There was
once a man named, "Amerio." He was a strapping fine man,
at 6 feet 5 inches tall, and 245 pounds of lean muscle.
God gave him his body, but he worked for his might and
muscle.
To supply
that great frame of his, Amerio had to consume a lot of
food. But, Amerio was so busy enjoying his
God-given gifts,
he did not have time to do his own cooking. So,
Amerio ate out all the time. It was expensive, but
that was okay for Amerio.
One
unusual benefit that Amerio had, was that he owned a
distillery. He had the best spirits ever produced,
and he was proud of them. Amerio had it all.
It is
natural, of course, that others were envious of Amerio.
They said he imposed his greatness upon them with
flaunts, but, in Beauty and the Beast Gastonian
fashion, he said he just could not help it.
But, it came
to be one day, that Amerio overextended his back.
Now, he could
not exercise as he did. The calories added up, and
he started to look a bit fat and bloated. Amerio still loved to
eat out, because it was his habit to do so.
Ultimately, Amerio could not afford to buy all of the
food he loved to eat, so he looked for a restaurant that
would feed him anyway.
Remember, he still had spirits that he could trade.
Lo and
behold, there was a new restaurant, called "Chino's."
It had a somewhat laughable reputation for its food, but
the management was old-school solid. In fact, very
old school.
Amerio
approached Chino's and asked if he could borrow to buy
food. He could pay by trading his spirits, which, at the time,
were of the finest quality.
The
Chino's management went into the back room to consider
the question. A few said, "Amerio's back will
heal, and the conditions of trade will improve.
His spirits are the best." Others countered, "No
way, we don't trade our work for spirits."
Then the
elderly owner, a wise man, stroking his long beard,
looked up and spoke:
We
will do this trade. Here is why: We have
nothing right now, so we have nothing to lose. Amerio is
borrowing money from us. We are loaning him
money to buy the food we sell. With each
bite he takes to please his palate, we earn a profit from him.
Not
only that, but we are loaning him money. So,
we will also earn interest on that loan, and we earn
another profit from him.
We get two profits!
One profit as his manufacturer, and one profit as
his lender. We give this profit to our
employees to improve their lives.
And,
not only that, but, in selling him food, we learn
more about what he wants and how to make it for
people like him. We will have the opportunity
to improve our methods and to earn a reputation for quality. We will continue to
take our profits from Amerio and reinvest them into
our equipment, infrastructure and marketing to
others.
We
think ahead, and, in doing so, we have endured.
A young manager brashly retorted, "But,
we earn profits that we do not
collect. We do not eat with debt to us."
And the
wise man, with his eyes blazing, continued:
Then
we do not eat!
We
are not idiots -- we must learn. Amerio
grows fat, we remain lean and hungry. Dinner for us will
come slowly, over many years, but dinner will come.
Do you see it? Amerio has some now, we will
have more later.
We
are a culture that has endured for thousands of
years. We are strong and powerful too.
The difference is that we are quiet, disciplined and
humble.
Business is war. We ambush.
We limit our consumption
during the period that we supply Amerio his dinner.
Ultimately, we
will earn the ability and reputation to supply many others.
Think
ahead! In the end, Amerio will
be indebted to us, and he will either repay to our
profit, or he will become our slave. All
debtors are indentured to their creditors.
But,
we shall keep it quite, because we are a strong, humble and
disciplined people. Being such, we have
existed as a people for thousands of years.
We must keep it quiet. It will take restraint.
We ambush
when he is trapped.
The young manager giggled, and they all kept it quite.
And, so
it was for many years that Amerio happily ate Chino's
food with Chino's continuing to accept Amerio's spirits.
With each delicious bite, Amerio smiled. At the
end of every sale, the Chino's employee said, "Yes, Sir.
Thank you. Will you have another serving?
I am your servant. Can I do anything to make the
food better? I want to please you."
Amerio
was flattered with the treatment of a king. Amerio grew fatter and more indebted.
Over time,
Amerio became so indebted to Chino's that Amerio became
unsure that he could ever repay Chino's. Amerio
was so fat that he could no longer rely on this muscle
and might, and he did not know how to cook.
All
Amerio had left was his distillery. But, even the distillery was operating at capacity. How could Amerio continue to
buy his food, as well as to repay the loan for
yesterday's pleasures?
Amerio
was not stupid. What did he do? Right!
He began to water-down the spirits with which he repaid
Chino's. At first, it was just a few drops of
water, then more and more. Amerio even brought in
some very smart and educated people to give him bright
ideas on how to formulate the watering down of Amerio's
spirits.
Amerio thought:
Wow.
What an advantage I have that I can water-down the
means with which I repay my debt! No one else
can do that! I bought food yesterday for one
bottle of my spirits, but I repay today with less
than one bottle because it is watered down.
Sure,
I am watering down my own spirits, but, I owe Chino's so
much that they are absorbing a large part of my debt
to them. Perfect.
And
Amerio giggled, and he kept it quite.
But,
Chino's management
was old-school, rock solid. They knew that Amerio
was watering down the spirits of his repayment, but
Chino's business plan was still working. So,
Chino's endured the relationship with disciplined
quiet restraint.
Now, it
came to be that customers at Chino's began to
complain. Amerio's spirits no longer had their
essence. Too much water. The Amerio spirits became
too thin.
The
Chino's management went into the back room to consider
the question. A few said, "We must stop trading
with Amerio. Does he think we're idiots? He
owes us his pure spirits, not his watered-down
half-spirits."
The
elderly owner, as I said, was a very wise person.
He spoke:
We
will continue this trade. Here is why: We must
distinguish the battle from the war. Some
battles are lost to serve the war. Amerio
is still buying a lot of our food. We still
earn a double profit at his expense.
If we crush
him now, our production infrastructure cannot
sustain. We do not yet have enough customers
to sustain the machine.
We have not yet completed building our restaurant
infrastructure. When our restaurant supply is
nearly matched to our customer demand -- sustainable
internally from ourselves and customers other than Amerio --
then, and only then, we strike.
For
any ambush, we must keep appearances for a time.
So, like a parent to a prodigal child, we
will naturally issue some warnings to Amerio about his
continued consumption and repayment methods, but we
let it continue. We are starting to prosper
extremely well, and Amerio is failing. We are
now positioned for self-sustaining internal
operations.
Amerio will
be indebted to us, and he will either repay to our
profit, or he will become our slave. All
debtors are indentured to their creditors.
Do
you see it now?
Just
a little more time.
The young manager,
now older and wiser, did not retort this time.
This time, he just giggled for the wisdom. And, they all kept it quite.
35 years
later...
Chino's
built up its restaurant and its reputation. In
fact, Chino's was now producing superb quality food,
recognized world-wide. Chino's no longer needed
Amerio's business. Amerio was now old, fat and
weak.
Chino's now had so
much extra money, that it started purchasing its spirits
from others, such as Indias, for she had fine spirits
that were yet pure.
Now that
Chino's did not need Amerio as its customer, it stopped
providing loans to Amerio for his unabated consumption.
Amerio's spirits production was at capacity just trying
to pay back Chino's for yesterday's consumption, let alone
producing enough to support his current living
requirements.
The
elderly owner of Chino's was now dead, but that young
manager was now the wise old leader, and he spoke:
Now,
we strike. Now, we eat. It is time for
our dinner. We served long enough; now we will
be served. We have worked and waited.
And, so
it came to be that Chino's called in the loan and
demanded payments of pure Amerio's spirits. But,
Amerio could not comply. Amerio's spirits now
tasted more like spiced water. Amerio defaulted.
But,
there is no bankruptcy available in this story.
Amerio cannot go bankrupt.
So, the
manager of Chino's called Amerio and said:
Amerio, Chino's needs to foreclose on your homeland,
your security for your debt to us. You pledged
your homeland as you took our food and ate.
Chino's did nothing wrong. You ate and ate,
and you borrowed and borrowed. We served your
every request! We did everything you commanded
of us! We
did exactly what you wanted us to do.
Indeed,
Chino's even quietly endured, and did a great favor
for you, by
accepting your watered-down spirits for so long.
Please, we humbly ask you to give us your land now. You promised.
Be just, true and fair, as you have always said to others,
Amerio."
Amerio
knew Chino's was correct, but he did not care.
So,
Amerio said, "Come and evict me."
"So be
it," said Chino's manager, "we thought ahead for that
response."
AND SO IT
WAS, EVER AFTER. 是
Business is
war. War is chess, a system of moves for the
purpose of achieving an objective. The person who
thinks ahead, and thinks ahead more moves than the
opponent, has the advantage.
Do we see it
now?
There was a
time that we wanted to have a standard of living for
which we did not pay full value. We bought that great shirt for
half-cost by outsourcing the manufacturing to another
country where the people were willing to make it for
half the cost. We proudly looked into the mirror
and smiled deliciously at ourselves, and then we bought
another.
Now, we are
overextended. We have no manufacturing. We
print watered-down dollar bills to pay back China, who
loans us more money, so that we can pay our welfare and
unemployment compensation. We take our welfare and
unemployment compensation checks to Wal-Mart and buy
television sets made in China. Perfect.
China makes
twice the profit, which they take and buy us out of our
land. Maybe there is irony as we remember our
American History: The fur traders directly, and our
government quietly, gave the Native Americans alcohol.
Just insert a television into the formula.
We are not
idiots. Do we see it now? For ourselves, do
we see it?
Our
government cannot say it, it would create a trade war.
Our government gives a tax break to buy automobiles, and
we buy Kia's and Hyundai's. Our government cannot
tell us to buy a GM or a Ford. But, I can say it,
so I do.
Yesterday is
past. Today and tomorrow, ask "Is there an
American option?" Ask and keep asking, and
try. Just try. We have to pay back the debt,
so it may be that the American option is more expensive.
Or, maybe we have to make more trips to service
department for a GM. What a pain that is for us.
But, the
pain is going to come either way. The wealth piled
by the bondsman's fifty years of unrequited toil must be
sunk somehow. That pain is going to come either
way.
Each dollar
paid for a foreign brand is a vote for the Chinerican
Flag. We start voting now, during the 2010
Holiday. "Do I have an American option?"
Just ask. Please. It is an intelligent
question by patriots and people who want to learn more.
We must
think ahead. Standing together. Enduring
together. In our capitalist economy, our liberties
are directly tied to the strength of our economy.
And, who
will take up the bright idea and clever argument that we
are now a world-inclusive economy? Perfect.
How does
that world-inclusive Chinerican Flag look? Shall we
go a little more yellow?
Or, how
about going more red?
Sure, if we
do not think ahead, our sons and daughters will put a
lot more red into the flag for us. 是
