0641 - Learning

We make a sharp distinction among: (1) intelligence; (2) education; (3) ability to learn, and (4) wisdom. This week, with quite a few retired generals criticizing Rumsfeld as incompetent, these distinctions became most vital. No one can listen to Rummy and not be impressed with his fluency; he is, in a sense, intelligent, and he seems adequately educated to use the language. He is also, quite plainly, incompetent in his job, and has failed repeatedly to recognize his mistakes or to learn from them. Arrogance is high among his faults, but perhaps more important is his unwisdom: wisdom is knowing what you do not know, but he simply does not know what he does not know. Worse, he doesn’t know what his tight little managerial group does not know. The President, of course, is famous for never admitting a mistake (or learning from one), and at the end of the week he pronounced an Eastertime blessing on Rummy, no matter what the generals in the field – or the American public – think. According to the polls, this may not be good for the ruling party in the coming elections. That’s the fair reward of failure.

Yet, while Rummy and the Administration are notable examples of the refusal to learn, the problem extends far. We have the largest American automobile manufacturer doing so poorly that there is talk of bankruptcy. The management blames labor contracts and the high cost of health care. [Of course, they do not try to, say, cut down on worker smoking, or obesity.] Yet surely the true critical problem is loss of market, and that seems due to the fact that they have made some rather poor and unattractive cars. Whose fault is that?

Meanwhile, this was a week of stories about truly staggering payments to corporate CEOs. The Staff here is firmly capitalistic, and is not a bit shocked that Bill Gates, say, is a billionaire. Yet, when we learn that the Chairman of Pfizer, whose stock has halved in recent years, will receive a pension benefit of $83 million at present value, we wonder just why. Similarly, no one doubts that Exxon is a huge rich company, but is its CEO worth $686 million for his 13 years in office? We have doubts. So where does the fault lie in this porky largesse? The answer is clearly with the Directors, who awarded such sums without asking whether they could get the valuable service for a few hundred mill. less. And who do we blame for the Directors? The answer, not known to many, is the people who run the large mutual funds and other lumps of money, and who have weighty voting rights, but simply do not rock the boat, and re-elect the same dispensers of shareholder cash – and who reward themselves most handsomely, too. That’s the dirty secret, Readers: corporate pork is the fault of those who elect the pork-givers. And Congressional pork? Well, did your Congressperson vote for a quarter-bill bridge to nowhere? And did you vote to re-elect last time? Shame on you.

In sum, we think it more than high time to demand some wisdom and some sensible results from our public figures, and likewise some decent restraint in dispensing corporate cash. If you permit incompetence and waste, you are responsible. Oh, you say, you have no idea how your mutual fund voted its shares. That’s no excuse – go find out. And as for Rummy and Co.,who have cost you a great plenty, you could stand up and make a noise about it. Don’t talk about the glories of Democracy unless you are an active voter. Get off your ...er ... duff!

Sorry about the scolding, Readers, but you deserve it. Now, here’s a nifty new phrase for you: “Couvade Syndrome”. It means men suffering the symptoms of pregnancy. That’s what we are experiencing from Iraq – R.C.S. or Rumsfeld Couvade Syndrome.

Next time: Chaddy [OO #642]

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