This is rather strange. One would have expected things would look definitely more positive and people in a better mood on the very day of the inauguration of a new president of the US.
Sadly, that is not the exact scenario. The world stock markets dip into the negative territory, and unbelievably Dow falls more than 300 points (4%) to close below the 8k mark. This does not augur well for the global economy, reflecting badly on the dire state-of-affairs of the US economy in particular.
One explanation for the lackluster performance could be because consumers may not have that much confidence in the new administration team in bringing the bashed financial institutions back to normal that soon. If that is the case, there is no need to talk big about CHANGE and end up offering false promises.
In short, just quietly and diligently do the necessary work to bring about the correct result via right actions. Show the world Washington CAN and will.
(Tan Boon Tee, btt1943@yahoo.com)
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Attorney General | Don't Try to Be Loved
By Richard Thornburgh
If you're the sort of person who likes to be liked, turn down this office. Any attorney general who is popular isn't doing his job. That's what Herb Brownell, who served as A.G. under Dwight Eisenhower, used to say. And he was right. Being attorney general is a balancing act. You're there to serve the president and meet his expectations. But you are also responsible for upholding the law. You have your own principles that you cannot compromise, and if those two things collide, you've got to be prepared to resign and turn the portfolio over to someone else.
You'll have a lot of people working for you, and plenty more who want to. You'll be inundated with résumés and a lot of them will be very impressive. Don't make the mistake of hiring résumés. And don't rely on the good word of others in making hiring decisions. You will rise or fall on the quality of the people you hire, so make sure you eyeball every one of your key appointees. They may have gone to the best schools and graduated with honors. That's fine. But can you imagine working closely with them through the inevitable crises that will spring up? Do they seem trustworthy? You'll have to go with your gut. You need loyal people around you. The old line about firing all the incompetent people and most of the competent ones comes to mind. I didn't do anything that extreme. But I did gather the entire staff together and sent a clear message that the president's priorities were our priorities. We would speak with one voice, and there would be no cacophony of views or press leaks. (I guess I was a little optimistic about that.) I told them I didn't want any surprises. If there was news, good or bad, I wanted to hear it first.
—Richard Thornburgh served as attorney general under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush
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