Blog hits have been slowly increasing in recent months, so it might be time for a review of MBWA and what it's revealed.MBWA stands for management by walking around. Walmart founder Sam Walton had MBWA signs in the office areas of all his stores. He wanted managers out on the floor, watching the business, talking to customers, seeing how employees were doing, and how they could do their jobs better.
I'm not a manager, but I do enjoy my time away from my desk and out on the road. Of course, there are my days off.
One of the big topics at the gym, the supermarket, the mall, the corner store, etc... is the job losses at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Monroe County. The head of the depot recently announced hundreds of layoffs, citing federal budget cuts and a lack of work.
I've noticed people react differently to government layoffs than they do to layoffs in the private sector.
When government workers go, a lot of people say "good." Government has gotten too fat and taxes are too high. Private sector layoffs are met with a lot of sadness as another business downsizes or closes entirely.
The Tobyhanna issue started decades ago. Rather than improve the tax structure and the infrastructure to make the area attractive for business and industry, the politicians, and one congressman in particular, did the lazy and easy thing-- government jobs. Our local economy was artificially inflated. The politicians made it look like money was falling from heaven, and we should be eternally grateful for our marvelous fortune. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
There will be trouble when you're far away from a capital city, and government is your biggest industry. The politicians were short sighted and in it for the quick gain. They failed to see the elephant in the room-- that there would be a time when taxed citizens could take no more.
We dodged the planet killing asteroid when Tobyhanna was removed from the base closing commission in the mid 90's. It looks like the asteroid is circling around, with the potential for another devastating hit.
Look, the last thing I want to do here is be insensitive. I've lost jobs. It's not fun. I just want to point out yet yet another round of government failure. These are our friends and neighbors who might be headed for the unemployment line. My heart goes out to them, and to the businesses that depend on money from those workers.
