posts are logged into the Archives Section on the JAM Views home page along with the rest of this year's writings.
psss. Jeff's book "The Fall of MICG" is now available on Amazon Kindle, and a special promotion of free downloads runs December 31st to January 4th. Get your free copy at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MD9PRKK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_awdo_b63jCb64W5N3G
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power." - George Orwell, 1984
