Russ: Good morning. This is The BusinessMakers show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. And this is that show about those people who most positively affect our lives, the make-it-happen entrepreneurs.
John: That's right, and the thing is we're in a situation in our country now where the people who most positively affect our lives, who are the entrepreneurs in the business class, at odds with the people who are most destructive of our lives, the politicians, mainly in Washington D.C.
Russ: You better believe it.
John: So that's going to be interesting to see who wins. And the voters, I think, are like on the sidelines, but they're leaning away from what's going on in the country right now.
Russ: Well, I think so. All right.
John: All right.
Russ: And here's our lineup for this morning. The subject is healthcare.
John: Oh, my.
Russ: You bet.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And first up for the Aflac Business Makers Flashback, we're going to roll back to episode 200 from earlier this year, when we had Jack Smyth, co-founder and CEO of Spring Medical Systems. It's a company positioned quite well to take advantage of the stimulus dollars focused on digital medical records.
John: So he's another guy with his hand out, right?
Russ: Well, he just happened-it just happened to fall in his hand is the way it works. But then for our Featured Guest segment, we're going to enter the discussion of today's proposed revamping of our entire healthcare system, as I sit down and talk with Rick Slaemaker, publisher of Medicine magazine, and Randy Paris, involved and concerned citizen.
John: A concerned citizen.
Russ: Just like you and me. But first... That's right, it's time for the Business Makers School of Business. And this is that not business as usual school that John and I go out and do our best at capturing valuable curriculum.
John: Well, it's valuable. We have reached what I would call the critical stage of educational exceptionalism.
Russ: And I think we're there.
John: All right.
Russ: And we kick it off each Saturday morning with the quote of the day.
John: Quote of the day.
Russ: And I'm going to sort of encroach upon your world.
John: My world.
Russ: I hope you're not too sensitive about it.
John: Uh, no, I've got a thick skin here.
Russ: It's a famous quote from Abbott Joseph Liebling. This guy, Abbott Liebling, was an American journalist who was closely associated with the New Yorker.
John: Hey, we own that magazine, you know, as part of the American City Business Journals world.
Russ: Well there you go. There you go.
John: Actually, they own us, the Conde Nast magazine. Go ahead. All right.
Russ: Okay, cool. Here's the quote, "Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one."
John: Yeah, I think that's perfectly logical.
Russ: You got to own your own press.
John: That's right, and I've said that. You know, we have hundreds of people that want to write our business journal from around the country, and very often I've told people that. I said, look if you want to-
Russ: -you want to write that story.
John: -if you want to get your own papers, it's okay.
Russ: All right, and that brings us to This Week in Business History. What happened on this last week of July in business history?
John: Well, this week in business history in 1790, was very momentous because the U.S. government granted its first patent. And it was for an improved process of making potash.
Russ: Potash.
John: Now, potash, yes. A lot people don't know what potash is these days because it's, a lot of things have replaced it. But it was an ash residue of hardwood trees boiled and filtered in a vat.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Okay.
Russ: Okay, so this has nothing to do with the potash of the ‘60s and the ‘70s when people were smoking pot.
John: No, no, no, that required another type of patent, I would think.
Russ: Okay.
John: All right. This week in business history in 1860-this is like right before the Civil War-the first U.S. intercollegiate billiards match, Harvard versus Yale.
Russ: Well, that's interesting, intercollegiate billiard match.
John: Yeah, right, you know. A lot of attention is paid to the first college football fame, but very rarely do hear about the first billiard match at Harvard versus Yale.
Russ: I know I shot a lot of pool when I was college, but I don't think it was against other colleges.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1893, a guy named Henry Perky patents Shredded Wheat.
Russ: My goodness, Shredded Wheat, huh?
John: And it's basically the same stuff now as it was then.
Russ: Yeah, you know, but now they kind of put-
John: Only, only the kind now has a lot more chemicals in it, though because-
Russ: And it's bite size now. You know, then it was like a bale of hay almost, you broke it up.
John: Oh, you, well it wasn't like a big, something you'd find out on a farm.
Russ: It was like a miniature bale.
John: It was a miniature bale, about the size of a bar of soap or something.
Russ: Yeah, okay.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1900, the hamburger. Wow, the hamburger, I mean, I didn't know it was created in 1900, created by Louis Lassen in Connecticut. The hamburger was started in Connecticut, how about that?
Russ: Well, I knew a little bit about, it, its history. I don't think they could ever patent it, uh, which is probably good because they-
John: But it was created.
Russ: Yeah and then the guy that made the bacon cheeseburger would've tried to patent that, you know, and then it could've gotten real complicated.
John: Then you'd have the royal with cheese, which is the French version of the Big Mac.
Russ: Yeah, there you go.
John: If, if you saw the movie Pulp Fiction.
Russ: Oh, it was in Pulp Fiction? Where at?
John: They referred to it as a royal with cheese.
Russ: Ah, okay, cool.
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1914, the fox trot is first danced in the New Amsterdam roof garden in New York City by a guy named Harry Fox.
Russ: Unbelievable.
John: Okay, the fox trot, okay. This week in business history in 1943, is the birthday of Mick Jagger.
Russ: Whoa, so-
John: This week in business history in '43.
Russ: So he's 66 years old?
[Music" "You Can't Always Get What You Want"]
Russ: Wow, do you think they'll still, still be playing when he hits 70? That's going to be interesting.
John: Well, I don't know if they have oxygen bottles, uh, big enough, because I've seen pictures of him when he's off stage, and he is sucking that stuff, man. He looks like a line backer that's been out there on the football field, you know.
Russ: I bet you he'll continue to do it, if they're still paying a couple of hundred dollars to go to his show, and he's filling up football stadiums.
John: I think so. Why not? You know, he's, he's got a couple of divorces there. He's probably paying a fortune on alimony, right?
Russ: Yeah, he probably is.
John: This week in business history in 1944, the birthday of Bobby Gentry, Ode to Billy Joe, okay.
Russ: Wow, that's a story about Billy Joe McAllister.
John: Jumped off the Tallahatchie bridge.
Russ: Yeah.
[Music: "Ode to Billy Joe"]
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1944, the first German V2 rocket hits Great Britain.
Russ: Goodness, gracious.
John: Now, this was an amazing story. Now the V2 rockets actually had some gyroscopic technology in them, and they could really guide them. They did so much damage in Great Britain that Winston Churchill refused to publish any of the damage photos, because it would hurt morale.
Russ: It was going to be too demoralizing, huh?
John: But later on, there was a guy named Wernher Von Braun, who was the man behind all of this, and he later defected to the U.S. after the war. And Mort Sahl, the old comedian, he had to say one of the funniest lines I've ever heard. And this is back when Verner Von Braun wrote his autobiography called I Aim for the Stars. And Mort Sahl said, well, they should the name is I Aim for the Stars, but Sometimes I Hit London. It cracked me up.
Russ: All right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1946-this is a two bikini week, because the first bikini is shown at a Paris fashion show, and then the very same day, the U.S. detonates an underwater A bomb at Bikini island.
Russ: Oh, my goodness.
John: Okay.
Russ: A two-for.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1953, Fidel Castro-this is a week after he nationalized everything and we thought, well, that's not going to happen here, but it already is. Okay, this is another Fidel Castro. He begins his rebellion, the 26th of July movement, against Batista's regime, so this is actually before he nationalized everything.
Russ: Okay, so that would be about 56 years ago this week, and he's still breathing, isn't he?
John: Yeah, he's that son of a bitch is still there, okay.
Russ: Okay.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1957, USSR launches it's first intercontinental multi-stage ballistic missile.
Russ: Well, intercontinental ballistic missiles were serious stuff, man. You know, we worry about dirty bombs, and suitcase bombs, and stuff, and those are all terrible, but man, this was in the era when could just push a button, and it would land in Omaha, man.
John: In 15, in 15 minutes.
Russ: Right, right.
John: Take a 15 minute flight time. And then later on, of course, they had the multiple warhead, and that's when you had like a warhead with ten atomic bombs on it.
Russ: Right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis makes his first appearance on the Steve Allen show.
Russ: A lot of shaking going on there, man.
John: A lot of shaking going on, right, yeah, okay.
[Music: "Whole Lotta Shakin Going On"]
John: This week in business history in 1958 is the creation of the National Aeronautic and Space Act, known as NASA.
Russ: Cool.
John: Now, it started out very gun hoe, you know the right stuff, the Mercury astronauts, the Gemini astronauts, the Apollo, but now it's kind of run out of steam. Although, it looks like if they survive any of the budget difficulties, that we may have another moon launch, and also a Mars mission, a manned Mars mission.
Russ: Yeah, the guys that, the veterans are all really lobbying for it, and it's kind of interesting because, man, that's the frontier now, so I think you, I think you can't blow it off, man.
John: You can't blow it off, right. Okay, this week in business history in 1962, I, I'd say one of the worst recording artists I've ever heard, I mean-
Russ: Yeah, I'd like to hear this.
John: I would just cringe, Tommy Roe debuts on the U.S. chart with Shelia, his only number one hit. And it's a well deserved only number one hit, because he did, he had some others.
[Music: "Sheila"]
Russ: You didn't, but you didn't like the song?
John: I didn't like anything that had to do with Tommy Roe.
Russ: I loved that song Shelia. Now, I knew a Shelia, and maybe that affected me.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1965, Bob Dylan performs and electric concern for the first time in Newport folk festival, and he's booed off stage after three songs.
[Music: "Maggie's Farm - Live"]
Russ: They didn't like it.
John: That just goes to show that, you know, you can't hit a home run every time you come up to bat.
Russ: That's right, well, all those folks fans were out there and didn't like that noise, man.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1965, the Yardbird, a pretty good rock group, hit the U.S. chart with Heart Full of Soul.
[Music: "Heart Full of Soul"]
Russ: It was a real good rock group, yeah.
John: This week in business history in 1975, Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappears in suburban Detroit, never to be seen.
Russ: And they still don't have him.
John: Well, they say he's a pillar in the community somewhere, okay. This week in business history in 1987, Ben and Jerry's the company, and Jerry Garcia, the rock superstar, agree on a new flavor called Cherry Garcia.
[Music: "Touch of Grey"]
Russ: Wow, cool.
John: Okay, yeah. This week in business history in 2002, probably one of the worse mistakes in congressional history, is in regards to business and free enterprise, excluding what's happening now.
Russ: Okay, right, correct.
John: Okay, up until like last year when business was worse. The Sarbanes-Oxley, signed into law by President George Bush. He should've vetoed the bill.
Russ: Yeah, he should've.
John: But he didn't.
Russ: Right.
John: And now one of the guys, I guess, it's Oxley, is now the president of NASDAQ.
Russ: Vice Chairman of NASDAQ.
John: Vice Chairman of NASDAQ.
Russ: And former guest on The BusinessMakers show.
John: That's right, former guest. Why this guy is being feted around the country. He should be ashamed of himself.
Russ: Now, he's the one that also claims that it was a total mistake to completely meltdown and do away with Arthur Anderson too. That's what he says now, I mean.
John: Yeah, well, it's a little too late there, okay.
Russ: Yeah, it is, it is.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 2006, here's another-this pesky Fidel Castro, that scamp. Okay, hands over power temporarily to-that, that's a joke-brother Raul Castro. This leads to a celebration in Little Havana in Miami, Florida. You know, there's just a big celebration in the U.S. because they thought Castro was going to die, and, you know.
Russ: And Raul would not be able to take the reins over, or would, would be leading a more relaxed-
John: Which isn't going to happen.
Russ: -administration. No, no, no.
John: Of course not, because he, there's a lot of hard liners still there in the government. Raul makes one false move, he's headed for the dirt path.
Russ: He's, he's going to be sick too.
John: He'll be, yeah, permanently sick. He'll be sleeping in the wooden waldorf there in Havana. Okay, right.
Russ: Okay, 2006, that must wrap it up then?
John: Yeah, I would think so.
Russ: All right. Good job. Thank you. Great, great history lesson, and you've been telling our listeners where they can get even more history?
John: Yeah, we have an expanded school of business on the web at thebusinessmakers.com. What you're getting now is kind of an abridged, so that's kind of like-
Russ: Right, it's Cliff notes.
John: Well, yeah, I was going to say the classic comic book version, or the Cliff notes site. But if you really want to get into, I would say, upper division study of the history of business, the school of business at upper division.
Russ: It's kind of graduate school level almost.
John: This is graduate school level, so if you dare to learn more, then just go to the web.
Russ: There you go, thebusinessmakers.com.
John: That's right.
Russ: Okay, and that brings us to Navigating Business Jargon. This is our vocabulary lesson, and it's not just regular vocabulary words. We're talking about the new ones, the acronyms, the techno-speak, all those, uh, combination words that are created day in and day out.
John: Sometimes they're created second in and second out.
Russ: Well, and sometimes they're created right here on the spot.
John: I know, all right.
Russ: But the way we present them here is in a contest format. The contest involves whether or not John can predict-a
John: Guess the word.
Russ: -guess the meaning of the word.
John: Right, or the acronym, or the-
Russ: Right, whatever it is, because he doesn't know it. I get to see it.
John: That's right.
Russ: He doesn't know it at all. I choose it.
John: And I don't even care that I don't know it.
Russ: The way it works too, is that I-
John: We got to turn the tables on you some day.
Russ: No, it's disallowed.
John: Oh, okay.
Russ: I say the word and then John guesses the meaning.
John: And sometimes I hit it right on the nail.
Russ: You do, you do, you do well. Sometimes you actually do better than the real meaning.
John: Yeah, I actually come up with a better meaning in the word.
Russ: Yeah, and we go ahead and change it here when that happens.
John: Why not, no rules for that.
Russ: And here's this morning's word, friendame.
John: Friendame.
Russ: Friendame.
John: Hmm, okay, that's a conjunction of the two words, friends and enemy, obviously, so a friendame is someone who can be your friend one minute, your enemy the next.
Russ: I think we'll have to give it to you.
John: Kind of like, it's kind of like a competitive thing. We used to call it co-opetition, remember that? Remember that word, like five years ago?
Russ: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
John: So, that's what it is. You just never know what this person's going to be.
Russ: Right, hold your calls, ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner. The official definition is someone who acts like a friend, but is really an enemy. But I think, I think yours is better. I think competition is good. You're don't know what they're going to be. Okay, and that brings us to dumbest moments in business history. Do you have, uh, have one for us this morning?
John: Well, this is, this is continuation of a dumb moment, because, you know, I read an article. This was about a year ago, or a year and a half ago. And the writer was asked what the next bubble's going to be, because the real estate bubble was starting to burst, and then they asked him what's the next one? He said the renewable energy, without a doubt, because it's so heavily subsidized by the government.
Russ: Yes it is.
John: But it doesn't really produce a lot of what everybody hopes it might produce.
Russ: Not, and not nearly as much as most people think it must be.
John: Right, and for those of your who invested in wind power, and those of you who are thinking about it. There's a report by the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory released by the U.S. Department of Energy that shows that U.S. wind power capacity is increased, I would say, substantially, but it still has no factor. It's like an almost less than 1% factor on how much total energy is, is created in the United States. Now there's a difference between actual power generated and the capacity because wind is not blowing all the time.
Russ: It's not always there. That's one of the problems.
John: And you can't capture that electricity, and like they don't have enough battery power to do that. But there's been several prominent attacks echoing investor in wind projects like Lehman Brothers and Wachovia, and it's leading to the exodus of many others, so, so anybody's who's left holding the bag, is really holding the bag.
Russ: So the investor in these projects is not actually working out, right?
John: Right, because the economy sucks and the, these things aren't all what they're cracked up to be.
Russ: Might explain why Mr. T. Boone Pickens kind of changed his story.
John: Right.
Russ: So, in the investment side of wind power, they're sucking wind right now.
John: I think they really are.
Russ: All right, all right.
John: So anyway, that's kind of a continuation of the saga of a dumb moment.
Russ: You bet.
John: Now, it could turn around some day, who knows.
Russ: It could, it could. The wind could start blowing and just not stop, you know.
John: Yeah, that might help. All right.
Russ: All right, but before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook.
John: And there's no phony wind energy with this guy.
Russ: There's none.
John: It's our, it's our favorite in accounting, Greg Price. Good morning, Greg.
Russ: So let's welcome him on the piano. A one, and a two, and a-
[PKF Texas – The Entrepreneurs Playbook]
Russ: And that wraps up the School of Business. You're listening to The BusinessMakers show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. Stay tuned in for the Aflac Business Makers Flashback with Jack Smyth, co-founder and CEO of Spring Medical Systems, and then our discussion on the healthcare issues of the day with Mr. Rick Slaemaker, publisher of Medicine magazine and Randy Paris, involved and concerned citizen. You're listening to The BusinessMakers show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.
