A third of mortgaged Seattle-area homes worth less than what’s owed
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014166638_zillow09.html

…”While the percentage of houses with negative equity in the Seattle area is climbing, it still doesn’t compare with Sun Belt markets that have become poster children for the housing bust.

About 82 percent of all houses in Las Vegas, 70 percent in Phoenix and 62 percent in Orlando, Fla., are underwater, Zillow estimates.

Using public records, Zillow also estimates that more than 28 percent of all houses and condos that sold in the Seattle metropolitan area in December sold for a loss. That’s up from 20 percent in December 2009.”

Historically home ownership equity has been used by small business for loans from banks:

• The banks do no loan, they sit on cash and reap benefits from fees to people and small businesses
• The government does not help, has not helped and will not help
• Unless “too big to fail” or “socialistic job creation” there is no help
• Upside down or lost equity forces loan calls or prevents loans for working capital, inventory, cash flow etc necessary for small business..

Today over 40% of all small business loans are from Merchant Processing, of which Merchant Warehouse is the largest.

Interesting that over 40% of all credit card sales in all forms are made by small business.

Does anyone know or care about small business. It appears neither Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party loud voices without substance, Libertarians, well-healed and “to big to fail executives”, bankers or public employees whose wages come from the public dole, seam to care. Why were the unions excluded from health care mandates? The burden for the cost of the health care reform was only increased for the small business owners already stretched farther than any other financial contributors to the strengths of America.

• Purchasing Business: Checklist For Cost Control of Small Business SIXTEEN STEPS TO PURCHASING A BUSINESS Roger Harman, MBA, Licensed US Customs House Broker WA State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser WA State Real Estate Broker WA State DOL Real Estate Instructor Business Opportunity transactions are some of the most exciting transactions in all of real estate.  They are also......
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• Free Consulting Offer: Loans Up To $150,000 For Small Business FREE from Makemi Makemi is beginning 2011 with NEW FREE offerings consistent with the global, national and local changes of the Internet Age.  In doing so there is a new web site, In addition, in an age when information is FREE and readily available Makemi is offering free business......
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• Small Business Resources: Blogs | Forums Resource Name URL Duct Tape Marketing Forbes Favorite http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php All Business Blog Center http://www.allbusiness.com/blog/metablog.asp Church of the Customer http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog Fresh Inc http://blog.inc.com Small Business Trends http://smallbusinesses.blogspot.com BusinessWorks businessworks.blogspot.com Entrepreneurial Mind http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall Small Business Brief http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com Online Small Business Training http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/counseling-training CNN Small Business http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/ The Motley Fool http://www.fool.com/search/solr.aspx?q=small+business&source=ignsittn0000001 Go......

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How that small company came to be an innovative leader at an affordable cost with technical competence in building bridges into the global villages of the future for some Fortune 500, some international and mostly small, privately owned companies is the rest of the story…

It really began in 1953 when Sam decided to pack his family and belongings in a trailer behind an Oldsmobile sedan and head “North to Alaska.” Sam had been a television and appliance salesman for Paulson’s of Tacoma (his family had the first TV on their block in the late 40’s and the newest and best household appliances).

The adventure to conquer the daunting Alaska Highway began in Tacoma, Washington. All along the way were “Alaska or Bust” signs and remnants of goods too heavy to haul any further; pianos, washers, dryers, dressers, tires, autos, house trailers, utility trailers, etc.

To Sam’s 9-year-old son the mosquitoes looked as large as hummingbirds. The trail brought Willa Cather’s writings alive to the young reader. The days were long, sometimes as long as 30 miles a day. Conditions were sparse, primitive and hostile. Some days would go by where only one semi-truck or car was seen. It was desolate. Sam’s son read his books and watched in awe. After almost three weeks the family arrived in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska with dust, dirt and a paltry 25,000 people, including the two large military bases! The family found a slum apartment in which gypsies were the main occupants. Sam’s son loved the romance of the gypsies and eagerly learned all he could of their ways. Soon the family moved into a more suitable, family dwelling.

The years were filled with hard winters. Sam’s son learned how to live with Mother Nature in the worst of conditions. Sam’s son learned to be ingenious because broken down cars, broken down furnaces, broken down anything, which was frequent, often required instant learning and instant solutions to solve survival problems. This was the land where lettuce was never green, unless giant and from the Matanuska Valley in the summer, because it was picked so early for the shipping.

Alaska was a land where eggs were a month old (fresh), orange juice cost more than a burger (of what, who knows) and television was comprised of tapes from Seattle that were two weeks old as was the news.

Sam’s son, a reader, a lover of poetry and classical music, soon learned that intellectual penchants were considered feminine traits that threatened all life and were to be physically stamped out as soon as noticed. Sam’s son used his flashlight nightly, under the covers, reading economics, history, philosophy, biographies, literature and historical novels. During the day he sat out among the tundra scrub, alone, writing epic poetry and pining for the sounds of Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Bach and Khachaturian. He learned to hunt, fish, fight and kill. He learned to ask why we learn to hunt, fish fight and kill. Sam’s son wrote his first paper (5 pages) at 12 on solving the world hunger problem with a redistribution scheme using the World Bank. Sam’s son was very energetic, a workaholic and unable to stay with any one thing very long.

As the years went by Sam’s son entered the University of Washington where he received an undergraduate degree in business with a dual major; accounting and finance. He then went on to receive a masters degree in business; his thesis was about those laid off from Boeing in the early seventies that started their own companies. Many of those companies are prominent names in our community today.

During the years of formal education Sam’s son entered the Army and served in the White House under President Johnson where he learned protocol and etiquette (few know the difference between the two let alone how to apply them) and security. Sam’s son subsequently went to Harvard under scholarship for postgraduate work and Notre Dame for law school (he wanted to go where God and the law met). He attended Becherer CPA review and sat for his CPA examination.

He was Director of Unemployment Insurance for the State of Alaska (banking, payments and transaction processing) during the building of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. He was also a senior college instructor at the University of Alaska Southeast campus.

He studied for and passed the Washington State Real Estate Brokers examination and the U.S. Customs Broker examination. He became Coordinator of the Real Estate Department and an Instructor for North Seattle Community College (the largest program in the State of Washington) and an instructor. He also taught computers and business writing at the Seattle Vocational Institute.

He knew his clients and the marketplace needed a bridge builder and systems integrator qualified in International trade transactions. This was especially true given the 1995 and 1996 law changes that made exporters and importers personally liable, financially and criminally, for violations that used to be the liability of the U.S. Customs Broker. He knew the Internet was moving into the world of International transaction processing.

Sam’s son, while not a practitioner in law, accounting, customs brokerage and real estate became an educator, consultant and WEB site provider. His company focused on small companies (less than $10,000,000 in annual sales) who needed a “jack of all trades” at an affordable price with superior technical competence and experience honed in the “emergency room operations” of real life. Larger clients needed a “special team for in and out results” or a quiet point guard in risky markets.

Along the way Sam’s son was constantly drawn to clients and customers who had run out of money, run out of hope and had few if any helpers. They had built their businesses on sweat. Their front office had been their nursery, living room, and family center. They had provided many a holiday and income to their employees. Sam’s son became the “emergency room doctor” operating against all odds. After years of such experience he decided that a life with those moving into the future and those open to the dynamics of a world at large would be a better opportunity to add value, make a profit and feel. He also perceived such a world as more exciting.

Through out the years as a consultant, real estate broker, teacher and small business appraiser Sam’s son gained much more in the way of local market and international experience. Trips to China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Eastern Russia for clients by the company in recent years added even more to a treasure trove of experience.

Along the way Sam’s son operated a premiere firm with as many as 14 consultants and agents. Few had the integrity, work ethic or operational savvy to perform at the competence level that Sam’s son required. Even fewer were willing to produce the quality expected at the lowest of market rates. Very few had the integrity necessary by Sam’s standards. Sam’s son enjoyed eight years as a member of the Better Business Bureau for Western Washington without a single complaint.

As Sam’s son recognized the incursion of the Internet into business and life he spent virtually thousands of dollars and hours as restructuring himself for small business of the future. Sam’s son realized the future was global, Internet and Word Wide Web based and that few businesses were prepared to go into the future.

Sam’s son had helped to introduce Word Perfect and Novell to the Pacific Northwest as well as other software and hardware. Sam’s son was one of the founders of the largest manufacturer of personal computers in the Pacific Northwest. He had also helped design and manufactures one of the first IBM PC clones. He had been trained by Allen Michaels; the co-inventor of the 8080 Intel chip architecture at Fairchild. Sam’s son had experience and training from IBM, Xerox, Savin, NBI, Convergent Technologies, Victor and Hewlett-Packard. He understood technology but was neither the best nor very efficient at implementing technology.

Sam’s son knew that any international transactions required a U.S. Customs License and that importers and exporters were going to be held accountable for all U.S. Customs covered transactions. An improper system of communications and interaction would deplete importers and exporters wallets or send them to jail!

Sam’s son knew in the early 1990s that few understood a digital age transition into the future.

Sam’s son knew that most were risking more money than they had by spending far too much far too soon on WEB sites.

Sam’s son knew that the middleman was being eliminated daily by the WEB site and that producers were going direct to world markets.

Sam’s son knew that the World Wide Web was expanding mail order while killing the industry as manufacturers went direct and continue to go direct.

Sam’s son knew that Washington State companies with over 50% of their revenue from outside the State of Washington were generally making money.

Sam’s son knew all too well that those with the majority of their revenue from within the State of Washington were suffering serious cash crunch, margin depletion and increased costs that could not be transferred to higher sales volume with lower margins.

Sam’s son knew that there was no competitor with operational skills, technical skills, U.S. Custom House Brokerage skills, real estate skills, education skills, accounting skills, legal skills and diplomatic training that could help the smaller practitioner into the future.

Makemi’s clientele were those who could not afford a team of experts to build multi-million dollar international divisions; who could not afford expensive e-commerce and merchant server WEB sites but needed on-line transactions.

Sam’s son knew that their clients, existing and potential, needed to integrate existing resources but could not afford new data bases.

• Makemi’s clients do not have the reserves to take unnecessary financial risks.
• Makemi’s clients take change a step at a time.
• Makemi’s clients need to have their initial investments protected.

Makemi is the bridge builder from the past to the future in respect to internal operations and external marketing and sales.

My name is Roger Harman, I am Sam’s son. Makemi is my company.

Behind us we have a vast network of outsource professionals that we call on to help us when needed. Now you know the rest of the story…

We would like to add you to our list of satisfied clients and friends. We hope that you will refer us to your friends and associates. All we ask is the opportunity to compete for the business.

Few heeded the Internet or the loss of the middleman; insurance, travel, booksellers, computer sellers, stockbrokers, real estate agents, U.S. Customs House Brokers and many others. Take heed now. Don’t become one of the terminal remnants of the industrial age. Move into the future with Internet participation on a global scale. Call, make Makemi your partner for success in the new global, digital age and new post melt down economy.

Thank you for your time and attention. We are honored to be a part of this gathering of the new age, the new dawn…the new beginning. Remember today is the first day of the rest of our lives and it is exciting!

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To the Credit Card Processor you are equally revenue and risk. Whether you buy directly from one of the 10-15 credit card processors in America or from their 11,000+ sales organizations the same applies. Why?

1. As a customer you provide them revenue for the process they provide and are as valuable as any customer
2. As a customer you are an equal risk to the Credit Card Processor albeit, longer-term than any processor wants. Why?
   • Chargeback
   • Laws and regulations that allow chargeback’s months later when the cash portion of the transaction is completed.
   • The increased customer knowledge that for little effort they can complain or act dissatisfied and they get their money back resulting in something for free. During these tough economic times more and more customers are claiming false dissatisfaction.
   • Because of the time delay the small business can establish spikes in revenue for whatever reasons, even antefixal spikes with sales or the Internet and then flee after they collect the cash. This practice has increased in these down times.
   • Due to the alternatives available to customers they can visit once, take advantage of the situation and never return without any loss of satisfaction as there or other choices for the same or similar offerings.
   • Legal costs make collection difficult therefore the credit card processor needs to prevent problems and avoid collection issues with low tolerance for increased risk.
   • The credit card processor carries the burden of risk. The small business risk is basically related to the day or week when the transaction is complete.

It is Makemi’s advice that you need to approach the Credit Card Processing Decision with due diligence (as you would before buying a copier or printer) and an attitude of partnership (as you have when you process a loan at a bank.)

Some credit card processing sales organizations (SO) hide the longer term risk problems, costs and transaction reality in sales puffery and legalistic obfuscation in the wording of agreements so they can sell at one estimated price but charge at another so as to pay the costs of carrying the small business risk (accounts receivable).

Makemi spent the last year surveying the US market for 750+ credit card processors (SOs) with a Better Business Bureau rating of A or higher. Further, we reviewed the top websites (most traffic) for credit card processing (blogs and sites). The results were:

1. We found that most SO’s and processors (direct) used multiple web sites and multiple company names to promote their service on the Internet. The highest volume sites with “Ratings of the Best”, as is done by PC World for computers and Consumer Reports magazine (for products). The most trafficked blog had more than 40% of the “ten best” options the same company but different names and web links; the one they received revenue from for referrals through their blog.
2. Of all the options three stood out as satisfying all of our criteria as viable, fair and reasonable business choices for the small business:
• FirstData (the Cadillac of services)
• Merchant Warehouse (best main street small business)
• Durango (high risk business like casinos or those with credit problems)

We have “Questions to Ask the Credit Card Processor” in another post in this section of our site.

Next month we will post “Answers you should look for from a credit card processor or SO.”

FYI: Makemi recommends the above three processors to their clients, has an affiliate relationship with Merchant Warehouse. Most Makemi clients choose Merchant Warehouse.

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Seven Deadly Social Sins

_______________________________________________________________

Quoted by Mahatma Gandhi in “Young India”, 1925

_______________________________________________________________

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Great, first the Democrats saddled small business with healthcare reform while leaving the small businesses to eat dirt in a world without a housing market, without jobs and a questionable Federal Reserve monetary policy. Now let us be clear, we have had 10 years of politicians doing nothing for small business and everything for themselves and the “large cap fat cats”. For 8-years Republicans took care of their cronies, took us to war, benefitted the “large cap fat cats” and lied to us.  Now the Democrats have wasted 2 years cleaning up the neighborhood, not even their own, while the house was burning and the economic terrain was in upheaval.  What are the result of 10 years of political and “large cap fat cat” self-serving activity;  or is it 18-years?

What is the result?

For the next two-years we now have Republicans and Democrats fighting over the neighborhood (someone else’s health and well-being) while HOUSING (the source of collateral for most small business loans) and UNEMPLOYMENT (customers do not have money) continue to eat away at our communities and all that we served this country for and worked for believing in the Constitution, The Bill go Rights, and our children’s’ future.  Where are we going? Where is our family going?

Makemi Giveaway

Makemi is a site and company of faith, optimism, hope, diligence and the application of intelligence, collective or individual.  Makemi is a site without regard for sex, race, creed, culture, color or orientation.  Makemi is a site of substance over form, of intelligence over the seven-deadly sins. Makemi and all associated with Makemi strive to have the strength to be tender over animalistic self-serving natures, individually and collectively.  Those of us at Makemi are feeling disenfranchised and in conflict.  Do you have any suggestions?  Please be a part of our collective character and mission and post your comments to this topic.  Thank you.

Health care reform would have been best served if they had combined Public Employees, Police, Fire and Rescue, Defense, Judicial and Congressional (all well funded programs with great benefits paid for by workers and small businesses in large part) into one with Social Security.  The inequities within our system are as insidious and dangerous to us and our future as our the inequities in the People’s Republic of China.  I am not saying they are better. I am saying we are just as bad. How elected officials in the USA can take their salaries and benefits at higher levels than those they serve while their constituents, the small businesses, workers and owners of America,  suffer so is reminiscent of potentates of the ancient orders.

Please help this forum of small business owners and those of us at Makemi reconcile our love of country and the democratic process with what appears to be total disdain for small businesses, workers and homeowners, the backbone of America. Help us understand and reconcile the political/economic process we now experience.  Your comments please.

• Small Business Stages: Start-Ups, Beginning And Maturity SMALL BUSINESS – 3 STAGES STAGE 1, The Beginning: Small business begins in a garage, the back of a pick-up, in a van, in a small leased space, a basement or other Spartan space.  Birthing is a tough process of 12-16 hours a day for months, likely a couple of......
• Purchasing Business: Checklist For Cost Control of Small Business SIXTEEN STEPS TO PURCHASING A BUSINESS Roger Harman, MBA, Licensed US Customs House Broker WA State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser WA State Real Estate Broker WA State DOL Real Estate Instructor Business Opportunity transactions are some of the most exciting transactions in all of real estate.  They are also......
• What Is A Small Business - Opening New Business | Oppurtunity in China What is a small business What is a small business? Small business is the common seed of most branded, international companies. Small businesses are the creators of new jobs, not more jobs but new jobs on which the future is built. Wikipedia defines small business as variable measurements and numbers. ......
• Why Makemi Why Makemiweb.com? A Forum for suggestions, criticism, corrections, comments & posts Why Makemi? At Makemi we have a passion for small business. We were grew up in, are educated in, and  we have operated small business for over 50 years. Makemi is a patriotic company that is tired of those......
• Makemi Understands Small Business Makemi Understands Small Business There are so many books by those with no (nada, none) experience or expertise in small business.  There are so many Gurus without experience or expertise. There are so many know-it-alls, who have never owned a small business, have never met a cash flow; have......

• Can You Give Yourself a Raise? Everyone who works for a living wants to receive a raise or at least appreciates getting one. If you are not one of those who strive for a little extra in the paycheck, you probably won't understand the remainder of this post. For the rest of you, please read on......
• Building Your Online Business How much are you spending to learn the tricks of the Internet marketing trade? Are you spending cash hand over fist in pursuit of an ideal approach to implement your business idea? Do you find yourself hitting the Buy Now button day after day, believing that you’re about to......
• Where Do Small Businesses Go Now? Credit and money are still in really tight places, and this is absolutely no secret. What is unknown in the current economy is what small businesses should do and where they should go now. Many small businesses are finding themselves struggling and even drowning in an attempt to overcome the......
• Home Based Business - Fall Is Coming Are You Ready? Home Based Business - Flowing With The Seasons Image by K. W. Sanders via Flickr Summer goes by so quickly. I just got done some school shopping with my kids and all the back to school sales are going on.  It reminds me that the Big 3 are around the......
• Discussion of the Day: How Many Seats Will Republicans Gain in House and Senate? To view TCJ Research Polls released today, click HERE. To read our full analysis of how and why Republicans will take the Senate, click HERE. Our Election Center database is building, check it out HERE.  Be sure to explore the pages for Senate, House, and Gubernatorial races.  With the Election Center active,......

It seems many of the new entering congress have small business experience. In previous decades it was the veterans who kept the “good fight” alive. Today it is the small business entrepreneurs. Check these out.  Why aren’t their any Democrats or Independents on this list?  Why are their so many people in Congress who never met a payroll or bet the family on tomorrow in their own small business? Why don’t we see who we can find to add to this list, the only criteria being a small business owner, entrepreneur of a company if less than 1,000 full time employees? Let us clean off those that do not fit and add those that we have missed.  After the national House and Senate we may do this for the state legislatures until we get a list of homeowners with small business ownership and entrepreneurial experience who understand our world.  Our criteria should not be Democrat or Republican. Each should have experience as a small business entrepreneur owner and homeowner as the two are intertwined.

Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) Mesa Verde Pottery

Daniel Webster (R-Fla.)  Webster Air Conditioning and Heating

Vicky Hartzler (R-Ohio) Hartzler Equipment Company

Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) Columbus Destroyers

Robert Dold (R-Ill.) Rose Pest Solutions

Kristi Noem (R-S.D.)

Farmer and Rancher

Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) The Ribble Group

Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) Huizenga Gravel Company

Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) Denham Plastics

Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) Austin Refuel

• Why Makemi Why Makemiweb.com? A Forum for suggestions, criticism, corrections, comments & posts Why Makemi? At Makemi we have a passion for small business. We were grew up in, are educated in, and  we have operated small business for over 50 years. Makemi is a patriotic company that is tired of those......
• Purchasing Business: Checklist For Cost Control of Small Business SIXTEEN STEPS TO PURCHASING A BUSINESS Roger Harman, MBA, Licensed US Customs House Broker WA State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser WA State Real Estate Broker WA State DOL Real Estate Instructor Business Opportunity transactions are some of the most exciting transactions in all of real estate.  They are also......
• Makemi: A Melding For Risk-Return Laozi Confucius Risk, Return In Confucianism, human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor especially including self-cultivation and self-creation.  . Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the Three Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility, while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, the relationship between......
• Credit Card Processing Reality You are not buying a service when you establish your credit card processing provider. You are entering into a partnership. Why? To the Credit Card Processor you are equally revenue and risk. Whether you buy directly from one of the 10-15 credit card processors in America or from their 11,000+......
• Makemi Lease Clauses 101 Your lease is the most expensive decision you are going to make. Why?  It is not a desirable or single monthly rent. The small business owner must usually personally guarantee the lease. A 3-year $3,000 per month lease with common area charges is often a $100,000 decision! Technically the value......

• The Past and the Present of the Local Business Search Market [/caption] SEO strategies are exponentially becoming susceptible to having to change in shorter and shorter time periods as time goes on. There used to be a time when you were able to apply SEO tactics for a stretch of 3-4 years, and then 2-3 years, and so on and......
• How To Reinvest Your Online Business Knowledge ? | Money & Knowledge - Part II The maturity of your online business knowledge results in reinvesting it back to the field. This happens in every one's life especially when you have gained a considerable amount of knowledge in a domain/work. Its too well applicable for online business strategies. Because of the ability to reinvest, its too......
• Small Companies Want A Fb Business Page: Three Good Reasons Why I do know, I know... it is not your cup of tea; it's for socializing; it's for seeking to see how bald your ex is now; companies do not take it critically; it can mean I have to be on it on a regular basis and I haven't got the......
• What Other Dividend Lists Exist Besides the Dividend Aristocrats? For me, stock indexes and/or stock lists provide either a starting point for my research or an investment opportunity if a particular fund invests in that list or index.  Each time I have written a post about my Dividend Investment Portfolio I indicated that I use the Dividend Aristocrats as......
• Always Like A Reputed SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION Company For High Quality Web Promotion Solutions Nowadays, every website owner posseses an aim to acquire one between the top 10 rank within the major search search engines result pages, for example Google, Bing as well as Yahoo. This is because, the websites being displayed for the first page of from any of the major search engine......

The People’s Republic of China (PRC), “the Party”, rules under a “Mandate of Heaven”.  Understanding that in Chinese terms and cultural history is not easy. Basically it means rulers rule as long as they keep their contract with heaven to be good rulers.  Like the knights in medieval England with another’s colors on their helmet. Two fought, plaintiff and defense, and the winner had God on their side. This was the seminal history of our legal system to settle problems of individual rights among diverse individuals; blind justice Asian histories are often not fathomed by Americans anymore than Asians fathom our history as neither appears logical in their present form.  The “Mandate of Heaven” can be lost by bad rulers. Political change can take place with winners having the Mandate and losers not having the “Mandate of Heaven“.  In the 1970s Deng Xiaoping realized that all could not be controlled.  The Party has removed themselves from most aspects of personal lives. Previously individual lives as recently as the 1960s were micro-monitored and controlled to the individual level with “red guards” or “granny guards”. Today, except in cases where it is dissidents or those contrary to the Party (CPC) philosophy or for political expedience, most citizens enjoy considerable personal freedom and rights.  The economic front has changed to from a Lenin based top-down control and 5-year plans to a communist society with room for capitalism, just in time inventory, cost control, budgeting and more accurate financial reporting while allowing more personal economic freedoms to the individuals and allowing them to venture forth and take the  risks of the entrepreneur. In spite of the recent appearance of personal freedoms (primarily since the early 1990s) and economic capitalism within China since the 1970s but accelerated in the 1990’s anyone would be foolish to think that the Lenin top-down foundation of the CPC national philosophy of communism and the Mao Zedong mobilization and respect for the peasants and farmers has waned. Both are still primary forces that influence CPC decisions for the group.  China is a group democracy willing to accept that for any decision some good and innocent get hurt and some bad and guilty benefit (black cat – white cat). Of paramount importance is the net benefit to the overall group. They should be better off from any decision, direction or policy; the group of 1.3 billion.  In America focus is on the individual and zero tolerance for any innocent or good being a victim.  This seems to impede the realization of benefits and timely actions or implementation of many expedient opportunities; democracy is cumbersome

China is a land of many very free people whose lives are getting better every year, every decade since 1970.  They are not unhappy generally. Many westerners feel more personal freedom in China than they have in the United States where personal freedom is lost to government regulations, controls, taxes, a legal system biased to the individual; not the group.  But, Americans need to be aware that they are in a top-down, communist controlled country where decisions are for the group first , not the individual. The Chinese eschew the individual and have done so for thousands of years.  Americans and other westerners benefit more than others on the matter of personal freedom in China and feel freer because they are foreigners.  The Chinese have always treated guests and visitors (foreigners) with more kindness, tolerance and consideration than foreigners have treated the Chinese in China or their own western country in the last 2-centuries. Westerners often experience less personal freedom at home than many Chinese feel today due to the burdens of government intrusion, inept regulations, leaders and executives without a “Mandate of Heaven”. In America it appears, with a widening income gap, such, like many of the Chinese, are more interested in their personal coffers and imposing their values and beliefs on others than the group well-being of their constituents, general populace, subordinates or guests and visitors.

The Chinese have a top-down society and have had so for thousands of years. The westerner’s’ history is based on the individual.  The lack of understanding of the underlying philosophy and concepts of a top-down society based on the group with thousands of years of history results in different ways of thinking, different opinions of common sense and different logical conclusions between the parties.  This appears to be one the major contributors to misunderstanding between cultures.

• USA CHINA Myth 2: Communism is Name Only in China USA CHINA Myth 2: ommunism is not going away. The Chinese are not going to politicize the army. The PRC is the People’s Republic of China (the separate government apparatus, the country), the CCP is the Chinese Communist Party by some or CPC which is the Communist Party of......
• USA CHINA Myth 4: The Internet Will Topple The Party rong, Wrong, Wrong!  The Party now controls most of the Internet in China. They also control their market. They have no desire to share their burgeoning market with others.  At 1.34 billion people and 5,000 years of cultural, governmental, and language history they want all that others have but......
• Small Business Stages: Start-Ups, Beginning And Maturity SMALL BUSINESS – 3 STAGES STAGE 1, The Beginning: Small business begins in a garage, the back of a pick-up, in a van, in a small leased space, a basement or other Spartan space.  Birthing is a tough process of 12-16 hours a day for months, likely a couple of......
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• Makemi: A Melding For Risk-Return Laozi Confucius Risk, Return In Confucianism, human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor especially including self-cultivation and self-creation.  . Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the Three Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility, while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, the relationship between......

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• Stop Paying For Business And Marketing Information When you jump online in the hopes of being able to make money online there will be thousands of scams out there. These scams are created by professional marketers some of which are extremely talented at fooling you into believing if you spend money they can make you rich. There......
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• Antique Chinese Parrot Antiques -> Asian -> Chinese If you are interested in a unique Asian collectible that is sure to get plenty of discussions going, antique Chinese parrots are an excellent choice. These delightful decorative collectibles come in many different shapes and styles and many are vibrantly colored and well designed. Most......
• Interview Series: Eliminate the Muda Today's interviewee is Lean Life Coach from Eliminate the Muda. I can't seem to get enough of his writing and he's a consistent commenter on the site. Enjoy his fantastic interview: What the heck is Muda? Muda is a Japanese word for waste. However as many things in the Japanese......