Whether ones political viewpoint is fundamentally Republican (conservative here in Canada) or Democratic (read Liberal in Canada) the burning business question North and South is what and whom will be good for jobs and business? Having recently spent the better part of September in Las Vegas at the pre-eminent mining equipment tradeshow Minexpo, several interesting diferences from a marketing perspective dawned on me. Namely, US media tends to silo around a left or right wing world view, ala FOX for the right and MSBNC for the left. Flipping between them as a Canadian I found the dialogue unidimensional and more troubling simplified in the extreme. This is a degree difference from the more layed back Canadian media that atleast on first pass pretends to be balanced in their perspectives. Secondly, the direct split of business interests along party lines with almost all my U.S. business associates cleary in the Romney camp. Given the historical benefits to Canadian business exports under past Republican administrations I must admit my personal leanings towards Romney as well, but the point of interest as an outsider and a marketing professional was the clear difference from visiting Mexican, Canadian, Russian and Korean business people I had a chance to discuss global trade and the impact of the upcoming US elections results on possible growth in the mining sector and trade in general.
The most prevailing opinion amongst non American business people was that regardless of Left or Right leanings the need to reduce debt and stimulate real infrastructural spending was going to determine whether the US and global mineral markets would grow or shrink. Given the recognition of most educated business people that there is a real need to expand the political debates in the US election and globally to really address the fundamental drivers of prosperity, increased production and cost containment. As an outsider looking in I can only hope that US business will come together to focus attention on key issues and limit the highjacking of marketing and media channels for fruitless partisan point scoring in the ever connected world.
The most prevailing opinion amongst non American business people was that regardless of Left or Right leanings the need to reduce debt and stimulate real infrastructural spending was going to determine whether the US and global mineral markets would grow or shrink. Given the recognition of most educated business people that there is a real need to expand the political debates in the US election and globally to really address the fundamental drivers of prosperity, increased production and cost containment. As an outsider looking in I can only hope that US business will come together to focus attention on key issues and limit the highjacking of marketing and media channels for fruitless partisan point scoring in the ever connected world.
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