Small Business Mentoring And Social Networking

 

A Mentor's 17 -Year Comparative Review of The SCORE And MicroMentor Web Sites  

By Ken Larson

SCORE

From 2006 to 2011, I supported SCORE as a volunteer counselor.  During some years I had several hundred clients. The web site was dynamic, fast, easily accessed and fairly simple. 

SCORE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The web site operation is run from SCORE HQ in Herndon, Virginia.  Only U.S. Citizens are eligible to participate since it is heavily funded by SBA government tax dollars.  

SCORE management elected a complicated redesign of the site in 2011. The original design of the site was radically changed.  

I was part of the system conversion test team as a high volume mentor. I warned the conversion team that my tests were failing, I provided detailed data on necessary fixes. The site was rolled out in May of 2011 and crashed.  I moved on to MicroMentor to continue my volunteer work. 

I rejoined SCORE in March of 2019 principally to handle veteran cases referred to SCORE by the SBA.  I continued to conduct my Micromentor volunteer work.

To once again become a SCORE counselor,  I underwent a new member  background check and a two week training program.  I found the ability to see a client profile to whom I was not connected was gone.  SCORE management now screened mentor requests and decided which mentor should get them. 

Every exchange with an entrepreneur is required to be reported by the mentor. The number of hours expended and background provided to the entrepreneur on the content of a conversation is necessary.  A code of ethics training course on conflict interest is required every year for all mentors. 

30% of my clients now come through SCORE. These are mostly veterans and other small businesses who are pursuing small business federal government contracting and small business innovative research programs

MicroMentor

MicroMentor is a "Two Way Street" meeting place for entrepreneurs to select a mentor and propose a mentoring relationship and vice versa. I have been a Mentor on MicroMentor for 11 years, joining the site when the SCORE web site crashed. 

MicroMentor is an extension of the world wide Mercy Corps . The MicroMentor web site operations are managed at MicroMentor facilities in Portland Oregon. 

Both mentor and entrepreneur can see each other's backgrounds and initiate the process. Thereafter, with no capacity for attachments and a perceived need for privacy by many,.the exchange generally moves to email and evolves in a manner the customer support organization does not see.

With the discontinuation of the Mentor Rating feature, MicroMentor site management gets little feedback from entrepreneurs on the quality of the help they have received unless they (the entrepreneur) make a point of commenting by contacting customer support, or  marketing and PR staffs contact individuals entrepreneurs. 

Thus, in its simplest form,  MicroMentor is a bulletin board of individuals who seek help and those who are willing to provide it if they so choose, while looking at each other's profiles.

The MicroMentor Q&A feature is a neat catalyst that promotes exchanges and offers the opportunity to exhibit entrepreneur problems, interests and challenges, as well as mentor knowledge and expertise. It fosters a healthy learning environment in itself by simple observation and allows a human interaction dynamic to occur.

Customer support and control of spamming has been superb. MicroMentor Q&A is a very under-rated feature of the site. 

MicroMentor is international. Participants throughout the world have varying outlooks and skills, based on their culture, customs, values and conditions. 

The natural dynamics of human interaction when a match occurs and when circumstances exist at the time for potential success is where mentoring succeeds. 

The system promotion, volume and reach are its greatest assets in creating the probability that positive mentoring dynamics will occur.  The ability of entrepreneurs and mentors to see one another's backgrounds and communicate directly is a major asset of the site. 

70 % of my client now come through MicroMentor. 40% of those are on the continent of Africa in multiple countries. 

Integrated Social Networking 

The vast majority of my cases over the last 17 years  have come to me at both SCORE and MicroMentor from social networking on the Web. LinkedIn , in particular, is a vast reservoir of clients and referrals.

3 out of 5 MIcroMentor clients with whom I work already have a profile on LinkedIn when I begin working with them. If they do not, I suggest they create one. In my view,  a LinkedIn individual and company profile is a vital part of any small company marketing plan, since it is the largest professional business web site in the world and it is FREE.

My two blogs, "Rose Covered Glasses" and "Smalltofeds" generate mentorship users as well by referral. Both blogs are free to me  on Google except for a $10 dollar annual fee to own the "Smalltofeds" domain name. That fee has not changed in 15 years.

Were I to recommend any topic for Mentor and Entrepreneur  training, I would suggest social networking guidance. It has been, and will continue to be, the wave of the future. 

Why Social Network To Promote Your Small Business?

A Thank You And 4 Gifts from Ken Larson At "Smalltofeds"

(Please click above image to enlarge)

Approaching two decades in volunteer small business consulting, I appreciate the many individuals who have contacted me for advice. You have come from several venues – through the Micro Mentor and SCORE Foundations, LinkedIn and other social media sites.  It has been a pleasure serving small business. 

____________________________________________________________________________

My work with you has kept me active in retirement, in touch with my profession and engaged in a continuous learning mode.

Please feel free to download any of the 4 free books pictured here, as well as other useful information at the BOX in the right margin of https://www.smalltofeds.com . You may also download the books free of charge from: https://smalltofeds.academia.edu/KenLarson

Although originally written some time ago, the small business contracting books contain live links in the Adobe text to updates for any given topic at the “Small To Feds” Blog. The books have been written at the request of my volunteer clients to cover topics in the order small business generally encounters them in government contracting.

My best wishes for success to you in your small business enterprises.  

 

Ken Larson

MicroMentor - A Free Business Mentoring Program For Entrepreneurs

It has been a pleasure being part of the MicroMentor Team for the last 11 years of our dramatic growth in volunteer mentoring services worldwide. 

MicroMentor Assistance

SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING

Always Nice To Be Appreciated - MicroMentor Award Is Humbling Experience

Receiving this honor is one thing, but having the annual award designated hereafter in my name is a humbling experience indeed.

It has been a pleasure for over a decade to support MircoMentor, a quality, worldwide non-profit organization serving small business that added 35,000 entrepreneurs and 12,000 mentors in 2020.

Ken Larson
__________________________________________________________________
"MICROMENTOR"

"This year as a part of Mentoring Month 2021, MicroMentor begins a new tradition of recognizing mentors who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to mentoring.

Our first award recipient, and its namesake, has been an active member of our community for 10 years. In the history of MicroMentor, no other mentor has spent as many hours helping hundreds of entrepreneurs from at least 65 countries. It is safe to say that no other mentor has had such a wide impact on entrepreneurs across the globe as this single mentor—Kenneth Larson.

Ken’s impact on our community has been tremendous. Not only does he have a great depth of business experience, but Ken is especially gifted in the process of mentoring itself. These facts, combined with the tremendous amount of time he’s dedicated to mentoring, are why we were compelled to honor and thank him for his dedication to entrepreneurs on our platform in this way. We are sincerely grateful to Ken's commitment to helping entrepreneurs from around the world.

You can read more about Ken's impact and hear from Ken himself below."

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Ken Larson On What Makes It all Worthw

Questions and Answers on Small Business, Federal Government Contracting and the Military Industrial Complex

Ken Larson on Fed Contracting, The MIC and Small Business

Happy Holidays from the Ken Larson Free Q&A Reference Library

Quora Questions with Answers by Ken that have undergone over  1 Million Views on Small Business Government Contracting and the U.S. Military Industrial Complex Ken Larson Reference Library on Quora

U.S. Small Business Administration Offers Help to Veterans

"MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE"

"The U.S. Small Business Administration has resources available for veterans who want to start their own businesses or for small businesses that may have been affected by employees who have been deployed.

The numbers are substantial, according to the SBA: Nearly one in 10 small businesses in this country are veteran-owned; veterans are 45 percent more likely to be self-employed than non-veterans; and businesses owned by female vets have increased 297 percent from 2007 to 2012.

The SBA’s website has collected a list of programs that can offer help, especially in navigating the complexities of returning home for members of the Guard or Reserve after being deployed.

It has information on starting a business, financing, mentoring and training and selling to the government. It can be found on the website Veteran Owned Businesses

One example of a resource is the Military Economic Injury Loan, which provides funds to eligible small businesses to meet operating expenses when an essential employee is called to active duty. The filing period for businesses to apply begins on the date the essential employee is ordered to active duty and ends one year after the essential employee is discharged or released from active duty.

Another aspect to consider are laws that make federal contracting more attractive to veterans, particularly those with a service-connected disability. The Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 established an annual government-wide goal of awarding at least 3 percent of all federal contracts to small businesses owned or controlled by service-disabled veterans.

There’s also Boots to Business, a two-step entrepreneurship training program open to service members and their spouses. The two-day course introduces participants to the opportunities and challenges of business ownership. An eight-week online course allows participants to work through the fundamentals of developing a workable business plan."

SBA Offers Help to Small Business

Seizing the Moment in Small Business Federal Government Contracting

Image: Zett.com

THE MOMENT

Trends on the horizon point to a bright future for small business in federal government contracting.

The federal government is meeting small business contracting goals. 

In 2014, for the first time, the feds exceeded the legal requirement of 23% with a 24.9% achievement or $91.7B in contracts to small business.   The 23% goal mandated by Congress had not been met at the total government level for years. 

Times are Good for Small Business Contractors

The feds are also moving to lowest priced, technically acceptable contracting, driven by budgetary pressures

Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)

Small business is uniquely qualified for this type of work, particularly in  the services sector, due to lower overhead and G&A rates, as well as agility in work force development.

New industries like Robotics, 3D Printing, Energy, Environmental Protection, Security IT and Geo-spatial IT are creating fields for small enterprises to compete against bigger firms or lead teams involving larger businesses on large scale projects. 

Government small business set-aside procurement is on the rise and becoming recognized by many agencies as a way to remove stodgy, entrenched companies when long term contracts come up for renewal.  These agencies look to smaller firms for cost effective, vibrant management, while inheriting an existing, trained, incumbent work force available to the winner. The process can dramatically grow smaller firms. 

Managing Incumbent Work Forces

PREPARATION

A small business anticipating participation in the federal contracting market must make pursuing it part of a long term strategy.  Success in government contracting does not happen overnight. 

Like any other market venue, a niche must be located, market research must confirm the need for products and/or services and the competition; the customer and the potential sales must assessed.  Unlike many other fields, success relies on early requirements identification and strong marketing.

7 Tips for Lean Federal Budget Times

Marketing to Achieve a Small Business Set-aside Contract

5 Factors in Forming a Small Business Contracting Company

The government contracting market allows a small business to pass on the costs of operations at a project level as well as write off company-wide expenses if allocated in a defined manner to single government cost objectives (contracts).  

Small business can also operate in a lower risk environment with contract types suited to the challenges involved.  The trade-offs to these features are requirements for audits and job cost accounting that require verified consistency from cost estimating to billing and contract closeout. This does not occur without preparation. 

Small Business Sytems Development

Entering the market requires carefully sculpting commercial past performance into prospective government contract performance and accumulating strong customer satisfaction ratings.  The feds talk to each other. 

Meeting the Past Performance Challenge

Business Ethics and Past Performance

EXECUTION

With the right combination of planning, preparation and opportunity, a small enterprise can seize the moment with:

Identification of specific opportunities that fit company capabilities

Small Business and FEDBIZZOPS

Astute bid/no bid decisions

Making an Astute Bid/No Bid Decision

A solid team of resources both internal and external

Vital Tips for Project Management

Managing Industry Teaming Relationships

A Winning proposal, effective project start-up/execution and quality products and services

Government Contract Proposal Preparation

SUMMARY

The small business segment of the huge federal government contacting market is poised to grow exponentially due to advances in technology and the need for flexibility, mobility, agility and economic performance. 

Rule changes are being considered to enhance entrance of commercial enterprises into to the government contacting venue. Congress and the federal agencies are looking hard at constructive changes to make the challenges we have discussed here easier to meet for the small enterprise.  But the rules change slowly.  

The Government and Innovative Technology

Seize the small business contracting moment by being diligent in learning about the market and pursuing it. Make your company well equipped to succeed:

• Define your niche
• Learn the rules
• Plan 
• Prepare 
• Execute 

NOW AVAILABLE - FREE 2014 SUPPLEMENT TO SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING GUIDEBOOK

 

 DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE VERSION OF THE ABOVE SUPPLEMENT FROM THE "POWERED BY BOX" CUBE IN THE RIGHT MARGIN OF THIS SITE. 

Sequestration from the Top Down or From the Bottom Up?

Sequestration requires across-the-board cuts of $85 billion — $43 billion for the Defense Department, $29 billion for non defense agencies and $13 billion for Medicare and other social programs — by Sept. 30. Defense reductions will affect about two-thirds of the Pentagon's $648 billion 2013 budget. Military personnel accounts are protected.

The uncertainty has lasted for weeks and months, as agencies, technically, do not have to make the required cuts until  September 30,2013.  Although the longer they wait, the more pronounced the cuts will have to be toward the end of the fiscal year.

Assuming the major weapons systems battles will be fought and the smoke will clear by default on those that are not affordable, the next largest target in the agency cuts will be manpower -- military, civil service and contractors. 

From what we are reading, the major issue is whether or not the cuts will occur at the top of the hierarchy where the brass (corporate big boys, civil servants the generals/admirals) sit or from the bottom – enlisted men and their benefits and small business.  

Below are 3 different perspectives on this issue for your reading enjoyment, courtesy of our stymied Congress whose budgetary laziness has created the Sequestration Drama. We suggest you choose the one you favor and advise your congressman of your choice. 

THE PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT ("POGO")

".............for the first time in the more than 200 years that the U.S. has had a standing military, there are fewer than five enlisted personnel for every officer. In other words, today’s military is the most top-heavy  force in U.S. history.

Former Secretary of Defense Gates remarks on this issue per POGO:

"In  his August 2010 speech on Efficiency Initiatives, Gates referred to  these perks as “the overhead and accoutrements that go with” senior  positions, be they military or civilian, within DoD. In an interview  with Newsweek, Gates bemoaned these accoutrements and entourages that  surround generals and admirals, which he believes are indicative of a  military leadership that is “suffering from an inflated sense of  entitlement and a distorted sense of priorities"

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/11/todays-military-the-most-top-heavy-force-in-us-history.html

"DOD BUZZ"

"The head of the U.S. Defense Department vowed to cut 20 percent of some areas of the military bureaucracy in a move estimated to save as much as $2 billion.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made  the announcement while speaking to troops during a trip to Naval Air  Station Jacksonville, Fla.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little  in a statement e-mailed later in the day said the reductions would  affect the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff and the  Military Service Headquarters over a five-year period beginning in 2015.  They will occur whether or not lawmakers agree on a plan to avoid  automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, he said.
 
“These headquarters reductions should be pursued now,  regardless of future fiscal circumstances,” Little said. “These cuts  will be implemented even if Congress lifts sequester-level budget caps.”

Little didn’t specify how many personnel would be affected. The move may eliminate more than 4,000 jobs, according to an unofficial headcount of those areas. That’s less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the Pentagon’s 2.1 million active-duty troops and civilian employees.

What’s more, the Pentagon bureaucracy has only increased since 2010, when  former Defense Secretary Bob Gates made a similar pledge, raising  questions about whether Hagel — or any defense secretary — can succeed  in thinning the ranks of the military’s top-brass and senior civilians.

The number of positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the  Joint Staff and the combatant commands increased 24 percent, to 21,952  in 2012 from 17,765 in 2010, according to a graphic accompanying a  recent analysis by Marcus Weisgerber, a reporter for Defense News.

More than half of the overall increase came from the Joint Staff, which  simply absorbed positions from Joint Forces Command after Gates ordered  the latter to be shuttered in 2010, according to the analysis.

Hagel’s announcement is based on a strategic review of spending priorities in  the wake of across-the-board budget reductions, Little said.

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/07/17/like-predecessors-hagel-vows-to-cut-military-fat/

The Defense Department faces $500 billion in automatic cuts over the next decade."

"WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY"

"The Small Business Administration reported that the federal government again missed the mark for small business contracting during  fiscal 2012, but the gap has narrowed for primes.

Overall, $89.9 billion in government contracts went to small businesses last year, that’s 22.25 percent of all contracts, according to the SBA report. The goal for small businesses is 23 percent. In fiscal 2011, 21.65 percent of contracts went to small businesses.

There also are goals for various sub-categories of small businesses:

• Women-owned: 4 percent or $16.2 billion (goal 4 percent)
• Small disadvantaged: 8 percent or $32.3 billion (goal 5 percent)
• Service disabled, veteran-owned: 3.03 percent or $12.3 billion (goal 3 percent)
• HUBZone: 2.01 percent or $8.1 billion (goal 3 percent)

The annual SBA report also tracks small business contracting goals. The gap between goal and achievement is greater there.

Overall, 33.6 percent of subcontracts went to small businesses, with  the goal being 36 percent; however, women-owned small businesses  surpassed their 5 percent goal with 5.6 percent achieved. Small disadvantaged businesses also were over their 5 percent goal with 5.1  percent.

But service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses fell short with 1.8  percent versus a goal of 3 percent, as did HUBZone, which had 1.3  percent of subcontracts against a goal of 3 percent.

SBA’s annual release of its small business goals isn’t without critics. The American Small Business League criticized the report saying it was “completely false and totally unsupported by the facts.”

The group claims that SBA miscalculated the actual federal  acquisition budget, and according to ASBL, small businesses only  received 8.2 percent of prime contracts.

In addition, the group claims that a significant number of large businesses are receiving small business contracts."

How does one inculcate independence?

A MENTORING QUESTION ON "QUORA":

http://www.quora.com/Mentoring/How-does-one-inculcate-independence 

"I understand that there is a fine line between when you step in to guide and when you expect/want the mentee to figure it out on their own. How would you slowly push them towards the independent side?"

OUR ANSWER:

"Do not work the issue or solve the challenge for them.  Educate and provide a road map so they understand it and evolve the solution  for themselves.

Offer a map with variable shoulders on the road and the flexibility for a  few detours from which recovery can be achieved."

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150347510134148&set=a.10150344297894148.424702.822504147&type=1&theater

Travelers on the road of knowledge en route to wisdom learn best via a vehicle they  drive themselves.  Not all travel at the same speed or take the same  route to a destination.

Here is a success story that I had the privilege to witness from a company that bridged the gap to which your question refers.  Note the link to the astute article they have shared with the small business community at the link below:

CLICK ON BELOW TO ENLARGE

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/payal-kamdar/small-business-success_b_3037992.html

2011 Small Business Awards Ceremony Department of Agriculture

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE



PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

This was a very enjoyable ceremony.

The Department of Agriculture is doing many good things for Small Business these days and rates at the top of the heap among all the others in my book.

There were awards in the Veteran-owned business category, HUB Zone, Small Business and Woman-owned business, in which one of my clients, pictured here, was named the national winner.

More Pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150344297894148.424702.822504147&l=f1edc3abbb

SCORE and MicroMentor Awards Ken Larson

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

YET ANOTHER GOVERNMENT/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Whether or not the average US Citizen knows it, the United States is creating the second-largest government/industrial complex in our nation's history. It is envisioned as a cocktail of bailouts to the financial industry, the automotive industry and others who show up with their hands out and their lobbyists in tow. It is also comprised of state governors who are poised to invent yet another form of pork with federal representatives and senators at their sides while raising local taxes for the citizen back home. This speculative panacea cannot survive.

HISTORY

The longest running and largest consortium of this type is the US Military Industrial Complex (MIC), funded each year at an amount many times the Wall Street and automotive bailouts combined. It is the elephant in the room in the burgeoning financial crisis, carrying the weight of wars, weapons systems and a pentagon/corporate financial relationship based on cost plus and time and material contracts since World War II:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/09/two-collapsing-towers-wall-street-and.html


IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

We are importing goods and services and borrowing money from the Chinese, the European Union, Japan, Korea, India and other developing countries at a rate unmatched in our history. Loan proceeds are being used to fight wars and bail out our bankers, carmakers and state governors.

Our largest export today is our public debt and our credit rating is slipping.

THE ILLUSION

What shall the prospective, second-largest government/industrial complex be called, “The Department of Wishful Thinking”? It is being financed with money borrowed from entities future generations will owe as the US kicks the financing can down the road like it has for the last 60 years.

No doubt Washington will attempt to regulate the outlay, put in auditors and control mechanisms like the Federal Acquisition Regulation and Cost Accounting Standards that evolved over the years on a reactive basis dealing with the white elephant scandals in the Military Industrial Complex. But somehow those controls have never been able to stop the mammoth waste, fraud and abuse that occur in the MIC.

Big money attracts greedy people, not only in the MIC but also on Wall Street and in the corporate boardroom. It also buys influence and crooks in government.

FACTS

The natural order of economics is still out there. Washington's money-and-power-influenced, artificial reality cannot survive what historically has been the rise and fall of booms and busts in the last 100 years. Economics is now on steroids through high technology, the Internet, mass communications and frauds that cross national borders like cobwebs.

The MIC will be scaled down by collapse. The Russian MIC led to that country's financial demise. It is now apparent that we did not outspend the Russians at weaponry and interventions. We simply had a better credit rating that is now maxed out

The other government agencies will be re-scaled and downsized as well but not by any specific action taken by the pending or future federal establishment. The over 50 entities that make up the federal government, together with their corporate outsource services, will be shrunk dramatically because the US is broke. The feds will fight to preserve the artificial reality, but US financing and credibility on the world stage are drying up and the creditors are suffering.

No new administration can change the above facts by riding on the taxpayer's back with "Social Improvement", " Public Works" and "Creating Democracies in Other Countries" mantras. Such policies in the past have led to foreign interventions, thousands of young soldier’s deaths, bureaucratic growth in Washington and bloated corporations performing low quality service contacts.

Annual budget deficits and the national debt are at intolerable levels.

ECONOMIC REALITIES

The US will come home from military adventures abroad because it will no longer have the money to run them and it will cease bailing out failing commercial establishments because there will be no funding for that.

The US will re-align priorities at the state and the national level much like all the little "Joe the Plumbers" throughout the country, who are toting skinny 401K's without jobs. They represent the present and future tax base upon which this country will run. America will not spend its way out of this dilemma because there will be no cash or credit left to spend.

The US will demonstrate financial prudence out of necessity, align spending with available revenue, downsize the federal government and its corporate cadre, cultivate technology and the small business base and take care of its most important constituent here at home - the average tax payer.

The US will understand the above are not political objectives but economic realities that are here and now. World economics will not allow a new, financial, government/industrial complex to emulate or replace the MIC.

TWO COLLAPSING TOWERS - WALL STREET AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

While we observe Wall Street go through an implosion and our lawmakers mortgage the future of America with the associated bailout, let us keep an eye on another adjacent and related tower with a weak foundation, teetering dangerously in the wind. The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) is also subject to bad decision-making by misinformed and manipulated government officials.

HISTORY

Congress has just funded the MIC at only slightly less than the 700B now necessary to bail out the US Financial catastrophe. The MIC is monumentally dangerous and has led our country into a continuing series of costly, fraudulent wars since Korea. Eisenhower forecasted the danger in his departing speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

The most recent MIC adventure is being fought in the memory of 3,000 dead civilians attacked by a terrorist the US created by not leaving the Middle East after the first Gulf War. That excursion has killed thousands of our finest youth and maimed the lives of countless others. The average American will pay for this ruin in decades to come through taxes supporting hospital care, social services and veteran's homes.

HOW DO I KNOW?

I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 misguided years working in the defense industrial complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak. Given a clearly defined mission and the best armaments and systems in the world, I believed that another Vietnam could be avoided for the American Soldier.

I was wrong.

I live in a Veteran's home, having recently undergone treatment through the VA for PTSD and Depression, long overdue some 40 years after the Tet Offensive that cap stoned my military 2nd tour in Southeast Asia with a lifetime of illness:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html

Politicians make no difference. I saw this on a daily basis from inside the MIC.

The chart at this posting illustrates the historical % of our national debt to our GDP. That % is on a precipitous rise with the current US warfare mentality and imminent Wall Street bailout:

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

Other countries will not tolerate our on-going presence, decreasing value on world market and shortsighted vision, based exclusively on stockholder profits. The Wall Street financial tower has fallen. The MIC will be next.

ABOUT THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

It is corrupt and driven by corporate influence:

http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/lockheed/index.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/halliburton200711

It is broken and riddled with incompetence:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-federal-government-procurement.html

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-american-public-must-know-about.html

THE COLLAPSE

The MIC, like Wall Street, will go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous. The situation will right itself through yet another trauma.

A government ENRON is on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning. The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. They will try to fix the financial mess and become pawns of corporate America in widening our military influence attempting to mend corporate bank accounts. But the MIC tower will implode as well - the next big event in government you will watch is the collapse of that establishment.

HOPE

Non-profit visionaries and small business know the course that must be taken and they are taking it:

http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2008/04/einstein.php

These "Action People" are not in our government. They are more practical than that. They are the communicators, the true venture capitalists setting up worldwide non-profit foundations (Gates and Buffet for example). They are like the Bill Moyers, perpetually exposing waste fraud and abuse and then going one step further to fix it from the inside. They are the young inspirational members of the small business base in this country that will be tasked with picking up the pieces and re-inventing the future so our government can follow along.

As a volunteer counselor, handling 30 cases a week through SCORE I see every form of unique small business inventiveness imaginable - efficiently created, using technology to the max and not seeking financing to the hilt - only the opportunity to succeed:

http://www.smalltofeds.blogspot.com/

http://www.score.org/


The US GDP is still the largest in the world.

Our high technology cannot be matched.

We have enough weapons systems and science to beat all our competitors and solve our problems.

We need to come home.