I wrote some on this a few days ago asking whether it was a good sign that challenger to the ruling party was drawing so much interest in Iran (here).  I also noted the possibility of election fraud and my concerns seemed to have come true.

While I will concede that I’m sure some voters wanted to re-elect the crazy guy, the numbers are simply too far apart to believe without further evidence.  According to Iranian government election propaganda officials (here):

Yesterday morning, election officials reported that president Ahmadinejad had received nearly 19 million votes, or about 63 percent of the total, while Mousavi got about 9 million votes, or 34 percent. Two other challengers, Mohsen Rezaie, a conservative former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, got just under 600,000 votes, while Mehdi Karroubi, a liberal former speaker of the Parliament, garnered about 260,000, or 2.5 and 0.88 percent respectively. Turnout was a record 85 percent, officials said.

In a country which has been full of protests over the last few weeks, the idea that the incumbent could pull of 63% of the vote is laughable.  Some Mousavi supporters even go so far as to claim the total number of votes for Mousavi was less than the total number of volunteers who were working for his election.

So protests and strong statements from around the world pore forth (here):

…“These protests are similar to problems at a football match,” Ahmadinejad said at a news conference today in Tehran. “A team wins and the other loses. Accept that your team has lost.”

Ahmadinejad, accused by rival candidates of unnecessarily stoking tensions with the West, may see success at the ballot box as a vindication of his policies….

…

Vice President Joe Biden said “there is some real doubt” about the election results, citing “the way they are suppressing speech, the way they are suppressing crowds.”

“Talks with Iran are not a reward for good behavior,” he added on NBC television’s “Meet the Press.” “Our interests are the same before the election as they are after the election.”…

…

Claiming an electoral fix, Mousavi’s supporters yesterday clashed with ranks of anti-riot police guarding the Interior Ministry in Tehran, which served as the election headquarters.

Protesters set fire to motorbikes belonging to police, who used tear gas and batons to disperse a crowd of several thousand chanting “fraud last night” and “Mousavi, Mousavi, get my vote back.”

“In our questioning, we’re after finding links between the plotters and the foreign media,” the state-run Fars news agency cited Ahmadreza Radan, deputy police chief, as saying at a news conference in the capital today. He dismissed as wrong reports that Mousavi is under house arrest…

What do we really know just yet?  Not much.  While it’s within the realm of possibility the election wasn’t rigged, we are never likely to have much information on either side of the argument and regardless of any potential facts to prove election rigging – the outcome is unlikely to change (here):

…In the likely assumption that Mr Ahmadinejad brazens out his critics and retains his position, observers expect a continuation of his controversial policies. Iranian presidents have limited executive powers, but during his four years in office Mr Ahmadinejad has largely succeeded in reinforcing social strictures that had loosened under his predecessor, Muhammad Khatami, a popular reformist who won consecutive presidential terms but was frequently thwarted by entrenched conservative opposition. Although widely ridiculed by Iran’s large, urban middle class, the incumbent appeals strongly to a broad constituency among the pious poor, and among nationalists who believe his abrasive foreign policy has strengthened Iran’s prestige….

So even assuming the vote was exactly what the population intended, it’s still a sad day for the Iranian people and the world at large. The continuation of the incumbent’s policies will result in further movement away from the international community and further movement towards harsher economic sanctions.

Let’s hope the protests are a beginning sign of an abandonment of Ahmadinejad’s policy on behalf of the Iranian people.  Let’s hope also he continues to garner less support in Iran.

& lastly, let’s hope that those most strongly opposing the government, those brave people willing to face down the government, can stay safe.  While freedom is certainly something people should be willing to die for, let’s hope not many will have to make that sacrifice.

Over the last couple of decades business leaders, researchers, and writers everywhere have been discussing what they see as a positive move in business from a standard top down organizational chart to a more decentralized decision making systems.

The goal stated from the beginning of moving down this path was to replace slow, ineffective bureaucracies with more nimble, versatile companies who can move with the new rate of change.  Thanks to the internet and other advances in sharing human knowledge throughout the world, the pace of change & innovation today is far greater than the pace of innovation a century ago.

As a society though, it seems we have yet to fully adjust.  Using standard logic, allowing decisions to be made at the lowest possible level in a corporation, does allow it to be more efficient and more responsive to their clients.  It allows them to see problems faster to find solutions faster and empower employees with a sense of belonging to a real team.

Continuing that logic however, allows us to look at the potential negative possibilities as well.  Allowing just anyone in a company to make any decision of course would result in complete chaos.  We’ve also seen that  by allowing those with good corporate political abilities to make tough decisions, without questioning their ethics or actual critical decision skills has led us down the wrong road.

The question we must ask ourselves then becomes, should power still be concentrated in the hands of a few, moral citizens, or should we continue on the path of decentralization that helped lead us to our current fiscal crisis?

What we do know, is that businesses and individuals both support more entrepreneurial thinking and training starting at younger ages (Junior Achievement Study here):

Gallup then asked the question, “If entrepreneurship means, ‘Taking the initiative and assuming risk to create value for the company or business, either as an owner of your own business or in your place of work,’ would you consider yourself to be entrepreneurial?”

Using this definition, nearly six in 10 (58%) of the employees surveyed and two-thirds (65%) of those responsible for hiring describe themselves as entrepreneurial….

The vast majority (96%) of employees feel it is important for the American workforce to become more entrepreneurial in order to keep America competitive in the global market…

Going further about education itself:

Finally, nearly half of employees (46%) and four in 10 (41%) of those responsible for hiring believe the best place to learn entrepreneurship is in grades K-12, surpassing all other options.

Along that same trend, Purdue recently decided to change their entrance requirements to allow only students who have taken a full 4 years of math at the high school level (here).  Their decision demonstrates the importance of logic and critical thinking skills that math helps to reinforce:

“We just wanted to make sure Purdue students are ready for the rigors of a Purdue education,” Horne said, noting studies show more math education correlates with college completion rates. “It’s not about getting in. It’s about succeeding once you’re there.”

We also know through the practice of government, the dynamic system of the United States might have felt more pain that other countries during this crisis, but due to the mostly decentralized economic model, we will recover more quickly than most.  As the Economist recently noted (here):

Second, one can look at America’s admirable record of dealing with turmoil. A study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a think-tank that studies entrepreneurialism, found that America’s high rate of economic “churning” boosts productivity and hence material well-being. Between 1977 and 2005 some 15% of all American jobs were destroyed each year as firms closed or cut back. Thanks to the expansion of successful firms and the entry of new ones, however, many more jobs were created than destroyed. Start-ups (ie, firms less than five years old) provided a third of the new jobs during this period.

This “creative destruction” process, both in the macro form of the economy and in the micro form of managing a team involves allowing people to fail.  Only from our failures, do we truly become successful.

So for business leaders, or educators, to honestly pursue this strategy, it means at least two things need to change:

1. People need to be able to let go of control
2. People need to be more tolerant of failure

At this point, it appears businesses are getting this message, however the government seems to be falling back on top down control.

• Enron – bad company, fraudulent business model – went bankrupt, business leaders jailed.
  • Government solution?  Overreaching regulation in SOX.
• GM – bad company, bad decisions – should go bankrupt (it’s a feature not a bug),
  • Government solution – prop up companies who should have failed.
• Economy gets hurt because of loose monetary policy, combined with quasi-government backing of securities and lax business ethics -
  • Government solution:  cheaper money, quasi-government backed institutions deemed “too big to fail”…

So while it might be true that in recent times business leaders have proven themselves to be unworthy of trust and decentralized decision capabilities, I believe fully we must understand that the solution to that problem is not in removing the current structure and go backwards in time.

The solution ultimately comes down to both us an individuals and the incentives of the game.  Are we willing to live with the consequences of our decisions and as a society? Are we willing to live with some level of risk that large companies might “fail”?

Or will our fears keep us locked into a governmental cycle of pushing more top down control, doomed to repeat a past that has failed all societies who have tried it?

For the next couple of days, the eyes of the world will be on Iran and their upcoming Presidential election.  While Ahmadinejad’s backers include Iran Security forces and state TV, his reformist challenger Mousavi, is still getting out the word through more open forms of communication.

While it’s unlikely at this point to know if the election is not going to be rigged, it is certainly a good thing to see such dynamic debate in the theocratic regime of Iran (here):

They came face-to-face with a similar number of Ahmadinejad’s backers, who were gathering at the Imam Ruhollah Khomeini mosque, with each side shouting slogans and waving their respective flags.

Even with state backing of the current President and refusal of the state to allow the contender any place to hold rallies, the reformers in Iran are still brave enough to speak out (here):

Supporters of Ahmadinejad’s main challenger, former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, had to be more inventive to find a place for their rally. Over the weekend, a government organization refused permission for his campaign to use Tehran’s 120,000-seat Azadi Stadium for a rally originally planned for Sunday. But in less than 24 hours, using text messages and Facebook postings, thousands of Mousavi backers gathered along Vali-e Asr Avenue, Tehran’s 12-mile-long arterial road.

While it’s true that in Iran, the President does not have a lot of power due to the authority of the mullahs and the election will likely be rigged to what the mullahs want to see – it’s still good news to see a petty tyrant, holocaust denier, being diminished in middle eastern politics.

Let’s hope this trend continues.

As the Obama administration, with full support from the Democrats and almost full support of the Republicans, continue down the road to a command and control economy, it’s helpful to see what’s taken place so far.

Over @ Michael’s Comments blog (here), he asks and answers an obvious question using the graph below.  How exactly have the current administration’s numbers and projections been doing.  As all politicians told us not too long ago, without passing several "stimulus" bills quickly… way too quick to read (anyone remember the Patriot Act?), everyone would soon be looking for jobs as unemployment sky rockets.  Remember the 1.5 million jobs that would be saved?

Of course I guess they could argue their models were wrong and unemployment would still be higher, but it’s disingenuous to argue that what you didn’t know a few months ago, you now understand even better when all you really know is that you were wrong.  True, knowing that you’re wrong on something at least allows you to know one false positive, but by itself does not constitute any reflection that anyone in Washington is learning from their constant mistakes.

Having said all of that, this arrogance doesn’t come close to the arrogance of Michael Moore’s recent policy recommendations for GM @ the Huffington Post (here).  In an open letter to the President, Mr. Moore makes several policy recommendations to "save" GM.

He does this by arguing that moving to high speed rail, a form of transportation that isn’t conducive for most of the US, followed by reinventing the factories to start making the unproven technologies by making "millions of solar panels right now", as well as windmills, hybrid, and all electric cars.

All of these recommendations reflect a childlike simplistic imagination of what he believes is possible without having to work about any facts.  As without facts, he can continue to believe in this "utopia" without having to worry about whether it’s actually feasible.

First, we can start with all-electric cars, solar panel farms, and windmills.  While all of these technologies are showing promise, there is still more development required on all of these before they are prepared for mass consumption.  And what’s odd and something I’d actually expect Mr. Moore to understand, is that one of the main areas of concern are the batteries themselves.  

We do not yet have technology to make efficient and cheap batteries that would allow solar plants or windmill plants the ability to push electricity out at a common pace.  They would have lots or power available during sunlight/wind, but no efficient way to house that energy to allow levels of power during times of no sunlight or no wind.  This also disregards the a main point that even if you were to build these with current technology, they are between 5 and 10 times more expensive than current energy production.

So in theory, Michael Moore wishes to fix the economy, by raising energy prices to a level that would decimate the poorest of our citizens.

Combine this with the equally childish and self serving idea of high speed rail and his recommendations are nothing more than him explaining to others how he knows whats best for us all.

High speed rail does not work well in any place other than extremely dense population centers such as the NE corridor, Boston/NY/DC.  Due to these cities business & governmental entanglements and their close proximity in mileage, rail does work to some extent.  It doesn’t work without heavy tax payer subsidies, but it is a useful form of transportation used by many.

Of course his idea is to allow me, in my smaller less dense city, to ride a solar powered bus to work… because right now, getting to work in 20 minutes and home in 30 to spend the little free time I have with my family, should be done on a bus.  Where I can spend 4 hours a day on the bus instead of a little less than an hour in my car. 

This again, without the fact that even current bus lines and rail systems that are in major use in areas like NY & Chicago would not exist without tax payer monies.  Passengers on these forms of transportation have never paid the full prices for their ability to use these modes of transportation.

What do both the current administration’s policies and Mr. Moore have in common?  They both seek to control the means of production to some greater end that they both firmly believe in.  They both don’t seem to care that these things might have already been tried if they were so perfect as they believe and of course both are only willing to spend tax payer money and increase business regulations to accomplish their goal.

The fact that they don’t just get Mr. Soros, Mr. Moore, and other wealthy donors to spend their own money on what they believe are great ideas seems, to demonstrate their true lack of belief in their ideas. But I’m sure their intent is noble.

I firmly believe their intent might be to make better lives for us all, but by defining their solutions *only* the terms of taking tax payer money by point of a gun, they are demonstrating without any pretense that these things should happen and you should pay for them, because they are for your own good…  As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

It’s probably time to start thinking in terms of your neighbor keeping their money in order to make their individual decisions, rather than forcing them to pay for some Utopian vision for someone else.

Disclaimer:  If you believe my, "tax payer money by point of a gun" is unecessary hyperbole, please stop paying your taxes and let me know if the nice gentlemen and women who arrest you and house you in a small cell use guns to enforce those laws.

I wrote in late March (here) about the Employee Free Choice Act.  Since the bill was named by union backed politicians, you can guess that it means exactly the opposite of what it says.  It reduces freedom, by increasing the ability for unions to coerce employees who otherwise would be allowed to unionize or not based on secret ballots.

As an update – over at the Federalist Society they are debating the topic.  Richard Epstien is one of the dissenters and as is usual with his prose, he provides a very well thought out dissent of the bill.  It’s well worth reading (here).

When the federal government isn’t too busy running automobile companies, credit card companies, the energy sector, telling you where to buy your products from, telling companies how much money they can spend on what, telling you how many gallons of water you’re allowed to flush….

The state and local governments are busy directly hassling you.

In Sandusky, Ohio – a gentlement had the nerve, the gall even, to try to clean up a neighborhood park by picking up the litter and mowing the grass.  But of course, from the government’s perspective, he’s not smart enough to be able to handle tricky things like mowing grass, so they arrested him (article here).

Not to be outdone, Virgina decided to make the idiotic, long, and painful process of getting a driver’s license even worse.  You’re now not allowed to smile…because apparently you were just too happy to begin with (here).

& then there’s the Connecticut police, arresting priests who dare video tape them abusing minorities (here).  After all, he’s dangerous…

As most know, we can continue this ad infinitum,  so I’ll just end with this:  until voters start demanding better out their government instead of just demanding more "free" stuff – this corruption of the entire system will continue unabated.

As the saying goes, the only thing required to allow evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing.