Steve Litt, during the periods of decline that you rightly decry, we've GOTTEN the bureaucratic micromanagement you desire: the ever higher forced payroll costs and the tweaks of nearly every imaginable kind. Yet you refuse to admit the possibility that powermad micromanagement caused the mess.

Exemplifying the further decline you rightly fear is every bureaucratic micromanagement cabal ever to exist: dictatorial governments from ancient monarchies to China, N Korea, Cuba, Iran et al today. Yet you refuse to admit the possibility that powermad micromanagement caused the mess.

Do you like being micromanaged at work? Or do you think it causes more problems than solutions? Bear in mind that your boss or client KNOWS MORE about your job than an elected or appointed professional panderer ever will.

In an example we've discussed before, your boss and client KNOW that increased payroll must be offset if a business is to avoid decline and stay solvent. Bureaucrats don't know or don't care, and you join them by refusing to even admit the possibility.

Life IS meritocratic, from the early bird (or species) who gets the worm, to the I/T contractor whose data design allows faster and more robust querying. Survival of the fit. Artificial intrusion on natural life processes CAUSES PROBLEMS for all - if you are an environmentalist, you already believe this. From fittest to the unfit, nobody profits from outside meddling, and there's been more of that during your cited decline than at any time in American history.

And btw: anecdotes like those given show the truth of the principles illustrated. Understanding their universality should be easy, if you paid attention.

On Dec 10, 2016 8:56 PM, "Steve Litt" <slitt@troubleshooters.com> wrote:

On Sat, 10 Dec 2016 09:51:44 -0700
Keith Smith <techlists@phpcoderusa.com> wrote:

> I had dinner with a couple guys from a programming agency last
> night. The senior owner is about 55 and the junior owner is about
> 35. I'm guessing they make exceptionally good money. What was the
> mix that made them successful? Skills, personality, an hard work.
> They both attended college, developed some in demand skills, with a
> little luck and hard work they are doing very well.

These two guys are one anecdote.

Your life story is another anecdote. A few anecdotes don't prove
anything. There are always people who can overcome obstacles. But
today's obstacles are much more difficult for the average person to
overcome.

Except for the 82/83 recession, the 70's and 80's you remember as
difficult were paradise compared to the world faced by the last decade
of high school grads.

My assertions can be born out by statistics on cost of living,
unemployment, and real wages, broken out by age group. It's not hard to
find.

The shame is, a higher minimum wage and a few other minor tweaks could
have fixed these problems enough to stay on a stable course.

This is tired and offtopic. There's no convincing you that life isn't
an endless meritocracy: I won't try further. Just don't come crying
to me if the nation you love and fought for disintegrates. It would
have been pretty easy to prevent with a stitch in time.

SteveT
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