Why hasn’t Obama put McCain away?
Everything is in his favor. Count the ways. Obama has far more money than McCain (so much for the liberal mantra about the corrosive effects of big money upon politics and the need for public campaign financing. In regard to these changing attitudes about the rich: Old J.P Morgan, remember, was a robber baron who warped the political process; Warren Buffet is an enlightened capitalist whose billions helped out a little here and there).
The Republican brand is toxic. Obama is the more charismatic. Voters usually tire of one party after eight years in the White House.
George Bush will leave office with poll ratings analogous to Harry Truman’s own exit numbers. The Democratic majority in Congress will widen (Nancy Pelosi’s hit speech on the eve of the bailout or Harry Reid’s gleeful announcement that Iraq was lost are precursors of things to come).
Two wars and a sinking economy had depressed voters—before the financial meltdown (which supposedly had nothing to do with the trillion dollars plus lost by Freddie and Fannie). The mainstream media is now overtly for Obama, running hit pieces on Cindy McCain in the New York Times, claiming the Palin rallies are racist, and even going after poor Joe the Plumber as a fraud. John McCain does not have a fervent base of conservative supporters and has not run a dynamic campaign.
The answer, then, to the voters’ apparent hesitancy is simply that citizens still have no idea who Barack Obama is.
Are we to believe that he is a trans-racial, post-politics centrist, who will appoint both Republicans and Democrats and govern in Clintonian fashion?
Perhaps, but then we would also have to assume that his Chicago associates—Ayers, Khalidi, Meeks, Pfleger, or Wright—were themselves centrists, that his record in the Senate is not the most liberal among those of his 100 colleagues, that he has not in the past, in Chicago-style, sued to invalidate African-American voters’ petitions when he wished to eliminate all his state legislature rivals in the 1996 campaign, that in 2004 his campaign had not had some part in the leaking of the sealed divorce records of both his Democratic primary and Republican general Senate opponents that crashed both of their campaigns, and that his original positions when he announced his candidacy were not jettisoned as soon as they were a liability.
Socialism 101
The drop in gas prices, the net weekly partial rebound in the stock market, and the “spread the wealth around” comments of Obama helped McCain. He is finally now talking not of Obama’s “tax cut” (how could one, when the plan is mostly a cash payout to many of the 50% of wage-earners who will next year pay no income taxes at all?), but of a redistributive scheme to ensure an equality of result. McCain needs to sharpen his message: The issue is really socialism—taking from some to give to others through exemptions and credits—that transcends the logic of the progressive tax code. If there were increased revenue (I doubt it since the proposals will harm any incentives for those in the lower brackets to increase wages and productivity, given the specter of losing their cash payments should their income climb; and on the upper groups by taxing every dime over $250,000 at nearly 65% [in high-tax states]), the monies would simply go to a trillion dollars of new programs that will expand government (a Fannie health care system, a Freddie education bureau, etc.), not merely wasting money, but making social problems worse.
What then Went Wrong?
We have six, not twenty-five percent unemployment. Even last quarter’s GDP figures showed growth, not recession. How then did the sudden meltdown occur?
It’s pretty easy to envision, and can be simplified into two general scenarios. One, somewhere between 4-6% of mortgage holders bought houses without sufficient income and down payments. Eventually they found that they could not make their monthly payments—once energy and food prices climbed, or their credit-card purchases of consumer goods kept rising and squeezed family budgets, or adjustable mortgage rates on their loans increased—or all combined.
So they defaulted
.
Two, a larger number who bought at the greatest expansion of the real estate bubble had made no payment down, or very little, or had taken out second and third mortgages. Then when housing prices inevitably dipped, they learned that they now owed more on their homes than they were worth, and therefore, despite being employed and in theory able to continue to meet their obligations, decided it was more logical to walk away, and take a hit in their credit ratings than to owe more on a house than it was worth—when, in contrast, renting a house, or renegotiating the loan, or buying another cheaper home made better sense to them.
That rather small percentage of defaulting homeowners was nevertheless large enough to prompt a cascade—given the fact that Wall Street greed in the buying and selling of sub-prime mortgages was given a green light through federal guarantees to the quasi-public Freddie and Fannie.
We live in a culture, after all, where we blame “them”—even though we watch television programs on how to flip houses after cosmetic improvements, go to seminars on how to purchase homes without a down payment, and welcome snake-oil salesmen’s advice how to default on credit card debt. Capitalism depends on some modicum of honesty as well as regulation. While Wall Street must have transparency and oversight, we the people also have to honor debts, save capital, and accept that productivity arises from real work rather than mere speculation. There is such a thing as a moral economy.
Channel surfing on a Saturday night
Recently I turned to C-Span2 Book TV, a program I often enjoy. But here was Michael Moore, in rather repulsive fashion, reading from his latest written diatribe—and damning John McCain for bombing the North Vietnamese communists four decades ago.
He was making the usual morally equivalent arguments that a Stalinist regime in North Vietnam that had killed hundreds of thousands of its own, was, in fact, a superior moral culture to our own, and thus John McCain might be considered a war criminal as well as a terrorist. Then Moore went on to his conspiracies about the “oil men ” and their plots about getting “gas stations” in Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Next, in grotesque fashion, Moore boasted that, “More people want to have sex with Barack Obama than with John McCain”. Then he went on to his sex jokes about gutting a moose and having sex with Sarah Palin, while in Orwellian fashion, Moore (all 300 pounds plus of him) damned Big Macs, American children’s lack of exercise, and soft drinks that have fattened other Americans up. (Or was he implicitly blaming Coke and Super Size-it for his own obesity?)
I remember that right after 9/11, Moore lamented that Bin Laden had selected New York, a city full of Democrats, rather than a red-state target. But I had forgotten what a repugnant and incoherent buffoon he had become.
Turning the channel to CNN, I found that there was a story about the white racists at a Palin rally. Then I went to MSNBC and someone was talking about “what happened to John McCain.” (as in the old “good” losing McCain of 2000 versus the now “bad” McCain of 2008 that could still beat Obama). I finished by turning to local news and the hype about Colin Powell’s anticipated principled endorsement of Barack Obama. Some evening…
An Epidemic of Incompetence
The following happened to me in a recent 6-day period: (1) My insurance company, Beacon One, notified me that without prior warning my insurance on my farm would be suddenly canceled—and without grounds. Ten days later a second letter came in the mail stating that the prior notice was “in error.” No explanations or apologies;
(2) Macy’s called to say that I had been in arrears on a bill for a new bed, and therefore they had (a) charged me a finance penalty fee, and (b) turned the bill over to collections and to the credit rating bureau. When I called their 1-800 number, they confessed that they had not put the street address on my bill (but instead just a five digit number, along with the city, as in something like “Victor Hanson, 5643 Fresno California”). They then admitted that their bill was returned to them on three successive occasions, that they had not called me personally to inquire about the address, despite having my private number, or to inform me of an overdue payment due, and that they were “sorry,” but that the charges and letter they sent to the bureau were understandable;
(3) My Internet satellite provider, Hughes, called and offered on its own initiative, to upgrade my rural antenna dish for $198 dollars, if I would agree to continue the service for two more years. But after installing the new dish, they sent me a bill for $597, with a warning that service would be disconnected in seven days if the amount was not paid. I’m still trying their 1-800 number (8th attempt) to figure that overcharge out;
(4) I turned in my worn and demagnetized ATM card to Citibank to get a new one. They assured me they would send a fresh duplicate ASAP, with the exact same number as the original. Seven days later it came, was activated—and found to have a different and wrong number, nullifying my online automatic bill payments. I am still working on that too, but now must notify all my on-line creditors that either their card on file is no longer operative, or that it may be, or that both old and new card numbers work, or neither, since no one at Citibank knows anything other than they regret it was their fault but offer no payment for late bill charges or my time in trying to run down creditors.
There is one unifying theme to all these incidents. When notified (usually by emails threatening dire consequences, and with warning not to dare email back at that automatic email address), I called their 1-800 number as directed. The respective holds (lousy music) averaged about 20 minutes each. In every case the person on the other end, either could not speak English well enough to carry on a conversation, or, if they did, could not understand basic mathematics. Their supervisors were no improvement.
We are suffering from a nationwide epidemic of incompetence that threatens to sever the very sinews of commerce, brought on by a therapeutic educational system that teaches almost everything other than literacy. All this is compounded by a corrupt corporate culture that builds into its calculations the notion that there is still great profit to be made by hiring, on the cheap, attack-dog, but largely illiterate, employees, who may not understand how to fill out, or mail, or discuss bills, but will intimidate or ignore enough to make their employers a great deal of money. No apologies or contrition are ever expressed when the mistake is found to be on the company’s part. We are a long way from the 1950s when I used to follow my grandfather around Selma as he paid his bills in cash, face to face, and received a handshake, thanks—and a receipt.
When Obama praises ethnic magnet schools, talks of pouring billions more into education, promises reparations in deed rather than word, or advocates more “oppression studies”, I am not confident there will be a return to basic education, but assured that more “-studies” courses will appear: as in Asian-, African-American- , Chicano-, environmental-, ethnic-, leisure-, peace-, or women’s- studies courses that won’t do a thing to improve America’s declining literacy or knowledge of simple math and science—or questionable ethics.
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43 Comments
1. David Thomson:“…but assured that more “-studies” courses will appear: as in Asian-, African-American-”
Barack Obama will severely damage race relations in this country. He is inadvertently empowering the vile David Duke. The key doctrine of leftist politically correct argues that the white race is a cancer on the Earth. This is especially true of white men. An Obama administration will therefore be inherently anti-white. This will inevitably motivate many whites to join extreme right wing groups.
Oct 20, 2008 - 11:44 am 2. vanderleun:“Will damage”? There’s no “will” about it. He already has and, win or lose, the damage will continue unabated.
Oct 20, 2008 - 12:45 pm 3. Helen W.:Wow. Your account puts me in remembrance of “The Peter Principle.” Perhaps this is evidence that it widely exists even in entry-level positions. Perhaps of more concern is that your experience underscores a pervasive nonchalant indifference by those in what is widely called the “service industry.” The oxymoron nature of the term is readily apparent.
Oct 20, 2008 - 12:53 pm 4. D.W. Drang:As for the “- Studies,” you are, of course, correct. Many years ago I heard someone say, “Do not sacrifice the essential on the altar of the important.” There have numerous times I’ve remembered and lived by those words. I fear, however, that in many areas of American life, not just education, the essential things HAVE been sacrificed to what someone or some group deemed “important,” amid a wholesale failure to consider with any wisdom what consequences ultimately result.
Meanwhile, if elected, Obama promises to raise corporate tax rates even higher, driving even more American companies overseas.
Oct 20, 2008 - 1:12 pm 5. John Bailey:Here’s a map: http://arewelumberjacks.blogspot.com/2008/10/economic-growth-through-taxation.html
Again, a terrific piece written by you! Your every word is important these last few days before the election.
As for Obama’s socialist tilt, the slip in Toledo where his true position was exposed may be the Republican saving grace this year. Hyde Park and people he knows from the neighborhood often have as their mantra the desire to take away from those who are successful and give to the underclass. Not mentioned is Oprah’s experiment a few years ago about direct payments to help those who needed a boost and how quickly her program of help was buried and abandoned. While Obama may give lip service to saying the intention is that 95% of Americans get a tax break, that may only be the first bite of the apple. Some program, policy or need will appear and the legislative creep will appear. The triagulation of Pelosi, Obama and Reid will aim us toward the socialist dream of redistribution of income where we are beholden to them for our lives and salvation. They may accelerate the old saying of ’shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations’!
Oct 20, 2008 - 1:49 pm 6. Ron Kean:Good to have you back, Professor.
‘citizens still have no idea who Barack Obama is.’
1. Obama just denied starting his political campaign in Ayres home.
2. He acts like he has no connection to his religious past as Farrakhan calls him a messiah.
3. A lawyer named Berg has a law suit in process to learn about his unpublished birth or college records.
4. Obama says he just helped Acorn with a motor voter project one time and acts like, ‘what $800,000?’
5. Hamas keeps rooting for him.
6. And what about all that money?
Some people don’t know who he is and others like me just think he’s lying.
‘McCain…has not run a dynamic campaign.’
1. That’s the understatement of the year.
2. I like his sense of humor.
3. He’s a decent guy.
4. He’s overcome greater adversity than this.
G-d works in mysterious ways to have given Michael Moore 100 million for Farenheit 911.
I’ve always had reservations about Colin Powell. I’m trying to remember if he knew that R. Armitage leaked the Plame info to Novak and didn’t speak up to help ‘Scooter’ Libby. Could that be true?
It’s Monday…15 days to go.
Oct 20, 2008 - 1:50 pm 7. rosie:It is good to have you back, but do you suspect that all the problems were orchestrated to keep you on the phone and off the internet enlightening your readers?
Oct 20, 2008 - 2:30 pm 8. TLM:Sometime ago, within the past year, NPR broadcast a report on a survey of major corporations which asked them what they considered the most important characteristic they look for in new hires. The result: the ability to get along with fellow workers, which beat out competence, experience, education etc. Small wonder our corporations are incompetent.
Of course, the “everybody get along/group hug” approach to life has been promoted in our schools for 2 decades (at least), at the expense of basic competence in logical/critical thinking. The rational approach to life is sort of a requisite for competence, I believe.
The bumper stickers are right: Shoot your TV.
Oct 20, 2008 - 2:32 pm 9. fynbos:Re: An Epidemic of Incompetence
VDH:
Oct 20, 2008 - 2:39 pm 10. Allison Aller:The IRS didn’t call. Consider yourself blessed.
Illegitimi non carborundum, Doc!
Oct 20, 2008 - 3:34 pm 11. RJ:Hey Doc,
Stop bitching! Let this game continue, as it must and as it most certainly will. Allow the proper conclusion to these business ethics to occur.
The players who advance these games know full well what their policies will render: They believe that when the game is finally over they will have dropped out of the system prior with all the big bucks they rightfully earned. So be it, if it is to happen.
I didn’t read how you “handled” your problems save the information of how you walked your issues through their systems. You not once offered up someone’s head on a platter. Why?
Nor did you state your ending any one of those relationships. Why not?
You know that education has for over 3 decades (30 years now) changed its focus. Feel good about your self has replaced educate your self. You have known this.
Smart people, or those who consider themselves smart, have been running this show for some time…they are your brothers and sisters.
Up against the wall. Any last words? No–no more bitching will be allowed. Either get away from the wall and pick up your weapon, or stand and be shot! Don’t try to nuance your way out of this.
Then again, Obama may be the greatest thing since “sliced bread” if we are to believe those people.
I guess we will find out soon enough, now won’t we?
Thanks, but no thanks!
Oct 20, 2008 - 3:37 pm 12. David Thomson:“He already has and, win or lose, the damage will continue unabated.”
The damage will not continue unabated—if Barack Obama loses! The politically correct establishment must learn that false charges of racism will be not be tolerated. A McCain-Palin victory is mandatory if one truly wishes to see race relations improve in the United States.
Oct 20, 2008 - 3:43 pm 13. Mark:Conservative’s like you and me are at fault for not running for office, leaving the job to Rinos…..
Oct 20, 2008 - 7:28 pm 14. Gaisan:Prof. Hansen:
Oct 20, 2008 - 7:56 pm 15. JA Lineberry:I know you remember Plato’s “Republic”, particularly the chapter on how a Tyranny develops from a Democracy. It’s enough to make any sober person sit bolt upright and say, “OMG! …and this was written how long ago?” …over 2,000 years, yet it could have been written yesterday. Have we become Athens just before its fall?
Customer service is dead. Companies have become so large that they’ve decided it’s more cost effective to simply replace their complaining customers rather than accomodate them – electing to weed out perpetually outraged customers, creating a full deck of complacent customers who rarely complain. You’ll notice that they often return the first fee, not out of regret for their mistake but out of mercy, but then refuse to waive other fees regardless of whether it’s their mistake or not. If they actually offered good customer service, they would lose their fee cash cow. They have a fee for everything, and I do mean everything.
I don’t outright resent the “-studies” courses, as they are beneficial in their own way. You argue for more college courses to combat “declining literacy or knowledge of simple math and science,” yet these are things students should have a firm grasp of before they even get to college.
Oct 20, 2008 - 8:24 pm 16. Jack Marcotte:Essential vdh
Obama is a gestalt test for the American voter. He represents the last 30 years of erosion of American values.
Those that think they will be better off voting for Obama and his “world views” should look at the results of the “Great Society” trillions of dollars misspent and a tide of human debris without character or values that is generational looking to vote for their next savior.
It will eventually end in chaos and unless stopped will eventually lead America down the path off all liberal fascist states that must take by taxation and or force entwined with corruption (Chicago politics or any Dem. controlled city is an example) to maintain control of human beings who now are like children. They will not be denied short of force.
Any American who thinks differently should start a learning process that has not yet taken place but needs to. History is there for the taking unless you of course listen only to the vaporous sirens of the MSM.
If we don’t pull out of this socialism and a desire to self destruct America will suffer the very fate our founding fathers fought against when America was founded.
However can be said in hindsight when the clarity of the destruction is realized– it was a Democratic Republic that elevated Christian philosophy into Western culture that advanced mankind further faster than any human has ever gone before—or maybe since. It simply guaranteed freedom for those they could be individual responsible for their lives and property along with other lives and property.
Oct 20, 2008 - 8:24 pm 17. Not Incompetence, It's Theft:VDH’s “late fee/billing issues” raised a red flag for me. Over the last few months, my GM card (owned by HSBC) and my American Express card both tried to hit me with unjustified “late fees.”
Correcting these issues took several phone calls and some frank, tough language. I believe the “incompetence” and long phone waits are designed to discourage the cardholder.
In my view, HSBC and AmEx are having some financial difficulty. Under the guise of “incompetence,” they’re using their cardholders to raise much-needed cash, which is vulgar and wrong.
Oct 21, 2008 - 3:10 am 18. TLM:More politically incorrect:
Not that I’ve given up on the election just yet, but like Joe Biden I find it useful to speculate on what an Obama win might entail (besides redistribution of wealth):
Could we claim we are no longer a racist country? I doubt it. Not unless Obama carries 90% of the popular vote. 10% of the population might be allowed to harbor latent “racist” inclinations — as evidenced by voting tallies. Otherwise, we would need to work very hard to ensure race is not a factor in 2012. There’d be more mileage yet in that tiresome attack.
Would the Second Amendment come under attack again? Personally, I’d worry more about the First Amendment. We are the only democracy, or country for that matter, with a true concept of free speech. The Democrats have long felt our freedom of speech puts them at a disadvantage in national elections. Yeah, that’s right — they claim free speech makes it hard for the Left to win. And besides it’s upsetting and “uncivil” to many Americans to hear strongly worded opposing points of view, as our current election clearly shows.
If Iran wishes to challenge the new president, would it be in Iraq or in Afghanistan? More likely Afghanistan, hoping we’d follow in the historical footsteps of the USSR. As a country that is. Obama has clearly staked his reputation on the outcome of that conflict, and it’s intrinsically a more difficult place to “win” a war. Also, losing in Iraq at this juncture would be blamed on Obama, not George Bush. I’m sure they’d prefer the former to the latter as an adversary. And Afghanistan, not Iraq, is (theoretically) where the West is fighting in concert against a Muslim country.
Oct 21, 2008 - 5:57 am 19. Cornhead:How was it than when Gen. Powell indorsed Sen. Obama he didn’t mention Obama’s ability to be Commander in Chief? I don’t think he even once mentioned the military.
If elected, would Sen. Obama be the first President to have no knowledge or experience in handling a weapon of any sort; hunting or in the military?
Oct 21, 2008 - 7:32 am 20. Jeff Perren:On Finance:
Your explanation for the financial crisis is plausible, and I would like to believe it. But it would be helpful to see some documentation, references, or quotes from financial professionals to support it. It’s important that conservatives and other pro-liberty individuals be able to counter the objections of the statists and every bit of hard evidence helps. I mean no disrespect by making the request and understand you are, of course, under no obligation.
On Incompetence:
Sir, do I ever agree with you, and then some! I wrote about this in 2005 (See: Whence competence?
Oct 21, 2008 - 8:56 am 21. Nick B:Dear Customer,
Your call is important to us. Please hold for the next available polite, well-meaning, but incompetent Indian service representative. We regret that our computer system will not allow us to answer your question or fix your problem. Calls are monitered, mostly for laughs.
Oct 21, 2008 - 9:24 am 22. Kevin:Re: An Epidemic of Incompetence
I suggest folks watch Mike Judge’s Idiocracy to understand where we’re going.
Oct 21, 2008 - 10:17 am 23. Robert Winkler Burke:Has anyone considered the strange Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that Barack Obama seems to be using continually? It appears to be covert stage hypnosis on multiple levels. See:
http://www.pennypresslv.com/Obama%27s_Use_of_Hidden_Hypnosis_techniques_in_His_Speeches.pdf
Oct 21, 2008 - 11:14 am 24. ET:That will teach you not to watch name-brand television! You might just as well have tuned in to “Saturday Night Live”, with its now-exalted status as the speaker-of-truth-to-power, or something – though from what I understand, Sarah Palin herself went on the show last weekend, further proving her critics wrong about her abilities.
I lament the show’s decline from a source of original, thoughtful sketch comedy, to a clearing house of sophomoric buffoonery, while being heralded as the central pulse of American society, but this process is tied back to your theme of feel-good education replacing the process of learning – and having worked in various telephone customer-service environments, I can only agree that the quality of such services seems to have eroded into an environment of pure minimalism – the appearance of customer service over the reality, just like airport security, and so many other sectors of life which are seriously threatened by the eager dumbing-down of all commerce, inquiry, and life in general.
It’s rather sad, when you compare all this to the previous generation’s work ethics, accomplishments, and disdain for self-suffering indulgence. But don’t hold your breath waiting for any perspective on this process from Obama, who’s been swaddled in it.
Good stuff; thanks for posting!
Oct 21, 2008 - 11:26 am 25. Fred:Any chance of blaming all this on global warming, the credit crunch, or atomic testing?
Since Obama has no accomplishments, none of this is his fault; His “Change” is yet to come!
Oct 21, 2008 - 12:31 pm 26. George Best:The best part of our society is kind of like a football team full of offensive lineman. No one talks about them unless they make a mistake. The talented people in this country do not run for public office and just continue to make money and create jobs for others. You rarely hear about those people. The ones you do hear about are the people that make mistakes and try to blame others for the problem or those attention hounds that just lie enough to that people will believe them eventually. Barack Obama is not unique. I know so many people like him who just lie their ass off to build a resume while trying to convince the general uneducated public that they are actually doing something. They dont create anything and just live off others and get jobs that require them to do nothing but be a professional ass kisser or press the flesh.
This kind of person is going to become more prevalent in this society because less people are succeding on merit so people instead have to appear successful. The average person is going to vote for a smooth talker over someone who has actually done anything on their own. I kind of liken it to the Kennedys and will always remember one of Joes best quotes: “Its not what you have done or what you are, but its what people think you are or have done”(or something like that). Obama is like a black Kennedy. Their corruption and lies are just on different streets.
The fact Obama is not winning handily says how pathetic he is. I mean can the best this country do for President be him? Biden is the biggest moron on this planet yet they are masters at insulting McCain and Palin. McCain simply is not a fighter at this stage in life and has no ability to relate to people. Watch him speak and you feel like he resents people and wants to get finished ASAP, where as Obama makes you feel like you are in church with a great preacher. The funny thing is that in private they are each the opposite of how they appear in public. Obama has shown his true colors too many times yet people still vote for him because of charisma. He is like Robo President, made in Africa, and exported to USA to win elections with personality. There is no individuality.
The bottom line is that Obama has fooled enough people to get elected, including some of those that are so stupid that they dont know they have been fooled. The rest of us are just going to have to get creative with hiding our money because Obama is going to be our next President.
I cant even get basic services done correctly anymore. I go to get a cell phone plan for my business with 5 phones and 3000 minutes and they instead set it up as five individual plans. The hassle trying to get it corrected. The key in all honesty is that if I get a foreign sounding person or african american in customer service, I just hang up and dial again until I get a white person who speaks English. There are still a few of them left and they by far outshine others in customer service.
Oct 21, 2008 - 12:38 pm 27. Timothy Hadley:Dr. Hanson,
I strongly agree, though sadly, with your on-target comments about business incompetence. Though I have no essential disagreement with companies outsourcing customer-service jobs, I think they do have both an ethical and a practical/pragmatic obligation to provide us with representatives on the other end of the line who can speak English well enough to be understood.
This problem is compounded for me because I have a moderate hearing loss and wear hearing aids. The foreign accents of the Indonesian-Indian-Sri Lankan or wherever-else-they-are call-center workers often makes it almost impossible for me to understand what they are saying, and thus to transact needed business. Though they are often very courteous and helpful, and try very hard to accommodate, I simply cannot understand what they are saying.
Perhaps one solution to this problem would be for all of us, when faced with this issue, to communicate with these companies and tell them that we will no longer do business with them until they provide phone representatives that we can understand. Then we will have to back it up by switching to another company. If enough people did this, we might see some changes in the devil-may-care attitude toward customers that Dr. Hanson describes, and we might get back to a situation where “customer service” becomes, once again, more than just an empty slogan.
Oct 21, 2008 - 12:58 pm 28. TG Poll:From my experience, customer service gets a lot better in recessions.
Oct 21, 2008 - 2:10 pm 29. TLM:Re #23:
Read the pdf file on this link. That Obama is a charismatic figure — in the religious sense — seems pretty obvious. Most charismatics employ some of these techniques, whether they were trained in hypnosis/NLP or not. I have no background in hypnosis, but (as I wrote here long ago) Obama’s hand gestures during his speeches have always struck me as odd. Your article offers a reasonable explanation of his behavior.
I tried being hypnotized a few times but kept falling asleep during the induction phase. The hypnotist said I wasn’t very suggestable. Actually, I was working 20 hr days and was mostly just tired. Maybe that’s why a lot of hard working people in this country are not mesmerized by Obama.
On another note – a previous Obama quote:
“But it’s also important that a president speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, but of many”.
This, along with Biden’s statement about Obama being tested, has led some to question whether Obama is going to call for a draft.
The Military Times reports that officers and enlisted prefer McCain 3:1 to Obama. President Obama may need a draft if there is an exodus of personnel and enlistment falls off over uncertainty re the new Commander in Chief.
Oct 21, 2008 - 8:26 pm 30. David Thomson:I pay all my creditors on their respective websites or via cell phone. There are no exceptions whatsoever. Zero. I know about the time of the month to expect these bills—and normally pay them before they arrive via the USPS! All the pertinent information is hosted on my Google documents. I literally copy and paste the account information, and complete the transaction in a minute or two. Folks, it is time to enter the 21st Century.
Oct 21, 2008 - 9:10 pm 31. JMH:I think VDH is correct about poor customer service being the result of a broken education system, but it’s worth pointing out the system is broken on two ends. A high school diploma no longer means anything, and an Ivy League business MBA probably means even less.
Too many of the executives at large companies these days came out of big name eastern business schools and don’t know their head from a hole in the ground (which is usually where they leave their companies). And their notion of ethics is pretty sad.
At the other end, it’s incredibly difficult to staff a call center with competent people. I know people trying to do that at a small local company, and it’s very frustrating for them. Anyone who has it together enough to show up to work on time two days in a row expects a “career path” and generally hops to another job in a few months.
Oct 22, 2008 - 8:06 am 32. Tina Trent:As I sat grading papers in the converted storage area that served as the only office for at least a dozen adjunct instructors, I often found it hard to concentrate because of the salsa music and chatter coming from the “cultural” office next door, where the full-time “outreach” employee enjoyed a space to herself larger than the one where I tried to actually perform the task of teaching while vying for one of the four desks in the room. In the office next door, the cultural outreach employee enjoyed a working phone, a real salary, benefits, job security and health insurance (and her own desk) — all things denied to 70% of the teachers (soon to be 90%). I taught Western Civ. to overloaded classes, graded essays, and tried mightily to improve my students’ writing skills: she prattled on in her office about cultural diversity, or something, while making so much noise that I took to grading papers in my car, despite the heat.
There you have it: there were, of course, no adjuncts among the large class of well-paid deans and outreach workers and diversity enforcers at that school: only teachers are expendable these days. And yet, not only did every one of my students learn about culture and history and writing in my classes: many approached me to say that they were amazed to have enjoyed Homer or Machiavelli or Shakespeare; one young woman reported, no doubt accurately, that Machiavelli helped her to understand her sorority. They liked Homer. They were moved by Oedipus Rex. They sensed the common humanity (and inhumanity and strangeness) across centuries.
So in addition to teaching, we were performing the same task that the “outreach” worker was being paid handsomely to (purportedly) do. Only we were actually doing it, and she was actually practicing subsidized divisiveness.
There really is no way to destroy our culture more thoroughly, or to inculcate more racial discord, than what we are doing now in the schools.
Oct 22, 2008 - 9:12 am 33. jp:TLM:
Hmmm…will we even have a Military left
under BHO? With the current projection of new spending that he has proposed standing at about 1.2 Trillion+, does this include his following proposals:
Civilian National Defense Fund, for which he is calling for funding “equal to the Military” budget, or 500 Billion/year. In addition he proposed to cut back the Military, stop our ballistic missiles protection program, not allow nuclear programs, etc.
His “Share Our Wealth With the Rest of The World” program. How many hundreds of Billions of hard earned American dollars will we be sending out of the USA — to countries that hate America?
Anybody have any idea how many more multi billion dollar “rescue” programs the Democrats will come up with to save Fannie and Freddie etc., a problem that goes beck to the 1960’s, starting with Jimmie Carter and then with Bill Clinton passing more laws, forcing banks to make loans to people that they knew could never pay for them. Both President Bush and John McCain tried to pass laws to tighten the regulations for Fannie and Freddie, which were defeated by the Dems.
The DNC. MSM and BHO have shown that they will say and do anything to win this election, no matter how low they have to go, and what lies they have to tell.
Oct 22, 2008 - 12:10 pm 34. frank Miller:So wins obama. May Our God preserve us all.
FM
Oct 23, 2008 - 12:45 am 35. TLM:re frank Miller:
It ain’t over ’til we vote.
If Obama wins, just remember that the MSM stole this election for him. Personally, I’ll never trust their opinion or analysis again, on any subject.
And if Obama loses, it should be seen as the American public acknowledging the fact that the media failed to vet this candidate adequately. These are trying times indeed to select a leader we know so little about.
Oct 23, 2008 - 5:50 am 36. Ron Kean:17. Not Incompetence, It’s Theft
Some time ago, AmEx had a campaign on TV led by the late Carl Maulden. He encouraged travellers to keep one traveller’s check in his wallet after coming back home. They made a fortune on interest from that campaign.
People talk about Obama and Marxism and Socialism referring only to economics. What nobody talks about is the most prominent facet of those ideologies. That is, eliminating the opposition. Imagine the type of behavior that tried to silence Mr. Kurtz and Mr. Freddoso on WGN having federal sanction.
Some may laugh, but I fear for Right Wing commentators. If Obama’s biggest criteria is loyalty, who will he appoint to head the IRS and the FBI? The FCC?
Oct 23, 2008 - 12:05 pm 37. Charles:The Obama birth certificate story has now got up to the national review
Its got the point now where people are saying obama is bringing in 200k pre hour. he could make this story go away for $15 by producing a birth certificate. but instead his lawyers have become squirmy about it.
Oct 23, 2008 - 4:20 pm 38. William:Not only has our progressive education system turned a massive number of persons under the age of 50 into a large lump of incompetents, the Great Society has turned most of the population in the inner city communities into a group of uneductated, unskilled, unemployable dolts whose only means of survival is crime.
Oct 24, 2008 - 7:59 am 39. Dr. T:I can identify with many of the scenarios (especially HughesNet with its support site in India). I also agree that our educational system, based on a model developed when we were mostly an agrarian and manual labor society, is a failure.
However, I think you overgeneralized. There still exist a few companies that understand customer service. For example, I have automatic credit card payments with some businesses. A few of them sent reminders that my credit card expiration date was two months away, and that I should call or use a special form on their secure web site to update the card. On another recent occasion, the automatic full payment option (set up at my bank) on my American Express Card failed. Though American Express was not at fault, they immediately reversed the late payment penalty and the interest charge, and they offered to set up the automatic payment system themselves.
Customer tolerance of poor service explains its high prevalence. Too few of us stop doing business with companies that treat us badly. My relatives and friends think I’m crazy for changing banks, credit cards, e-mail providers, plumbers, etc. after repeated episodes of poor service. I think they’re crazy for not doing so themselves. That’s the only effective way to send a message that quality counts.
Oct 24, 2008 - 8:42 am 40. Ron Kean:I’m curious about the lack of Obama supporters on this thread lately. Usually we can count on a few anti-VDH types chiming in. Not that I miss them.
Are they watching the polls and gloating? Have they resigned themselves to being bested logically here and dropped out?
We must dig deep and give money to McCain. It’s the only thing we can do.
Mr. Berg was on Savage last night with his law suit. But Little Green Footballs wants no part of it. #37 Charles is right. Why won’t Obama just show it? It’s like Kerry. He only shows the ‘Discharge’ that Carter issued to draft dodgers and deserters. He won’t open up the form 180 for a reason.
They’re both hiding the obvious. Or is there something else we don’t know?
Oct 24, 2008 - 10:31 am 41. George Best:36…when did Karl Malden die? I missed that one. I love Streets of San Francisco and when he dies, a moment of silence is in order.
Oct 24, 2008 - 10:35 am 42. Batman:Did Senator Obama go to church on the Sunday after 9-11? If he did, he surely heard Reverend Wright’s indictment of the United States. If he didn’t, then where was he?
Church and Synagogue attendence on the weekend following 9-11 was possibly the highest in history and certainly the highest in recent years. I’d venture to say that nearly every reader of this column was in church or synagogue that weekend.
Where was Senator Obama on September 16, 2001? And where were his wife and kids?
Oct 25, 2008 - 4:14 pm 43. dm:“After the junk bond meltdown, the S&L debacle, and now the financial panic, in just a few years the financial community destroyed the ancient wisdom”
I have a huge amount of repect for vdh, but his piling on the financial industry in this current catastophe is off-base.
Yes, they did not cover themselves with honor…but the clear perpetrator of the greatest financial catastrophe of all time is Big Government.
The Mortgage industry businesses did not wake up one morning in the late 90’s, take stupid pills in concert, and decide to make 2% loans to ex-cons with 500 credit scores.
The government forced it, pure and simple.
No individual business could wreck the havoc that central government can wreck. Check with Soviet Russia and China from the 50’s to the 80’s for confirmation.
And the recent huge market losses result from Soros and other speculators (probably including foreign powers) driving the equity markets down to get Obama elected. The Sept/Oct drop in the Dow is the largest on record, including 1932, for an election year. It is not due to normal market fluctuations. There were no economic indicators that merited such a drop. Unemployment was ok, cpi was ok, PE ratios were ok, personal income was ok, consumer spending was ok, etc., etc., etc.
And the unprecedented drop in gasoline prices has also been manipulation to get Obama elected. There was never anything remotely like it before, ever.
The data points about the huge drops in market equities and gas are facts, not speculation.
Mr. Hanson is wrong to pin this all on greedy executives. The financial industry did not perform well, but the massive problems the country now faces are due to your government’s foolish risk-taking and the left’s scorched earth effort to get Obama elected. Period.
Nov 23, 2008 - 5:27 pm