The political games and spin have to stop. In the next ten years, nanotech could be cleaning the oceans and the plaque in your arteries or heart. Pharmaceuticals could be produced in your home with 3D printers, meds tailored to your specific medical needs and DNA. Some 5 years ago, I spoke with a HUD and MOD Codes builder who had investigated building homes in a factory with only three workers. Robots would be doing all of the rest. Only labor unions kept that from being a reality; what if the politics were removed?
The classic movie Network was one of those comedy/dramas laced with layers of truth. It gave us the famous line, “I’m Mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!”
I’m not going to list all of the insanity that is taking place at the local, state and federal level here in the U.S.. First, it wouldn’t be possible. Next, my list would be different than yours, but there would be overlap! This point is that we know things are often done in insanely political ways, and yet we watch it happen.
So we need to rouse ourselves from any apathy and get mad! Then we then need to plan and channel that energy to do something about it!
Jihadi Terrorists, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran or Cubans could use cyber attacks to steal your identity, screw with your medical records, or cause planes to collide in the sky. What are we doing about it?
We’re still being told about global warming and why we have to cripple the coal industry, at the very time that nanotechnology will soon clean the water, and could clean the air. Will we let China and India add a new coal fired electric plant a week, while we dismantle our own far cleaner coal-fired electric producers?
Cheap Energy is part of the secret sauce that made America great, and could make us a clear global leader once more. Even with no global warming for some 17 years, we hear and read the same propaganda designed to sell us an ideological bill of goods designed to increase regulations plus taxes and that kills jobs, putting workers on food stamps.
Where is the logic?
Teachers unions, colleges and universities in the U.S. are falling behind other nations, even though we spend tens of billions more a year. Why aren’t we asking the questions, such as, why? Why is ‘choice’ okay in some social arenas, but not politically correct in the area of parental choice for the education of our youth in the nation’s public or private schools?
If fair Competition is proven good in business, why not use it in education?
In the past 6 years, deficits and debt has piled up to levels never imagined. Where did all those trillions go? What are we tax payers paying so much interest on in the federal debt for, exactly? Presidents like Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton learned to work across the aisle and/or established reforms that grew our economy. Why not the current POTUS?
It isn’t just big government believers run amuck. As Network suggested, crony capitalism is a serious challenge too. Is EXIM one of many examples of crony capitalism paid at taxpayer expense?
As an independent, it’s a pleasure to question Democrats who promote policies that would turn America into Detroit. It is equally a pleasure to ask Republicans to spell out a vision that will return us to world-leading greatness across the spectrum. But too often the elephant party are instead in practice “Democratic light.”
The MH Connection
I’m writing at Tampa International, a grand airport for the U.S.. The flight to Houston and then New Orleans, LA will have me there in time for whatever updates we will hear about from the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) on HR 650, and the not yet dropped Senate companion bill.
But does the national association have a vision beyond tweaking Dodd-Frank and recruiting more members? What will the plan be to do more than introduce a bill? How will we get that bill passed? And if/once passed, what else?
Do we have a national plan B? Or a Plan C?
A Bill that Did Pass…
Do we recall that HERA 2008 gave us the “Duty to Serve” (DTS)? A level financing playing field for MH could free billions of federal, state and local tax dollars that now go to subsidized housing! It would also boost MH!
But how many – besides your Masthead Scribe – are tooting those horns on your behalf?
We support MHI’s good efforts. Yet as loyal members, we must also ask the questions there seems to be silence on.
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Will MHI avoid a conflict with MHARR this year? Will there be good working relationships between the two national bodies, or…?
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If choice is good in some areas of life, why is MHI supporting no choice for consumers on energy standards?
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With over 10,000 retiring daily, and 85% of those renting saying they want to own, what is their plan to grow our industry’s market share?
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Dick Ernst has asked our industry’s lenders, who publicly replied, that there is no lack of capacity to sell more credit worthy customers homes. So what is MHI doing to promote getting more cash and good customers into our mix?
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Will MHI financially support the MHI Suppliers Division passed initiative to create videos to promote the MH lifestyle?
The IGA of Manufactured Housing!
Barring the unforeseen, we will roll out this week the first of our Inside MH Video Interviews. These video interviews were filmed at the 2015 Louisville MH Show. The first one will be with a leader for a growing community operator with dozens of locations. See why that leader thought our IGA of Manufactured Housing, Super Charged Marketing and Sales plans were so impacting for he and his team at the Show.
If you missed it at Louisville, at the Tunica 2015 Manufactured Housing Show, this year, we will do it again! We have a plan that independents, corporations and associations could get behind. We already have hands raised to get the ball rolling.
You see, getting mad is just the start. The next step is the have a plan of action that can succeed.
With the insights and support of good MHPros, we are building a glide path for the growth of our industry. We have Dick Jennison on video saying we as an industry can hit 500,000 new HUD Code home shipments. Terrific! That won’t happen in 2015, but it can happen, given the right efforts. So what is the MHI plan to achieve that noble goal?
Why Not Join the Plan Already in Place?
We have a plan that already works in MH and other industries too. Let’s examine, implement and scale it. Let’s not sit back and do nothing, or merely gripe and hope for change.
Let’s be the change we want to see. I’ll let you know what the cool stuff was from the MHI meeting Sunday through Tuesday in NO, LA. ##
