I haven't been blogging for a bit. I've been busy reading and researching. But given the discussions of late, I thought I would share a bit of truth about ourselves that needs to be exposed and dealt with.
As I was walking the dog on his daily rounds today I overheard a young woman, a student at our local U.C. campus, on her mobile phone talking to her mother. It was plain that her mother was not happy with her daughter's choice of major.
"Mom, no, I'm not going for an MBA. I'm getting my degree in micro-biology."
(an excellent program at that campus) Mom objects.
"It is a good field. I am studying the processes of making clean drinking water. Everybody needs clean water. And yes, I will be able to get a job."
Mom objects some more... Daughter remained firm.
This is an argument centered in why America is in decline. Below the fold is my take on this conversation and why it is significant.
All the talk in recent years has been about "Makers" and "Takers". This mother daughter conversation is about the importance of money - money over all else. And that is why we are in decline.
Many years ago, one of the better tech managers I've ever worked for made an important observation. He said, "All you really need to know in an MBA program can be covered in a few weekend seminars on the present value of money. Everything else is nonsense." He was right. He was also a graduate of Carnegie Mellon's MBA program. In fact, he felt that an MBA program should only be open to students who have already worked in their field for some years and gained real, hands-on experience and expertise. The MBA would then be an adjunct skill to their primary skill set of making a real product or providing a real service.
His wisdom has stuck with me all these years because I have seen the effects first hand. In the 40 years of my career in the tech (software) industry I have seen many companies fail, more than a few while I was in them. The more spectacularly stupid failures have been caused or accelerated by managers whose sole credentials for being there were their MBA and "network" contacts. One of them, who took over one of the early leaders in the Internet era in big a merger/acquisition was a Texan who bragged that he had an MBA from Harvard. He knew absolutely nothing about the business he drove into the ground. We can all recall another Harvard MBA from Texas who also drove things into the ground...
The case is this: America prospered when our economy was all about making real things and providing real services to real people. Every time it has gone into the ground it was driven there by the quick buck artists, aka the "finance people". This pattern permeated the history of the railroads, the auto industry, and most recently the internet. Someone who actually knows how to make something useful comes up with an idea. The finance guys show up, buy out or force out the person(s) who actually understand the idea, and then pump up the business just enough so they can bail out with most of the cash.
There is also an irony in this. The big hero of Paul Ryan et al is Ayn Rand, a marginal screenwriter and author turned philosopher for the permanently sophomoric. If you look closely at her marginal novels, the "maker" is an architect and the "takers" are the financiers and big money hangers-on. Consider who Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and friends really are. Paul "worked" a few summers in the family business and then went off to think deep thoughts at conservative "think tanks" before getting into politics. Sure, Mitt gave up his trust fund but he kept and leveraged the social capital of the family name. His whole business and legal career has been centered around siphoning off the cash in troubled companies and devising strategies for hiding the loot in off-shore tax havens. Neither one of these guys have made anything real or provided a real service to anyone. They and all their ilk may pride themselves on being "Makers" but Really? From where I sit, the "makers" were and still are the machinists, engineers, stock clerks and truck drivers they put out of work. It begs the question who the real "Takers" and who the real "Makers" actually are...
I will give mom credit for raising a daughter smart enough and strong enough to not only know that her mother is wrong but to want to do what is right. We need people who know how to provide clean, safe drinking water. People like this young woman who love a real field of study and who want to contribute are important. She will provide a useful service as a microbiologist. But if all she becomes is an MBA who knows just enough about clean water to exploit everyone else's need for clean water for her own profit then the people of California have wasted their valuable resources educating her.