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Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 7:09:25 AM   
FirmhandKY


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President Obama to CEOs: ‘We’ve Been a Bit Lazy’
Jon Garcia
Nov 12, 2011 7:16pm

For the second time in as many months, President Obama has taken the nation that elected him president to task for its own lackadaisical economic performance on the global stage.

Obama told a group of CEOs today that the United States has gotten “lazy” and that America lost its hunger in promoting itself in a global marketplace.

“We’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades.  We’ve kind of taken for granted — ‘Well, people would want to come here’ — and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America,” he told the CEOs who are gathered on the sidelines of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, which the United States is hosting this year in Hawaii.

...

Last September, in an interview with an Orlando, Fla., TV station, Obama made similar remarks, saying, “This a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades. … We need to get back on track.”

Obama's comments in this area brought back some of the same feelings I had when I heard this on network TV from another President:

Crisis of Confidence

The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.

I guess I have a basic philosophical difference about people and the free-market system.

Sure, some people are lazy ... but then the people - and companies - who aren't overtake them.  If the system is designed to allow, or encourage it.

When the system isn't, it's not about laziness at all.

I don't think "we" are lazy, and I don't think - in a properly organized free-market system - that "lazy" companies survive, either.

What do you think?  Is "America" lazy?

Firm



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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 7:13:25 AM   
tazzygirl


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His target audience was CEO's... which is whom he was referencing as being lazy.

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 7:19:13 AM   
Owner59


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No.Our investment stratagies haven`t been all they could be.

The adult thing to do is address the problems and do something positive and constructive.

The childish thing would be to ignore those problems and demagogue them.

dem·a·gogue/ˈdeməˌgäg/
Noun:
1.A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires
and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.




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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 7:26:10 AM   
FirstQuaker


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Of course. It is mere coincidence that North and South America provide over 50% of the worlds food, over half the cumulative GDP along with the most powerful military forces on the planet.

If the USAsians actually had any honor they would admit the EU works far harder then they do.

< Message edited by FirstQuaker -- 11/14/2011 7:40:00 AM >

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 7:31:36 AM   
Fellow


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I hear the remark twisted by talk show hosts like he said Americans are lazy. This is obviously not what he meant or said. I must say though, Obama is lazy. He should think his thoughts through. Why is it really America is not very attractive for the businenesses to start, invest or move here?

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 9:00:45 AM   
EternalHoH


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Fellow

Why is it really America is not very attractive for the businenesses to start, invest or move here?




Because growing wealth through the act of owning a business has become obsolete. 

What? Entrepreneur for a decent living when we can gamble and rape the markets until our bank accounts are full instead?

The wealthy love the roadblocks just fine, thank you.  They have become the popular excuse for the privileged to travel down the path of shortcuts instead.

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 9:22:53 AM   
sweetsSvengali


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This is Obama's version of Carter's "Malaise" ... he can't very well come out and say "The economy isn't going to grow as long as I'm here to choke it to death", so we get the "lazy" comments.

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 10:42:45 AM   
Fellow


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All correct, but isn't the president there to take some action to change the situation. Obama looks and behaves like an observer dropping occasionally some observations between golf and basketball games.

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 10:43:33 AM   
FirmhandKY


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quote:

ORIGINAL: EternalHoH

Because growing wealth through the act of owning a business has become obsolete. 

Why?

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 10:44:36 AM   
Iamsemisweet


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It has already been stated that Obama did not say Americans are lazy, so I won't bring that up again.  However, I have no problem with saying that Americans, particularly baby boomers are certainly self indulgent.  I hope the next generation is not.

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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 10:50:30 AM   
FirmhandKY


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Owner59

No.Our investment stratagies haven`t been all they could be.

The adult thing to do is address the problems and do something positive and constructive.

The childish thing would be to ignore those problems and demagogue them.

dem·a·gogue/ˈdeməˌgäg/
Noun:
1.A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires
and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.

Are you saying that Obama is demagoguing?

Firm



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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 10:52:57 AM   
FirmhandKY


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

It has already been stated that Obama did not say Americans are lazy, so I won't bring that up again.  However, I have no problem with saying that Americans, particularly baby boomers are certainly self indulgent.  I hope the next generation is not.

I'm not really interested in the left/right bashing on the issue either, although some of that will doubtless come out.

I'm more interested in defining "the problem" that the "lazy" comments was attempting to identify, and then to see what - if any - steps we should take to address it.

Firm


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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 11:03:56 AM   
MasterSlaveLA


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Baroccoli O'Vacation is the laziest piece-of-shit fuck-tard out there -- the only thing he continues to "run" is his lying, class-warfare mouth, and our country down the toilet.  Should take a lesson from some of America's "CEOs".


How CEOs Get the Energy To Work Marathon Days
By Carol Hymowitz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal 


THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Tyco International, L. Dennis Kozlowski, calls his job "a game of endurance."

He starts work each day at dawn and goes nonstop for 16 hours or more. Last Wednesday, for example, he had a 6 a.m. meeting with investment bankers in Boston and then flew to Livingston, N.J., to meet for several hours with employees of CIT Group, the financial-services business that Tyco just announced plans to acquire.

He then traveled to New York City to have dinner with the chief executive of a company Tyco does business with, and didn't check into his hotel there until after 11 p.m.

He slept for just five hours -- his usual regimen -- and was on the phone the next morning at 5:30 a.m. with staffers in Europe. Then, he held a series of back-to-back meetings all day with employees and investors before heading to a dinner at a Chinese restaurant "to talk about synergies with CIT," he says.

"This is what it takes to be a CEO, and if you're not willing to do it you should step out of the way so someone else can take your place," says Mr. Kozlowski, who is 54 years old and believes he was born with the ability to keep going when everyone around him wants to stop and rest. "As a kid, I drove my parents crazy."

THIS BOUNDLESS ENERGY is a common trait in most CEOs, and a critical one. As business becomes more global and technology calls for 24/7 performance, those who lead companies must be able to move through several time zones several times a week, and communicate with staff and customers around the clock.

"Travel time used to be downtime, but now I'm on the phone or e-mail while on airplanes," says Mr. Kozlowski, who worries that if he stays out of touch for even a few hours he'll miss something important. "While you sleep, things are going on in Asia."

So how do CEOs sustain and replenish their high energy levels? Mr. Kozlowski says he refuels on weekends -- but that doesn't mean rest. He rides his motorcycles and races his sailboat.

Apple Computer's Steve Jobs, 46, stays energized during the week by avoiding caffeine and drinking lots of water throughout his long workdays. T.J. Rodgers, president and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, rarely breaks for lunch. But five times a week, the 55-year-old Mr. Rodgers leaves his office midday for a five- or six-mile run. When he wants to do an extra mile or two, he'll give up changing time and sit in his wet running clothes for the rest of the afternoon. "The jogging keeps him focused and strong," says a spokesperson.

Unlike scientists, scholars or even surgeons, who must concentrate for long periods of time on one task or goal, business leaders must move quickly from situation to situation, handling scores of disconnected events each day.

CEOs tend to thrive on the pace and diversity. "Sometimes you have fires blazing in one place that you need to put out, and then you must quickly shift gears and go calmly to another location where you have to do something ceremonious," says Kay Koplovitz, the 55-year-old CEO of Working Women Network.

SHE TRIES TO RESERVE some energy for reflection and some strategic thinking. "If you are always reacting to people and things, you are not moving your business forward," says Ms. Koplovitz.

Each day, she ensures she takes some time to think without interruptions. She typically does this while working out at the gym -- or when traveling. She also boosts her energy by participating in adventure sports.

"When you are whitewater rafting in class-five waters or altitude hiking, you have to pay rapt attention and can't let thoughts about business intrude," she says. That focus "takes my energy but also frees me [from everyday concerns] and so restores my energy."

Even the most vigorous CEOs, however, must learn to let go of some workplace tasks, or risk burnout. Kimberly-Clark Chairman and CEO Wayne R. Sanders, 53, realized while on a 15-day swing through Asia two years ago that he needed help overseeing his company's expanded global businesses.

He had been logging thousands of miles flying overseas each month and then putting in marathon hours between trips to catch up with work at Dallas headquarters. Unable to sleep one night in a foreign hotel, reading a book and eating a candy bar, he realized he needed to delegate some of his workload. Soon after, he named a No. 2, President Thomas J. Falk.

Mr. Sanders now focuses on investor relations and other CEO matters at home, while Mr. Falk, 42, travels extensively, managing Kimberly-Clark's world-wide operations.

Michael Fisch, the 38-year-old president of American Securities Capital Partners, a New York leveraged buyout firm, admits, "I find work more exciting when I'm running very hard and approaching things with a sense of urgency."

As a child, he says, he thought about "whether it's more efficient to button your shirt top to bottom or bottom to top." But he knows the danger of never resting. "I know I'm in trouble," he says, "when I start thinking that sleep is inefficient."

 

http://www.markrosa.com/Stock%20Market%20News/ceo_work_hours.htm



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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 11:40:37 AM   
tazzygirl


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Yes, dear, thats exactly what he meant. CEO's are physically lazy.



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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 11:56:23 AM   
Lucylastic


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no no no , one ceo means allll of them are exactly the same!!!! yanno that broad brush it uses so often, one means all


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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 11:56:51 AM   
MasterSlaveLA


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Oh dear... Lefties still making excuses for and playing mind-reader for the laziest, worst, biggest piece-of-shit fuck-up FAILURE to every occupy the the Oval Office -- Baroccoli O'Vacation.

 




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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 12:00:43 PM   
MasterSlaveLA


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucylastic

no no no , one ceo means allll of them are exactly the same!!!!



The LAZY, FUCK-UP, PIECE-OF-SHIT FAILURE that is Baroccoli O'Vacation is seemingly painting with said "broad brush", according to your pal. Again, there's that reading/comprehension thing working against you.  



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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 12:03:47 PM   
tazzygirl


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Proof of the murdering, dear.

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Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 12:07:51 PM   
Lucylastic


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LMAO
keep ranting dearie, you are so so speshul, you dont comprehend anything outside your little rants you are just too lazy to find truth?, keep on, LMAO you are funny
golf clap for you
being called lazy hurts you doesnt it
such a shame
its not my comprehension thats the issue
altho I dont expect you to get that


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RE: Are Americans "Lazy"? - 11/14/2011 12:08:49 PM   
thompsonx


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quote:

ORIGINAL: sweetsSvengali

This is Obama's version of Carter's "Malaise" ... he can't very well come out and say "The economy isn't going to grow as long as I'm here to choke it to death", so we get the "lazy" comments.



Could yo tell us what you think the president has done to "choke the economy to death"?

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