http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mintzberg

http://www.amazon.com/Managers…..038;sr=8-1

When it is asked of the top corporate men: “But didn’t they have to have SOMETHING to get up there?” The answer is, “Yes, they did.” By definition, they had “what it takes.” The real question, accordingly is: what does it take? And the only answer one can find anywhere is: the sound judgment, as gauged by the men of sound judgment who select them. The fit survive, and fitness means, not formal competence–there probably is no such thing for top executive positions–but conformity with the criteria of those who have already succeeded. To be compatible with the top men is to act like them, to look like them, to think like them….This is what is meant–and nothing else–by being a “sound man,” as sound as a dollar.

Historical precedent points to cultural,social and economic equity rot and ruin going hand and hand with the ignorance of imperial arrogance.

American imperialism appears to be subject to the rule.

American “exceptionalism” was not ever a valid or sustainable premise.

As Ian points out above the “talent” who have been running things have rewarded themselves what they did not earn or deserve. The “elite” in American society and at top of American economic strata have awarded themselves in far too many ways that had nothing to do with real world rules of failure,being wrong or just plain being stupid.

Doing imperialism requires more intelligence and competence than what the Americans have been putting into this American Empire for a long time.

Clearly for far too long a time.

FDL does well in offering many good people who bring and offer much insight and better ways to think and see. Thank you FDL. Thank you Ian.

There’s an old schema for wealth that runs as follows:

First generation earns it
Second generation manages it
Third generation squanders it

Isn’t that the plot of Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth?

History also teaches us two deeper lessons about what separates successful societies from those heading toward failure. A society contains a built-in blueprint for failure if the elite insulates itself from the consequences of its actions. That’s why Maya kings, Norse Greenlanders and Easter Island chiefs made choices that eventually undermined their societies. They themselves did not begin to feel deprived until they had irreversibly destroyed their landscape.