Thinking Outside the Box

It has been noted that if the Chilean mine collapse had happened in the U. S., the trapped miners would have died. After a suitably scripted period of rhetoric and hand-wringing, Obama would have imposed an immediate moratorium on all mining operations, and appointed a committee to propose a series of new regulations; and another to determine ways of exacting damages (fees) for the government to exploit. Such assessment is an obvious slap at our current administration and can obviously never be substantiated . It nevertheless is based on what we have come to know about our leadership thus far - thinking strictly inside the (wrong) box.

It’s the same with our current fiscal problems. Our government’s only solution appears to be beggaring the dollar (as in printing more money). This policy is sure to cause dislocation worldwide. It is likely to hurt us even more than others by making things more expensive, killing jobs even further, and reducing our influence abroad.

Some say that this is actually what Obama wants to happen. If it is so, he’s on the right track. If not, he’s barking up the wrong tree. The only thing that can turn things around in the U. S. is not mere smoke and mirrors; but a single-minded emphasis on growth. Growth is the only sane way of absorbing our debt. Yet every policy proposed by this administration so far, without exception, has been is anti-growth. Go figure!

In order to stimulate our economy, we have to, first and foremost, bring back confidence. This would involve primarily an all-out political effort. We have to convince the business community that the government is not out to destroy it. We have to erase uncertainty by stating in plain English what government policy toward business across the board will be going forward. We have to make investment in American businesses attractive. We have to improve the business climate to attract the best minds along with capital from overseas. We have to quit punishing success. We have to reduce taxes. And we have to stop bad-mouthing capitalism.

To turn our economy around, it will require bold, decisive action. This is what Obama promised us during his campaign for the presidency. Thus far, we have seen only small thinking; tinkering on the margins and all of it wrong. Perhaps he’s aware of the Vedic parable which claims to show that ‘every act of ours reverses itself in its results‘. But I doubt it.

When Shankaracharya (Hindu theologian; 8th or 9th Century), was still young, he decided to renounce the world and become a wandering monk. Monks are never allowed to return home. When his mother died, none of her relatives came forward to cremate her body. Shankaracharya then decided to break his oath. As his mother’s body was too heavy for him alone to carry to the pyre by the river, he is said to have cut it up into portable pieces.

He was a man credited for his ability to think outside the box in search for solutions

He would later be credited with the revitalization of Hinduism which had become corrupt and ineffective and Buddhism was rapidly gaining ground. He established four mutts (monastic schools), one in the north, one in the south, east and west of the sub-continent. These still exist today.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/