Regarding Recession Attitude. Last week, a client in Eastern Europe reminded me of the story of the Russian Weightlifters. During the old Soviet days, pre-1990, the Russians always won the Olympic weightlifting competition. Apparently it wasn't done with steroids, but something much simpler. 

The world record was always around 600 kilos (200 pounds) and nobody could break that barrier. Then the trainers got the idea to mark the weights lower. They told the contender that he was lifting 580 kilos, when in reality he was lifting 610. Since Vassily wasn't the sharpest potato in the borsht and thought he was lifting 580, he just strode up there, lifted those babies over his head, dropped them and walked away. He couldn't figure out why everybody was jumping around and cheering. He was the only one that thought he was lifting an easy goal. He didn't know until a couple minutes later that he broke a world record.
 
Get it? It's tough out there right now and the more I remind myself of that - I'll flop. It's like the 4-minute mile. It's hard to believe, but at one time scientists PROVED that it was impossible. The record was broken in 1954 - nobody could believe it. Then somebody did it again. Then again - and you get the idea. Ever seen brand new people in the business sell a tough client because they didn't know any better? Same thing. Take whatever big obstacle is in the way of success and simply think, It only weighs 580 kilos - I've done it dozens of times with ease. And you will.

I don't know about you, but I'm confused by the so-called Bailout. I mean who's getting bailed out? You? Not me either. I know that a whole bunch of banks who helped caused the problem are getting a lot of money from our government, which is borrowing that cash and guess who's gonna get the coupon books for that cash? That's a bit counter-intuitive to how we make a living.

The Detroit automakers are making pleas to congress to help them. Some say that they got in this pickle themselves. They say that if there were credit around they'd be ok. I don't know about that, but I do know that if any of the Big Three closed down, the trickle-down wouldn't trickle; it'd be more like an avalanche of bricks - from every standpoint you can think of. They say that one in ten Americans is employed in something related to the word Automotive. That includes most of us.

This is just my opinion. In the grand sense, a bailout might not be fair, those guys did a bad job, but the opposite would be very, very tough. So it might be time to hold your nose and make that phone call or e-mail to your congress person and senator person. It might not be fair - but the smart thing to do.