The Usual Government Frauds

                 

We hear a lot about business fraud. However, there are checks and balances in business, by boards of directors and independent audits. The publicity and media extravaganzas, along with government finger-pointing and publicity, make up for smaller, relative numbers. Government fraud is taken for granted but is far more prevalent; politicians and bureaucrats take it as a given.

                       

An example: There is a formula for how government grants are used. There always is a euphemistic allowance made for “waste.”

                                       

And there is always an understatement of projected cost. It’s a rare government project that ever meets its original cost estimates.

                       

Then there is usually some figure allotted to account for missing funds. Or at least a few percentage points devoted for investigations of fraud.

That is because of the psychological nature of government jobs. You don’t have the same checks and balances of private industry, despite the public image the media provides.

                       

Government projects are always ramped up. Very few are ever terminated. Sunshine laws are passed from time to time but appear ineffectual. Once on the books, laws and agencies they breed have a life of their own. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

Lucky VCs

                  

There is a good reason why VC funding is so haphazard. The VC “experts” actually haven’t the foggiest idea of which entrepreneurs to select and fund. Those VCs who have made big money were often merely lucky; they also picked lots of losers.

                       

The payoff for VCs is generally the ability to sell stock in the venture to others, even when there are no profits to be made. Some deals have been referred to as legalized Ponzi schemes. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

Need Venture Capital?

                    

Getting venture capital is not easy as it’s often a case of being lucky, or knowing the right people.

                       

However, you need planning to get into the game. To ask for funds, a game plan or budgeting proposal is essential. Incubators were a fad for a time, for very early stage venture funding. They proved a flop in the past. Incubators required lots of hand-holding for entrepreneurs. The problem was, there were too many students and teachers often had no ability at the required levels. The eventual dot com bubble showed how futile that effort was. Angel capital is now used for early-stage startups. Classic venture capital is for the level after you generally have some vestige of business operations.

                       

Getting VC funds is usually a sort of lottery, should you have no connections. Those who get funds generally have them, or have gotten funds for earlier ventures. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

                       

Creating the Match

                 

Even in the consumer area, indifference towards the obvious was the rule, even during the scientific revolution of the 17th to 19th centuries in Europe, particularly its center, Great Britain.

                       

The properties of the highly combustible powder, phosphorus, were known, but neutralizing the danger with a matchstick was not invented in England until 1829. Until

then, you struck a spark with a cumbersome combination of flint on steel, in order to ignite tinder, or a small rag.

                       

In Great Britain and Europe, and eventually the United States, potential awards for solving a variety of problems would have paid outstanding commercial as well as medical benefits sooner and faster. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

Health Care Elsewhere

                    

In a U.N. World Health Organization WHO ranking of countries, the U.S. does poorly. This has been used as an argument for a massive overhaul of the U.S. health insurance industry.

                       

However, look at the report closely because of the terms used. The latter represents what has become a typical U.N. report; an anti-American bias whenever possible.

                       

Read carefully and you note the study points up only the difference between universal coverage and actual care.

                       

It thus becomes easy to see the difference the terms signify. Look at health care in Canada, Great Britain and France with universal coverage. A law on the books or government promise to cover a citizen with health benefits does not mean everyone will get timely or sufficient personal attention when necessary.

                       

The U. S. still has the best health care in the world, though it can be tweaked to be made better. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

What’s a Corporate State?

                 

There is a major lesson to be learned that is not being taught in our schools. Not in elementary classes nor high schools, and certainly not in those of so-called higher learning. It has to do with the true nature of the corporate state.

                       

In this regard, a study of Benito Mussolini’s Italy is essential. Starting in the 1920s. Mussolini was a Socialist who advocated what we know as the corporate state.

                                           

Our government has taken over General Motors, GMAC and Chrysler. It also controls banks to a greater extent than they have ever been, having dictated salaries, and thus hiring policy.The political takeover of G.M. private debt obligations is a further example.

                       

You have had Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose collapse really were one of the bases of our 2008 financial meltdown. Then you have the takeover of AIG, a completely unnecessary step for several reasons I have discussed before.

                       

Banking industry bailouts and resultant government influence are yet another example of the government’s meddling in the underpinnings of our economy.

                       

The attempt to nationalize the entire healthcare industry, about one sixth of the economy, is yet another flagrant example of a parallel picture of what happened at another, not so distant time. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)

Business Management Fads

                   

Business management control has become more a matter of fashion and less what it’s intended to be. The fads are constantly marketed by consultants as business management breakthroughs.

                       

Well-known more recent ones were known and are still referred to as Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma systems. They are simply just old-fashioned quality control procedures.

                                           

But doesn’t everyone believe in production or process improvement or quality control? Whatever label you put on them? A good business manager inherently knows this without the labeling.

                       

The trick is in implementation. Motivation is essential in sticking to such programs on an ongoing basis. Boredom always is the fly in the ointment, so periodic appraisals are essential. Furthermore, management needs to employ in- house or outside experts to check on processes and results. Forget the titles that you assign your project. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at twitter.)