The Second Law of Marketing is to Create a need and fill it.
The First Law of Politics is Create a problem and Blame the Aftermath on the Opposition
Marketing and Politics is all about gaining "traction" on solutions to problems that may or may not exist.
An example is do you really need a BMW or a car. Branding is a method of turning your attention away from the need for transportation and replacing it with the desire for luxury and/or status.
In politics it can take the form of the need for security and replace it with the desire for retaliation even if the retaliation is directed to the wrong target and the blame goes to your opposition for governmental leadership.
If we open our eyes we see a huge deficit in the US created by two wars, one that should have been a short effective police action and the other that was never necessary. The cost is huge just in dollars for the war not to mention the ancillary cost in lives and personal costs to families of those serving.
And while the costs are dropping under the Obama presidency the debt amassed by the Bush Administration will take time to reduce.
Then there is the loss of wealth created by lack of regulations or enforcement of regulations in the Financial industry that was allowed to fester since the Presidency of Ronald Regan. Wealth redistribution since Regan happened moving from the middle class to the upper class through lower per capita taxes paid by the wealthiest of citizens and loss of US middle class wealth through Globalization.
CEO salary as a Percent of average workerThere is a direct relationship between declines in wealth, and declines in consumption and business investment, which along with government spending represent the economic engine.
- Between June 2007 and November 2008, Americans lost an estimated average of more than a quarter of their collective net worth.
- By early November 2008, a broad U.S. stock index the S&P 500, was down 45 percent from its 2007 high.
- Housing prices had dropped 20% from their 2006 peak, with futures markets signaling a 30-35% potential drop.
- Total home equity in the United States, which was valued at $13 trillion at its peak in 2006, had dropped to $8.8 trillion by mid-2008 and was still falling in late 2008.
- Total retirement assets, Americans' second-largest household asset, dropped by 22 percent, from $10.3 trillion in 2006 to $8 trillion in mid-2008.
- During the same period, savings and investment assets (apart from retirement savings) lost $1.2 trillion and pension assets lost $1.3 trillion.
- Taken together, these losses total a staggering $8.3 trillion.
- Since peaking in the second quarter of 2007, household wealth is down $14 trillion.[125]
- U.S. homeowners had extracted significant equity in their homes it doubled from $627 billion in 2001 to $1,428 billion in 2005 as the housing bubble built, a total of nearly $5 trillion over the period
- U.S. home mortgage debt relative to GDP increased to 73% during 2008, reaching $10.5 trillion.
To offset this decline in consumption and lending capacity, the U.S. government and U.S. Federal Reserve have committed $13.9 trillion, of which $6.8 trillion has been invested or spent, as of June 2009.[126] In effect, the Fed has gone from being the "lender of last resort" to the "lender of only resort" for a significant portion of the economy. In some cases the Fed can now be considered the "buyer of last resort."
So what does the Republican Party try to sell us (US)? The old Ronald Regan adage, "Government can't solve the problem they ARE the problem." So we ask WHO was the government that WAS the problem? The Republican government that was sold as being run by Businessmen who know how to lead. I guess there is a reason the word lead has more than one meaning. One to lift up through guidance and the second a heavy metal used to weigh down.
Marketing misdirection is the key top Karl Rove's method blame the aftermath on the poor guy left with the mess and offer to fix the mess by using the same methods that created the mess.
So back to Mark Barett's First law of Marketing "When your product is indistinguishable from the competition, add sex."
Enter stage right Sarah Palin or maybe Paris Hilton
"If sex is used to market a nonsexual product, that product is generic." – Mark Barrett
"Success in being a good follower lies in picking the right leader." Anon
