Sound the trumpets; Uncle Sam is rescuing the mortgage industry, with our money, of course! There are significant challenges facing the mortgage industry, none bigger than the foreclosure issue. Mortgage hustlers were writing loans where somebody could buy a $500,000 house with a poor credit history and no money down. Families were coaxed into these deals, even when they knew they couldn’t afford it.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee about $5 trillion in home loans, just more than half of the nation’s total. Investors and credit markets worldwide began to grow skittish as many of these loans went into foreclosure and their reserves started to drain.

A plan was unveiled Sunday, the 7th of September by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, for the government to takeover Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the industry was headed toward a crisis. For those who may not remember, it was Congress who created Fannie Mae in 1938 and Freddie Mac in 1970, so that money kept flowing into the home-loan market by buying up mortgages and selling them to investors. Their intention was to make home ownership affordable for all Americans.

Should there have been tighter restrictions on the lenders, many, who knew that these loans should’ve never been written? Knowing the stakes, should the U.S. Government have stepped in sooner, thus avoiding much of the heartache that families all around this country have had to face? Should we even be in the mortgage business? Is there another way out?

Bold, gutsy, genius, weak, shallow, a cop-out? Which adjective best describes the new Vice Presidential Republican Candidate Sarah Palin, current Governor of Alaska? Everyone has an opinion, and they’ll be expressing those opinions over the weeks ahead. Palin’s experience is being heavily debated; she is an outsider from Washington politics. Why did McCain take a chance in putting an outsider on the ticket? He had a pool of experienced candidates to choose from, politicians who’ve been on the scene for decades; yet he chose a candidate that’s not part of the establishment.

Let’s get something straight people; you can expect more of the same from our federal government, whether we put a seasoned, experienced Republican or a Democrat in Washington. Again, the problem is we have a host of characters in Washington that continue to follow along with the establishment. It’s easier to just blend in and follow along than to stick out and make a stand.

Exactly what they’re complaining about in Sarah Palin, is what we need more of in politics. We need a fresh approach in Washington, yes, real people with less Washington experience. People with real ideas that can bring real change to America. We need real men and women, regardless of race or stature, to run for public office. We need great Americans to run for political office, we need to change the establishment, we need term limits, we need to make America great AGAIN.

The CHANGE word that politicians throw around will continue to be as elusive as ever, so long as our Congress and Senate remain a fertile ground for career-minded politicians that milk our system and pander to the special interest groups. Parties are guilty as charged, our Country is in trouble, and until we remove the cancer from Washington, you can expect more of the same, regardless of who you put in as President and Vice-President. Silly McCain, didn’t anyone tell him to sit down and follow along?

By guest blogger Leonard D. Stone, President, Malcolm Out Loud, www.malcolmoutloud.com

Now that the Beijing Olympic Games are nearing to an end it is time  to reflect on the athlete’s achievements and how we should view their accomplishments.  However,  I must tell you that I am not a fan of Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, nor am I a fan of that ilk that have sailed upon society’s insatiable need to worship celebrities, transforming that need into a cult-like adoration of the “beautiful people” that have contributed virtually nothing to the elevation of the human spirit or the betterment of mankind.  If you don’t get my point, stop reading because you never will.

Obviously society has placed a premium on being good-looking. It seems to tolerate thoughtless behavior and even glories in its imperfect need to see the celebrity it worshiped fall from grace. Our fascination becomes the fuel that permits these so-called “stars” to glow and somehow they just hang around without fading.

Will we remember the names of the swimmers, divers and gymnast who met the challenge and raised the bar? Will we take time to reflect on those breathtaking moments when the youth of the world – through their motivation, training and goal-setting -  took us to a place of glory we had never been to? Will we recall the look, the dedication and the effort of true stars?  Or will we wait around for the next Hollywood celeb to break the law, endanger someone’s life while joy-riding under the influence and  set themselves up as role models regardless of their behavior?.

I hope we will not forget the heartbreak or elation of that nameless youngster who ran faster, jumped higher or swam more brilliantly; those wonderful people from around the world that stretched the boundaries of our imagination being the best they could be?

As for me . . . it’s time to turn on Entertainment Tonight and find out what new about the “real” heroes. Has that Olympic experience just washed over me or can I be saved?  I hope so.

They’re like two kids that continually break the rules, lie to everyone, and never learn their lessons! The latest is their squabble about how many houses each of them own.

“Somebody asked John McCain, ‘How many houses do you have?’ and he said, ‘I’m not sure, I’ll have to check with my staff,’ ” Obama said. “True quote. ‘At least four.’ “, his staff said.  Other reports show the number to be seven or more. I guess if you think that being rich means you gotta make $5 million, and if you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong,” Obama said.

“But if you’re like me and you’ve got one house — or you were like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so that they don’t lose their home — you might have a different perspective.”

“Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said.

And yes, these are our choices; these are the two guys we decided were the best candidates to run for President of the free world. How low can American politics go? We’ll probably see the answer to that question just before November.

The single thing that made this country great is INNOVATION. This word has become a buzzword and has been stripped of its meaning…It’s thrown around like a Frisbee. People keep using the word and many don’t know what it means…But when you think of all this country’s innovations and what made it great, certainly one that comes to the mind pretty quick, is the automobile. America created the automobile, designed it, and perfected it, and then laid down and did nothing. Oh pity, the greed of the automobile manufacturers, they let a good thing slip away…

As reported in USA Today recently: General Motors’ global sales fell by 5% in 2nd quarter 2008; Toyota is nearing world’s largest title. A weak U.S. auto market dragged down GM’s performance as it reported its sales slipped another 5% in the second quarter. The reduction increases the prospect that Toyota soon will end GM’s 77-year reign as the world’s largest automaker. The immediate causes for the automaker’s woes are obviously the poor state of the economy, especially the housing slump, and sky-high gasoline prices that have hurt sales of large vehicles.

But really, what’s hurting American automakers is their lack of ingenuity and innovation. Foreign automakers have been beating them for some time now; they’ve become very good followers. Maybe if they would get on the forefront of some of these trends, they would begin to see a difference in their profits. There really is nothing terribly exciting coming out of Detroit these days; American automakers need to step out and do something different!

The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it is investigating a near-collision of airborne planes at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport – the third such incident at a major airport this month.

Oh, but the FAA has changed some procedures and said the public is in no immediate danger. Wow, that’s a relief – unless it’s you or one of your family members that is on the plane that crashes. What is going on with these people? Hasn’t there been enough close ones for us to take action? We keep reading about the dangers that our air traffic control system is in; and we continue to add more planes than ever before to the skies; doesn’t this all add up to a recipe for disaster?

We are using an antiquated system, it’s equivalent to using a paper and pen versus a computer, with all the technology we have; surely there is a higher-level system we can develop that will keep our skies safe! Washington needs to get off their tail and do something. Isn’t it time we invest here at home, isn’t it time we value human life?

The Learjet passed 325 feet above and slightly behind the departing American Eagle jet. At the high rate of speed the two planes would have been traveling and the short distance from each other, “there is no margin of error or safety there” said Ken Mead, a former Transportation Department inspector general.  “It’s almost random chance they don’t hit each other when they get that distance.”

Oh, and the NTSB is investigating two similar close calls at New York’s Kennedy Airport. In July, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 landing at JFK came within 600 feet vertically and a half-mile horizontally of a Comair jet taking off. The same goes for a Cayman Airways Boeing 737 and LAN Chile Boeing 767, also at JFK.

Remember the good news though, we are in no immediate danger. Are you buying it?

Read this piece from Business Week: Fear and loathing at the airport, Sept 2007: “Long lines, late flights, near collisions—everyone is unhappy with the state of the U.S. air travel system. Unfortunately, no one, especially not the FAA, seems able to do anything about it.”

And we’re not talking about birds here; yes people are using transit like never before. While transit has always been popular in the big city, we’re now seeing a surge all across the country. People are having to adjust to this new way of life, and it’s not by choice. In many cases, it’s a choice between making their house payment; putting food on the table; or putting gas in the car or the SUV; for those unlucky people who purchased one before gas went through the roof.

As reported in a recent USA Today article: public transportation ridership increased by 88 million boardings in the first quarter 2008 over the same period last year.

Increases by type:
Light Rail +10.3%
Commuter Rail +5.7%
Heavy Rail +4.4%
Bus, Trolley +2.2%

The perception that you’ll never use public transportation so it doesn’t matter to you; couldn’t be farther from the truth. This IMPACTS everyone: If we don’t start getting some vehicles off the road soon, there will be nowhere to put your car or SUV; will there? For those cities that don’t have a modern transit system in place, and you know who you are; it’s time to get busy and build one. In fact: www.ItsTimeToGetToWork.org

By guest blogger Bob McEachnie, founder of Valrico Bros. Coffee Co.

There is the science of what change is, the forces that affect change, and the art of creating and sustaining change.

First – you can propose radical change just by going against or selecting the opposite of the status quo without thinking and knowing what change is or appreciating the supporting forces that catalyzes change. We call this change: Change for change’s sake. Our culture tends to label those people as troublemakers, Cable TV talking heads or politicians. Thinking that accelerates radical change needs an environment that supports influencing thoughts, ignites that internal passion and impacts our society. We call this type of thinking: Brink Thinking.

It is best to understand change and the forces that interact with change to fully harness the innovative power of Brink Thinking.

What is change?

Because we are focusing on society and communities and not products let’s define human change as “the difference between our expectations and perceptions“. Using our five senses human change is the difference, delta, or gap between what we expect to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell and what we personally perceive to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. Depending on how much we value the expectation will determine the perceived difference, delta and gap resulting in small, medium and big change.

Let’s say there happens to be a 6.0 earthquake in San Francisco. You live in Boston. You hear and process the news. No big deal. This actually reinforces the reason you don’t live in San Francisco and you move on. Now add our Grandma to the mix – she lives there. Now that’s a change! You begin to worry, you try calling, and you become passionate. You valued the expectation that Grandma was safe and the perceived reality, without direct or indirect knowledge of her safety, allows your thoughts to run wild and negative. You now have a difference, delta, or gap from your expectations of Grandma being safe and your perceived reality of her no being safe. You have change, and because you love and value Grandma so much it is personally a big change.

Personal, community, worldwide change

Change maybe micro or personal, and/or local or community, and/or macro, which is country or worldwide. Let’s use oil and gasoline as our example: Let’s say the price of gas goes up 5 cents. Personally this increase may be no big deal unless the person is already on a tight budget: micro change.

Now let’s say the local county government decides to add a tax of 10 cents to each gallon of gas sold in that county. That is what we define as a community change. It’s doesn’t change too many people living outside the county. They adjust to – don’t buy gas in that county. Now let’s say the war breaks out and limits supply of oil. Supply goes down and price goes up for everyone worldwide. This is what we define as worldwide or macro change.

Brink Thinking

Brink Thinking accelerates radical personal, local community and worldwide change by promoting thoughts, thinking and ideas that influence and redefines the current status quo or paradigm of expectations. The adventure and excitement of dialog and collaborating with visionaries during the process ignites the passion within us as we make a difference in our communities and impact our society local and worldwide.

12% of Americans have confidence in the United States Congress, the worst rating The Gallup Poll has measured for any institution in the 35-year history of this question.  If 88% of Americans have no confidence in our leaders in Congress, what can we do about it?

Until Americans get brave enough to toss these politicians out of office, elect a new breed into office and place stiff term limits on these elected seats – we are going to continue to get the same results.  We keep electing the same politicians to office and somehow we expect to get a different result, I don’t get it.  It’s our own stupidity as we watch the greatness of this country dismantled right in front of us.  The dictionary states that stupidity is the poor ability to understand or to profit from experience – that should sum it up for all of you!

Congress ranks just below HMO’s, for whom 13% of Americans express confidence.  Big business, the criminal justice system, organized labor, newspapers, television news, and the presidency all receive relativity low confidence ratings.  All institutions are at or near their lowest ratings to date.  The only three institutions that Americans express a high degree of confidence are as follows:  the military, small business and law enforcement.

Why are our elected officials failing to listen to us? I’ll tell you why, because we let them get away with it!

PENCIL is a New York based not-for-profit organization that builds and supports customized relationships between business leaders and principals to inspire innovation and transform public schools.
Principal For A Day® (PFAD) is PENCIL’s flagship recruitment event. Each fall PENCIL mobilizes hundreds of New York business leaders. The goal of the event is for participants to translate their one-day experiences into long-term relationships that enhance the learning environments at their schools and support student achievement. Subsequent to their visits, participants are expected to partner with their principal and school for the duration of the school year.

This program is designed to allow principals to bring a wealth of resources into their school through involvement in a partnership including: access to new networks and expertise; opportunities for students; and professional development for staff and leadership and curriculum enhancement. See PENCIL’s Principal For A Day® program description here

Interested in bringing this program into your communities? Contact PENCIL