The week in review, March 26, 2023
The week in review, March 26, 2023
As confidence in institutions drop to new lows, small businesses retain local trust
Confidence in U.S. institutions has dropped to new lows, according to a new Gallup poll.
Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low, Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup.
"This year's poll marks new lows in confidence for all three branches of the federal government -- the Supreme Court (25%), the presidency (23%) and Congress. Five other institutions are at their lowest points in at least three decades of measurement, including the church or organized religion (31%), newspapers (16%), the criminal justice system (14%), big business (14%) and the police."
The institution that Americans are least confident in is Congress.
The institution that suffered the largest loss of confidence, at a staggering 15 percentage point decline, was the presidency.
There are only two organizations that Americans have confidence in: small businesses and the military.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans have high confidence in small businesses. What lessons can we take from that and possibly apply to other institutions? John Coleman explains.
What we can learn from America’s most trusted institution: Small business, John Coleman, Substack.
Some takeaways: small businesses focus on service, not scale. The human-to-human connections that customers seem to like, such as being recognized by your barista or getting DIY tips from the owner of your local hardware store, come naturally to small businesses. The people who serve the customers are the proprietors – they have skin in the game. They are more likely to do what's best for their local communities rather than see it as a market to extract value from because they are a part of the community.
There are benefits of a business growing, of course, but as organizations scale up, "the pull of bureaucracy is often towards process and away from personalization."
Last week, my interview with Ann Sussman generated a lot of interest. I had the privilege of meeting her in person on Friday at a conference, Neurophenomenology & Sacred Architecture. One of the more “controversial” parts of Ann’s work (given the negative feedback from Twitter NPCs) was the idea that modern architecture was birthed from the minds of people suffering from PTSD after WWI. Oddly enough, the medical community doesn’t bat an eye when Ann talks about this. Read more here:
The Mental Disorders that Gave Us Modern Architecture, Ann Sussman and Katie Chen, Common\Edge.
Former president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump - who has evaded arrest despite threats from a Soros-backed DA - released on Tuesday his plan for dismantling the Deep State. Short of writing and ratifying a new constitution, this is probably the most salubrious thing we can do to the USG. Read his 10-part plan here:
President Trump’s Plan to Dismantle the Deep State and Return Power to the American People, www.donaldjtrump.com
or watch it on Rumble.
Is this plan workable? Here is my question to all you legal eagles out there: How much power does a president have to implement this plan? What roadblocks does he face? Do any of these steps require congressional approval? If you know anyone who can answer these questions please ping them in the reply.
Lastly, if you know any good editors out there looking for a job, who have experience in state- and local-level government and economic reporting and care about the taxpayer, then you might want to send them this job posting: