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The Business Times Contributors THE BUSINESS TIMES July 1-14, 2021JANUARY 15-28, 2015 Opinion Opinion Business BriefsA new year affords Business Peoplea new opportunity to meet local needs Almanac

A new year almost always brings an opportunity for a fresh start and renewed ambition to do things better.

In business, that usually boils down to providing customers better products and services faster and at lower cost than competitors. Part of the process must include listening to customers to determine what they actually need and then meeting that need. After all, it does little good to offer the latest and greatest if nobody actually wants what you’re selling.

Just like the businesses that belong to the group, the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce invariably starts out the new year with a reassessment of the services and resources it provides and how well they match with members needs. Jeff Franklin, the new chairman of the chamber board of directors, personifies this approach in describing what he considers his role for the coming year: listen to members, determine their needs and then meet those needs. It’s a role with which Franklin is familiar as market president of Bank of Colorado.

The process will take on a more structured approach in what the chamber plans as the resumption of a program aptly called Listening to Business. Under the program, business owners participate in in-depth interviews to identify barriers to growth and other problems they encounter.

The new year offers a good time to join the proverbial club.

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Copyright © 2015 — All rights reserved.

It’s that time of year when resolutions and prognostications abound. My favorite saying applied to New Year’s resolutions is in saying they’re basically a bunch of promises to break the first week of January. And while I won’t predict a whole lot, I can pretty much accurately nail a few things that without question will make the news. You will see these are pretty, well, predictable: ■ Prediction one: There will be some sort of weather event, natural disaster or heinous occurrence where someone will be interviewed and say the following: “I’ve never seen anything like that in my lifetime.” It’s as if this person is a required attendee at every news reporting event. While I understand most people’s perspective can indeed be limited by, or contained within, their own personal experiences, it is too much to ask to consult some historical perspective before saying such a thing? Yes, this response can apply to some events. But when it comes to weather and natural disasters, I’m pretty sure this is simply history repeating itself. Same as it has for millions and millions of years. More important, the planet made it! What didn’t were certain species. How’s that for perspective? ■ Prediction two: When it comes to a crime or something that occurs between humans, the other required attendee at all news reporting events is the person who says this: “They we’re just the nicest people, and in no way did I see something like this coming.” Exactly. No one does most of the time when it comes to neighbors and acquaintances. People should be surprised at what goes on from time to time in their neighborhoods, towns and with people they know because people are good. And for the times that they shouldn’t be shocked — like with politicians, repeat offenders and terrorists — where’s the interview that says, “This doesn’t surprise me in the least.” ■ Prediction three: Something good will happen economically, and the government will take credit for it. The most recent example is gas prices, where people ask me why I won’t credit the president for low gas prices. My answer is simple: Government never makes the price of something go down and simply takes credit for good news. Gas pricing is subject to many global factors. Now there are government answers to addressing some of them to keep prices stable for Americans, but our government has none of them in place. The only things it has in place in the

Bold predictions for 2015 more like not-so-bold repeats long run always hurt consumers. Another fact is that unemployment reaches a certain level based on the economy. And while the government might brag the number is low, it’s more than likely the government did something to cause that number being low — and not in a good way. Conversely, when business picks up, it’s because the people who need to buy widgets who were not buying widgets because the economy was contracting due to natural (or unnatural, government caused) reasons, decided we better buy some widgets. The government had nothing to do with this. ■ Prediction four: In keeping with things the government does, I predict the government will manipulate the numbers to make the claim the economy is getting better because of how hard it is working to help all of us “working Americans.” Now Craig Hall you might say, “Craig, you always say this about President Obama because you don’t like him.” You’re right in a sense. I don’t know the man, but what I know of him and his thinking, I don’t like it or him one iota. Before you go off, however, I didn’t like President Bush and his bailouts, stimulus and his abandoning the free market to save the free market. And I don’t know him either. What the government does, and the only thing it can do, is hurt the economy. Unless it does nothing or put criminals in jail instead of partnering with them, nothing the government does will help. Always look at it this way, whatever the government says it is doing, whatever the name of the law it is passing, or whatever the name or goal of the bureaucracy it is presenting to the people, expect the polar opposite to occur. I guess what I’m saying is that perhaps it’s time to get out of our own perspective. There’s plenty of history books and historical research out there to begin to understand that all of this has happened before. And it will again, whether the topic is people or government. The best recommendation is to find some books or try that whole Google thing. There’s a lot of information on the Great Depression. The truth is it wasn’t even a good one until the government got involved. There’s also plenty of research on the medieval warm period when the planet was much warmer than today with a whole lot less people (and warmer well before man was here at all). And yep, people have been killing other surprised people since history was first written. Maybe some research will help stop all of these trends. Otherwise, we’ll be saying we’ve never seen anything like it in our lives. And not in a good way. Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 Copyright © 2021 — All rights reserved. or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com. F ✦

And chances are, the change will be to the advantage of both the writer of said headline and the source. There is no better PR example to relate this to than all the COVID-19 stories we read every day.

The one consistent COVID thread I keep hearing is “COVID did this to you” or “COVID did that to your business” or “COVID took away our normal.” Of course, those are always followed by, “And here’s the only way you get those things back.”

That, my friend, is the new PR. And it’s a load of crap.

Why? The premise. To put it bluntly, COVID took nothing from any of us. Our government and leaders did. And they used COVID to take away every decision- making thought we have. And after they did that, they allowed but one choice to get the crumbs of freedom back they stole. And here comes the PR freight train once again because, “It’s our shot.” Get it? Oh, I get it. If COVID is doing all that, it must be the magic virus. But the real danger of COVID is right before our eyes and most can’t and won’t see it. It’s called arbitrary government rule.

Before I go into that, let me do my disclaimer only to be overlooked: COVID is real. I’d love to know where it actually came from — although I kinda know. We should treat the sick, protect the vulnerable and help the public go on with its business and lives. And yes, there’s a vaccine ad from Mesa County Public Health in the paper.

Allow me to give two headlines that came out this week: 99 percent of all new COVID infections with the Delta variant in the U.S. are in unvaccinated people. Nearly 60 percent of new, Delta variant cases in Israel are in vaccinated people. Logic dictates only one thing: It’s a statistical impossibility. OK, two things. Someone isn’t getting the whole truth. And doesn’t that describe the entire past year and a half?

Every day with COVID headline after COVID headline, within 24 hours or so there’d be another COVID headline with a 180-degree opposite take. It’s really not hard to find. All one needs is a computer, Internet access and the ability to power one’s way through both the Google fill-in for your search and 20 pages of agenda-driven, algorithm-based results to find them.

There’s the other problem. For most of the past year and a half, people are only seeing one side of the COVID PR coin. The next problem comes when trying to get the other side of the coin to the people, there’s “fact checking” on the Internet to stop any differing opinion or information

Longevity on the job Don’t worry about today’s headline, it’ll change tomorrow ...has its advantages from seeing the light of day. Does that sound healthy to you? And even here in

I count among my many blessings the opportunity to work in one job in River City, there’s only one source and one place for so long. More than 22 years, for those keeping track.While others one media outlet driving the narrative. change jobs — and by one estimate, nearly a third of the work force changes jobs And if you question it (well, them, cause ever year — I happily stick to the business of telling stories about business. there’s really three people running the Longevity has its advantages. It’s arguable whether I county) no RFP winning bids for you. bring to my duties 22 years of experience or one year of Need more? We had 15 days to slow experience repeated 22 times. Regardless, I’ve developed the spread, and it’s only taken a year and some efficiencies. Moreover, I don’t spend a lot of time with a half to show some folks that lie. Masks background research. Chances are good I’ve written about aren’t needed. Oh wait, masks work. Oh it before. If I need to review a previous story, it awaits just a wait again, wear two masks. HCQ causes few keystrokes away. I’d like to believe my lengthy tenure heart problems in spite of being used in also has improved the quality of my reporting as well as the patients for over half a century. Worse, overall content of the Business Times. But I’ll let readers HCQ didn’t work in a study in Europe Phil Castle judge that for themselves. The very best part of working in one job in one place for so long is the relationships it’s been my privilege to Craig Hall — only that study was withdrawn in less than a month. All while several studies proclaimed how great HCQ works on folks develop over the years, especially those with the remarkable who tested COVID positive early on. We entrepreneurs who start and run ventures in the Grand Valley. I’ve got to watch need to start vaccinating kids. Well, no, them and their businesses grow. In a couple of notable cases, I’ve been able to kids don’t need to be — from the World follow the entire evolution of a business — from startup to the sale that enabled Health Organization. And speaking of the the founders to exit and find even higher proverbial mountains to climb. WHO and its partner in crime, the Centers

This very issue of the Business Times illustrates my point in the cover story for Disease Control, the examples of about the sale of Grande River Vineyards in Palisade. diametrically opposed storylines are myriad

One of the first people I interviewed shortly after moving to the Grand and daily. And my favorite: There’s really Valley was Stephen Smith, the wine industry pioneer who founded Grande River nothing for America to fear about COVID. Vineyards and at one time operated the largest wine grape growing operation Dr. Anthony Frauci told that whopper. in Colorado. I wrote about the auction in 2007 in which Smith sold part of his Well, Craig, the science changed. Yes. property to Richard and Jean Tally so they could construct the Wine Country Inn. It always does. But with a virus, it really Fast forward to 2019, and I sat down once again with Smith to talk about his plans doesn’t. Viruses arrive, viruses infect, to sell Grande River Vineyards and retire. Fast foward again to the present, and viruses peak and viruses mutate while I’m sitting in the Wine Country Inn and talking again with the Tallys — this time declining. They’ll always be here in some about their purchase from Smith of Grande River Vineyards. form or another. Except with COVID.

Don’t things have a way of coming full circle? Isn’t it fun to watch it unfold? Arbitrary science is now in the hands of

It’s been equally rewarding over the past 22 years to work with Robert Bray people exercising arbitrary power. Soon and his family at Bray Real Estate in Grand Junction. Robert has long been a go-to enough, COVID will be used again to source for information about the real estate market not only because of his insights, shut us down. And watch our local leaders but also his invariably gracious willingess to share them with me. So I was delighted cave, only to come back with more to talk again with Robert, his children and Lynn Thompson — the president of the arbitrary rules for us to be allowed entry firm — about the 75th anniversary of the founding of Bray Real Estate. into their members-only clubs.

When it comes to longevity and company culture, Robert Bray believes one Listen. I’m not against the local news thing has everything to do with the other. One reason his company has been in unless it’s agendized. I’m not against business so long is its long-standing commitment to customers and the community. local business groups unless they make

I can’t claim for a second to match that kind of effort. I doubt I could reach that arbitrary rules to benefit one business over kind of milestone. But for now, I’m content to keep working in one job in one place. another. And I’m not against local health, unless it’s being used to deny life, liberty Phil Castle is editor of the Business Times. Reach him at phil@thebusinesstimes.com and the pursuit of happiness. or 424-5133. I was in discussing COVID the other F day with someone in the health field. One thing stood out. He said Country Jam was going to be a super spreader event according to local health and civic leaders. Yet, the three entities mentioned above promoted, reported on and allowed Country Jam to go on as planned. Not one PR release as to the danger. Ask yourself: “Why?” He then said I didn’t understand. No. I understand just fine. As I’m sure you do. We see both sides of every governmentissued coin. Like seeing the irony of needing an ID for a vaccine, yet not to vote. Arbitrary indeed. Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.

Enable entrepreneurs to gun for the big guys

In the political world, it seems like everyone — no matter which side of the aisle they reside on — loves small business. And they truly seem to want small businesses to succeed. Just not too much, apparently. If a business grows, innovates, excels at serving consumers and rises to become a global leader, the political winds often blow against such enterprises. Specifically, when progressivism and populism push onto the political stage, businesses that rank as global leaders suddenly attract political attacks.

While progressivism is a viewpoint from the left and populism tends to be on the right, they often differ more in tone and emphasis rather than actual policymaking. Consider the current situation in which various Democrats and Republicans attack so-called “Big Tech,” namely Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google. One might think U.S. Sens Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., disagree on everything. But they both have books out attacking “big” business.

In the case of tech leaders, Democrats follow a long tradition of being suspect of and opposed to large businesses. As for Republicans, attacks appear primarily rooted in political disagreements with these firms. In either case, various Democrats and Republicans are, to varying degrees, calling for more antitrust regulation.

Five antitrust bills targeting “Big Tech” were released by the House Subcommittee on Antitrust. Among other things, these bills propose to limit mergers and acquisitions, restrict lines of business technology companies could enter, dictate business models and operations and increase the budgets of antitrust regulators.

In the fall of 2020 and early in 2021, Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee produced their own reports advocating increased antitrust regulatory activism, only disagreeing on how far to go. Unfortunately, and sadly, the five bills dropped by Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., have the support of the ranking Republican member, Ken Buck, R-Colo.

These bills represent a vast expansion of government power and intrusion into the market. To believe this type of meddling will begin and end with “Big Tech” is naive. But even if lawmakers could somehow manage to simply focus on the tech sector, the effects on innovation, investment, competition and the startup ecosystem would be severe. Indeed, antitrust regulation is a tricky business, to say the least.

In effect, antitrust regulation is about politicians and their appointees

overruling decisions made by consumers and assuming they know how industries and markets will develop. These are outrageous assumptions given how dynamic and innovative markets are. Elected officials and their appointees are governed by political incentives and lack the knowledge to make such judgments. The unforeseen — or more aptly, foreseen — consequences of regulatory activism include limiting investment, innovation, entrepreneurship and efficiency, with direct and indirect costs imposed far beyond “Big Tech” and onto consumers and new, emerging and future competitors. Raymond Whether or not you buy into the latest anti-big-business trend, the question

Keating is: What’s the most beneficial path for keeping large businesses focused on serving consumers well? First, companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google earned their market leadership by serving consumers well. Given the dynamism of technology markets, these firms can’t afford to act as if they’re monopolists and get fat and sloppy. If large firms fail to serve and innovate, they’re just as vulnerable as any other businesses. History is strewn with market leaders who either no longer exist or rank as mere shadows of what they once were — Atari, Blockbuster, Borders, Kodak, Pan Am and Sears among them. Rather than go down the path of antitrust regulatory activism and dictates — along with the considerable and varied costs — the most beneficial actions elected officials can take if they’re truly concerned about big business is to establish the best possible environment in which new competitors can emerge. If you’re worried about big business, make sure entrepreneurship flourishes. There’s no mystery as to what a pro-entrepreneurship policy agenda looks like. It includes low personal and corporate income tax rates, no capital gains taxes, a light regulatory touch, free trade, a welcoming immigration agenda, government spending restraint and a Federal Reserve focused on maintaining sound money. Get that right, and entrepreneurship, investment and innovation flourish. In the end, so-called “Big Tech” shouldn’t have to worry about dealing with overwrought politicians and regulators, but instead about entrepreneurs who relentlessly push to advance innovation and dynamism. To put it succinctly, we should all want entrepreneurs — not politicians — gunning for the big guys. That’s how today’s big guys became, well, big guys.

Raymond Keating is chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The nonpartisan organization works to protect small business and promote entrepreneurship. For additional information, visit www.sbecouncil.org. F