Adding More People Causes Problems

January 26, 2026

Good morning! I am cherishing and savoring each additional minute of light as it returns slowly to the northern hemisphere. Do not despair, in less than a week it will be the Feast of Mr. & Mrs. Ground Hog with an acceleration of additional daylight ensuing immediately thereafter. Lest we forget — and lest history repeat itself… 80 years ago tomorrow — January 27, 1946 — the world community established holocaust Remembrance Day. “Remembrance dignifies the victims and survivors of the holocaust… it keeps alive their memories… the nazis sought to erase.”

• If you ate oranges, peanut butter, or pork chops in December — or flew somewhere on a commercial flight — you paid between 5% and 6% more than in November.
  • On the other hand, eggs (finally) decreased in price on average* by 8%!  (e.g., ~$3/ dozen – 24 cents = $2.76 per dozen)  [U.S. Dep’t of Labor]
    • * Not in Central Minnesota, as we were still paying $3.  (U.S.)
• Do you really WANT to be the busiest?
  • Chicago O’Hare has reclaimed its rightful traditional title to Busiest Airport in the United States, as measured by the number of passengers going to and from.  (Chen)
  • Hold the phone… A different source reports Atlanta retains the title — with Dubai, Tokyo, and O’Hare close behind.  (CNBC)
  • Who are you gonna believe?!
  • Maybe it’s a fifth airport they’re not telling us about?
• A good friend and erstwhile corporate controller and accountant taught me lots about marketing and communication.
  • Among his more memorable aphorisms:  Sending — or saying — something to someone is not communication, that’s broadcasting.
  • Or, as we here at Without A Vision Consultancy might add, it’s advertising — and some studies would suggest only 10% of sales happen because of advertising.
  • You know the other 90%:  Product, placement, pricing, relationships, satisfaction, logistics… things with which marketing typically isn’t involved…
• New energy vehicle sales (not necessarily traditional electric) are expected to grow from 92,000 in the current year to 930,000 in the Indian market by the year 2030 — ten fold!
• The price of copper has approximately doubled over the past year — with much of the demand coming from the massive data centers.
  • Alternatives?  Remember your grade #5 physics?  (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Carbon, Salt Water… looks like we’re stuck with the escalating price of copper for awhile.)
• Question o’ the Day:  IF Indiana is a One and Done phenomenon, will it shine more brightly in the hearts and minds of people for the next half century when compared to the perhaps more storied and boring dynasties of Alabama or Georgia — for example?
• So, what did we learn at Davos?
  • For starters, we need more parking spaces for the jets; c’mon people!
  • Suggest next year moving to a bigger town — and to a warmer climate.
  • What else?
    • People are totally fixated on artificial intelligence, totally.  (Perhaps with good reason?)
    • The world order of the last 80 years is no longer the world order.
    • Tenets of philosophy, economy, theology, and politics once held sacred and forever are no longer sacred and forever.
    • Resilience. (When has it not been important?!)
    • Global cooperation and/or collaboration have recently decreased dramatically in some areas, especially peace & security and wellness. (World Economic Forum. 2026)
    • Leadership is a greater challenge than ever — human leadership, that is.
    • Things in general are moving faster than ever.
    • Underinvestment in PEOPLE is a hyuuuge mistake.
• Do you find yourself drinking from a fire hose as you try to keep current with all the lists?  (Franz, that is?)
  • Books, movies, songs, operas, plays, museums… all of them = gotta see/ read/ hear, Etc.?
  • Courtesy of one of our kids we are scheduled to see Macbeth at the Guthrie in a few days.
  • But, I don’t think it’s on any of the Liszts promoting the new and improved things to see/ read/ hear…
• Movie:  It Ends With Us (2024)
• Dialogue from Moses the Crow (yes, the Crow) pp. 274-275 Doyle’s Mink River.
  • (Awesome book if you’re looking for something unique and to make you think.)
  • (Moses has survived a horrific and tragic accident resulting in the loss of both of its wings.)
    • “I don’t know,” says Moses.  “I think wings are a thing of the past for me.”
      • What?
    • “I find that I don’t actually want new wings.”
      • You don’t want to fly anymore?
    • “It’s not that I don’t want to fly, it’s that I don’t want to try to fly the way I flew.”
      • Does that make sense?
    • “I was one sort of creature and now I am another sort of creature, and I find that I am curious about the new creature.
    • I’ve never seen the world steadily from this angle, from the pedestrian point of view, and it’s sort of interesting to have a bird’s eye view, you know?
    • Everything is flatter.  Everything is at an oblique angle.  There are a LOT more corners.  It’s a different geometry.
    • Previously I perched, but now I walk
    • Yet, I am aware that there may come a time when I mourn flight.
    • I am aware of prospective sadness.
    • But at the moment I am filled with curiosity.
    • I would almost rather that you designed some sort of conveyance or vehicle for ground transport.
    • Also, I suspect that I will have to get comfortable with riding on shoulders and in the seats of cars.
    • Perhaps a small seat belt is the engineering problem we should be contemplating.”  (Doyle)
• Important lesson in economics and social capital:
  • “Adding more people causes problems.
  • But people are also the means to solve these problems.
  • The main fuel to speed the world’s progress is our stock of knowledge; the brakes are our lack of imagination and unsound social regulations of these activities.
  • The ultimate resource is people — especially skilled, spirited, and hopeful young people endowed with liberty —
  • who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefits, and so inevitably they will benefit the rest of us as well.”  (Simon via Banaian)