2008 Soap Box Archives

Bad Business

Although I have been in business most of the time for almost a half century I'll admit, I know little about the nuts and bolts, nuances and internal working of the world.

I've never been one to dot i's and cross t's and trying to decipher a spread sheet or a statement from a record company takes a lot more mathematical savvy than I ever developed.

I know that on paper it doesn't make sense for a person who has 25 employees to know so little about the day-to-day operation of his own business.

There is however a method to my madness. I simply don't like doing business so I never tried to develop any real aptitudes in that direction. I'd rather spend my life creating and performing the music I love which I feel I'm much more adept at than I would ever be in the business world.

So what's the answer? Simple, I work with people I trust and put them in positions of responsibility. I can't work with people I don't trust or with people who would treat our fans and our business associates badly.

There's an old saying, you only go around once. That's simply not true in my business. You keep going around, playing the same venues year after year and one bad impression or insult can do a world of harm.

My philosophy is to give a day's work for a day's pay and I never want anybody to leave one of our concerts feeling that they haven't gotten their money's worth. We work very hard to keep that from happening.

I believe that when a person buys a ticket they should never buy a pig in a poke but instead know that the act they are going to see is going to give them a good show no matter what.

I value honesty above all virtues and conduct my business accordingly.

In my opinion honesty is sorely missing in the American business world today.

If companies had been honest instead of greedy we would not be having a near crisis in the housing industry today. First of all, the finance companies sold houses to people who had no idea what they were getting into. For a period they paid interest only and when the principle payments kicked in it totally overwhelmed their budgets and they had to move out.

These companies sold houses to people who did not qualify for anywhere close to the amount of money they signed on for and when the ax fell it put them behind for years financially.

And as if that weren't bad enough some supposedly reputable businesses on Wall Street packaged the loans and sold them to foreign investors, further bringing down the value of the US dollar.

So what's the upshot of all this greed and dishonesty? Thousands and thousands of people being put out of their homes and the once unimpeachable dollar losing value on the world economic scene at a time when America is being attacked on all sides by fanatics like Hugo Chavez who is trying to convince the world to no longer use the US dollars as the world standard for paying debts.

And all so a handful of greedy, dishonest business people could fatten their overstuffed bank accounts.

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

February 8, 2008