The Technocrat Paradox

Just a moment ago, I mildly upset my boss. As I walked into the office in the morning I passed him and two young ladies in a conference room where we waved me in to introduce them. They are from another business unit and I'd long known them but we've never met in person.

During the introduction he told them that we'd recently set up a new server room (not a data center, just a large wiring closet with communications equipment and some servers in it.) He said to the ladies that "Mick is very excited about it."

My look must have baffled him because the glance in response was obviously displeasure. I told them that I was pleased that we had a facility superior to the prior one. That's all.

For me, being excited about a wiring closet is like being excited about a home furnace. I'm glad my furnace works but I don't show it to new guests when I give them the nickle tour of the home.

What this little incident tells me is that even with the MBA, the years of experience in business, the track record of multiple ERP implementations and other large systems that drive the business, and my participation in our senior management councils, the business still sees us as pure technicians.

IT can make or break a business and I was hired specifically for my business skills. Yet still ... still, I'm viewed as a technician.

Check out this excellent post from Martha Heller for a more on-the-point comment about what she calls The CIO Paradox. In particular, read the comments thread.

It Was Legal

From time to time I remember that Germany, after World War I and before Hitler ascended to the chancellorship, was a democracy. Fascism can grow from within a democracy.

Martin Luther King once made an interesting observation on moral truth versus legal truth. "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."

I would add that while everything Hitler did was legal by German law, many things that Washington, Jefferson, Adams, et al did were illegal by British law.

Of the two parties, the legal Nazis or the illegal American Founders; which party was moral and which was immoral?

Blog Name of the Week - The Federalist Paupers

I've just found this blog and, while I don't yet have an informed opinion, the commentary seems worthwhile. Regardless, they clear have won my Blog Name of the Week award.

Clever, but Wrong

Someone is thinking here.

As If I Needed More Evidence

I posted a while ago about the total self-absorption of the Baby Boom generation (my generation). As if we needed more evidence, CNBC is giving Tom Brokaw a special on the topic. No doubt it will get respectable (for CNBC) ratings - minus me.

Spending as a Percent of GDP

I've long felt that those (particularly what I'll call "no-nothing" conservatives) who carp continuously on the federal deficit are missing the main point. In the press, you continuously hear laments that the federal (or state, or local) deficit is the highest ever recorded.

That may be true but it's not the point. What matters is the level of deficit as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If the economy grows then the deficit can also grow. It's almost exactly like a business borrowing money to invest in future growth. As long as the business can service the debt, then borrow away.

Having said that, this graphic is still pretty sobering. The federal government historical spends between 15 and 20 percent of GDP. But in the future? Something has to give here.

Oh, Canada

Ever wonder why Canada's banks didn't threaten to crumble as did the American banks in 2008 and 2009? Check out this article. I say there are three dominant factors: full recourse loans (no walkaways from an underwater mortgage), more prevalent mortgage insurance, and no tax deductability for mortgage interest.

In general, I dislike using the tax code to encourage socially acceptable outcomes and mortgage interest deduction is but one example. The temptation for political shenanigans is just too high for politicians to resist. I've read about similar home mortgage environments in places like Holland and Denmark. The Canadians seem to have done this one right.