State of the Union? Stay tuned

You’ve heard that when the US sneezes, we catch a cold? Here are some of the sniffles I saw state-side. MARCIA GRIFFIN

By Marcia Griffin

I have literally just got off the plane from the US after a two week visit to my favourite ski resort and in the process of being challenged by double black and other less onerous diamonds – here is a snap shot of what I observed. And as our country tends to follow the lead, I feel as entrepreneurs and leaders we should be on guard!

• I did not hear any strong political leadership from the current President or the hopefuls regarding the economy. In fact the fight on the Democratic side looks like another lightweight reality TV series, and there are plenty of those already.
• Smart business people expressed concerns about the length of the recovery, the younger the more optimistic in terms of timing.
• The election will exacerbate the timing of the recovery.
• The US is plagued by a long winter – high energy costs.
• There is no sign of global warming in Colorado; more snow than ever before!
• There were reports of people burning their houses to claim insurance and get out of mortgage payments!
• House prices on average have dropped about 10% over the last year on average.
• Grocery prices have gone up around 5% over the last year.
• Outside Aspen I noticed people looking unhealthier and observed obesity out of control!
• Flicking through the TV channels I was stunned by the banality of many (most) programs.
• Women in the US who used to be at the cutting edge of independent thought now have role models that Tammy sang about – Stand by your man –or are they just clones of Hillary Clinton who seems to believe that success is the only revenge.
• I was really hoping Mrs Spitzer, the wife of the New York Governor who by all accounts was committed to cleaning up New York, would take the microphone and speak for women by saying how unacceptable and irresponsible she found her husband’s behaviour. Even if she personally was not hurt.
• The mortgage industry is worth $US11 trillion and no-one seems sure about the percentage of this at risk.

Aspen was fabulous – but that’s all until my next blog.

To read more Marcia Griffin blogs, click here.

High Heeled Success is Marcia Griffin’s latest book, and is a frank account of building a business from a solitary sales person to a multi-million dollar business with 4700 sales consultants around Australia and New Zealand. It recounts successes and failures along the way and was written to inspire entrepreneurs-particularly women to triumph in business.

High Heeled Success (Kerr Publishing) is available directly from Marcia (marcia_Griffin@msn.com.au) or Domain Books www.domainbooks.biz.