Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard hear and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. We're continuing on featuring those that most positively affect our lives. We're talking about the innovators and the entrepreneurs.
John: That's right. The athletes, the artists of the free enterprise system and, boy, do we need 'em now.
Russ: You bet. Speaking of the entrepreneur class, here's our line up for this morning. The topic is energy. These are the guys always looking for the game changer technology, the silver bullet out there --
John: That's right.
Russ: And boy, you look at the demand for the future and we probably need all the energy we can get. First off, I'm gonna be talking with Dr. Michael Melnik, a partner with CMEA Capital, a San Francisco based energy and clean technology venture firm and then that's gonna be followed by reviewing our favorite elevator pitches from the eighth annual Rice Alliance Energy and Clean Technology Venture forum. But first... That's right. It's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business and this is not your business as usual school.
John: No, no. This is much better I think in many ways because it's free with an occasion pearls of wisdom thrown in.
Russ: Absolutely.
John: Yes.
Russ: And it's also better because it's powered by Champion Energy's --
John: That's the best part actually.
Russ: Champion Energy Services.
John: I don't know what we would do without them.
Russ: Well I don't think people could hear us. There would be no electricity -
John: I mean think about it. An energy company that sends you a bill that you can actually understand.
Russ: That's what they do.
John: That's what they do.
Russ: And compare.
John: And compare; yeah.
Russ: You bet. So that's Champion Energy Services. Alright and we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning first with the quote of the day.
John: Quote of the day.
Russ: Today's quote comes from Benjamin D'sraeli.
John: Oh, okay. Alright.
Russ: Here it is.
John: This is the first time we've ever had a quote from him I think.
Russ: Absolutely and it's a good one. "The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps."
John: That's right.
Russ: Can't do it.
John: Ya' can't do it. Yeah; ya' can't and it's good to look before you leap, too.
Russ: That's a good quote, too. Can I quote you on that?
John: Yes; actually that would fit. Actually the D'sraeli quote needs a companion quote. Look before you leap because a chasm in two leaps doesn't work.
Russ: That's right. It's like a corollary to this quote.
John: I know. We should go into quote improvement.
Russ: Great idea. Alright. That brings us to this week in business history. What happened in late September in business history?
John: Well we've got a lot of famous names in business sprinkled throughout this agenda here. First of all, this week in business history in 1881 aviation tycoon industrialist William Boeing was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was born with I would say a wooden spoon in his mouth 'cause his father was a wealthy lumberman, but he dropped out of Yale, another college dropout. How many of those we've seen and interviewed in this show. He died in 1956. So born in 1881 and died in 1956. Okay. This week in business history in 1902 Levi Strauss, the inventor of denim jeans died in 1902. Classic story of an immigrant. Didn't have two nickels to rub together and ended up making a fortune in America.
Russ: Probably didn't experience at all the kind of success that his invention ultimately led to.
John: This week in business history, September 1913 the inventor of the diesel engine commits suicide. Now I underline the word suicide because there's some out there believe that Rudolph Diesel who died 'jumping' from a boat while crossing the English Channel, some people think there may have been some foul play involved.
Russ: Yep; that's right.
John: This week in business history in 1922, 2 researchers with the U.S. Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory were conducting high frequency tests, radio tests near Washington, D.C. Dr. Robert Hoyt Taylor and Leo Clifford Young were veterans of World War I and noticed that ships on the river interfered with the radio signals spawning and precursor to radar.
Russ: That's so cool when things like that are accidentally discovered.
John: Accidentally, yes. Accidentally. Okay. This week in business history in 1928 work begins in Chicago's new Galvin Manufacturing Corporation which introduced a Motorola radio and they mass produced the first commercial car radio.
Russ: That probably was the beginning of Motorola, too.
John: It was, right. Yeah and -
Russ: It was the first - car radio was the first -
John: Yeah; motor and cars in motion while ola derived from the Victrola was supposed to make people think of music. So motor rola.
Russ: Well that's interesting too that we just sort of take for granted the radio in the car, but it was a huge, leading edge innovation back then ______ for a period of time -
John: Okay. This week in business history, September 27, 1942 Glenn Miller and his orchestra performed for the last time before Miller enters the U.S. Army.
Russ: Wow. He was kind of a hero and famous in the military still practicing his music.
John: Alright. This week in business history in 1960, this is a very cool happening. The first Kennedy Nixon debate.
Russ: Wow. Fifty years ago this week.
John: Yeah.
Russ: That was the first televised debate.
John: Yeah; right. It was also on the radio. People who listened to it on the radio thought Nixon won. People who watched it on TV thought Kennedy won because Kennedy had better media coaching I think.
Russ: That's interesting.
John: Nixon didn't shave. He looked kinda' pasty anyway 'cause he had an accident. Someone slammed a car door on his arm or something. So he was in real physical pain and yeah, he wore a light suit, which blended in with the light background. This is black and white TV. Kennedy wore a darker suit. So anyway. Okay. This week in business history in 1971, Maggie Mae, hits number one. This week in business history in 1986 Congress introduces a legislation which led to the tax reform act of 1986 when Ronald Reagan was president. A lot of things happened on that, but the one thing that really actually precipitated I think the S&L crisis, there was a passive loss revision when you invested in real estate, which really gave you like a tax break. It encouraged people to invest in real estate so they could get the tax break. Well they did away with it. No more tax breaks. If you're gonna invest in real estate do it because you think the market's right, which is what you oughta' be doin' anyway -
Russ: Instead of for taxes.
John: Yeah; and it's what you oughta' be doin' anyway, right?
Russ: Right.
John: So what happened was they did away with that tax break. The problem is they went retroactive.
Russ: Oooh.
John: And they just said from this point forward -
Russ: Retroactive changes in taxes is not a good thing.
John: I know and that ruined a lot of good people and the S&L's were heavily involved in this by lending money to these people.
Russ: Oh yeah. Right.
John: This week in business history in 1990, president, this is George Bush the first, repudiates his no new taxes pledge -
Russ: Read my lips.
John: Read my lips. No new taxes. Announces his own tax hike. The guy allowed himself to be talked into raising taxes by these democrats who thought the only way to fix the deficit was instead of cutting expenses because the Reagan tax cuts were increasing the revenue coffers, the coffers are the federal government at a pretty good clip, but no, George the first decided to raise taxes and lost his presidency as a result.
Russ: Yep. Boy, there's a lot of tax stories already so far. Wow.
John: Yeah; I know. This week in business history in 2008, ah, that famous economist, prescient, can see into the future, really knows what the guy's talkin' about from Comerica Bank, Dana Johnson, appeared on this very show and talks about all the signs indicating that the economy is beginning to turn around, which just goes to show the writer, the film writer William Goldman said, 'Nobody knows anything.'
Russ: Wow. That quote was September of 2008.
John: Yeah; right.
Russ: The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted shortly thereafter.
John: Yeah; right. Right after that.
Russ: Okay. And that wraps up this morning's history lesson?
John: I guess it does 'cause I don't have any more sheets of paper with the stuff on it.
Russ: Alright. Good job, man. Good job.
John: Alright. Thank you.
Russ: Great history lesson.
John: Great history lesson.
Russ: Which brings us to the jargon challenge round.
John: Ah. My favorite thing 'cause I don't know the word.
Russ: That's right.
John: I've been doin' really good, too.
Russ: Yes, he has. This is that vocabulary lesson where we teach it by having this contest.
John: It's a contest, but it's actually a vocabulary lesson.
Russ: Right; and I get to go out and choose a word.
John: That's right.
Russ: And I say the word and John guesses the meaning.
John: And I try to guess the meeting and more often than not I either come close or I actually come up with the meaning.
Russ: You bet. This morning's word is welfariate.
John: Welfariate.
Russ: Welfariate.
John: Welfariate. We all know what welfare is. There's another word called the proletariat, which is a body of people.
Russ: Correct.
John: So this is a body of people who are so ensconced in welfare that they become the welfariate.
Russ: Ladies and gentlemen, hold your calls. We've got a winner.
John: Alright.
Russ: Another one. A class of people whose income is based solely on receiving welfare payments.
John: That' right. They become a class unto themselves.
Russ: The welfariate.
John: The welfariate.
Russ: And they're awfully powerful these days, man.
John: Darn right they are.
Russ: We here believe that you should somehow or another challenge those people to innovate and go out and find work and be productive.
John: Why innovate when you can do just nothing and get paid for it?
Russ: Absolutely.
John: Hey, that sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Russ: Alright. That brings us to dumbest moments. Do you have a dumb business story for us?
John: I don't know what this is, but it's pretty bad. No matter what position somebody's in or what organization you're with, evil is, you're gonna succumb to it if you're not -
Russ: If you're not principled.
John: If you're not principled, right?
Russ: Yeah.
John: I mean evil is out there. It's lurking every time you turn around.
Russ: Yeah; absolutely.
John: It's there.
Russ: I can feel it in here right now actually.
John: I know; I know.
Russ: It's right here.
John: Evil.
Russ: Alright; so.
John: But anyway, here's a guy. You think somebody who's the head of the Vatican bank, who -
Russ: The Vatican bank.
John: The Vatican bank and they get a lot of their money from people who tithe.
Russ: Absolutely they do.
John: People who give money to the church to -
Russ: It just comes pouring in over there -
John: The reason why a lot of people do it is they wanna spread the word of Christ abroad, missionary work and that kind of thing. They give money, but it seems that Atore Goti Tedeshee has been sticky fingers along the way. Not all the money gets to its intended purpose. So he starts money launder4ing and he's in a lot of trouble right now. So his office and the Vatican spokesman said they had no immediate comment, but the Vatican Bank is officially known as the institute for religious works. They call it that to make it easier for people to donate money and everything.
Russ: Yeah; absolutely.
John: So I think we've had this shtick we've been doing for five years though, the word of the day and this is two words but it's called reverse tithing.
Russ: Reverse tithing is what this -
John: So he wasn't really money laundering. He was involved in some reverse tithing.
John: The reason why a lot of people do it is they wanna spread the word of Christ abroad, missionary work and that kind of thing. They give money, but it seems that Atore Goti Tedeshee has been sticky fingers along the way. Not all the money gets to its intended purpose. So he starts money launder4ing and he's in a lot of trouble right now. So his office and the Vatican spokesman said they had no immediate comment, but the Vatican Bank is officially known as the institute for religious works. They call it that to make it easier for people to donate money and everything.
Russ: Yeah; absolutely.
John: So I think we've had this shtick we've been doing for five years though, the word of the day and this is two words but it's called reverse tithing.
Russ: Reverse tithing is what this -
John: So he wasn't really money laundering. He was involved in some reverse tithing.
Russ: Alright and before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook.
[PKF Entrepreneurs Playbook]
Russ: Stay tuned in for my interview with Michael Melnik, a partner with CMEA Capital followed by a review of our favorite elevator pitches from the eighth annual Rice Alliance Energy and Clean Technology Venture forum. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at the BusinessMakers.com.
