November 22, 2024 • 35 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load. The
Michael Very Show is on the air. The following feature
has been rated R.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is intended for mature audiences.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I just wanted to say to everyone out there, I'm
no longer mainlining acid or smoking PCP.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's official. Now you know the rest of the star Joy.
You like movies about gladiators. What if your childhood Amolia
fu ve shoes, Take me on, Take me.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Your mother was a hamster and your father smite off Calaberry.
How much you want to make a bet? I can
proll a football over them.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Mountain don't need food.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What are you kidding? We got some family here.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Not all well, so love until tonight, then one and
more bye.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, it is an honor for me and decades in
the making. But Gordon Bethune is our guest. Welcome to
the show, sir, Thank Michael.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm going to bounce around a little if I may.
With it being Thanksgiving upon us, lots of us are
going to get on planes and all of us are
going to have complaints over this or that. You spent
a lifetime in the airline business. If you could be
king and you could be in charge of the airline
(02:04):
business as you were at one point in continental airlines.
What's the low hanging fruit that could be done to
make the customer experience better immediately?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, you know, a lot of it is a structure
of the funding of the air traffic control system. And
although the customer doesn't identify with it personally, it really
controls everything that he or she encounters. So I would
go for a privatization of the air traffic control and
put that on a business like basis and clean up
(02:37):
that part of the operation. That would give us better
results I think on running airlines in this country.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And so that would affect presumably on time performance, and
I guess that trickles down to the overall experience. How
big a part of on time performance is that issue
that you just mentioned, the air traffic control portion.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, it's it's huge because it you know, it set
staffing levels at federal air control centers. It's throughout permeates
the whole system. I would take you know, the FAA
currently is in charge of that and they would be separate.
But the air traffic Control SYSM like in Canada, it's privatizing.
It runs on a business like basis and it runs
(03:22):
real well, and it's just like a watch, Michael, you
know if it's really not valuable unless it works reliably
and on time dependably. So that's what the ATC system
has to is the backbone of the system. It has
to be on time and it has to be reliable.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
During your time at Continental, which is what I'm most
familiar with, not Brand, If Western, Piedmont, the other airlines
where you work, but Continental, I was a frequent flyer
and Continental was a pleasure to fly, and I know
you were not a big fan if. I recall of
the United takeover and the fear was it was going
(04:03):
to have Chicago values and it has. The customer service
experience went away. But it feels like all of the
airlines now it's as if the customer is resented. And
where did that go wrong?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, I'm not sure. It's very subjective what you're discussing.
I think if you do the clean, safe, reliable, that's
the three metrics that you need to be in the
airline business, most of the other customer dissatisfaction will go away.
Laid misconnection, my lost bags, all those things are from
unreliable operations. So once you get the airline on time,
(04:39):
and I think that's what we enjoyed it. Continental is
an on time airline and that put us back at
the top of Jdpower and Customer Satisfaction awards.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You also were named top place to work year in
and year out. I'm assuming obviously people that enjoy their
job are going to be better to the customer. What
went wrong that it doesn't feel like the people in
the airline enjoy their jobs anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, you know, to be honest with you, you use
the term the airlines when they're all separate companies and
they have very different reaction times and customer satisfaction scores.
So it's not an industry metric. But the airlines are
a bunch of different companies and the most successful ones
are the ones that keep customer metrics of statis customer
(05:33):
satisfaction on their plate. First thing is be on time,
safely and bring the guys underwear, and that's kind of
all you really need to start off doing reliably and
the rest of the stuff just gets better.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You spent time at Boeing and I think you were
responsible for the production of the B seven thirty seven
and the B seven fifty seven airplanes and you were
a a VP there. Boeing, a once proud American company.
You know, we sort of puff our chest out. This
is a great American company the world looks at as
(06:06):
distinctly American. What's going wrong there?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
It's so sad. It just once again, a culture changed
when they did an acquisition a ge. It became more
of a finance driven metric of success. And I think
it had lost a lot. Myself and a whole lot
of my friends really missed the old Boying. I think
the Boeing still is a very very good company, the
best there is, quite frankly, but it's really at a
(06:34):
low spot, and I sure hope they pull it back together.
The world needs Boeing. I mean, there's not enough capacity
to build enough airplanes for the world's needs, so somebody
has to be out there. And I think it'll be
going again one day.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I hope. So it's a great American story. And as
you said, the world needs Boeing. They just announced a
few days ago that they're doing away with their DEI
Department Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Your thoughts, well, you.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Know, as a matter of priorities, I would probably do
the same thing. I don't want to say they don't
add value, But right now, we need to keep the
airplane flying, and you need to work on things that
matter most, which is quality delivered every day and that
construction and the design of the airplane. So it's not
a top of mind kind of metric that I would
(07:26):
start if I were rehabbing Boeing today, I wouldn't start there.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
When you look at the airline industry, there's been bailouts
over the years, and it feels like some of the
airlines are always teetering one or the other. And you
know there's the legacy issue for the legacy carriers and
you know, retired pilots and retired employees. It feels like
that industry, much like American car making, struggles to make
(07:52):
a profit. Is there anything that can be done to
change that?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well, Michael, you're poking at human now, So I think
it's pretty universal. I guess when you are doing really,
really well, you always want more, when in fact, sometimes
you should just be happy with what you got. And
in the cycles of the American business, there's good times
in bad times. That is like the canary and the
(08:20):
mind shaft. When the economy starts going south. You'll see
it in airline travel first, because reduced earnings, reduced productivity everything.
So maybe there's maybe we just get spoiled. I know
there's a sense of entitlement because it used to be
a regulated industry, so that you know, if you missed
your flight, they have to put you up in a
(08:40):
multi hundred dollars room at night, and all the kind
of things that's that's gone, that's forever, and maybe we
just all thinking we should get that again. You're doing
a great show, I miss Russambau right now.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
You right there was a placement, Michael Berry.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
You you shan't handle it and market be some of
the best and aware. All my bags at pack, ready
to go.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I'm standing here outside the door. I hate to wake
you up to say goodbye, but the dawn is breaking.
Gordon Bethune is our guessing. I read the other day,
maybe it was late last week that that was the
first day that a new law went into effect that
(09:37):
if you are significantly delayed, and that was on a formula,
that there was a payment that was due to you.
I don't know to what extent you still keep up
with all this sort of stuff, but it sounded like
a move to go back to that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Well, you know that's all bs Michael. Quite frankly, it's
very subjective. But you know, the on time is an
important metric that runs almost all the other If the
airplane's not on time, the baggage will be late, you'll
miss your connection, you will be late. So it just
goes snowballs downhill. I think I think they're doing a
(10:12):
pretty good job today given the size of the business
and how well the economy is doing now that. But
then when you really get spoiled, I guess is the word.
You've always thought you ought to get more, and so
you just over ask and probably destroy the benefits of
the luxury of making a profit there. It just takes
(10:36):
all the wind out of your sails. So I don't
want to say it's all labor, but sometimes people ought
to be happy with what they have today, not always
thinking you want to get more every time you.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Gordon Bethune is our guest.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You're you.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I read that you spent summers with your father, who
owned an aerial crop dusting company in Hernando, Mississippi, and
then you would go on here as a navy man.
You would join the Navy in fifty eight. What was
the interest? Was it your father's business in aviation, because
it became your career.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You know. I actually left home at age seventeen the
week I turned seventeen, and I guess I was as
dumb as a box of rocks. Is. Whatever my dad wanted,
what she wanted me to stay and go to school,
whatever he wanted, I didn't want. And he wanted me
to be a pilot. I didn't want that either. I
learned the hard way instead of an easy way. But
(11:30):
my dad taught me a lot. I learned I loved airplanes,
and I went on, you know, being an aircraft technician
and maintenance technician in the Navy, and I got a
regular commission and learned about management and a whole lot
of went to school and I graduated college. But I
did it the hard way, which is a dumb way.
But it's a wonderful life, and I've certainly enjoyed my
(11:53):
time with aviation all my life.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I believe you were the only airline CEO in history
to be certified to both work on and fly the
big birds, Unless I'm wrong, I think that's something to
be extraordinarily proud of. But I have to imagine that
that inspires a respect among employees when you're having to
constantly negotiate, whether it be pilots or mechanics or stewardesses
(12:21):
that maybe today it feels like some of the folks
don't have the background in aviation like that, whereas it
was clearly in your blood.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Well that's right, Michael. You know, if you and I
were going to go and let's say the Riskwatch sales
and repair business and start a new company, wouldn't it
be helpful if one of us knew how Watch worked?
So it kind of helps if you're going to run
a company to know what the product is and how
the people work. Had A guy once said how come?
(12:53):
He told me, he said, how come you know so
much about people? And I said, look at him, I said,
well I used to be one. You need to remember
where you came from.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
When I look at how often going back and looking
at how often Continental under your leadership, having faced bankruptcy
twice and all the cost cutting and all the things
you had to do. But at the same time, corresponding
to that, you're winning awards for employee experience. What sorts
(13:25):
of things did you do and what sorts of things
can be done to make the employee experience better short
of just paying them more.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well, what you do is you treat them with dignity
and respect, because you really owe that in every part
of the watch is necessary for the watch to work,
given the small parts that you can't see inside are vital.
So the people in the company are all vital. And
if they get a sense that you understand that and
appreciate that, you'll be a real plus for your company.
(13:59):
Number Two, I think sharing in the profits which we did,
would put in a profit sharing. They didn't know what
profit was in those days, but once we s paid
fifteen percent of pre tax incomes to our people. That
men when the customer won being on time and the
right correct product, they won, they got paid extra money
for on time bonuses and profit sharing. And I think
(14:23):
as a team, you know, like on a football team,
you got to all the big shots in the backfield
are not the only people. Everybody's in the huddle, so
everybody has to be part of what the endeavor is
and mutually agreeable. And that's what I saw. We did
nothing special but treating everybody with dignitye respect, is the
(14:44):
vital part of the team, is essential to profitability, especially
in the airline business.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I'm not asking you to be immodest. I asked the question,
so I'm simply asking you to answer this. Your success
speaks for itself. If you were to look at it.
Few things that in your life you look back now
and go, these were the things I did that led
to my success. Solely for the purpose of other people
saying I could adopt one or two of those, what
would that be.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, I think we just covered it, you know. I
wrote that book in ninety eight or ninety nine Worst
to First because we were the worst in the dot
metrics of airlines, and we became the best run airline
in America, most dependable, but more awards, like you said,
the best place to work, the best, best airline to fly.
(15:33):
And I'm proud of that. But it really was that
I got a team together and want to do it.
I couldn't do it. I didn't do it. What I
did was put the thing together, pick the right people,
and then treat them fairly. And every time we won
an award, I didn't step on stage to accept the
(15:53):
reward for the company unless the employees came with me
because they're the ones that did the work, and I
think people got a sense of belonging and working together
work for us, and we just beat the socks off
of everybody by taking that approach.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
If I had asked you at fourteen or fifteen years
old what Gordon Bethune would have been doing at forty
or fifty years old, what would you have said at
that time.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I'd probably say, you know, be in prison somewhere. I
don't know. At age fourteen or fifteen, I'd hate to
go through that again. It was tough on my parents,
and I survived it and got very fortunate on the way.
But I would just start the same thing. I'd just
done it earlier, but a way. You know, I don't
(16:42):
think I knew enough to make a bad decision. Michael.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
It's interesting because for me, I would have wanted to
be either president or a sports star or a rock star.
I suspect that's many people.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, you know, that shows that you're smart. I am
because I didn't know, you know, but there is a
saying that says, if you don't know where you're going,
any road will get you there. And so I was
kind of like taking off in the direction I wasn't
really sure about, and it worked out for me. I'm
very fortunate there.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Did you ever look back at any point during your
career and say, if I didn't do what I'm doing now,
I'm kind of interested in that computer thing, or I'm
kind of interested in the automobile thing, or housing or
something else.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I think the challenges for me were to create a
team of a company. We I think in nineteen ninety four,
the first full year they were out of bankruptcy, and
a year I joined Continental, they lost six hundred and
(17:50):
forty million dollars. The next year, using the same airplanes,
the same employees, planning in the same cities, we made
two hundred and twenty five million. That's after we paid
profit sharing. So it's nothing wrong with the people, nothing
because we have used the same people. What they did
is you have to have a good pilot. You have
(18:14):
to be a good employer to get people to want
to do a good job, and if they want to
do it, you can't beat them. And so that was
the whole formula, nothing more, nothing more complicated than that.
That's right, say it again.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
That's why I had to solve many guitar probably had
a tune.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Now you might have to edit that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
This is Mark Chestnut. Enjoy Bizaar of Talk Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
With a Study.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Jordan Bethune is our guest. You tell the story in
the book. If I recall correctly, that some of the
routes that the airline was flying were loser routes. There
was a negative. They were costing the airline a lot
of money, and they were related to where some of
the executives wanted to go or where they felt like
they needed to be. I think one of them was
(19:22):
Raleigh Durham, and you went in and you just it
was Raley Durham to Kentucky if I remember correctly. But anyway,
you went in and you just started slicing those it
would seem like that would be obvious. If you lost
six hundred million dollars, then everybody would do that.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Well, you know, but Michael, it isn't all about just
cutting costs. Although in the book I pointed out we
lost about fifteen percent of our flying was cash negative.
So it's not even a P and L. It's cash,
which means that you could set the parking brake and
evacuate the airplane and save money, don't fly it. And
(19:56):
so what we did was create a market plan and
I said, well, why don't we fly the places people
want to go? I said, there's a really good thought.
And so that is essentially what we did to the
route system is trim those those routes. They didn't have
adequate customers or market presidents to make a profit, and
we quit losing money.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
How much of the person you became discipline structure do
you attribute to the US Navy.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, a lot, probably on ninety nine percent. That's really
where I grew up, and I learned so much there.
It's a great place for a young man or young
person today to join and get some bearings at least
pick a road in a path that will get you there.
It exposes you to teamwork, It exposes you to structure
(20:45):
and discipline, and it's really good for any young person
today to have that kind of experience as they go
into the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Tell me about the influence of your mother, Pearl Ellie
Bethune on your life and the person you came.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I'm sorry, my dog's here. My mom would use I
would say it gave me too much stake and rudder.
So it means that she's a very strong woman. I
loved her, but she always wanted you to do it
her way, and I guess that's what I rebelled against.
And later on, you know, really come to appreciate how
(21:25):
loyal and helpful she was. But I learned a lot
from my parents and my grandparents, and I learned a
lot of the Navy, and so, you know, and I
learned a lot, certainly hit boring and working in the airlines,
about people, and so I've been blessed with that help
along the way.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
What about your father, Jack with them.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, there's a really a great guy. Died much too young,
age fifty, but he was he was a great pilot,
I mean, one of I saw him do things I
didn't think anyone could do. But he also helped me
once I joined the Navy, state focused and that helped
a lot as well. So I owe a lot of
(22:07):
my parents, as probably most of us do. I'm not
sure you always realize it in enough time to tell them,
but I was blessed for that too.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I used to play tennis every morning at six o'clock
at the Metropolitan Racket Club downtown when I was a
baby lawyer and then eventually when I was running for
city council and serving on city Council and my mentor,
a fellow named Walter Zivley, would join me. He was
a partner at a major law firm, and the other
person at our table was George Mason. You're a good
friend who was I guess head of maintenance. And I
(22:36):
always found it fascinating that the chairman and CEO's very
close friend at the company was a person who wasn't
in the c suite. And I guess it's not really
a question. I know that was a very special friendship
for you, but that was probably where I first grew
to admire the person you were on a real level
as opposed to a Fortune list or a Forbes list.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Well, you know, George Mason's who were talking about. And
I met him when I went to Piedmont as senior
VP of operations from Western and moved out and knew
George forever, and that's why we hired George help us
get the airline back on track with maintenance problems. And
he was a wonderful man. George is just as human person,
(23:23):
never wore his rank on his sleeve. You wouldn't know
he's in charge. But he was, and he was just
a great executive for us and did a wonderful job.
George's a lifetime prime.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
He would regale us with Gordon Bethune stories. I had
not met you at that point, and he would regale
us every morning with stories. And I would pester him
with questions. And I had read the book. This was
about two thousand and two thousand and one, and the
book had come out in ninety nine. And he was
trying to retire and you told him, you can retire
when you want, but you're going to be miserable. And
he tells the story, told the story at the time
(24:00):
that you said. You said, George, you're too young to retire.
What are you going to do when you retire? And
he said, I'm gonna play golf and you said how
much golf can you play? Well? Fast forward and I
think he was gone maybe a year, and he called
you back and said, my shoulder hurts, and I've played
enough golf and you said, your job awaits.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
George is like that. And you know, I think a
lot of us. I think you ought to, you know,
measure twice, cut once, and so before you retire Whatt.
You should really really give it some serious thought about
pick it over again before you do it, because there's
almost no going back. And we were lucky to keep George.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
One of the Gordon Bethune stories that I pepper my
speeches and my day to day life with comes from
the book. And you had gone into an airplane hangar
and you were worried about expenses on aviation maintenance, and
that was your background. And you walked in and there
(25:00):
were all these there was this huge maintenance budget for
this particular hangar, and you said to the guys, boy,
this this floor is really clean. And the mechanics said, mister,
you could eat off this floor. And you said, that's
too clean. And I've always that line has always stuck
with me, that we're paying too much, we're overdoing. That's
(25:20):
not a good prioritization. I just it's not a question.
I just wanted you to know that's that line has
always stuck with me. It applies in almost everything I do.
Mostly I just get to tell a Gordon Bathoon story
out of the deal, you.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Know, Michael. The funny thing was when I went to Western,
That's what happened. They had cleaners and cleaners were sweeping
up after the mechanics and cleaning, and he said we could.
One of the guys said you could eat off this floor,
and I said, get a paper plate. Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My wife even uses that line. She's heard me say
it so many times it has achieved us a second generation.
I promised you I wouldn't keep you any longer. I
just wanted to close by saying I have the utmost
respect for the person you are, both as a leader
person you've been in the corporate world. I think you're
(26:13):
one of those guys that young people should learn from.
I asked listeners to send me an email saying that
I was going to be talking to you and was
there any question or statement and to a person I got.
I was overwhelmed with emails, but nobody wanted to know
I've got your question or anything like that. They all
simply wanted me to say I work for that man
(26:35):
and thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I have a story for you.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
My brother in law murdered too Native Americans to Michael Berry, Joey,
you have my attention.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
It was men by, said dog Cloudy's with the Preemiegret
gotta get down my hand and listen.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oil can under my A great annual tradition on our
Thanksgiving edition, which is the Friday before the following Thursday,
is to play rush Limbaugh's The Meaning of Thanksgiving in
honor of the Great Irreplaceable rush Limbaugh.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
The True Story of Thanksgiving. The story of the Pilgrims
begins in the early part of the seventeenth century. The
Church of England, under King James the First was persecuting
anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil
and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those
who believe strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned,
(27:51):
and sometimes executed for their beliefs. A group of separatists
first fled to Holland and established a community. Three eleven years,
about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey
to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships,
but could live and worship God according to the dictates
of their own consciences. On August first, sixteen twenty, the
(28:13):
Mayflowers set sail. It carried a total of one hundred
two passengers, including forty Pilgrims, led by William Bradford. On
the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract the
established just and equal laws for all members of the
new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the
(28:35):
revolutionary ideas expressed in an Eyflower Compact come from? They
came from the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely
steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments.
They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example, and
because of the biblical precedent set forth in scripture, they
never doubted that their experiment would work. But it was
(28:57):
no pleasure cruise. The journey to the New World was
a long and arduous one, and when the Pilgrims landed
in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's
detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no
friends to greet them, he wrote, There were no houses
to shelter them, there were no inns where they could
(29:17):
refresh themselves, and the sacrifice that they had made for
freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims,
including Bradford's own wife, died either starvation, sickness, or exposure.
When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to
plant corn fish for cod and skin beavers for coats.
(29:38):
Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper,
and this is important to understand because this is where
modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained
in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims
gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather
than as a devout expression of gratitude rounded in the
(30:00):
tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here's the
part that's been omitted. The original contract the Pilgrims had
entered into with their merchant sponsors in London called for
everything they produced to go into a common store, and
each member of the community was entitled to one common share.
All of the land that they cleared and the houses
they built belonged to the community as well, and they
(30:23):
were going to distribute it equally. All the land they cleared,
the houses they built belonged to the community. Nobody owned anything,
they just had a share in it. It was a commune.
It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in
the sixties and seventies out in California, and it was
a complete with organic vegetables, even just like the communes
(30:45):
of today are God No, there's no question it was
organic vegetables. Bradford, who had become the new governor of
the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as
costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh
winter which had taken so many lives. He decided to
(31:06):
take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to
each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the
power in the marketplace. Long before Karl Marx was even born,
the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only
be described as socialism, and what happened. It didn't work,
but it nearly starved. It never has worked. What Bradford
(31:29):
in his community found was that the most creative and
industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than
anybody else unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation.
But while most of the rest of the world has
been experimenting with socialism for well over one hundred years,
trying to refine it, perfect it, and reinvent it, the
Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford
(31:52):
wrote about this social experiment should be in every school
child's history lesson. If it were, we might prevent such
needless suffering in the future, such as that we are
enduring now. The experience that we had in this common
course and condition, This is Bradford, the experience we had
in this common course and condition, tired or tried someday
(32:15):
years that by taking away property and bringing community into
a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing, as if
they were wiser than God. Bradford wrote for this community,
so far as it was was found to breed much
confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have
been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that
(32:37):
were most able and fit for labor and service, did
repine that they should spend their time and strength to
work for other men's wives and children without being paid
for it. That was thought injustice. Why should you work
for other people when you can't work for yourself? What's
the point, That's what he was saying. The Pilgrims found
that people could not be expected to do their best
work without incentive. So what did Bradford's community try Next,
(33:02):
they unharnished the power of good old free enterprise by
invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family
was assigned its own plot of land to work, and
permitted to market its own crops and products. What was
(33:23):
the result, Bradford wrote, this had very good success, for
it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn
was planted than otherwise would have been. Is it possible
that supply side economics could have existed before the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Read the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis forty one.
Following Joseph's suggestion, Pharaoh reduced the tax on Egyptians to
twenty percent during the seven years of plenty, and the
earth brought forth in heaps well. At no time the
pilgrims found that they had more food than they could
eat themselves. This, yes, this is where it gets really
(34:02):
good if you're laboring under the misconception that I was
as I was taught in school. They set up trading posts,
they exchanged goods with the Indians. The prophets allowed them
to pay off their debts to the merchants in London,
and the success and the prosperity of the Plymouth settlement
(34:23):
attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known
as the Great Puritan Migration. But this story stops when
the Indians taught the newly arrived suffering in socialism Pilgrims
how to plant corn and fish for cod. That's where
the original Thanksgiving story stops. Story basically doesn't even begin there.
(34:45):
The real story of Thanksgiving is William Bradford giving thanks
to God for the guidance and the inspiration to set
up a thriving colony that socialism caused near starvation. The
bounty was aired with the Indians. They did sit down,
(35:05):
they did have free range turkey and organic vegetables. But
it wasn't the Indians who.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Saved the day.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
It was capitalism and scripture which saved the day, as
acknowledged by George Washington in his first Thanksgiving Proclamation in
seventeen eighty nine,
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load. The
Michael Very Show is on the air. The following feature
has been rated R.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is intended for mature audiences.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I just wanted to say to everyone out there, I'm
no longer mainlining acid or smoking PCP.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's official. Now you know the rest of the star Joy.
You like movies about gladiators. What if your childhood Amolia
fu ve shoes, Take me on, Take me.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Your mother was a hamster and your father smite off Calaberry.
How much you want to make a bet? I can
proll a football over them.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Mountain don't need food.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What are you kidding? We got some family here.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Not all well, so love until tonight, then one and
more bye.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, it is an honor for me and decades in
the making. But Gordon Bethune is our guest. Welcome to
the show, sir, Thank Michael.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm going to bounce around a little if I may.
With it being Thanksgiving upon us, lots of us are
going to get on planes and all of us are
going to have complaints over this or that. You spent
a lifetime in the airline business. If you could be
king and you could be in charge of the airline
(02:04):
business as you were at one point in continental airlines.
What's the low hanging fruit that could be done to
make the customer experience better immediately?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, you know, a lot of it is a structure
of the funding of the air traffic control system. And
although the customer doesn't identify with it personally, it really
controls everything that he or she encounters. So I would
go for a privatization of the air traffic control and
put that on a business like basis and clean up
(02:37):
that part of the operation. That would give us better
results I think on running airlines in this country.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And so that would affect presumably on time performance, and
I guess that trickles down to the overall experience. How
big a part of on time performance is that issue
that you just mentioned, the air traffic control portion.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, it's it's huge because it you know, it set
staffing levels at federal air control centers. It's throughout permeates
the whole system. I would take you know, the FAA
currently is in charge of that and they would be separate.
But the air traffic Control SYSM like in Canada, it's privatizing.
It runs on a business like basis and it runs
(03:22):
real well, and it's just like a watch, Michael, you
know if it's really not valuable unless it works reliably
and on time dependably. So that's what the ATC system
has to is the backbone of the system. It has
to be on time and it has to be reliable.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
During your time at Continental, which is what I'm most
familiar with, not Brand, If Western, Piedmont, the other airlines
where you work, but Continental, I was a frequent flyer
and Continental was a pleasure to fly, and I know
you were not a big fan if. I recall of
the United takeover and the fear was it was going
(04:03):
to have Chicago values and it has. The customer service
experience went away. But it feels like all of the
airlines now it's as if the customer is resented. And
where did that go wrong?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, I'm not sure. It's very subjective what you're discussing.
I think if you do the clean, safe, reliable, that's
the three metrics that you need to be in the
airline business, most of the other customer dissatisfaction will go away.
Laid misconnection, my lost bags, all those things are from
unreliable operations. So once you get the airline on time,
(04:39):
and I think that's what we enjoyed it. Continental is
an on time airline and that put us back at
the top of Jdpower and Customer Satisfaction awards.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You also were named top place to work year in
and year out. I'm assuming obviously people that enjoy their
job are going to be better to the customer. What
went wrong that it doesn't feel like the people in
the airline enjoy their jobs anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, you know, to be honest with you, you use
the term the airlines when they're all separate companies and
they have very different reaction times and customer satisfaction scores.
So it's not an industry metric. But the airlines are
a bunch of different companies and the most successful ones
are the ones that keep customer metrics of statis customer
(05:33):
satisfaction on their plate. First thing is be on time,
safely and bring the guys underwear, and that's kind of
all you really need to start off doing reliably and
the rest of the stuff just gets better.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You spent time at Boeing and I think you were
responsible for the production of the B seven thirty seven
and the B seven fifty seven airplanes and you were
a a VP there. Boeing, a once proud American company.
You know, we sort of puff our chest out. This
is a great American company the world looks at as
(06:06):
distinctly American. What's going wrong there?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
It's so sad. It just once again, a culture changed
when they did an acquisition a ge. It became more
of a finance driven metric of success. And I think
it had lost a lot. Myself and a whole lot
of my friends really missed the old Boying. I think
the Boeing still is a very very good company, the
best there is, quite frankly, but it's really at a
(06:34):
low spot, and I sure hope they pull it back together.
The world needs Boeing. I mean, there's not enough capacity
to build enough airplanes for the world's needs, so somebody
has to be out there. And I think it'll be
going again one day.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I hope. So it's a great American story. And as
you said, the world needs Boeing. They just announced a
few days ago that they're doing away with their DEI
Department Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Your thoughts, well, you.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Know, as a matter of priorities, I would probably do
the same thing. I don't want to say they don't
add value, But right now, we need to keep the
airplane flying, and you need to work on things that
matter most, which is quality delivered every day and that
construction and the design of the airplane. So it's not
a top of mind kind of metric that I would
(07:26):
start if I were rehabbing Boeing today, I wouldn't start there.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
When you look at the airline industry, there's been bailouts
over the years, and it feels like some of the
airlines are always teetering one or the other. And you
know there's the legacy issue for the legacy carriers and
you know, retired pilots and retired employees. It feels like
that industry, much like American car making, struggles to make
(07:52):
a profit. Is there anything that can be done to
change that?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well, Michael, you're poking at human now, So I think
it's pretty universal. I guess when you are doing really,
really well, you always want more, when in fact, sometimes
you should just be happy with what you got. And
in the cycles of the American business, there's good times
in bad times. That is like the canary and the
(08:20):
mind shaft. When the economy starts going south. You'll see
it in airline travel first, because reduced earnings, reduced productivity everything.
So maybe there's maybe we just get spoiled. I know
there's a sense of entitlement because it used to be
a regulated industry, so that you know, if you missed
your flight, they have to put you up in a
(08:40):
multi hundred dollars room at night, and all the kind
of things that's that's gone, that's forever, and maybe we
just all thinking we should get that again. You're doing
a great show, I miss Russambau right now.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
You right there was a placement, Michael Berry.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
You you shan't handle it and market be some of
the best and aware. All my bags at pack, ready
to go.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I'm standing here outside the door. I hate to wake
you up to say goodbye, but the dawn is breaking.
Gordon Bethune is our guessing. I read the other day,
maybe it was late last week that that was the
first day that a new law went into effect that
(09:37):
if you are significantly delayed, and that was on a formula,
that there was a payment that was due to you.
I don't know to what extent you still keep up
with all this sort of stuff, but it sounded like
a move to go back to that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Well, you know that's all bs Michael. Quite frankly, it's
very subjective. But you know, the on time is an
important metric that runs almost all the other If the
airplane's not on time, the baggage will be late, you'll
miss your connection, you will be late. So it just
goes snowballs downhill. I think I think they're doing a
(10:12):
pretty good job today given the size of the business
and how well the economy is doing now that. But
then when you really get spoiled, I guess is the word.
You've always thought you ought to get more, and so
you just over ask and probably destroy the benefits of
the luxury of making a profit there. It just takes
(10:36):
all the wind out of your sails. So I don't
want to say it's all labor, but sometimes people ought
to be happy with what they have today, not always
thinking you want to get more every time you.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Gordon Bethune is our guest.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You're you.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I read that you spent summers with your father, who
owned an aerial crop dusting company in Hernando, Mississippi, and
then you would go on here as a navy man.
You would join the Navy in fifty eight. What was
the interest? Was it your father's business in aviation, because
it became your career.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You know. I actually left home at age seventeen the
week I turned seventeen, and I guess I was as
dumb as a box of rocks. Is. Whatever my dad wanted,
what she wanted me to stay and go to school,
whatever he wanted, I didn't want. And he wanted me
to be a pilot. I didn't want that either. I
learned the hard way instead of an easy way. But
(11:30):
my dad taught me a lot. I learned I loved airplanes,
and I went on, you know, being an aircraft technician
and maintenance technician in the Navy, and I got a
regular commission and learned about management and a whole lot
of went to school and I graduated college. But I
did it the hard way, which is a dumb way.
But it's a wonderful life, and I've certainly enjoyed my
(11:53):
time with aviation all my life.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I believe you were the only airline CEO in history
to be certified to both work on and fly the
big birds, Unless I'm wrong, I think that's something to
be extraordinarily proud of. But I have to imagine that
that inspires a respect among employees when you're having to
constantly negotiate, whether it be pilots or mechanics or stewardesses
(12:21):
that maybe today it feels like some of the folks
don't have the background in aviation like that, whereas it
was clearly in your blood.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Well that's right, Michael. You know, if you and I
were going to go and let's say the Riskwatch sales
and repair business and start a new company, wouldn't it
be helpful if one of us knew how Watch worked?
So it kind of helps if you're going to run
a company to know what the product is and how
the people work. Had A guy once said how come?
(12:53):
He told me, he said, how come you know so
much about people? And I said, look at him, I said,
well I used to be one. You need to remember
where you came from.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
When I look at how often going back and looking
at how often Continental under your leadership, having faced bankruptcy
twice and all the cost cutting and all the things
you had to do. But at the same time, corresponding
to that, you're winning awards for employee experience. What sorts
(13:25):
of things did you do and what sorts of things
can be done to make the employee experience better short
of just paying them more.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well, what you do is you treat them with dignity
and respect, because you really owe that in every part
of the watch is necessary for the watch to work,
given the small parts that you can't see inside are vital.
So the people in the company are all vital. And
if they get a sense that you understand that and
appreciate that, you'll be a real plus for your company.
(13:59):
Number Two, I think sharing in the profits which we did,
would put in a profit sharing. They didn't know what
profit was in those days, but once we s paid
fifteen percent of pre tax incomes to our people. That
men when the customer won being on time and the
right correct product, they won, they got paid extra money
for on time bonuses and profit sharing. And I think
(14:23):
as a team, you know, like on a football team,
you got to all the big shots in the backfield
are not the only people. Everybody's in the huddle, so
everybody has to be part of what the endeavor is
and mutually agreeable. And that's what I saw. We did
nothing special but treating everybody with dignitye respect, is the
(14:44):
vital part of the team, is essential to profitability, especially
in the airline business.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I'm not asking you to be immodest. I asked the question,
so I'm simply asking you to answer this. Your success
speaks for itself. If you were to look at it.
Few things that in your life you look back now
and go, these were the things I did that led
to my success. Solely for the purpose of other people
saying I could adopt one or two of those, what
would that be.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, I think we just covered it, you know. I
wrote that book in ninety eight or ninety nine Worst
to First because we were the worst in the dot
metrics of airlines, and we became the best run airline
in America, most dependable, but more awards, like you said,
the best place to work, the best, best airline to fly.
(15:33):
And I'm proud of that. But it really was that
I got a team together and want to do it.
I couldn't do it. I didn't do it. What I
did was put the thing together, pick the right people,
and then treat them fairly. And every time we won
an award, I didn't step on stage to accept the
(15:53):
reward for the company unless the employees came with me
because they're the ones that did the work, and I
think people got a sense of belonging and working together
work for us, and we just beat the socks off
of everybody by taking that approach.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
If I had asked you at fourteen or fifteen years
old what Gordon Bethune would have been doing at forty
or fifty years old, what would you have said at
that time.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I'd probably say, you know, be in prison somewhere. I
don't know. At age fourteen or fifteen, I'd hate to
go through that again. It was tough on my parents,
and I survived it and got very fortunate on the way.
But I would just start the same thing. I'd just
done it earlier, but a way. You know, I don't
(16:42):
think I knew enough to make a bad decision. Michael.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
It's interesting because for me, I would have wanted to
be either president or a sports star or a rock star.
I suspect that's many people.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, you know, that shows that you're smart. I am
because I didn't know, you know, but there is a
saying that says, if you don't know where you're going,
any road will get you there. And so I was
kind of like taking off in the direction I wasn't
really sure about, and it worked out for me. I'm
very fortunate there.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Did you ever look back at any point during your
career and say, if I didn't do what I'm doing now,
I'm kind of interested in that computer thing, or I'm
kind of interested in the automobile thing, or housing or
something else.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I think the challenges for me were to create a
team of a company. We I think in nineteen ninety four,
the first full year they were out of bankruptcy, and
a year I joined Continental, they lost six hundred and
(17:50):
forty million dollars. The next year, using the same airplanes,
the same employees, planning in the same cities, we made
two hundred and twenty five million. That's after we paid
profit sharing. So it's nothing wrong with the people, nothing
because we have used the same people. What they did
is you have to have a good pilot. You have
(18:14):
to be a good employer to get people to want
to do a good job, and if they want to
do it, you can't beat them. And so that was
the whole formula, nothing more, nothing more complicated than that.
That's right, say it again.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
That's why I had to solve many guitar probably had
a tune.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Now you might have to edit that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
This is Mark Chestnut. Enjoy Bizaar of Talk Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
With a Study.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Jordan Bethune is our guest. You tell the story in
the book. If I recall correctly, that some of the
routes that the airline was flying were loser routes. There
was a negative. They were costing the airline a lot
of money, and they were related to where some of
the executives wanted to go or where they felt like
they needed to be. I think one of them was
(19:22):
Raleigh Durham, and you went in and you just it
was Raley Durham to Kentucky if I remember correctly. But anyway,
you went in and you just started slicing those it
would seem like that would be obvious. If you lost
six hundred million dollars, then everybody would do that.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Well, you know, but Michael, it isn't all about just
cutting costs. Although in the book I pointed out we
lost about fifteen percent of our flying was cash negative.
So it's not even a P and L. It's cash,
which means that you could set the parking brake and
evacuate the airplane and save money, don't fly it. And
(19:56):
so what we did was create a market plan and
I said, well, why don't we fly the places people
want to go? I said, there's a really good thought.
And so that is essentially what we did to the
route system is trim those those routes. They didn't have
adequate customers or market presidents to make a profit, and
we quit losing money.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
How much of the person you became discipline structure do
you attribute to the US Navy.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, a lot, probably on ninety nine percent. That's really
where I grew up, and I learned so much there.
It's a great place for a young man or young
person today to join and get some bearings at least
pick a road in a path that will get you there.
It exposes you to teamwork, It exposes you to structure
(20:45):
and discipline, and it's really good for any young person
today to have that kind of experience as they go
into the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Tell me about the influence of your mother, Pearl Ellie
Bethune on your life and the person you came.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I'm sorry, my dog's here. My mom would use I
would say it gave me too much stake and rudder.
So it means that she's a very strong woman. I
loved her, but she always wanted you to do it
her way, and I guess that's what I rebelled against.
And later on, you know, really come to appreciate how
(21:25):
loyal and helpful she was. But I learned a lot
from my parents and my grandparents, and I learned a
lot of the Navy, and so, you know, and I
learned a lot, certainly hit boring and working in the airlines,
about people, and so I've been blessed with that help
along the way.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
What about your father, Jack with them.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, there's a really a great guy. Died much too young,
age fifty, but he was he was a great pilot,
I mean, one of I saw him do things I
didn't think anyone could do. But he also helped me
once I joined the Navy, state focused and that helped
a lot as well. So I owe a lot of
(22:07):
my parents, as probably most of us do. I'm not
sure you always realize it in enough time to tell them,
but I was blessed for that too.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I used to play tennis every morning at six o'clock
at the Metropolitan Racket Club downtown when I was a
baby lawyer and then eventually when I was running for
city council and serving on city Council and my mentor,
a fellow named Walter Zivley, would join me. He was
a partner at a major law firm, and the other
person at our table was George Mason. You're a good
friend who was I guess head of maintenance. And I
(22:36):
always found it fascinating that the chairman and CEO's very
close friend at the company was a person who wasn't
in the c suite. And I guess it's not really
a question. I know that was a very special friendship
for you, but that was probably where I first grew
to admire the person you were on a real level
as opposed to a Fortune list or a Forbes list.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Well, you know, George Mason's who were talking about. And
I met him when I went to Piedmont as senior
VP of operations from Western and moved out and knew
George forever, and that's why we hired George help us
get the airline back on track with maintenance problems. And
he was a wonderful man. George is just as human person,
(23:23):
never wore his rank on his sleeve. You wouldn't know
he's in charge. But he was, and he was just
a great executive for us and did a wonderful job.
George's a lifetime prime.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
He would regale us with Gordon Bethune stories. I had
not met you at that point, and he would regale
us every morning with stories. And I would pester him
with questions. And I had read the book. This was
about two thousand and two thousand and one, and the
book had come out in ninety nine. And he was
trying to retire and you told him, you can retire
when you want, but you're going to be miserable. And
he tells the story, told the story at the time
(24:00):
that you said. You said, George, you're too young to retire.
What are you going to do when you retire? And
he said, I'm gonna play golf and you said how
much golf can you play? Well? Fast forward and I
think he was gone maybe a year, and he called
you back and said, my shoulder hurts, and I've played
enough golf and you said, your job awaits.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
George is like that. And you know, I think a
lot of us. I think you ought to, you know,
measure twice, cut once, and so before you retire Whatt.
You should really really give it some serious thought about
pick it over again before you do it, because there's
almost no going back. And we were lucky to keep George.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
One of the Gordon Bethune stories that I pepper my
speeches and my day to day life with comes from
the book. And you had gone into an airplane hangar
and you were worried about expenses on aviation maintenance, and
that was your background. And you walked in and there
(25:00):
were all these there was this huge maintenance budget for
this particular hangar, and you said to the guys, boy,
this this floor is really clean. And the mechanics said, mister,
you could eat off this floor. And you said, that's
too clean. And I've always that line has always stuck
with me, that we're paying too much, we're overdoing. That's
(25:20):
not a good prioritization. I just it's not a question.
I just wanted you to know that's that line has
always stuck with me. It applies in almost everything I do.
Mostly I just get to tell a Gordon Bathoon story
out of the deal, you.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Know, Michael. The funny thing was when I went to Western,
That's what happened. They had cleaners and cleaners were sweeping
up after the mechanics and cleaning, and he said we could.
One of the guys said you could eat off this floor,
and I said, get a paper plate. Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My wife even uses that line. She's heard me say
it so many times it has achieved us a second generation.
I promised you I wouldn't keep you any longer. I
just wanted to close by saying I have the utmost
respect for the person you are, both as a leader
person you've been in the corporate world. I think you're
(26:13):
one of those guys that young people should learn from.
I asked listeners to send me an email saying that
I was going to be talking to you and was
there any question or statement and to a person I got.
I was overwhelmed with emails, but nobody wanted to know
I've got your question or anything like that. They all
simply wanted me to say I work for that man
(26:35):
and thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I have a story for you.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
My brother in law murdered too Native Americans to Michael Berry, Joey,
you have my attention.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
It was men by, said dog Cloudy's with the Preemiegret
gotta get down my hand and listen.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oil can under my A great annual tradition on our
Thanksgiving edition, which is the Friday before the following Thursday,
is to play rush Limbaugh's The Meaning of Thanksgiving in
honor of the Great Irreplaceable rush Limbaugh.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
The True Story of Thanksgiving. The story of the Pilgrims
begins in the early part of the seventeenth century. The
Church of England, under King James the First was persecuting
anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil
and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those
who believe strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned,
(27:51):
and sometimes executed for their beliefs. A group of separatists
first fled to Holland and established a community. Three eleven years,
about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey
to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships,
but could live and worship God according to the dictates
of their own consciences. On August first, sixteen twenty, the
(28:13):
Mayflowers set sail. It carried a total of one hundred
two passengers, including forty Pilgrims, led by William Bradford. On
the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract the
established just and equal laws for all members of the
new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the
(28:35):
revolutionary ideas expressed in an Eyflower Compact come from? They
came from the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely
steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments.
They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example, and
because of the biblical precedent set forth in scripture, they
never doubted that their experiment would work. But it was
(28:57):
no pleasure cruise. The journey to the New World was
a long and arduous one, and when the Pilgrims landed
in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's
detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no
friends to greet them, he wrote, There were no houses
to shelter them, there were no inns where they could
(29:17):
refresh themselves, and the sacrifice that they had made for
freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims,
including Bradford's own wife, died either starvation, sickness, or exposure.
When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to
plant corn fish for cod and skin beavers for coats.
(29:38):
Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper,
and this is important to understand because this is where
modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained
in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims
gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather
than as a devout expression of gratitude rounded in the
(30:00):
tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here's the
part that's been omitted. The original contract the Pilgrims had
entered into with their merchant sponsors in London called for
everything they produced to go into a common store, and
each member of the community was entitled to one common share.
All of the land that they cleared and the houses
they built belonged to the community as well, and they
(30:23):
were going to distribute it equally. All the land they cleared,
the houses they built belonged to the community. Nobody owned anything,
they just had a share in it. It was a commune.
It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in
the sixties and seventies out in California, and it was
a complete with organic vegetables, even just like the communes
(30:45):
of today are God No, there's no question it was
organic vegetables. Bradford, who had become the new governor of
the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as
costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh
winter which had taken so many lives. He decided to
(31:06):
take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to
each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the
power in the marketplace. Long before Karl Marx was even born,
the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only
be described as socialism, and what happened. It didn't work,
but it nearly starved. It never has worked. What Bradford
(31:29):
in his community found was that the most creative and
industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than
anybody else unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation.
But while most of the rest of the world has
been experimenting with socialism for well over one hundred years,
trying to refine it, perfect it, and reinvent it, the
Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford
(31:52):
wrote about this social experiment should be in every school
child's history lesson. If it were, we might prevent such
needless suffering in the future, such as that we are
enduring now. The experience that we had in this common
course and condition, This is Bradford, the experience we had
in this common course and condition, tired or tried someday
(32:15):
years that by taking away property and bringing community into
a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing, as if
they were wiser than God. Bradford wrote for this community,
so far as it was was found to breed much
confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have
been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that
(32:37):
were most able and fit for labor and service, did
repine that they should spend their time and strength to
work for other men's wives and children without being paid
for it. That was thought injustice. Why should you work
for other people when you can't work for yourself? What's
the point, That's what he was saying. The Pilgrims found
that people could not be expected to do their best
work without incentive. So what did Bradford's community try Next,
(33:02):
they unharnished the power of good old free enterprise by
invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family
was assigned its own plot of land to work, and
permitted to market its own crops and products. What was
(33:23):
the result, Bradford wrote, this had very good success, for
it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn
was planted than otherwise would have been. Is it possible
that supply side economics could have existed before the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Read the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis forty one.
Following Joseph's suggestion, Pharaoh reduced the tax on Egyptians to
twenty percent during the seven years of plenty, and the
earth brought forth in heaps well. At no time the
pilgrims found that they had more food than they could
eat themselves. This, yes, this is where it gets really
(34:02):
good if you're laboring under the misconception that I was
as I was taught in school. They set up trading posts,
they exchanged goods with the Indians. The prophets allowed them
to pay off their debts to the merchants in London,
and the success and the prosperity of the Plymouth settlement
(34:23):
attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known
as the Great Puritan Migration. But this story stops when
the Indians taught the newly arrived suffering in socialism Pilgrims
how to plant corn and fish for cod. That's where
the original Thanksgiving story stops. Story basically doesn't even begin there.
(34:45):
The real story of Thanksgiving is William Bradford giving thanks
to God for the guidance and the inspiration to set
up a thriving colony that socialism caused near starvation. The
bounty was aired with the Indians. They did sit down,
(35:05):
they did have free range turkey and organic vegetables. But
it wasn't the Indians who.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Saved the day.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
It was capitalism and scripture which saved the day, as
acknowledged by George Washington in his first Thanksgiving Proclamation in
seventeen eighty nine,
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