Common Cents for October 5th 2012

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Frustrating; that was the word a client used this morning to describe the United States and its economy today. Things aren’t lousy, and things aren’t great. Things are frustrating, largely because so many people in our society don’t understand how the world actually works.

One of the best things about starting Oakworth, and working for a small, but growing firm, has been the light bulb that went off and continues to burn. I get it; whereas I am now not so sure if I did previously. You see, when I was an employee, I spoke as an employee, I understood as an employee,  I thought as an employee; but when I became a business owner, I put away employee things.

In short, I woke up.

The other night, I watched more of the Presidential debate than I thought I would. In truth, I hadn’t planned on watching a second of it, but I did nonetheless. While I am in agreement with the general consensus the challenger “won” the thing, I couldn’t help but wonder, time and time again, just who are these two men addressing? Who is the target audience?

Oh, I suppose it would be easy enough to say things like “they were talking to their political bases,” and that sort of thing. That might be true. However, throughout it all, I found both candidates talking about what government can, should, and will do. You might be thinking “well, duh, Norris,” but the whole time I was struck by one simple fact: these guys were talking to employees, and not to other business owners. Read on…