Some insight into government and business….

I’m going to step away from XanGo for a bit and show you an article that was posted in the Wall Street Journal.  Give it a read.  It has some great insight on why the government CAN’T run a business!!

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Why Government Can’t Run a Business – Politicians need headlines. Executives need profits.

By JOHN STEELE GORDON

The Obama administration is bent on becoming a major player in — if not taking over entirely — America ’s health-care, automobile and banking industries. Before that happens, it might be a good idea to look at the government’s track record in running economic enterprises. It is terrible.

In 1913, for instance, thinking it was being overcharged by the steel companies for armor plate for warships, the federal government decided to build its own plant. It estimated that a plant with a 10,000-ton annual capacity could produce armor plate for only 70% of what the steel companies charged.

When the plant was finally finished, however — three years after World War I had ended — it was millions over budget and able to produce armor plate only at twice what the steel companies charged. It produced one batch and then shut down, never to reopen.

Or take Medicare. Other than the source of its premiums, Medicare is no different, economically, than a regular health-insurance company. But unlike, say, UnitedHealthcare, it is a bureaucracy-beclotted nightmare, riven with waste and fraud. Last year the Government Accountability Office estimated that no less than one-third of all Medicare disbursements for durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs and hospital beds, were improper or fraudulent. Medicare was so lax in its oversight that it was approving orthopedic shoes for amputees.

These examples are not aberrations; they are typical of how governments run enterprises. There are a number of reasons why this is inherently so. Among them are:

1) Governments are run by politicians, not businessmen. Politicians can only make political decisions, not economic ones. They are, after all, first and foremost in the re-election business. Because of the need to be re-elected, politicians are always likely to have a short-term bias. What looks good right now is more important to politicians than long-term consequences even when those consequences can be easily foreseen. The gathering disaster of Social Security has been obvious for years, but politics has prevented needed reforms.

And politicians tend to favor parochial interests over sound economic sense. Consider a thought experiment. There is a national widget crisis and Sen. Wiley Snoot is chairman of the Senate Widget Committee. There are two technologies that are possible solutions to the problem, with Technology A widely thought to be the more promising of the two. But the company that has been developing Technology B is headquartered in Sen. Snoot’s state and employs 40,000 workers there. Which technology is Sen. Snoot going to use his vast legislative influence to push?

2) Politicians need headlines. And this means they have a deep need to do something (“Sen. Snoot Moves on Widget Crisis!”), even when doing nothing would be the better option. Markets will always deal efficiently with gluts and shortages, but letting the market work doesn’t produce favorable headlines and, indeed, often produces the opposite (“Sen. Snoot Fails to Move on Widget Crisis!”).

3) Governments use other people’s money. Corporations play with their own money. They are wealth-creating machines in which various people (investors, managers and labor) come together under a defined set of rules in hopes of creating more wealth collectively than they can create separately.

So a labor negotiation in a corporation is a negotiation over how to divide the wealth that is created between stockholders and workers. Each side knows that if they drive too hard a bargain they risk killing the goose that lays golden eggs for both sides. Just ask General Motors and the United Auto Workers.

But when, say, a school board sits down to negotiate with a teachers union or decide how many administrators are needed, the goose is the taxpayer. That’s why public-service employees now often have much more generous benefits than their private-sector counterparts. And that’s why the New York City public school system had an administrator-to-student ratio 10 times as high as the city’s Catholic school system, at least until Mayor Michael Bloomberg (a more than competent businessman before he entered politics) took charge of the system.

4) Government does not tolerate competition. The Obama administration is talking about creating a “public option” that would compete in the health-insurance marketplace with profit-seeking companies. But has a government entity ever competed successfully on a level playing field with private companies? I don’t know of one.

5) Government enterprises are almost always monopolies and thus do not face competition at all. But competition is exactly what makes capitalism so successful an economic system. The lack of it has always doomed socialist economies.

When the federal government nationalized the phone system in 1917, justifying it as a wartime measure that would lower costs, it turned it over to the Post Office to run. (The process was called “postalization,” a word that should send shivers down the back of any believer in free markets.) But despite the promise of lower prices, practically the first thing the Post Office did when it took over was . . . raise prices.

Cost cutting is alien to the culture of all bureaucracies. Indeed, when cost cutting is inescapable, bureaucracies often make cuts that will produce maximum public inconvenience, generating political pressure to reverse the cuts.

6) Successful corporations are run by benevolent despots. The CEO of a corporation has the power to manage effectively. He decides company policy, organizes the corporate structure, and allocates resources pretty much as he thinks best. The board of directors ordinarily does nothing more than ratify his moves (or, of course, fire him). This allows a company to act quickly when needed.

But American government was designed by the Founding Fathers to be inefficient, and inefficient it most certainly is. The president is the government’s CEO, but except for trivial matters he can’t do anything without the permission of two separate, very large committees (the House and Senate) whose members have their own political agendas. Government always has many cooks, which is why the government’s broth is so often spoiled.

7) Government is regulated by government. When “postalization” of the nation’s phone system appeared imminent in 1917, Theodore Vail, the president of AT&T, admitted that his company was, effectively, a monopoly. But he noted that “all monopolies should be regulated. Government ownership would be an unregulated monopoly.”

It is government’s job to make and enforce the rules that allow a civilized society to flourish. But it has a dismal record of regulating itself. Imagine, for instance, if a corporation, seeking to make its bottom line look better, transferred employee contributions from the company pension fund to its own accounts, replaced the money with general obligation corporate bonds, and called the money it expropriated income. We all know what would happen: The company accountants would refuse to certify the books and management would likely — and rightly — end up in jail.

But that is exactly what the federal government (which, unlike corporations, decides how to keep its own books) does with Social Security. In the late 1990s, the government was running what it — and a largely unquestioning Washington press corps — called budget “surpluses.” But the national debt still increased in every single one of those years because the government was borrowing money to create the “surpluses.”

Capitalism isn’t perfect. Indeed, to paraphrase Winston Churchill’s famous description of democracy, it’s the worst economic system except for all the others. But the inescapable fact is that only the profit motive and competition keep enterprises lean, efficient, innovative and customer-oriented.

Mr. Gordon is the author of “An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power” (HarperCollins, 2004).

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I hope that shed some insight on why government needs to get out of the way and let the free markets work……

BJH

Do you want to look ageless??? Now you can…check this out…

Check out these clinical test results done with XanGo’s Glimpse Intuitive Skin Care line!!!

http://www.xango.com/science/test-results

 

For more info on Glimpse and other mangosteen health products, visit www.mymangosteenhealth.com

BJH

Study Reveals XanGo® Juice’s Effect on Inflammation Reduction

The results from a recent clinical study to evaluate the ability of XanGo Juice® to reduce inflammation levels in overweight persons with inflammation have been released – and the outcome is great news for our Juice drinkers!

The purpose of this study, conducted by the award-winning Jay Udani, MD, CPI, was to evaluate the efficacy of multiple dosages of XanGo Juice compared with a placebo in the improvement of inflammation and antioxidant levels in obese patients with a confirmed history of inflammation. The study showed that XanGo Juice reduces inflammation in obese patients, which may be valuable in preventing progression to diabetes and heart disease.

For all the details on this study – including length, dosage and other important parameters,

please click here.

XanGo continues to spearhead scientific exploration of the mangosteen and xanthones through a strategic, tiered approach, and this is just the latest independent research that confirms the benefits of the consuming the whole fruit mangosteen as found in XanGo Juice. We will keep you updated as we continue to pursue research that helps us further understand this amazing superfruit!

So check it out then come back and see how you can start drinking this phenomenal juice by going to

www.mymangosteenhealth.com!!

Talk to you soon!!!!

BJH

What are people doing to get through this down economy?

Times are tough now.  People (including most of you I’m sure) are looking for ways to cut back on spending, save some money, and alter your lifestyle because of the uncertainties of where the economy is headed.  Well I have a better idea which goes along with this news report.  Instead of cutting back, let’s find a way to bring more in!!!  Alternate streams of income are what is going to get people through this down turn.  Finding the way to do it though is the key.

Check out this broadcast and see why people are turning to the RECESSION PROOF industry of Network Marketing.

Click Here

See you at the TOP!!!

Brad

How to Thrive in a Down Economy

This is a great webinar.  It talks in detail about how YOU can grow financially in a rough economy that we are in now.  

So check it out then visit www.mymangosteenwealth.com for more info.  See you at the top.

http://webinars.myjetstream.net/webinars/dm/133/

 

Brad

XanGo’s Overdrive ‘08 is Almost Here!!

Overdrive 2008 Website is Live!

 Overdrive 2008 Convention is fast approaching—and we are ready! Visit your official home for Convention today and get all the details: www.xangooverdrive.com.  

 The Overdrive site lets you: 

• Get live updates of Convention from November 5^th to November 8^th
• Check the agenda and schedules of breakout sessions and corporate tours.
• Read a bio on the keynote speaker
• Take a sneak peak at what to expect in the XanGo Store
• Get Information about Salt Lake City as well as accommodations and transportation
• Read about announcements when they’re made during Convention

Keep Convention front and center on your screen! Click on this link to download the Overdrive desktop background: http://rs.xango.com/images/overdrive/overdrive-background-2.jpg

See you THERE!!!

-Brad

Toxins in Skin Products!!!

Hey Everyone,

I just need to say wow!! Does XanGo know where the market is or what? Studies are starting to come out on the problems of ingredients in your everyday skin-care products. FOX News came out with this report just today.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a skin care line that is 100% natural with no toxins…Well just wait, Glimpse launches the 1st week in November and will be available to everyone!!!

So watch the Fox News report below then visit my Glimpse Site to get your pre-order for Glimpse.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3126294&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/health/index.html

 

-Brad

A Glimpse at your Future…

Diabetes Webinar

You and your guests are invited to Dr Tootla’s Live Webinar Presentation featuring Compelling Testimonies  by individuals on how Mangosteen helped their Diabetes! 

Dr Tootla’s “Mangosteen and You” Webinar

 

Topic: Learn about the Facts, Risks and Prevention of Diabetes

Dr. Tootla is a World Renown Cancer Surgeon. He also has studied herbs and natural foods extensively and practiced prevention with his patients throughout his entire medical career. He is also one of the world’s Foremost Researchers of the Unique and Extraordinary Healing Properties found in the Xanthones within the Mangosteen Fruit.

Join us as Dr. Tootla answers questions and discusses the vital role that Xanthones and proper balanced nutrition play in Achieving Your Optimum Health and in the Prevention of Disease.

You will be educated and inspired.  

This will be a live event.

Host: Gary Goslin  20K

When: Wednesday, Septmeber 24, 2008 PM Time 9 EDT/8 CDT/7 MDT/6 PDT/5 AKDT/3 HST

To Join the Webinar CLICK HERE 15 minutes before the start time and phone the conference line for Webinar  

Audio: 712.429.0700 Pin: 608703#

No need to pre-register.
Space IS Limited.

Our Guest Speaker: 

Dr Amod Tootla MD

Dr. Tootla will be discussing the benefits of themangosteen fruitand the roll it can play in achieving your optimum health.

*Dr. Tootla is a Renowned Board Certified Cancer Surgeon and leading scientist.

*Named one of the top Surgeons in the United States by the Consumer Research Council of America in Washington, D.C for the last five years.

*Cambridge University nominated him one of the top 2,000 scientists in the world for the 21st century.

*Dr. Tootla is licensed to practice in 20 different countries and has the distinction of having introduced robotic surgery in the United States.

*He is a pioneer of laparoscopic colon surgery and has published numerous papers in the most prestigious medical journals in the world, including the New England Journal of Medicine.

*Dr. Tootla was the first surgeon to do surgery over the Internet – from Michigan to Buenos Aires in Argentina as reported on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal.

*Recently, he was the first surgeon to use radio frequency ablation for primary and metastasis liver cancer.

*Dr. Tootla has used Mangosteen Juice with well in excess of 1,000 of his patients to date.

*He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Health.

*He is a Fellow of the International College of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

*He is a Fellow of the American Society of Abdominal Surgeons.

*He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

*He is a Fellow of the International College of Surgeons.

*He is named in the “who’s who” in the American and Global Registry.

Be There!!!

-Brad

Conference call with 500K David Butler

Join 500K David Butler as he interviews one of the leaders responsible for their success. 100K Premier Susan Sprouse will be his special guest. Susan will share her knowledge and insights about their success!

We welcome you to join us!

Wednesday September 24th 7 PM MST (9PM EST)
212-796-1700 pin: 9263744

-Brad