Why Occupy Wall Street?

There’s a tremendous buzz among friends, associates, blogs and TV news media these days about what the Occupy Wall Street protesters want.

Mitt Romney has called it “dangerous…class warfare.”  Herman Cain of Godfather Pizza fame said, “Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks; if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!  It is not a person's fault if they succeeded, it is a person's fault if they failed."  And later, "To protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you’re anti-capitalism.”  CNN’s Ali Velshi this morning conducted an interview with four opinionators, all speculating about what these people want.  It seems there are many who would like to discover what flavor of treats the New York City protesters like so they can throw them the right one, sweep these people off the street and get back to business as usual.  Meanwhile there are similar demonstrations taking place in other cities, including Seattle.  So far there have been few instances of their protests being hijacked by crazies and anarchists.  Stay tuned.

Why is their plea so difficult to understand?  What they want has been ably enunciated by the NYC General Assembly, the nearest thing to an organization of the protesters themselves in their Declaration of the Occupation of New York City.   The document may have some problems, such as the reference to direct democracy (we don’t have that here; we have representative democracy), and its asterisk appended to the end of a long list of grievances, giving it near infinite possibilities.  But the document itself reads a bit like the Declaration of Independence and the movement resembles the great act of rebellion of American colonists against a tyrannical ruler three years earlier.

Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon, speaking on the floor of the House to those still mystified by the protest, ably condensed the NYCGA’s Declaration by pointing out once again that Americans have witnessed reckless Wall Street gambling, massive deregulation that permits it, higher corporate profits, higher CEO compensation and giant bonuses often even in the absence of profits while millions of capable citizens are unable to find a job.  They've seen mortgages being foreclosed on honest, hardworking families.  They've seen bailouts of the wealthiest Americans, but nothing for the small businesses that create jobs. They've found a stacked deck blocking their access to the American dream.

This movement is very much in concert with the Main Street sustainability movement if they're not one and the same. Wide-spread disillusionment, even despair, with the state and future of our economy is driving Americans of all stripes back to the values we once practiced with ease in doing business with our neighbors and nearby farmers vs. lining the pockets of executive shareholders who live far away and care not a whit about your neighborhood and mine.  But many of our politicians, those who could make a difference, seem in their endless election campaign madness insensitive to those being squeezed by forces far greater than themselves.

Donna Brazile gets it.  Bainbridge Island author David Korten gets it.  Many others among both the suit-and-tie set and the younger, not-yet-finished crowd also get it.

Americans want access to the opportunities that once were every American’s birthright.  They want an even playing field.  Many of them, including the author of this blog, believe it has become anything but even.

Small businesses don't need tax relief...

The Obama administration has targeted small business with laser-like focus, pushing a $30 billion small-business lending fund in Congress and rolling out a tax break allowing businesses to deduct 100% of qualified capital investments.

But the chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Businesses has said that small business doesn’t need more tax relief.  It needs customers.  Washington should aim its firepower at consumers, he says, so they can begin spending money and creating demand for the products and services small companies provide.

“If you give a small business guy $20,000 he’ll say, ‘I could buy a new delivery truck but I have nobody to deliver to,’” said William Dunkelberg, chief economist for NFIB.

“History shows that letting Washington have the money and spend it is very ineffective,” he said.

The administration’s idea, which would allow businesses to temporarily deduct 100% of “qualified” capital investments, can help “on the margin,” Dunkelberg said. With capital-spending by small business at a 35-year low, some firms will naturally take advantage of a temporary tax incentive to replace products. But Dunkelberg said he thinks most small businesses will hold on to their cash until more certain economic times.

The best way to help, he said, is to “finally address the most important person in the economy – the consumer.”

We couldn't agree more.

Main text courtesy of Debra Solomon, Wall Street Journal

Is it all about the gadgets?

We’ve just returned from the enormous semi-annual World Market where manufacturers from all over the world show their newest designs in furniture, floor coverings, lighting and home décor accessories.  We attend this trade show once a year in hopes of finding new answers to the age-old question:  “We need more stuff.”

Interestingly, on a visit to a showroom packed high and deep with some very unappealing sofas and recliners of a type that once again put us in mind of Jabba the Hut, we heard an answer to a question no one’s ever asked.  As we sank in and started fiddling with the on-board cup holders, reading lights, power leg rests, vibrators and remote control storage compartments, the self-omniscient salesman announced with the authority that comes naturally to those who peddle such things, “It’s all about the gadgets.”

Can it be?  Have we completely misunderstood what drives our customers to furnish their homes as they do?  Is it really all about the gadgets?  We’d thought for many years that it was all about design, particularly good design, and about innovative use of sustainable materials and about performance for families over a long lifetime. 

Have the giants of industrial and interior design had it all wrong?  We prefer to think that disciplined design processes make a difference, that attention to ergonomics, to quality construction and to sustaining our natural environment are things that matter.

We’re a little stubborn, so we’ll go on thinking what we prefer to think and doing our best to find and bring to our customers the kind of home furnishings they can be proud of and that their children and grandchildren might one day fight over. 

In truth, thank God, there was a good representation of new things of quality at the show as well. You’ll soon see some of them at Port Madison Home.

Let justice roll down...

I've just returned from a ceremony I'd never have expected until very recently to witness firsthand and that I don't expect I'll ever witness again, the swearing in of a Washington State Supreme Court Justice, in this case my friend and fellow Bainbridge Islander Charlie Wiggins, pictured here.

Must I from now on address him as Justice Wiggins?  I doubt it.  Charlie is a humble and approachable man of the highest integrity.  The theme of his career is expressed in the book of Amos:  "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."

This was a gratifying experience because what I heard were the voices of real people with real lives, real families and genuine passions -- people who have achieved some great things and who are now at the pinnacle of their careers in an important and respected profession.  I came away feeling that our courts are to a very high degree in good hands, that they're vital to the protection of our liberty and our cherished unalienable rights as Americans and members of the human race.

Is justice delivered perfectly?  Not always, and I feel certain the Judges and Justices I met today in Olympia would acknowledge that as fact.  Charlie today eloquently affirmed his desire as an attorney and now as a Supreme Court Justice to bring to his work the effort he's made throughout his career to restore balance to relationships that have gotten out of sync.  I couldn't be more proud to call him my friend.  All of Kitsap County and of the State of Washington can likewise be proud of their decision to invest him with this responsibility.

John Hays

More for Less?

Does the American consumer want to be lied to?

This is a serious question, though it would seem at first glance that the answer is obviously "No way!".  We want truth in advertising, we want to know for sure what's in our food, we want to know what to expect from the products we buy.

So why do we fall for offers of 60% or 75% off furniture, rugs, appliances, business suits and just about everything else?  Why do we think we can get two suits free when we buy one at the regular price?  What's up when the marked price of soda pop is ostensibly competitive, but you can get three 12-packs free when you buy two?

A business associate of mine recently said with both the conviction and despair that come from bitter experience, "I guess people just want to be lied to."  And so there are those in the home furnishings business who shout about deep discounts on furniture every day.  More furniture for less!

If you want to be lied to and want to believe the lie, straight-faced swindlers are seldom in short supply and are eager to be "your friend."  You'll never hear that language from Port Madison Home.  We work hard to be certain our prices are honest, fair and competitive and we guarantee the low price every day on the things we sell and, yes, we occasionally mark prices down to liquidate goods that apparently didn't just excite our customers.  We offer only quality merchandise and never mark it up high enough to permit those ridiculously deep daily discounts you hear in high decibels with multiple exclamation marks.

Think local, buy local and retain the lifestyle we enjoy here for the next generations.