Sunday, April 17, 2011

Confidence

Confidence can be the most powerful tool in your personal arsenal, yet few seldom look at it that way.  Lack of confidence can literally destroy someone.  Confidence can gain you political office, incredible wealth, strong relationships, good test scores and even a healthy and long life.  Lack of confidence can lose you that promotion, cause a relationship to falter, make you a bad parent or even cause you not to volunteer to help those less fortunate.  So why is confidence over looked by so many if it can be the sole cause of so much good or so much bad?

It can be hard to be confident, mostly because of the negativity of the people around you.  How often do people make fun of someone just because of something they have done.  I know I have.  I know tons of more negative people then I do positive people.  Even some of my best friends have made fun of me or talk negatively instead of supporting me or being positive.  How about a few current events to help me make my point.  Rebecca Black, an over night sensation in music.  Now, Rebecca Black wasn't trying to become famous, she just made a music video with friends for fun, but in today's world of instant communication is circled the globe fast, and she became very popular.  But, most of the comments she received were negative.  I can speculate why, but I don't know each and every person's reason.  I bet most are jealous, but will never admit it.  But either way, how can Rebecca Black have confidence in a time when there is so much negativity coming her way?  Again, it is hard to be confident because of negativity.

How about Donald Trump.  This man exudes confidence.  And look at where is has gotten him.  Recently, in an interview regarding his possible bid for the presidency, he said that the democrats are extremely afraid of his potential bid.  Now, is that true, probably not.  But, Donald Trump believes it is, because he has the confidence to go at this with everything he has, and to never accept failure.  Is it possible that he fails?  Absolutely, but he refuses to acknowledge that, at least not until he does fail.  Now, some people may believe that he is just crazy to think that, but again, I say look at where he is as in life.

I have a lot more to say regarding this topic, so look for future posts, but for now I will say this: Being negative is always easier, but if you look to the examples of the people who have extreme confidence (and not just Donald Trump), can you really afford to not be confident?

Monday, February 7, 2011

Health Guidelines and Food Stamps

The US government has once again updated their food pyramid and guidelines for healthy living.  The new report suggested lowering calorie intakes and consuming less salt... duh.  I think there are plenty of private organizations that stress these things, and far earlier then the US government does.  Not to mention the general public will probably be quicker to follow what is said about health on "The Biggest Loser" tv show rather than a report the government issues.  Before we go any further, I have one quick point to make.  Obama stated in the State of the Union that he wants to cut out unnecessary government agencies.  I have a suggestion.  How about the the people who update the food pyramid, years after the healthy suggestion are main stream.  Just a thought.

Since we do have an agency devoted to healthy eating guidelines, why not put their recommendations to good use?  How about we mandate that those people on food stamps have to purchase only healthy foods, that fall into the guidelines?  After all it is an assistance program that the tax payers pay for and the government facilitates.  And the government believes the country needs to adopt healthy eating habits (rightfully so).  We might as well start with those that need nutrition the most, right?

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Regionalism

The debate over regionalism in Cleveland is starting to heat up.  Here are some thoughts:

I believe the notion of regionalism and tax revenue sharing between the communities of Greater Cleveland is a great idea.  For many reasons, the strength of one community, whether it is the downtown area or an outer ring suburb, truly depends on the whole.  Most people do not live, shop, play and work in the same city.  Even if they did I am willing to bet their customers or business partners live in a different city.

But what do different parts of the region offer and how are they connected to the whole?  Downtown has everything from fortune 500 companies to entertainment venues, Lakewood is residential, and East Cleveland has factories.  Now, even though someone who lives in Lakewood may rely on a factory in East Cleveland, why would they want to support the city itself?  I could make the argument that the factory could be located in any city.  Plus East Cleveland has a history of corruption and a high crime rate.  But there is more to the equation.  For instance land in East Cleveland is cheap and that helps the bottom line of the industries that call East Cleveland home.  

How do we promote regionalism?  To give a specific example, the idea is to use the city of Lakewood’s tax dollars to not fix a side walk within their own city limits, but to instead maybe give it to East Cleveland to help maintain an aging infrastructure.  Is that fair?  To a Lakewood citizen, probably not.  But to an East Cleveland citizen, it may be a blessing.

In order for me to give up having my sidewalk fixed, I would need a terrific understanding of where my money is being used instead, and it better benefit me in some way.  This is the point where I believe regionalism falls apart.  Let’s face it, government is not organized enough, especially when crossing city limits, to implement a program that takes away my tax dollars, gives it to someone else, and tells me exactly where it is going and how it would benefit me.  It just doesn’t seem possible.  Could you imagine how large a government agency would be in order to facilitate a program that could complete all of those steps?  Not to mention we are living in a time of tight budgets and deficit spending and I am sure a large sum of that potential pool of money would have to go to administrative costs, and larger government is NOT something I am willing to give my tax dollars to.

Regionalism is a GREAT idea, but I am sorry to say, in my opinion, it’s just not feasible.