Thursday, January 1, 2015

New Year's Notes

Sally and I still haven't sat down to hash out our goals for 2015.

It's maybe worth noting, however, that she took issue with my characterization of 2014 as a basically unsuccessful year.  Sally herself got raises at several of the places where she teaches fitness classes, she thought that Hannah's turn in the play was a really big deal that deserved more celebration, and we took a ten-day vacation to Maine that was totally awesome.  My work and support of our family made all of that stuff possible.

Sally also noted that even if the year wasn't particularly goal-tastic or glorious, it was still good.  We were happy.  In real terms, that is at least as important as anything else.

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 I love end-of-the-year lists.  This one from my friend Jerry tops my list of lists.

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"This year showed how sheltered the U.S. economy is from geopolitical and health crises around the world. The global economy sputtered, but the U.S. powered ahead. Employers are finally hiring enough to lower unemployment. A plunge in gas prices and a rising stock market has Americans feeling richer and spending a bit more."

I am really bullish on the coming year in business terms.  If the US can stay out of its own way, we ought to do very well.

The best thing about our economy is that, for the most part, good ideas win and bad ideas lose.  This is a thing that is very difficult to replicate, especially when governments get involved.  Whenever a nation is dependent on some mix of State-Owned Enterprises and private capitalism, greed and corruption result, creating inefficiencies that derail competitiveness and innovation.  To put it another way, the successful will rig the game to ensure their own continued success if they are allowed to do so by government and society.

This, then, is both the greatest strength and most significant danger to America going forward.  If we allow our nation to transform from a republic into an oligarchy with republican trappings, we'll lose both the rule of law and our competitive advantage internationally.

For now, I think we're still doing okay.  The US has an innovation advantage that, along with the current international energy climate, is going to give us a pretty good year in 2015.

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Eh.  Give it a few months.

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Good grief!  How do you top that?

Obviously, you don't.  Happy New Year everybody!

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