"Curse of the Bean Counters"

 

I want to speak a little about a curse that has effected the American business world. You could call it greed, but it’s not greed exactly, it’s more of a disease that has crept in, and causes greed (though not an excuse.) It has infected many of our major companies.

I call it the ‘Curse of the Bean Counters.”

I’m a rather old man, so I’ve been around long enough to see this time and again. I don’t believe people like Henry Ford, S.S. Kresge, Barney Kroger, Sear & Roebuck (two fellers,) or Montgomery Ward were greedy. I believe they found themselves in a free market world, needing to make a living (after all, it takes awhile to get old and die, you have to do something in the meantime,) each with different skills and experiences, and had a dream.

Ford’s dream was to put America on wheels, and he pretty much did, along with others of the same mindset. Sears & Roebuck got the idea with the new post war postal system, they could bring everything available in Chicago to the Midwest via catalog and the postal system, and so they did. Montgomery Ward got in on the idea, both opened retail stores. Ole Barney Kroger opened a small store in Cincinnati, so he could make a living.

Now these people had to have help, so they brought in Company. Think about that word. We all have company, we call them friends. We keep company with our friends. If I have a project in mind (let’s say building a deck,) I going to call my friends, Byron, David, Bruce and my brother, buy a case of beer, and me and my company (friends) will construct a deck. We all know what we are going to do, a common goal, and with a little pushing & shoving, we get it done, wa-la. The beer is the just reward. But let us not lose site of the fact, it's my deck.

These people did the same thing, in a more structured manner. These people (Ford’s, Kroger’s ect..) company, agreed to help him in his common goal, and a way of sharing the profits. Regular pay, salaries, bonuses ect… But Ford is still Henry Ford’s, and Kroger’s is still Barney Kroger’s.

These ideas still belong to the idea man, it’s his baby, his driving force, he has a vision, and seeing it grow is very satisfying. Their goals remain, “I want to put America on Wheels,” “I want to put groceries on America counter tops.” The company is along for the ride. Read that again, “The company is along for the ride!” With out Ford, there is no company. With out Barney, there is no company. That simple. You have to have an idea, and the will to do it. This usually come down to a man. Don’t poo-poo the idea man.

Now it none of these people fault, that Americans went along with it, and thought it a good idea, and bought some wheels and groceries. And so these companies grew because the Americans liked them, and did business with them, because as a Company, they were focused on their goal and did a good job. None of these fellows had a gun or a knife, they didn’t force anything. The offered Americans something they wanted.

As these Companies grew, they created company policies based on their customer base, and these policies, would carry success throughout the company. Ie….. When I worked for Safeway, One of their policies was “The most important person in the store, is the ‘checker,’ everybody in the store works for the checker, you make her job as easy as possible, because everybody’s money, EVERYBODY”S money come out of her register. If it don’t in, it can’t come out. So do your job and do it well.”

Now in the background, each one of these company has a very important person working. He’s called the ‘Bean Counter.’ His job is to keep track of all the beans, where they come from, and where they go, and to write it all down, so as to be able to tell the boss, at anytime, how many beans he’s got and where they are. That’s his job. That’s his only job..!!! He needs to be honest and good at it. He does (should) not effect things that go on at the level where the beans are collected. That’s the idea man and his activities which generate the bean flow. Without a flow of beans, you don’t need a bean counter, so his money too, come out of that register.

The problem arises when the principle (Ford, Kroger ect…) dies. Unless there is an heir, who has been trained in the business, and has an eye for the vision, the company tends to stagnate and succumb to “The Bean Counter’s Curse.”

When the principle passes away, with it the idea, the drive, the since of ‘Company.’ All we have now, it a big money making machine, that nobody wants to pass away, because; it’s making money. It’s supporting a hold network of people and other business. They don’t won’t to give up the company ride. So they form a committee to run the company, with a CEO….. and a CFO or head bean counter.

This is the beginning of the end. Committees have no guts, no vision, no sense of the market. The CEO’s job is to make the company make money. So they all look to the bean counter, who has all the numbers, (keep in mind, that’s all he knows.)

So the committee looks at the numbers, and the bottom line, cause that’s all they are interested in, and how to make it grow.

So our priority has shifted from the customer to the stake holders, without anybody realizing it. The committee, not understanding why the idea man did this or that, starts hacking away at the numbers. Bean counters point out we spend this much here and this much there, but nobody knows why. So they hack away at the numbers trying to get the bottom line to grow. What they don’t understand, is the numbers they are hacking away at are their customers. Each number they hack, to improve the bottom line, hacks away at the service you are providing, the reason the customer is there.

At first, this tends to work and the bottom line grows, and everybody makes money. “Hummm, it worked.” So they hack a little more, and things seem to be fine. So the committee thinks they are doing a good job.

Well they hack until the bottom line quits growing. This doesn’t make sense. The number are all good. Where are the customers?

Well, the committee sets out to fix it, but they have never been on the sales floor. They bring in experts and specialist and the next thing you know, the company is top heavy with suits. When they really know nothing, compared to Barney Kroger who started with $375. And so begins the slow decline, until the company is bled dry and dispersed.

How many times have we seen this? Sears, Monkey Wards, K-Mart and so many other. Sam Walton stepped in and filled the gap, gave the people what they wanted. And look at Wal-Mart, they are everywhere. But alas, he’s dead and they suffer the same disease, I can see, they are in the fix it process. Disney is in the fix it mode, none of them know what to do. The auto industry is caught between the bottom line and the government, with no thought of you, the customer.

Sooo…. how to fix it? You don’t. You let them die, they aren’t interested in you, only the bottom line, that’s what got them there.

But when it dies, the market place is still there. And a butt-load of skilled, experienced workers have just enter the work force. One of them will have an idea & the will and the gap will be filled. That’s the free market, let it work.

The key to success is serving one another, and doing it well.

The key to being a good customer, shop well, spend your money wisely, know who you’re doing business with and treat them with respect and appreciate what they do and have done for you.

Remember Capitalism is no more than “Thou Shall Not Steal.”

George Henry Nichols

September 2026

The problem With the WNBA

 

I want to address a few things going on in the WNBA. It seems they have created quite a quagmire trying to make true things that aren’t. Not wanting to admit what a women is has led them down a path where they have a bunch of men signing up for the draft. This will literally make the WNBA irrelevant. It will be the NBA II. This can easily be corrected by simply embracing the truth of Male and Female, and that they are different by design.

It also seems their good players are white, and that pisses them off, and violence has ensued. Plain ole bad behavior. This can easily be corrected by removing poor sportsmanship from the game. Throw them out.

But it seems, the over arching complaint is, they have no audience. Without an audience, the is no money. It’s the audience that provides the income. Without an audience, they can’t really exist.

So the real problem is, they don’t have an audience. Nobody wants to watch them play basketball. This is a much bigger problem, and one which I don’t think can be resolved.

The men can fill up a football stadium, they can fill up a baseball stadium, they can even fill up a golf course where everyone is standing. Why?

Let’s take a look at the audience, and who they are. To fill a stadium, you have to appeal to middle, that’s were most people are. Therefore they are among the norm. So you have to appeal to the norm. The norm being, they have a job, they are most likely good at it, and enjoy doing it, and consider themselves experts in what they do. They enjoy beauty and excellence, most likely have a wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, and consider them a ‘girl or ‘boy.’

They have money in their pocket, and they are seeking to be entertained. What do these discriminating people enjoy, ‘Excellence.’ They want to watch someone who is good at what they do. Football is rough and tumble, but there is a strategy to it, there are talents involved, honed to perfection. You are going to see these games played, and play right. Every play, every move, every mistake is recorded. Win or lose, the game is exciting and played well.

So, the audience is from the norm, with money in their pocket, seeking entertainment through excellence.

A many a rock & roll band, country band, single performers and comedians has pulled this off, why? Because they are good at what they do. They are ‘Excellence.’ One I can point to is Jeff Dunham and his dummies. Jeff Dunham has raise being a Ventriloquist to a level of excellence that fills the stadium.

If one can maintain excellence over time, a certain amount of loyalty will be generated, and this will go a long way to maintaining an audience. But the loyalty only carry’s as for as your last performance.

Okay, we are in search of excellence. Where are we going to fine it?

Let’s look at men, for they do draw an audience. What do men want, who are they? The norm?

“Little boys are made of,

of Snipe & Snails

and puppy dawg tails.

That’s what little boys are made of.”

Okay, this has been known a long time, boys are rough and tumble. They are warriors, they are builders, they are strategist. They want to conquer (compete,) they want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they want to be seen as strong and unafraid. They want to be the best at what they do, and to be admired for what they do. The want the glory of winning.

The NBA, MLB, NFL & the PGA offer all of this in a game. It allows men, to be men, and to hone their skills to a level of Excellence. Making the game interesting as well as exciting. It also offers up the agony of defeat, which men handle well, for men tend to look forward, ‘we’ll get them next time.’

I most cases, win or lose, the audience had a pretty good time. For they saw, what they came to see… Excellence.

I don’t want to gloss over what goes on in the background, for this also is important because it takes a hell of a lot of cooperation to put one of these games on. There is the training of the players, the uniforms, the lighting, the scoreboard, bla bla bla… a lot goes into bringing this to the level of excellence that doesn’t even involve the players.

Now you pull the men out of these games and put in women, you’re not going to get the same level of excellence, you’re going to get a lot of cringe, and missed opportunity. You’re going to get fights and sore losers, because women are not warriors, they are vicious. There is a difference.

So….. Can a team of women do anything that will fill a stadium..? Humm…. Let’s not forget who the audience is, the middle, the norm in search of excellence.

“What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

and everything nice.

That’s what little girls are made of.”

Hummm…. Seems girls are different. Girls are not warriors, they don’t really like to compete, they don’t like to lose.

Women live two different lives. There is the life before marriage, and life after marriage. And the things they want change. So we are trying to draw an audience, so let us focus on the young, single, vile girl. What do they want..?

They want to be seen, they want to be heard, they want to dress up like a flower, the want to be admired. They are filled with joy and want to jump around and sing and dance. Hummm…. What do you do with that.?

Well, let’s see. What worked for the men was creating a game where men could be men, and be at their best.

So what if we did the same with girls. Create a situation where a girl can be a girl, at her best.

Now just like baseball or football, we are going to have to spend a lot of money. Ya don’t make money if you don’t spend money. You don’t achieve excellence without an investment.

So we get us a gaggle of girls, and we pour money into pose training, into dance classes and singing classes. You teach these girls how to refine their skills of presentation, public speaking, flirting. You dress them up like a field of flowers, and yet make each one a little different, because they are.

Okay, now let us get a band, and some music, some songs, teach it to them with a little choreography until they have it down… and then stick them out there and see what happens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQtz0BY3rbg is what happens. Did you see the audience? Seems the place was full and they were having a good time.

Just take a look at the audience you can draw with excellence… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unau6nthttg There is nothing more beautiful than a field of flower waving in the breeze, with the sound of joy rising to the heavens.

Are you seeing the stadium? Notice it’s full, many in the audience are on their feet. The flashlights? Each girl is assigned a color, everybody has their favorite girl (just like a favorite player in football,) and knows her color, and carry’s a flashlight with her color.

Notice there are no stars… They are all idols (their title), but there are no stars. They are part of something bigger than themselves, and yet are humble, because they are one of many. Bonus→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JELg3Ljmv0g There are about sixty girls on that stage. It’s kind of mind blowing when you thing about everything that went into this. Are you seeing the crowd.? The girls are known as AKB48 if you want to look them up.

So my verdict is…. Yes, girls can fill up a stadium, but you can’t buck the truth. If you want to fill up a stadium, be girls and be good at it.

August 2026

George Henry Nichols

PS-> The world loves a girl.... Don't throw that away. 

Observation #424 hillbillies

 

I want to tell a little story, an observation I made once on the road. As a truck driver, I drove all over the country, and stopped in many a truck stop.

I have always been a capitalist, except I call it ‘Thou Shall Not Steal.’ If you can’t steal from me? Than by default, I have a right to possess. The test of ownership, is, can I sell it, can I trade it? This commandment is the foundation of what we call capitalism. Plain and simple, and it works, look around.

I made an observation once in Roanoke, Virginia that really drove it home, just how well the free market really works. I was standing in a T/A Truck Stop, looking and laughing at the postcards. They (the postcards) were of hillbillies, and looked real to me, looked basically like family photo albums, of hillbillies.

Standing there, going through these cards, and laughing to myself, it occurred to me just where I was. I was in Roanoke, Virginia, I was in the belly of the beast, so to speak. The card I was looking at could very well be the great-grandparents of the guy there behind the counter.

Here I am in Roanoke Virginia, at a T/A Truck Stop, being run by Hillbillies, selling me their family photos, and taking my money with a smile on their face.

The American economy is a wonderful thing when there is room to sell me your family photos.

The more I thought about it. We were all doing it, Texas selling pictures of early Texas, early New Mexico, early Colorado, the list goes on and on, family photos everywhere. The American Economy is a wonderful, expansive thing, it allows for most any honest trade were both parties are happy. “Look, I got a picture of a Hillbilly.”

The point is, if you can’t make it here, you’re a loser, and we don’t need to be listening to losers.

George Henry Nichols

August 2026

Bullies

 

I want to speak to the idea of bullies. What a bully is, how he operates and how to deal with one.

President Theodore Roosevelt was said to be a bully. He was famous for it, but the truth is, he wasn’t, and the reason he wasn’t; is because he could back it up, and his goal was not self-serving. Whereas, a bully can’t usually back it and is self-serving.

It’s like Marshall Dillon and the bad guy. The bad guy sees the Marshall as a bully, when in truth, the bad guy is the bully. The bad guy will shoot it out with most anyone, because he can scare them into submission. But the Marshall scares the bully, because the Marshall can and will back it up.

Bullies work on the idea of intimidation. They intimidate to get what they want, and what they want, is self-serving. When I went to school, Dad taught him how to deal with them. He said, punch ‘em right in the nose, hard, (first punch wins the fight) and then go from there.

So sure enough, in the second grade, there was a bully, and he was taking kids lunch money, threatening to beat them up. He was a bigger fellow, and like to throw his weight around. Well he wanted MY lunch money, I told him no, he said I’ll beat you up. So I punched him right in the nose as hard as I could..!!! POW…!!! And the fight ensued, rough and tumble it was. To make a long story short, he got my lunch money, that day, and a black eye, and bloody lip and nose to go with it. We both got in trouble, but…. This is the important part. He never tried again to take my lunch money, because it was too much work for twenty-five cents. I said no. and I backed it up, and I provided a cost. Funny things was, after that, he told everybody we were buddies.

You know they have passed a bunch of laws, says you can’t be hitting people, for whatever reason. They call it assault. Hummm… Who do you suppose wanted laws like that? Hmmm… Bullies, let us disarm our victims. Bullies are cowards, who work on intimidation. And not all bad guys look like bad guys. Some wear suits, and steal your lunch money from behind your back, and threaten you with some law if you object.

Protesters (rioters) are no more than bullies, trying to shove shit ideas down your throat, and they can get in your face, cause if you hit them, just like that, the law is on their side. Nice little set up.

When I went to school, one of the things they taught in gym, was boxing, wrestling and self defense. Couple of fellows have a disagreement, well sometimes they settled it with fist to cuffs. Many times, when it was said and done, the adversaries were buddies. It’s mutual respect, when both find out you’re willing to back it up. Many a tight bond was bred that way. Now who’s idea do you think it was to quit teaching self-defense in high schools. Hummm…

What’s my point. The country is being run being run by bullies, they have slowly turned things (laws) in favor of themselves. We stand for the constitution, we stand for truth, we stand for blind justice, then remember, we stand for God, and he’s watching, it’s time to dish out a cost.

The bullies in congress, in the senate, in the media, rioters, in the private sector and in your neighborhood need to be called out as the cowards they are, and dealt a cost.

President Trump is doing exactly that. Don’t think he can do it by himself, he needs America’s help. He’s got the swamp draining, let us open up a few more ditches, and see what runs out.

Don’t consider what it cost you now, consider instead, what it might cost in the long run if the bullies have their way. It time to stand up and as Americans, and be Americans, and push these clowns off the stage.

George Henry Nichols

August 2026

Open Letter to US House -> Forest Fires -> My Two-Cents

 

I’ve been thinking about all these forest fires we’ve been having lately. Seems it would pay to clean the forest floor now and then, considering the money spent to fight said fires.

Seems to me when I was a kid, they did just that, kept the forest floor clean. They also maintained a system of fire lookout towers throughout the forest, complete with radio communications. Seems we do neither anymore.

Might I suggest we get back to keeping the forest floor clean. Seems it’s our job. Something I think might be worth consideration is; instead of lookout towers, we set up a system of well grounded lighting rods throughout the forest, with about a half acre clearing around it, standing well above the tree tops. This could very well reduce fires considerably.

Myself and a few pilot buddies of mine came up with an idea which might be worth considering; You set up a pilot training program, (considering we are low on qualified pilots,) and you train them to fly a grid over X forest looking for smoke, or any other kind of trouble. Perhaps you could even get the airlines to chip in a bit. This could replace the idea of lookout towers and be a training program to boot. Dual purpose.

I figure if we reduce the number of fires, and redirect that money into productive ideas, instead of it going up in smoke. In the long run it would prove cheaper, or at least give a return on the dollar spent.

Well, that’s my two-cents on the forest fires, my heart goes out to anyone effected, and shame on us for not taking care of business.

George Henry Nichols

July 2026

Lying Medea & it's effects on me.

 

ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the rest have lied so long, (since Dan Rather & President Reagan) nothing they say means anything to me. They are mute to me. Let explain, when Reagan was President, I would listen to one of his speeches, and Dan Rather or some news man at the time, would tell me what he said. It became obvious they had not heard the speech. They had not even bothered to listen to the speech. So many times, what they told me was a flat ass lie...! That they had made up, I know, Because I had heard the speech.

In fact I consider them un-American. Not sure who they serve? But it ain't the American people. Local news is just as bad, they are so busy worrying about how people feel....they miss the News completely. It's to the point... it's all about feelings and nobody even knows what News is. There is shit happening all over the world "that is News" and I have to search it out, because even Fox is losing site of what News actually is. News is not one news guy talking to another. Our media is on the verge of being worthless, it's a shame because they are SO important, they are singled out in the constitution. You-tube may very well save our ass, because it's giving truth (Nick Shirley, Angela Rose & the like) a platform. May they carry on and put the bull-shitter out on the curb.

I don't need the big fancy news desk, and all the great lighting, I don't need a big window behind my news man, like he goes out there. I don't need to hear experts pontificate on and on about what they know and what they think. Most of them make it up. I NEED THE NEWS. What is actually happening in the world and my country. Who-What-When-Where & Why..!!! DO YOUR JOB..!!!

George Henry Nichols

July 2026

Can You See the Prosperity?

 
                            

I, George Henry Nichols did not write this. I found it on face-book with no name. Thought it very well written. Thought I should share. If YOU wrote it, please let me know, and I will credit it. 

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!

I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my news-feed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their Mac Book’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.

Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.

We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!

Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. (??)

Our unappreciative is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."

Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.

When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.

People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. Why? The answer is this,?? “my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.”

We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague.

Unknown

June 2026