Scary Numbers That Should Give You a Jolt
I attended a Harvard Club luncheon yesterday with Dallas mayor, Tom Leppert. He is not a typical big town mayor: he is a super-sharp and very successful business executive (and Harvard MBA) that wanted to take a turn at tackling thorny issues as a public service to his city and country. He has decided not to seek reelection since he easily met all of his major goals in just one term and his accomplishments have been truly impressive, such as lowering crime 25%, dramatically improving education, and attracting 60 new businesses and 7,500 new luxury residences to downtown Dallas. Not bad for three and a half years and a reduced budget.
The scary numbers he shared had nothing to do with Dallas, but with our country at large:
- Our country has had 13 generations and the current generation is the first one that does not believe they will have a better income or lifestyle than the previous generation.
- While our national debt is stated to be $14 trillion, if we actually accounted for all long-term obligations (like a business has to), which include such obligations like social security, Medicare, etc., our total obligations on our nation's Balance Sheet would be $90 trillion. To put that in perspective, that is $500,000 for every household in America.
- Of the nearly $1 trillion spent on the stimulus -- which was pitched as an investment in our nation's future and infrastructure -- only about $100 billion was actually spent on infrastructure and the other $900 billion was wasted on pork or other useless programs, (and too much of it completely unaccounted for according to government reports - my comments, not the mayor's).
My prediction is that we should look for Tom to appear on the national political scene. He has an agenda -- a good one -- and he now has some bragging rights to go with it.
- February 16, 2011
- Introduction to Entrepreneurship
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