Unchained has wrapped up and, by all accounts, done a stand-out job exposing Social Media Marketing and the power of the individual. I was bummed I could not attend. Funny thing though: if you are hungry enough you get fed anyway. My hunger was sated in seeing how a democratic, capitalistic, free economy continues to reveal our greater selves. This past Friday that idea was brought home in a powerful, if disjointed, way in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.
There were three, seemingly unrelated, articles that taken together gave me great joy. From time to time we need to polish our appreciation for the economically empowering era we live in (and sometimes take for granted).
> Guy Sorman wrote an op-ed piece exposing the massive cracks in communism and the potential for political fall out that stems from the natural disaster of an earthquake. The buildings whose failures caused the most damage – the schools and the hospitals – were those constructed by the state. The graft and corruption that leads to the crushing of school children does not go unnoticed by the people.
So it is with China and with tyrannical regimes: The party is convinced it controls everything. But it is often the unexpected events that reveal fault lines in the system, the hypocrisy of public discourse, and the most unbearable injustices.
Tyrannical or sublimated, political or economic: the chokepoints of the world are slowly exposed.
> The second article was a front page celebration of Erin Callan, the most powerful woman on Wall Street. A free economy coupled with a free exchange of ideas is contributing to women taking their place in the most powerful of positions. Even better, in my humble opinion, is what Ms. Callan has become known for and, one must assume, what helped move her to the very pinnacle of the economic pecking order:
She aggressively roots out rumors, even while pushing her bosses to disclose more financial information.
The open and transparent exposing of information leads to success.
> The third article discussed CEO Willie Walsh of British Airways PLC. The company saw a record performance to end the year and is paying an annual dividend for the first time in seven years. The staff will share in Read more
