Facebook has a neat feature that reminds you of some post from the past. This morning, that Facebook feature reminded me of a post about MHVille that was from two years ago.
We’ve begun to use the phrase – “wheat and chaff” – more often to describe the point that people and sources of information must be discerned. Keep the good, toss what’s not useful or is incorrect.
It’s hardly a new thought. Wheat and chaff are an ancient piece of Biblical wisdom.
When we put together the story early this morning about the outcome of the presidential summit, it was the result of hours of input from a variety of sources. It is an example of wheat and chaff in action.
Perhaps 10 (+/-) sources were checked, before we drilled down what we thought was the meaty items for industry pros and investors to know.
Then, we provided the context of what it matters to manufactured housing. “That news through the lens of factory-built housing,” ©; one of our tag lines that describes what MHProNews uniquely does for the manufactured and modular home industry professionals and investors.
It’s about American drama at its finest. Check out that report, linked below, compare it to anything else that might be used for an MH Industry pro, and please tell us what you think.
Facebook, Wheat and Chaff
I recall how Triad Financial President Don Glisson, Jr. gave us a backhanded compliment that we treasure. He said he thought we were crazy when we launched what we call today, MHProNews. The launch was in mid-October 2009, and was near the industry’s lowest point ever in new home shipments.
Now, approaching a decade later, we as an industry are clearly not heading to extinction, as some then believed could happen.
When asked by the Midwest Manufactured Housing Federation (MMHF) to help bring back the Louisville Snow, we jumped in with both feet. The pay was very modest, considering all that had to be done. But we did it, and the show was a success, the first one in years.
Tim Williams from Ohio’s association was one of several who praised our work in writing.
Facebook has wheat and chaff. Pretty much everything and everyone does, starting right here.
We are pro-free enterprise. We cheer all honest and ethical forms of success. We stress honesty, and ethics, because some professions are built on the suffering of others. From illicit drug pushers, to pimps, pornographers, thieves, racketeering, coyotes, and so on, there are illicit businesses that generate tens of billions annually. We don’t cheer those at all.
But if we are fair and objective, even the darkest parts of human nature reveal truths worth learning.
We must learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Breaking Up
Count us among those who hope and pray that the Feds break up Facebook, Google, Amazon, and other monopolistic U.S. giants. Think back, if you are old enough, to the breakup of the telecoms. AT&T was charged under antitrust laws.
“Based on Judge Harold Green’s Modified Final Judgement of 1982, AT&T on January 1 1984 became a long-distance company, while seven regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) took control of the nation’s local phone networks,” says the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Some say that the monopoly over the phone business delayed the development of cell phone technologies by a decade.
It is just one of several reasons why corporate giants must be held in check and/or broken up.
To me, it isn’t just about price, which is an arguably flawed standard that antitrust regulators often use. How many businesses has Walmart and Amazon wiped out? How many jobs has that cost the nation? Would we have seen the shift to buying so much product from China, had Walmart not become so big?
They too should be broken up under antitrust law. As NY Stern Professor Scott Galloway has argued, it is how you bring oxygen back into the marketplace for startups and investors. That’s were jobs are created, instead of destroyed.
England, we’ve read, has a supposed standard of 25 percent market-share as the threshold for anti-monopoly (anti-trust) action. That might be still be a bit too high. Once a firm hits 20 percent of a given market, there are inevitable impacts on consumers, businesses, innovation, the economy, politics, etc.
Wheat and chaff. We must learn from whatever is good, and toss out whatever isn’t. The prism of the Ten Commandments – which clearly respects private property – ought to be the standard, timeless measure of behavior.
What Facebook reminded me of this morning is that it has been about two years since I got a tip from a then-fellow Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) member. That member pointed me to a CSPAN video about Richard Cordray and Senator Joe Donnelly. When I watched it, I got what that other MHI member as telling me.
MHI had distorted the exchange, saying only what was good for their narrative, while ignoring what was problematic for their stated agenda.
It seemed deliberately deceptive. It came from MHI VP Lesli Gooch, but our sources then said that MHI President Richard “Dick” Jennison had to okay it.
It’s was at best a half-truth, designed to mislead members. As a member myself, I was outraged. We can call these things allegations, because that is what the legal guys say it should be termed. But if you look at the CSPAN video we watched, and then look at what MHI then said…
Logically, if top MHI staff would deceive members about that, what else have or would they attempt to trick their own dues paying members about?
They had to be held accountable. I called publicly For Jennison’s dismissal along with that of Lesli Gooch.
It wasn’t the first or the last news tip.
Please, we’d rather get a news tip 4 times, than not at all. Don’t presume we have something. We know the generalities, but not always the specifics. Help us, help you help the industry get the most accurate reports by sending association emails, documents, and your own insights. Our default is that we treat comments as off the record, unless you and we specifically agree to make it on the record.
One step at a time, we’ve seen how MHI has weaponized reports. It was tricky, because no one else in the industry had directly named names and cited examples of what was happening, and who was authorizing it, the way we did.
That incident from 2 years ago led to a series of events and reports that has arguably contributed to what has brought us to the point we are in reporting in MHVille today.
Today, we can look back and see MHI, and their debatably Berkshire Hathaway puppet masters as they are. We give them a routine opportunities to comment before, during or after a Daily Business News story. We accurately quote from their own documents. We’ve offered to discuss or debate publicly via video, so all the industry can see.
They duck, dodge, detract, distract, and defame in response, don’t they? Doesn’t all of that speak volumes? If the truth was on their side, why don’t they just clear the air?
It’s been about 1 1/3 years since they have directly responded publicly. We suspended our industry famous Cup of Coffee series for a time, because it was too politically charged for many. We plan to bring that feature back, because more of the industry’s members are beginning to see — that what we’ve been reporting sadly makes sense.
It’s time to use antitrust laws to break up Berkshire Hathaway, not just Clayton Homes and their lending, retail, and others unit arms.
MHI must be investigated and/or perhaps sued. They’ve arguably misrepresented to the industry what they are and what they do.
MHI award winner Marty Lavin is sadly correct. MHI works only for the interests of “the big boys.” They work for the smaller companies only if their interests align with that of the big boys.
‘Tip of Iceberg’ – Rick Rand; Marty Lavin, Communities have ‘No Confidence’ in Manufactured Housing Institute, New National Trade Group Announced
” We are at the tip of the iceberg,” for the manufactured home industry’s opportunities, said Rick Rand of Great Value Homes in WI. Rand – a Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) board member, and award-winning communities veteran – would not weigh in on the latest controversies about the Arlington, VA based trade group.
The rationale and evidence seems to be that smaller companies are there as a meal for the big boys that want to gobble up smaller firms for a cheap price.
The smaller firms are there to also help pay for what the big boys want. Paraphrasing what another member said, ‘the big companies figured out how to use MHI to help get the smaller companies to pay for what the big companies want.’
Manipulation is often an ugly thing.
No one wants to believe that they were conned. It’s not fun to have to report about such problems, but it must be done, for the sake of all those who are debatably being victimized.
George Allen Blasts MHI, NCC Ignoring Own, Spencer Roane, SECO, COBA7, Tom Lackey Controversies
George Allen Blasts Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), National Community Council (NCC), Ignoring Own, Spencer Roane, SECO, COBA7, Tom Lackey Controversies, Tyler Jett, Tonya Evans, Contract for Title, Seller Financing, Alleged fraud, no titles provided, GMHA, Jay Hamilton, Code of Conduct, new association,
These are serious allegations. but there’s also serious evidence. There are several federal investigations already underway, because where there is smoke, there is often fire.
For manufactured housing industry professional and investors to thrive and achieve their full potential, the industry must recognize reality.
Then, each company must decide how best to deal with reality. It’s an American drama that you and hundreds of thousands of others are caught up in, like it or not. More on that drama and its solutions in the days ahead. ## (News, analysis and commentary.)
(Third party images, and content are provided under fair use guidelines.)
Related Reports:
Greener, Stylish Manufactured Homes – Hidden Facts in the Washington Post Manufactured Housing Narrative
Whatever one thinks about their political leanings, the Washington Post is one of the most important and influential news publications in America. They decided to publish an article recently about the HUD Code manufactured housing program. More specifically, the Washington Post (WaPo or WP) wrote about the inner workings of HUD under the Trump Administration, with Secretary Ben Carson at the helm.
NorthStar and Manufactured Housing Radix
” This is why we operate with a “North Star Goal’, a light that represents the highest aspirations of a business. Like a next-generation mission statement, a North Star Goal orients the identity and direction of a brand, guiding all decisions, strategies, and partnerships.” – Bag the Habit.
To provide a News Tips and/or Commentary, click this link. Please note if comments are on-or-off the record, thank you.
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – Masthead commentary, for MHProNews.com.
Tony is the multiple award-winning managing member of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
Office 863-213-4090 |Connect on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Sign Up Today!
Click here to sign up in 5 seconds for the manufactured home industry’s leading – and still growing – emailed headline news updates.
