Who built it?

This morning I saw a post from a High School friend on Facebook commenting on the following blog post by John Green (of “The Fault in Our Stars” et. al. fame):  http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/post/30565841330/i-didnt-build-that

In an election year that is charged with hyperbole, this is a current end to a back and forth debate of “who built that?”  It is most prominently/contemporaneously a counterpoint to a punch-line of the just completed Republican National Convention, where many a placard stated “We built that”; a clear indication that it is those entrepreneurs that invest or develop businesses that are the engines for prosperity and job growth in the American economic system.  This article (the blog post above) cites the opposite thesis, in that, it is not “you who built it” but the system and workers that work for you that built it, or at the very least made it possible.  I have posted elsewhere some notes on economics, but I think I need to wade in on this banter between two poles that seem unwilling to see the common ground between them.

As I cited in my comment reply to my friend, this is not an “either/or” proposition, but one that needs to be recognized as a “both/and” proposition.  We need individuals that are risk takers, investors, entrepreneurs, business owners, capital investors, and industrious to help drive the economy.  We also need to have stable markets, consistent and just courts and laws, effectual government, protective regulations, and investment of all forms of infrastructure to enable our economy to flourish.  Using an eastern metaphor, you cant have your ying without your yang.  We need the creative chaos of individual actors in free markets to be tempered by the needs of society, and we need the rules of society to support, not hinder, the individual to be willing and able to succeed.  At their core, both poles in our political discourse are missing the critical fact that they need each other; neither theory works without the other.

For my part, I am tired of the rhetoric that our discourse has put forth, especially in light of the facts on the ground evidenced by the actions seen in history.  As one of my most favorite historic figures Abe Lincoln said, “Your actions speak so loud, I can hardly hear what you say.”  Republicans touting themselves as budget hawks and fiscal conservatives turned a surplus government budget to a deficit, and that was before emergency spending after September 11^th.  Democrats, wanting us all to believe that tomorrow can take care of itself, continue to enact stop gap budget measures to shore up what is rapidly becoming an untenable safety net and enacting new entitlements by framing them as a “right” we all ought to have, that we can’t get close to affording (I will not delve deep here, but global evidence cannot even get close to supporting a right to healthcare, it is a privilege and based significantly upon the culture and prosperity of it and the actors within it).  Both parties have and continue to fail to level with themselves, never mind the American people, that neither side is right about substantial economic policy on their own. 

The reality is that we have so mortgaged our future, that we have to start looking at the next page of the American experience, one that isn’t as rosy as they want to paint; but also isn’t one we can’t overcome.  Our hope isn’t in post-WW II euphoric unleashing of the arsenal of democracy, but instead in the power to put on the yoke of the burdens we have wrought through overreach in some cases, and simple necessity of history on the other, and plow a new field going forward.  This involves a step into the place my grandparents experienced in the 1940s, that after a massive contraction in their lives, they opted to accept rationing, and sacrificed being able to drive to a station and get gas on demand, to be able to afford to pay to save the world from tyranny.  Since that time, we have gone from being savers to being debtors.  We shouldn’t see our future as a downgrade, but an in-grade.  By each individual and all of us collectively reassessing how we engage in our economic lives, we can not merely pay for the errors of almost 50 years of borrowing tomorrow, but again become the vehicle of growth in the world for the next 50 years or longer.  This is not a cut and save or a spend and borrow scheme I am talking about; both are colossal failures on their own.  But, we need to invest and capitalize.  Many eons ago I learned that probably the most important reason that the Roman Republic/Empire became what it was, was because of its infrastructure and its granting of citizenship to the people they conquered.  It was an investment in infrastructure by the government as a collective good and the capitalizing on the ingenuity and drive of new vigorous races and people that enabled the phenomenal growth and prosperity of Rome to last well over 500 years.  This is the strategy we need to employ, it’s a “both/and” way forward, one that is in the center if we are only willing to gain the humility to see it; “we both built it together”.

CBA letter to the NHL

The following is a letter I sent off to the NHL last week in regards to the ongoing contract negotiations between it and the Players Association (NHLPA).  As a general fan of the game, I really dread the possibility of another work-stoppage.  Take a read:

August 16, 2012

National Hockey League

1185 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036

Dear Commissioner Bettman,

I write to you today to express my great concern about the trajectory of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations.  While I self admit that I am not fully knowledgeable about the details of the negotiations, and I rely substantially on media reports which cannot hope to fully describe the facts (and in some cases may distort them), I am greatly saddened to learn that there is a strong potential that another bad day for the game of ice hockey may be on its way.

Let me succinct, having any kind of work stoppage is a bad day for the sport of ice hockey and is a bad thing for everyone, owners, players, and especially the consumer who pays in to make the sport a success.

The National Hockey League (NHL), like any other sports franchise, is a business fundamentally, and ought to be.  Ultimately, it is an entertainment business that engages its customers in spending their income on something that is not required to sustain life, but hopefully enlivens it.  To work, there have to be consumers who are willing to pay for not only the expenses, but also enough to prolong and make an investment in the industry worthwhile.  So in essence, I do not argue the economic facts that the owners need to make a profit, the players need to make a requisite amount for their services, and the consumer has to be able to be willing to pay the ticket/concessions/merchandise costs to make it all work.  A work stoppage, as you have now seen twice, is a serious downer for any and all of this to work.

I am fundamentally a fan of the sport of hockey; the NHL surely, but more centrally the sport of hockey.  The NHL as the flagship form of the sport is critical to the image of what the sport is in the wider marketplace of sports generally.  I concur with your numerous reiterations that hockey has never been faster, more talented, and simply better than it has ever been thanks to the level of competition and what is put on the ice in the NHL as a product.  I, for one, have been glad to see the rise in market share the NHL has gotten relative to Basketball (NBA), Baseball (MLB), and Football (NFL) in the US.  Hockey is really on the verge of not being the perennial “next rung” sport in the US market, but instead be on par, or even perhaps surpass some of them in terms of viewer-ship, following, and overall profitability.  There is, however, the specter in the closet that the NHL cannot be counted on to get past itself to rise to a true contender for prominence, and another work stoppage would backslide all of the gains you have made; I say again it would be a sad day for hockey.

As I said, I am a fan of the sport, and I play the sport.  The groundswell of support that ice hockey is getting in areas across the USA at all levels is there because of the absolute interest that the sport has garnered at the professional level.  Looking purely at the NCAA college hockey scene, there is excitement at all levels, programs are growing, and more schools are seeing that hockey is a great addition to their portfolio (especially as women’s hockey has really flourished in the US).  If the NHL doesn’t have games, I can promise you I will get my hockey fix, and it very well be a switch that is made that may have repercussions of frequency for when the NHL is back playing.  I am sure I am not the only fan that is out there that is gravely concerned that the modus operandi for CBA negotiation cycles is that there is going to be a work stoppage in the NHL henceforward.  That kind of thinking makes any potential work stoppage a bad day for hockey.

Lastly, because of the international nature of ice hockey, I would hate to see the best league for hockey move from a North American center of gravity to Europe.  The KHL has continued to prove it is highly competitive and is starting to draw serious prospects that are delaying coming to the NHL., if not altogether choosing to stay in Russia.  What has been the hallmark of the level of play in the NHL, which the best players in the world come to North America to play, will be seriously damaged, if not destroyed if there is yet another work stoppage.  Again, a bad day for hockey.

Mr. Fehr has offered that the NHLPA is willing to work on some sort of interim level or agreement into the beginning of next season, it would seem that the owner’s side has been a hold up for any hope that an interim accommodation could be made.  Again, I am without the benefit of the full facts, but I implore you to not allow the season to start late or a single game be cancelled as a part of the present negotiation effort.  As I opened, this is a business decision on a fundamental level, and I don’t want the business of hockey to suffer because of intractability on any side.  The best answer, the non-damaging answer, is that you and others work through the challenges and come to an agreement for a long period of time.  If that is not possible, get into place an interim agreement that allows hockey to be played while the parties hammer out that long-term deal.  I am all for tragedy on the stage and accepting of the agony of the defeat of my favorite hockey club on the ice, but I am forcefully against a tragedy that can occur because those in board rooms and in front offices won’t see the forest for the trees, inclusive of their own best interest in starting and playing this next season on-time and without a break in work.

Thanks for your reading the above and willingness to see this through to a good and fruitful end and simply not have a bad day in hockey.

Yours,

Erik C. Backus, P.E., LEED AP

Hockey Fan