BloggeRhythms

A web search reveals that “the amount a bar can earn depends on size, location, and other factors, some estimates show that an average bar makes between $25,000 and $30,000 per week. This is assuming average-priced drinks of $8, average main dishes of $13, and average appetizers of $6.”

As for employees: “The average salary for a bartender is $14.13 per hour in the United States and $150 tips per day.” That extrapolates to $565.20 in salary and $750.00 in tips equaling $1315.20 per week, annualizing to $68,390.40 per year in total.

At the same time, a web search discloses that “the nation’s current-dollar GDP increased 10.0 percent, or $2.10 trillion, in 2021 to a level of $22.99 trillion.” Therefore in round numbers, U.S. economic productivity is roughly 23 trillion times larger than a typical bartender would likely earn.

That means, forgetting politics, from a simple job qualification perspective, the bartender from the Bronx now in Congress is strongly influencing national budgetary decisions affecting 330 million citizens that are 23 trillion times larger than possibly ever faced in her history. That’s trillion with a ”T.” There's seemingly something hugely wrong with that.

Certainly, in times of need or crisis particular individuals can step up to overwhelming tasks, such as Lincoln’s performance in ending the Civil War or Truman’s replacing Roosevelt, winding down World War II, but similar personal qualities don't seem apparent in the barmaid.

Were sufficient managerial capabilities to exist in the beer-slinger, there might have been steps taken to gradually nudge the nation into changing political philosophy, such as those illustrated by Amy Gallo in the Harvard Business Review in August 2016, when she discussed Theodore Levitt’s 1960 treatise, “Marketing Myopia.”

Ms Gallo writes: “There are several examples in the article that illustrate the main concept, that your product is not your business. Perhaps the most famous is the railroad lines, which Levitt argues fell into steep decline because they thought they were in the train business rather than the transportation business. If those leaders had seen themselves as helping customers get from one place to another, they might’ve expanded the business into other forms of transportation like cars, trucks, or airplanes. Unfortunately, they let other companies seize those opportunities and steal away their passengers instead.”

Ms Gallo goes on: “Luckily, there is a cure for marketing myopia. Levitt suggests that leaders ask themselves: What business are we really in? Deighton says that the best way for leaders to answer that question is by asking themselves another: What are we really doing for the customer? Successful companies focus on customer needs, not their own products and services, which can—and will—be replaced by competitive alternatives, either ones they make themselves or those produced by existing or potential competitors.”

Comparatively, in the beer-slinger’s case, the nation and its population would have been far better off if she’d adhered  to her job’s definition of “lawmaking, representing the people, performing oversight, helping constituents, and educating the public,” instead of working to immediately reverse the nation’s direction, sending it on a downward, self-destructive course.

Considering that no evidences of intelligence, appropriate experience or competence have been apparent in the beer-slinger to date, it’s probable that another business axiom be applied here. The “Peter Principle,” expressed as: "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." 

Since the principle logically suggests that individuals keep getting promoted until reaching the point where job requirements are above the limits of their capabilities, in this case, the nation would likely  be far better off if instead of tackling a $23 trillion budget, the barmaid  had chosen to first manage something like a Buffalo Wild Wings or Red Lobster location. 

That’s it  for today folks.

Adios

PS:  Visited a friend the other day at his office.

Sitting across from him at his desk, every three or four minutes or so he’d turn his head, yelling “green up!” out an open window.

Finally, curiosity getting to me, I asked, “Louie, what’s this “green up” thing all about?”

He replied, “I met these four Progressive Congresswomen who make a few extra bucks doing odd jobs in their spare time. They’re out there right now, resodding my lawn.”