Government at all levels often solves the wrong problem, is not very smart, is slow to act. Allow me to provide a vivid example.
Shipping is backing up at West Coast ports with more than 100 ships awaiting unloading at ports like Long Beach and Los Angeles. This will negatively impact Christmas sales, the cost of transportation, and temporary holiday hiring.
Here is a recent graphic showing the status of Long Beach.
The yellow dots are ships waiting to unload.
The United States of America was created by leaders in the North American English Colonies rising in revolt against their English King who at that time commanded the largest and most lethal army and navy in the world. King George III started his reign as a popular king known for being able to speak to the “common man.”
King George III, the man who made the United States of America and never got the credit. Weird looking left hand?
When you are calling in CAS (close air support — might be Snakes, Warthogs, fast movers, Puff the Magic Dragon — I know, dating myself) you will tell the flyboys they are “cleared hot” meaning they can bring their special brand of firepower and turn it loose on the target and that the friendlies are out of the line of fire. You are also assuring them that if you had guns firing that the gun-target line is clear.
When you are a CEO, you can never, ever clear yourself in hot when disciplining employees. Continue reading
Today, your Big Red Car brings you the talented and mysterious artiste Hunter Biden who has agreed to sit down with us in his studio, take a break from his heavy painting and exhibition schedule, and chat about things.
The artiste Hunter Biden with some of his inspiring work in his studio which used to be his living room.
Hunter: Look, Big Red Car, a couple of ground rules first.
BRC: Sure, Hunter, what’s on your mind?
HB: No Ukraine, Buresma, drugs, hookers, private equity, no laptop baloney — deal? Art, only art, I’m a serious artiste. Notice I put an “e” on it. So, we good?
BRC: Sounds fair. Let’s dive into it. How long have you been a serious artist?
I have been totally mystified as to what the end game is on the Southern Border — why? What is going on on the border? I live in Texas and it is a disaster.
It is not, however, solely about a broken, nonsensical, sophomoric immigration policy — we are on track to admit more ILLEGAL immigrants than LEGAL immigrants which seems sort of dumb — it is also about drugs, in particular FENTANYL.
Fentanyl (developed in 1960 as a legitimate drug as a painkiller and as a surgery anesthetic because it did not make patients nauseous) is a hyper-dangerous synthetic opioid that is 100 X more powerful than morphine and 50X more powerful than heroin which is damn strong. Continue reading
If you are a startup that has survived for three years, have a substantial gross revenue, are EBITDA positive, are GAAP earnings profitable, and have an attractive annual growth rate — CONGRATULATIONS.
You are a top 1-5% startup company and now you face the Three Year Itch or the Second Scale issue.
The problem is this —
1. You are as busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. Everybody is working their butt off. You can feel the effort in the air. Taste it. You are proud, but exhausted.
2. Noting the above, you feel the need to add hands and person hours to the organization — maybe, just to relieve the perceived burden currently. Belay that thought.
In your exhaustion, you are struggling to figure out how. Perfectly normal, sorry.
3. You want to grow — double in sales in the next 2-3 years [in my mind, you are in the $10MM range headed to $25MM in Year 3 of the New Plan (meaning Year 6 from founding)].
4. You are clearly a powerful entrepreneur, but you have no idea how to handle the next three years — you had no idea how to form a company and take it to market, but you seem to have knocked it out of the park, so do not fret.
5. You are going to do this thing. Why not do it under control? Continue reading
Yawn! You knew it was going to happen. It was always in the cards and now the hand is dealt. Cards are face up.
First, the Gigafactory for the new Tesla pickup and now this. A couple of other Musk companies along the way.
Austin By God Texas is to be the new home of the Tesla headquarters according to the man himself, Elon Musk — who also moved to Austin earlier last year.
Austin By God Texas, where the world is moving. No income tax, y’all.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
Austin and Elon Musk, a match made in Texas. Thanks, California.
I was getting ready to write a blog post contrasting and comparing the various generations, so I did some research to make sure I had the demarcation lines right.
Turns out it is very complicated. Here is what I have found:
I am ignoring the Lost Generation, the Generation of 1914, and the Interbellum Generation since they would be 106-131 years old today. Sorry. No disrespect intended.
1. Depression Era Generation, the Greatest Generation – born 1912-21 (my late father’s bunch) – 12,000,000 declining rapidly
2. World War II Generation – born 1922-27 (some fought in WWII) – 11,000,000 declining rapidly
3. Post War Generation – born 1928-45 – 41,000,000 declining
The three preceding generations are also called the Silent Generations, the Traditionalists. You can get an argument on that.
4. Baby Boomers, Boomer Cohort I – born 1946-54 (my gang) – 33,000,000
5. Baby Boomers II, Generation Jones – born 1955-65 – 49,000,000
Taken together BB I/II totals 82,000,000 making them the largest generation.
6. Generation X, the Baby Bust – born 1966-76 – 41,000,000
7. Millennials, Echo Boomers, Generation Y, Gen Next – born 1977-1994 (my children) – 71,000,000 – the second largest generation
8. Generation Z, iGen, Centennials – born 1995-2012 – 23,000,000
9. Gen Alpha – born 2013-25
Stay tuned. More to come.
Generation Alpha grabbing a nap while pondering the future, hoping the Millennials don’t wreck the joint while she’s growing up. Loves Boomers — grand parental units — cause they can be talked into anything.
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