Who should we trust now?

I have been spending some time this week reading over the influx of articles detailing the potential shutdown of our government and I can't help but draw connections to some themes we saw in this movie in class. I am certainly not the first person to make a comparison between our government and a large corporation and right now I am feeling like we need new management. We stand on the precipice of having a severely hindered government and I can't think of a time we would be more vulnerable. The entire issue that is causing us to face this possibility is... you guessed it, money. We have both of our parties blaming eachother that their spending habits are irresponsible and in the end the people that suffer from this most is us. As I read about this whole situation I start to get a bit frustrated with each of these parties we have elected to avoid this type of situation and then I remember that I, just like everyone else in the country of voting age, can't get mad at these people. We really can only blame ourselves for putting these representatives in a place where they can make the act of creating a budget for our government a political spectacle. All the while as I read about all the name-calling and political maneuvering, I find myself reminded of the management of the companies we saw in the movie like Lehman Bros. I really worry about the future of the nation and certainly the shape of our economy when we would allow our government to pull a stunt like this when we are just barely starting to pull out of this recession we have been in for so long. It seems similar to me like we are basically being kicked while we are down. We have the potential to lose billions of dollars both in national deficit and as lost wages for all the government workers that may find themselves on an unwanted furlough. And of course lost wages translate to lost money in our economy. We have got to start electing more fiscally responsible representatives or I fear this recession has only just begun.

Huntsman for President?

I have seen a few people drawing connections between our current economic situation and the political leadership that allowed such things to happen. This is further echoed by the movie that we watched in class. When I read about these things I can't help but think about how hopeless the whole situation feels. We simply need to find a way to dig ourselves out of this slump. I think it's great that a lot of the people that are responsible for the crisis have been identified and hopefully in some due time they will be held accountable for the damage they have caused this country. At the same time I was reading about some of these people online I found yet another article about Jon Huntsman Jr's presidential ambitions. This article at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/22/huntsmans_enviable_record_makes_him_competitive_109309.html, makes mention of how admirably Huntsman was able to manage the economy of this state. Making Utah one of the three most fiscally sound states in the union seems a pretty amazing accomplishment to me. The overall attitude of the population of this country right now seems bent on finding some way make ourselves financially competitve with other countries in the near future and I can't help but fear that, when people are allowed to create a situation where they are basically stealing from the masses in America, we are in real trouble of losing our place as the richest nation on earth. It's interesting that Huntsman seems to already be garnering so much support as a potential candidate in 2012, because it seems that people are realizing that there is real need for a leader who understands the need for financial responsibility as a nation. It seems to me like it would really be a step in the right direction to allow someone who has lead this state with such an impecible record to take a stab at doing so on a national level. So much of our cultural identity seems to hinge on our perception that we are always going to be the richest nation that I think we really need to start identifying ways we are going to retain that status.

Response to Post Three attributes we must develop on our own/ sharing our skills the correct way.

 Thank you for bringing this video into our forums. As I was listening to this video I also found myself thinking back on our classroom discussion. Particularly I was intrigued by the message that several of these characteristics seem like they would be innate qualities in most candidates for a particular position at a company. The real key, as was discussed in class is bringing these traits to light in a meaningful and positive way. I also really liked the combination of passion, initiative, and resourcefulness. It stuck out to me that these qualities really seem to be strengthened by each other. For example one could demonstrate resourcefulness to a boss at work by combining passion and initiative by going out of their way to help solve a problem a coworker is having without any obligation to do so. These traits seem like they would help you to stand out from others as well if you are able to find a way demonstrate these qualities.