The Americans

In 1973, as the Vietnam War came to an end America was under attack from both within and without. The barage of negative sentiment and press inspired Gordon Sinclair, the dean of Canadian broadcasting to write the following for his June 5, 1973 morning broadcast. After just more than 36 years I clearly remember the emotion I felt while driving in my car that morning and listening to this broadcast: it seems appropriate to post it this holiday weekend.

"The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped".

Original Script Courtesy Standard Broadcasting Corporation Ltd.
Copyright 1973 by Gordon Sinclair

MPSA – Constructive or Divisive?

As I follow the numerous discussions and postings on various blogs and Linkedin groups I cannot help but wonder if this new organization will promote the MPS market space, or divide the participants.

It is a fact that any organization of two or more human beings is subject to politics; the challenge is to rise above them to serve a useful and maybe even noble purpose to its constituents.

• Provide a forum for sharing of ideas
  
• Facilitate learning for the improvement of the industry
  
• Recognize and promote best practices
  
• Create standards for the protection of end-user clients
  
• Promote fair business practices between manufacturers, vendors and end-user clients
  
• Combine resources to promote growth of the entire marketplace
  

There are many personal and corporate agendas being interjected into these communications. Not only should this be expected but the competition benefits all of us in the end. However, with that said there are several underlying themes which I personally find disturbing and disruptive to the value and growth of this association and the market space in general.

Throughout is an arrogance that there is a higher calling to service-centric sales strategy than a hardware- or supplies-centric one. Many of the folks who appear to be central to this new association are setting themselves on a pedestal above "lesser" industry participants. While I personally believe in the service-centric approach and do not wish to go back in time to selling hardware, I recognize there are a lot of value-laden dealers who do business with great integrity, provide their clients with excellent service and create a large number of very good-paying jobs.

Related though somewhat separate is the theme that the traditional copier dealer and their sales professionals are intrinsically dishonest and stupid! Copier dealers have been providing a high-level of managed print services through facilities management programs for many years. In addition, most offer page acquisition models equal to the print management programs I experience in the field. They provide supplies, fix/repair services, technology refreshment and usage reporting for a fixed cost per page. Let me ask how that is significantly different than the vast majority of so-called print management programs? I must also ask the question "if copier dealers should get into MPS for higher margins then how are they currently gouging their clients?"

Both themes were epitomized by the recent discussion about a relationship between the new MPSA and the BTA. The BTA has transformed over the years to accommodate changes in the market it serves; like Tom Callinan I remember when it was NOMDA and largely populated by calculator and typewriter dealers. Over the years it evolved to play a significant role in building the copier industry and continued to change to adopt the transition to digital technologies and yes, even managed print services. I remember discussions with them to develop managed print services training in 2005 and they have actually been sponsoring training events for the past couple of years. The real point I want to make is not about the value of a relationship or association, but the underlying arrogance and divisiveness that arose in these discussions.

It is my honest opinion (IMHO) that if the MPSA is going to promote the MPS market space then it should embrace all industry participants as potential "converts" rather than the continual piling of some less than civil discourse upon them. I certainly hope this type of posting and discussion is no longer commended and recommended by the association leadership! These individuals and companies can be represented as the iceberg below the water line while the "San Antonio" gathering is that small and visible portion.

Rather than forming an inward-facing print-centric circle holding hands and singing Kum Bah Ya I hope the MPSA turns around and puts their collective hands outward to welcome all of the participants in this industry. This is what will enable this association to reach a "noble" purpose.