Filed under: Human Behaviour
Heaven/Utopia = Earth – Competition.
After much deliberation, I am of the opinion that Heaven or Utopia is our current existence with competition removed.
Competition is a product of Mankinds deepest, oldest and most vivid purpose: survival.
Survival is now and has always been our number 1 goal. So much of what we do, is in some form an expression of this goal. Mankind’s obsession with materialistic sufficiency is a perfect instance of this inherent aspiration.
“He whose honor depends on the opinion of the mob must day by day strive with the greatest anxiety, act and scheme in order to retain his reputation. For the mob is varied and inconstant, and therefore if a reputation is not carefully preserved it dies quickly.” – Baruch Spinoza [Ethics : Pt. IV, prop. 58]
Sixty years ago – the 16th of August 1947 to be exact, on a frosty Saturday morning in Canberra – Ben Chifley, the Prime Minister and Treasurer, called a surprise meeting of Cabinet. He told his astonished colleagues that he was going to nationalise the banks. There was to be only one bank. Which bank? The government bank.
That same afternoon, while Australia was at the pub, the races or the footy, Chif sprung it on everyone else. A one-sentence press release. No explanation, no statement to Parliament, not even a hint at the previous election. Just “cop that, Australia”.
And that was to be just the start of it. Labor intended to take over the rest of industry once the banks had been destroyed. We were to have a command economy run from Canberra with the eager assistance of the ACTU which, in those days, had been white-anted by the Communists. The Labor Party itself, then, had a problem with Communist infiltration which almost destroyed it. Now you can see why I’m puzzled by Chif’s statue: funny place to put up a statue of a bloke who tried to kill off the business sector.
In his book, Chif’s Obsession, Ken Harris follows the lives of two fictional characters from the time they meet in 1923 as altar boys over a coffin at a requiem mass. By 1947 they had survived the Great Depression and the War. One is a labor member of parliament, and the other is a lawyer for a bank. They are mates. Like other Australians in those post-war year, their lives were turned upside down by Chif’s one-sentence announcement. He uses them and other fictional characters to try to bring to life the arguments and views of people at the time.
How did it finish up? It dragged on for two years. Labor controlled both houses of parliament so the legislation was passed and received royal assent. However the High Court declared it unconstitutional in 1948. Chif appealed and the Privy Council knocked him back, too, in 1949. There was a federal election soon afterwards. At last, the average punters could have their say; Labor was booted out and they stayed out for the next 23 years.
I wish I knew why Chif is still revered as a great prime minister. I think he was the most dangerous person to have occupied the office. But, even today, people go gooey-eyed at the mention of his name. Even a modern Labor leader like Kevin Rudd appears to find inspiration in Chif’s famous expression, ‘The Light on the Hill’.
Here’s something else to imagine. Get a pencil and paper and write down a list of the ways in which our Australia might differ from Chif’s Australia, if he had got his way.
I think Australia had a very lucky escape.
To get your own copy of Chif’s Obsession, visit Oscar & Friends Booksellers in Double bay or contact Ken Harris directly.
Filed under: Human Behaviour
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Filed under: Aphorisms
“The most innovative design draws on paradox. Two different ideas brought together to create something better.” — Kevin Roberts [CEO Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi]
You may think movie stars make big bucks, which is true in a way. But when you look at the commission they receive for their films, you realise that they don’t (statistically) get a good deal at all.
For example Matt Damon, for his last three films, has earned $1 for every $29 he generated for the studios.
Think of it this way.
Last year, a sales person I know personally, generated $1 million dollars profit (not revenue, but profit). Of this he took home about $100,000 in addition to his base salary of $80,000 plus super. All up he earned circa $200,000 before tax.
That works out to a 20% cut of earnings, or put another way, he earns $1 for every $5 profit he creates for the company. A stark contrast to the ratio Matt Damon receives.
With Damon’s commission structure, the sales person’s commission would be reduced to $34,500. This would reduce his total salary by $65,000 per year, roughly a third (32.5%) of his take home wage.
So the next time you tell yourself movie stars make the big bucks, just remember more than likely, you make a bigger cut of your sales than they do.
