You Sleep When You Die

The 2010 Winter Games began last week in Vancouver. The media has been inundating us with stories of ‘Olympic’ proportions for months: which athletes have suffered setbacks during their training, which athletes are the best hopes for the U.S. to medal, what conditions are like on the mountains in Vancouver. The problem is that hardly anyone remembers why the Olympics were created in the first place.

How is it possible that President Obama can order $100 million in U.S. aid for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, but he can’t provide aid to the people in his own country that are suffering?

I have nothing against sending aid to Haiti and helping them during this devastating time, but to the tune of more than $100 million?! China – the richest country in the world – offered assistance and donated $1 million to relief efforts. Meanwhile, America – a country that is BANKRUPT – donated $100 million!

Is the financial system in this country in serious trouble? Without a doubt. But before we can try to fix it, we need to figure out how we got here. Banks today are all or nothing: they either lend money to everybody or they lend money to no one. Banks are screwed up because they issued mortgages to people who weren’t qualified, and they gave people credit they didn’t deserve. If everybody in this country could make his or her mortgage payments, we wouldn’t have a problem!

“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each year, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) honors Dr. King and his legacy by urging all Americans to dedicate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a day of service. President Obama and the First Lady launched United We Serve this past summer (in conjunction with CNCS) to urge ordinary Americans to make a difference during tough economic times. Given the recent events in Haiti, this initiative is extremely timely this year.

I’ve gone on record before as saying the American people elected President Obama based on his ‘likability’ rather than by judging him based on his successes in the business and political worlds. Now, after being in office for a year, he’s accomplished very little besides making empty promises and meaningless speeches…

America should be run like a business. And in business, leaders must take responsibility and lead…or die by the choices they make.