We should have taken his word for it....

And his businesses are like... this.

Customer service? What customer service?

Why is customer service so bad? Jay Goltz explains it all:

Because of the high cost of health insurance, many companies have opted to hire a lot of part-time staff, which allows them to avoid having to offer benefits. This creates a problem: It is difficult enough to train full-time people. Having them there part-time and having a huge turnover makes it all the more difficult.

Meanwhile, in the retail world, pricing has gone mad. It used to be that stores would have four sales a year to get rid of stale or seasonal merchandise and to promote business. These days, stores have “crazy once in a lifetime sales” every two weeks. When you have manic pricing, up one day, down the next, it wreaks havoc on customer service. When the sale is on, you don’t have enough staff. When the sale is off, the staff stands around and complains about the slow business.

And then there’s the issue of who’s running the show. Where have all the merchants gone? Their kids are lawyers, hedge-fund managers, computer programmers, professors and a thousand other things. The people running the stores today come from all different backgrounds. Many of them did not work their way up from the sales floor or have generations of family history and training to prepare them for the job. Perhaps they are even over-educated.

And here is proof you have to read to believe! Sears Finally Delivers Air Conditioner, Follows With Barrage Of Phone Calls

Employee Free Choice Act

Losing Africa to China

Because of diplomatic neglect and focus on Iraq:

At a time when Western nations have failed to fulfill investment and development promises in Africa, China has taken the lead in building much-needed roads, schools and clinics and establishing telecommunication networks, all at 30% below the cost of Western nations.

Home to 34 of the world's least-developed countries, Africa is in need of sound development investments and political allies. For now, both China and its African allies maybe benefit from limited economic growth, but the risks attached surely outweigh the long-term benefits. Poor business practices could undermine domestic stability, development and Africa's goal of creating a better way of life through political and economic indigenous models, such as NEPAD.

The United States has failed to convey the message adequately that African nations have a vital role to play in the international system and the leaders of progressive African nations must be seen as equal partners. This failure left a void for a country such as China to fill with promises of expanding trade and the idea of "non-interference in domestic affairs".

It is no secret that China's long-term goal has nothing to do with creating a peaceful, dynamic and stable African continent, but rather its goal is to use its economic soft power as a way to limit Western influence in developing nations such as in Africa and Latin America. China has targeted the US as its major global rival and is using developing nations as means to tighten its grip on resources and political power - only five African nations have diplomatic relations with China's political rival Taiwan.

China's successful model of "development minus democracy and non-interference in domestic issues" is leading to lack of respect for human rights, is creating an immense gap between rich and poor, and will ensure that poor working conditions remain the norm throughout the continent.

If African nations fail to act soon, these same nations will once again face exploitation at the hands of a foreign presence and continue down a road of despair and unfulfilled promises.

Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Africa.

Relations between China and the US turn sour.

Spocko educates businesses not to be afraid of bloggers

Bloggers are people who shop like everybody else:

"If you have a business and don’t have a blogging policy, get one. Not just for you but for your EMPLOYEES. Two great guides are the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s legal guide for bloggers and blogger rights. If you are at a senior level, you probably know guidelines on stuff like this, but for all the average joes out there, they probably don’t, help ‘em out. Believe me, nobody enjoys getting a cease and desist letter from a multi-billion dollar corporation for Christmas (I really wanted a pair of Homer Simpson underwear and a watch). You help them understand the issues, you will help yourself.

Next. Since this is coming from the business/marketing section you might be thinking, “How can I USE the blogs?” or “How can I Protect myself AGAINST the blogs?” Bloggers are people. So if your first impulse is to USE people and to FEAR people then that will inform your choices. I would suggest trying to UNDERSTAND the people who write these things so you can interact with them. It’s not hard, read a few of them, because often they are your customers who WANT to be heard. They are crying OUT to be heard. They will tell you things like, “Hey, you are hurting your own brand by associating with this violent talk from this radio program. Check them out, it doesn’t seem to be what you stand for as a company.” And then you can decide. A lot of smart VPs of Marketing like the ones at Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America and Border’s Books listened, and chose to operate in a way that simply reflected their own internal values. It seems logical to me, but you would expect that from a Vulcan in a fedora."

Because nobody likes oversight....

"Business interests, seizing on concerns that a law passed in the wake of the Enron scandal has overreached, are advancing a broad agenda to limit government oversight of private industry, including making it tougher for investors to sue companies and auditors for fraud.

A group that has drawn support from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. plans to issue a report tomorrow that argues that the United States may be losing its preeminent position in global capital markets to foreign stock exchanges because of costly regulations and nettlesome private lawsuits."