Living in the Age of Tycoons

The industrial age of the nineteenth century saw the rise of the tycoon.  Men who by the strength of personalities, good fortune, and willingness to take risks rose to control the economy of the United States.  They acquired great wealth in a time when most of the country was struggling to make ends meet, and support themselves.

They have left an unmistakable imprint on the America of today, but in their time, they were feared and despised by those whose lives they controlled and the politicians they had not bought.  Names like Andrew Carnage, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt controlled the critical industries of steel, oil, and transportation, and did everything within their power to eliminate competition, and gain a monopoly.  This became such a central issue to our economy that Theodore Roosevelt set out to break them, and their stranglehold on the nation through the courts, after Congress wrote anti-monopoly laws to force competition.

Andrew Carnegie

John D. Rockefeller

Cornelius Vanderbilt

In the 20^th Century we saw a similar pattern with the likes of Henry Ford and John Paul Getty, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Sam Walton and the Koch Brothers.  Men who saw a need, created a product, and through strength of personality grew their businesses, while they amassed billions of dollars in wealth.  Their vision, their willingness to take risk, and ability to dominate their competition stands as a testament that no matter the rules or hurdles placed before someone, a select few will find a way to separate themselves from the average man or woman.

John Paul Getty

Warren Buffet

Bill Gates

As if proof of this statement is necessary, here we are in the 21^st Century and who do we find as this age’s industrial tycoons.  We are in the age of information and advanced technology so it seems fitting to recognize Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Eric Schmidt of Alphabet Corp (owns Google), and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.  Are these men any different than the tycoons of the 19^th century?

Jeff Bezos

Eric Schmidt

Mark Zuckerberg

Although I am sure they would cite their pure humanitarian interests I think the answer is obvious by how they run their corporations.  Just like the tycoons of the 19^th and 20^th century they will do whatever they can get away with to dominate their market and eliminate, or at least minimize, the potential for a rival to take away market share or profit.  They, like their role models of the earlier times, will also make their profits on the back of the average employee and will side with whatever causes they believe will improve market share.  A recent case study with Google serves as a good illustration.  Despite Google’s discrimination in its hiring, promotion, and pay for women, when an employee had the gall to justify why this might be the case he was immediately fired for questioning the public position of the company.  The only true difference I see is those 19^th century tycoons would probably have had the employee beaten to show him or her who is really in charge.

Today we see Google coming under increasing anti-trust litigation, and attacks from various governments for its failure to pay, what they believe to be, appropriate taxes.  The same is true for Amazon.  Facebook is just a bit different, but we frequently hear how it, as a private organization, will make a determination on what speech it will allow, and what speech it won’t.  Since Facebook has not been classified a public utility I believe they have a right to do so here in the US.  Of course, in China, Russia, and much of the rest of the world, how Facebook edits content is more in the hands of the host nations.  It’s willingness to modify its standards to ensure national access and government support is in the finest traditions of the industrial tycoons.

At the end of the day the central focus of a rising tycoon is on the accumulation of wealth, it is only later in life do they try and figure out how to leave a favorable legacy.  For those who condemn the 1%, tell me how that condemnation will alter the drive and desire of those who strive to be in that group?

What Will President Obama's Legacy Be?

I awoke this morning to the sounds of the night ending.  The quiet was being replaced by the muffled cry of a lark or sparrow. The cat stretched against the blinds, and the bed protested under my shifting weight.  Alone, I opened my eyes to the darkness and tried to bring my brain to life.  What day was it?  What do I have to do?  Can I lay here just a while longer, under the warmth of the cover?  All important questions, but far too complex for this time of day so I rolled over and buried my head under the pillow, but the day continued and the inevitability of it was unavoidable, so I got up to make some coffee and feed the cats.

It has been an interesting 24 hours.  At this time yesterday I awoke to find the country had elected a Republican President, and left control of the Congress with the Republicans.  The shock to the many supporters of the Democratic candidate was palpable, as was the relief of the Republican side. The two candidates gave their expected speeches, and both were rated as excellent by those who rate such thing.  Mr. Trump’s victory speech was moderate and consolatory, while Ms. Clinton’s was perhaps her most human of the campaign.  She called for her followers to support the President, as we would hope, and urged them to continue to fight for the values she and they believed in.

Later in the day, her supporters would be found protesting and rioting in the streets, so perhaps they had not seen the speech, or chose to ignore it.

I happened to visit the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library last weekend during my visit to Austin, Texas.  It is an impressive structure.  Oversized, like the President, especially when I compare it to the Presidential Library in my hometown of Hyde Park.  You walk away from that library with an understanding that LBJ’s focus for his Presidency was to make life better for America’s poorest.  Through the establishment of social welfare and civil rights programs he did improve opportunity for many.  He did so in a time where US Industry dominated the world economy and we thought little about the cost of those programs.  Today, as our economic base shrinks those costs remain as “must pay” portions of our government, but they were decided on through a legitimate legislative process by a bi-partisan government.  Because he was a consummate deal maker in Congress he knew how to work with Congress and as a result his signature pieces of legislation endure.

During the campaign President Obama actively championed Ms. Clinton, urging their supporters to get out to vote.  He used all his familiar tools, he vilified Mr. Trump as unfit and unqualified, and praised Ms. Clinton for her experience.  He told the crowds he would take it as a personal affront if they did not elect Ms. Clinton to carry on his legacy.  So now that his support has failed to push her over the top, what kind of legacy will he leave?

President Obama is viewed as a great President by the media and his supporters, but from a critical analysis perspective I have to wonder why?  Will his leadership set the nation on a path as LBJ’s did or will it wither and die on the vine once he is not in the White House to push it every day?  I’ll let you decide, but here are some relevant facts.

President Johnson:  In office as President, 1,886 days.  Over 1,200 pieces of legislation turned into law.  Most notable, he pushed for “The Great Society” with bills including the Civil Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Voting Rights Act.  He also pushed through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, as well as establishing National Public Broadcasting, and protecting our wilderness areas.  Unfortunately for Johnson he inherited a small conflict that he allowed to grow into a major war that saw us send 550,000 troops to the small country of South Vietnam and lose over 58,000 killed and over 211,000 wounded.  This war cost him his opportunity for a second term and has condemned him to the back shelf in liberal politics.

President Obama:  In office as President, 2,922 days (as of 20 Jan 17).  Total legislation is probably over 1,000, with his most notable achievement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed on a purely partisan basis.  He inherited 2 wars which have continued as reduced levels, but whose areas of concern have expanded to include Syria, Egypt, Libya and Northern Iraq.  His most notable achievement, PP ACA, is showing signs of collapse, and since it was a pure partisan effort it is unlikely to survive a Republican change when Mr. Trump and the Republican Congress arrive.

Myths and Legends, (Part 1)

At the turn of the 19^th century an ambitious New York politician was nominated as the Vice President for the Republican Party.  His party won the election and he assumed his role as Vice President on the fourth of March, 1901.  He was just 42 years old.  The following September, when the President died from an assassin’s bullet, he became the 26^th, and youngest, President of the United States.  What is lost on most Republicans today is the progressive and populist spirit he brought to the office.

His “square deal” focused on providing the common man with new benefits, increased government regulation of the food and drug industries, and destroying the monopolies that had grown during the industrial revolution and the expansion of the interstate transportation system of the day.

Recognizing the need to protect the land from the greed of the developers he established a system of National Parks where the pristine beauty of the land could be preserved.

A longtime proponent of the US involvement in foreign affairs he sent the US Navy on a trip around the world, without the funding to make it.  The “great white fleet,” as it came to be known, did not have congressionally approved funding for the trip, but the President knew that once they were on the way the Congress would have little choice but provide the funding.

He earned the Nobel Peace prize for his work in bringing the Russo-Japanese war to an end.

So let’s review the facts:  The president set out his vision on what would make life better for the individual, he created the “bully pulpit” to fight the corporations, he took unilateral action when the Congress was slow to act, and advanced our role in international affairs over the objections of an isolationist majority.

By most accounts Theodore Roosevelt is recognized as a “Great” President, with his face permanently displayed on Mount Rushmore.  I wonder how most modern Republicans would view him today?  Although a fiscal conservative, he was a social progressive (including support for eugenics), and an advocate for global involvement.  Would he still find a home in the Republican party?  He didn’t fit in well then, and I am guessing he wouldn’t fit at all now.

Reunion Weekend

This was a reunion weekend for a group of aging warriors. They are men who took their aircraft deep into harms way and returned. I am honored and humbled to be in their midst and to remember those who were not as fortunate as us. 

During the annual business meeting the topic turned to how to invigorate the group with the generations that followed behind us.  That seems to be a very real question, I don’t know if it indicative of todays Air Force, but we seem to be separated by time and space from those who fly the Chariot of Armageddon carrying US Special Forces into and home from todays conflict.  The question becomes how to bridge that gap.  It is a question we struggle with; without a good answer.

We sat drinking a beverage or two as the sun set on the Emerald coast.  I chatted with Frank, a navigator like me, Banzi was there, as was Kevin and Brooks who talked about what they were doing these days, T.J. was as loud and boisterous as ever, and Papasan kept everything organized.  I left early to get ready for an overdue vacation in the Northeast, but I suspect they carried on for a fair time past my departure.

The next morning we met at a flying squadron on base for a series of briefings.  I was honored to brief them on the AFSOC Commander's vision for how future forces would be positioned around the world to support the Combatant Commanders as they implement their parts of the National Strategy.  I talked with them about the toll this long war has taken, how our men and woman are stretched thin, and are asked to make sacrifices few can appreciate.   How the stress on our force manifests itself every day with the return of the wounded from far distant lands.   

Each day I read the morning brief given to the Chief of Staff for the US Air Force.  Each day there are reports of airman who can no longer stand the pain, lose the will to fight or carry on, are swallowed by the feelings of hopelessness, or are in other ways tormented by the images of this long war to the point they choose to end their lives.  Our challenge is to seek them out, to see their pain before it turns to self-destruction.   That is the challenge that our Generals now must face if we are to keep our armed forces combat ready.  The tools we use in combat are nothing without the human spirit that guides them.  Our Generals now realize we can no longer ignore the human impacts of conflict, we must find a way to heal our force and it doesn’t just mean more time off, more pay, or more medals.  We have to find a way to guide our men and woman toward healing, because we cannot afford to do otherwise.

Sitting before me these men and their wives know the pain of loss and the stress of separation and carry many of the same scares, I wonder how we could draw some of their strength to teach our young how they endured and what gives them the strength to carry on?  How do we bring the young into our little band of comrades so they may vent, share, and perhaps heal?

As these thoughts spin in my head, I continue on to talk about the next generation of aircraft and how they will continue the legacy these men established as quiet professionals, who are the first ones sent when the nation calls.  These are the men who have flown to places like the SonTay prisoner of war camp in North Viet Nam, the Desert in Iran, they were the first to airdrop Army Rangers on the Island of Granada, they were the first into Panama, they took the Green Berets into Afghanistan after 9/11, and a hundred other places you have never heard of.

Overall, it was a good weekend.

Giving Thanks

It is so easy for us to be caught up in the moment, to think this instant in time is the most important.  Often it is, and it must be, for if we are not in the living in the here and the now then how are we to chart our futures?  But there are times when it is good to step back, to view our lives, or conditions, and our world with the perspective of time.

As trying and tremulous as our time, imagine how it must have been for those refugees from Europe who set out in a small boat, risking everything for a different life, free of the persecutions of the established churches and kingdoms of Europe.

Aided by the natives they survived that first year.  They learned new ways, and in that year of 1621 commemorated their harvest with the Wampanoag Indians in what has become our annual celebration.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Icarus Room

    We have conference rooms in my building.  Places where men and women can assemble and discuss issues of importance, convey concise and meticulously prepared briefings, inform commanders, and seek resolution of problems and have decisions made.  These are typical rooms with a table in the middle and chairs around, with extra seating along the walls as the room will bear.

    Someone got the bright idea that each room should be named after something of significance in our organizations history.  For example the commanders conference room is called the Chindit Room.  It is named after the British commando group that fought in the Burma Theater of operations in World War II.  The Chindits were led by British Brigadier General Orde Charles Wingate and were made up regular British Army, Gurkha’s and British Indian Army units.  This is significant to us   because we trace our lineage back to the 1^st Air Commando Group, organized by the Army Air Force to support them.  An interesting side note:   they were the first unit to use a helicopter in an actual operation.

    The main conference room is of course the Air Commando Room, again reflecting back to our founding and what all Air Force Special Operators refer to themselves as.  Then we have the Jungle Jim Room, named after the force assembled in the early 1960’s to help train the South Vietnamese.  There is a Farmgate room named after the first deployment of the Air Commando Group to VietNam, and the Partisan Room, reflecting Special Operations support in the European Theater. 

    I am surprised we don’t have a Carpetbagger Room, to recall the name of the force that flew in Europe in WWII, but being in a Southern state I guess there have to be some allowances for the political sensitivities towards Carpetbaggers in the area.

    Then we have smaller rooms like the SonTay (a raid to rescue POW’s in North VietNam) and Spirit (after the call sign for an AC-130 shot down in Desert Storm).  Finally we have the A5/8/9 War Room.  I think we can do better than that and take the harsh edge off this whole “war” thing.

    I proposed we call it the Icarus Room, named after one of the hero’s of the Greek Legend of Daedalos and his son Icarus.  The story goes that once upon a time on the island of Crete a king named Minos who had Daedalos, a great architect and inventor build a great Labyrinth so King Minos could keep his Minotaur.  After the Labyrinth was build King Minos imprisoned Daedalos and his son in a high tower so they could not tell anyone the secret of the Labyrinth.

    Daedalos and Icarus did not like being prisoners so Deadalos came up with a scheme to build wings from bird feathers and wax.  Daedalos warned his son to be careful when they were flying.  Too low to the water and he might fall in, but if he flew too high in the sky the sun would melt the wax on his wings and he would fall.

    So they set off for to fly away for their freedom.  At first everything went well, but after a little while Icarus got tired of just flying in a straight line. He began to try to do tricks and go up and down. His father told him to cut it out and behave himself, but Icarus was having too much fun to listen, and he kept on going up, higher and higher. Suddenly he realized his wings really WERE melting! He tried to go back down again, but it was too late. His wings came apart, and he fell into the ocean, where he drowned.

    Daedalus was horrified that his son had died, and spent a long time searching for his body, but when he found it there was nothing he could do.

    So why would I call the room the Icarus Room?  It is the place where we come up with grandiose ideas that rise up so high they melt and come crashing down.