One of the most salient characteristic of American culture is “can do” — its ability to find a way around obstacles placed in its path. Reuters recently reported that ice-cream shops in Venezuela are closing due to the unavailability of milk. In America the outcome may have been the invention of a source of artificial milk. Instead of closing the shops they might have reopened as artificial ice cream parlors.That seems like a strong insight. Government creates problems, but that means there's money to be made solving the problems created by government. I've been worried about automation putting people out of work, but here's a near-endless source of potential employment: developing workarounds and fixes for the idiocy that government devises.
American oil and gas companies reacted precisely in this way to government discouragement. The industry simply invented new technologies which made America the biggest oil producer in the world.
In the United States failure appears to be a profit opportunity.... Take for example the case of New York City resident Nicolas Karlson. The Affordable Care Act gave him the shaft.... So what does Karlson do? He adapts by hiring an adviser named Brett Sigler of Client Focused Advisors in New York. Brett will get him a deal somehow....
Obamacare will be great for guys like Sigler.
Richard Fernandez: Adapt, Survive, Profit
I thought this was an excellent piece.
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Government creates problems, but that means there's money to be made solving the problems created by government.
That is why ACORN exists after all, as well as lawyers and their unions.
developing workarounds and fixes for the idiocy that government devises.
There is a point where that becomes increasingly difficult, as well as corrupt when some people are given the power to implement their solution (Green ethanol based fuel and power) while others are penalized or run out of town (Nevada or the IRS overlapping fiefs).
The comments on that article were exceptional also- one person made the observation about how ,yes, more regulation creates work, but usually it is in the form of all the stuff that now has to be done, just to get around to the original task at hand-
Like the old saw about making the tool, to make the tool, to make the part- one more layer or three added.
It's one of the reasons I keep thinking about getting out of architecture- more and more of our work is compliance based and not design/ user consideration based anymore. It's got to be almost 80/20 at times, especially on lower end projects (rich clients can afford it and the expenses involved in compliant construction).
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