Has The American Dream Hit The Skids? Best-Selling ‘E-Myth’ Author Michael E. Gerber Is Determined To Shock People Out Of Their Stupor

Michael E. Gerber is miffed and he doesn’t care who knows it.

The best-selling author of the “E-Myth” book series says the American Dream has been waylaid – no different than if it had been besieged by robbers in a dark alley – and Gerber is intent on rescuing it.

The way Gerber sees it, the issue is our confusion about the American Dream and what every one of us believe to be true about it. And it’s time to get it back on track, says the fiery 78-year-old small-business guru who vaulted to fame in 1986 with his original “E-Myth” book and has been engaged in realizing a dream of his own over the past 40 years.

“Somehow we’ve forgotten our roots and why there was an American Dream to begin with,” Gerber says. “We’ve lost track of the reason why millions upon millions of people came here to try to make a better future for themselves. We’ve also forgotten that the dream never was a political one, but a personal one for each and every one of us.  It’s the politicizing of it that’s created all the trouble.”

Gerber (www.michaelegerbercompanies.com) has a great deal of experience in how to restore faith in the American dream. He has worked with tens of thousands of small business owners over the past 40 years.

The trick, Gerber says, is giving small business owners and aspiring small business owners a splash of cold water to wake them up to see that the American Dream isn’t dead, nor is their business. Instead, what they are missing is a lack of commitment to their own dream.

To bring his point home, Gerber began a nationwide campaign this year in Riverside, Calif., where the city’s mayor, Rusty Bailey, helped launch Gerber’s first city-sponsored Dreaming Room.

Gerber invented the Dreaming Room, which he describes as an “entrepreneurial incubator,” in 2005, and has been delivering it to individuals worldwide ever since. It’s a program where the unemployed, underemployed, self-employed or small business owners who find themselves stuck in their current unworkable circumstances join together, led by a facilitator.

In an intense, small-group setting they go through a step-by-step process where they create, collaborate and test ideas to develop or improve their current circumstances by inventing a new business.

Once developed, the concept for that new business is then put to work, with Gerber’s team helping the new entrepreneur apply Gerber’s entrepreneurial principles to design, build, launch and grow their new company.

Riverside was just a first step in Gerber’s vision for city-sponsored economic development initiatives in cities and counties throughout the nation and the world. Having launched Riverside, it’s on to Fresno and the 14 counties surrounding that California city of 509,000 people. In May, Gerber plans a Dreaming Room for the 96 mayors of all the cities in those counties “to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship in them.”

“We will be teaching people how to make it on their own in Fresno, San Mateo, and every U.S. city who invites us in, you name it,” Gerber says. “In the process of inspiring and leading them and mentoring them, something remarkable will happen. Each and every individual will understand, many for the very first time, that he or she and no one else is responsible for their circumstances.”

Even as he makes more Dreaming Room plans, the prolific Gerber is still pounding out books, with three he’s working on simultaneously. They are “Beyond the E-Myth,” “The 5 Essential Skills of Extraordinary People” and “Making It on Your Own in America.”

The latter title has become an overriding theme for him of late. For Gerber, economic development is all about the individual and how personal responsibility is the key to making it in America.

“It happens with the individual or it doesn’t happen at all,” he says. “Every single individual is accountable for their own economy – an ‘economy of one’”.

“Our economic problem has been created through the belief that big government can solve our problems. We then created a monster of a government that presumes to think for us. That’s why our economy is in tatters. It’s why the number of people on food stamps has grown exponentially. It’s why the number of people who are impoverished has grown, and the number of unemployed has grown exponentially. It’s also why our federal debts and deficits have grown beyond the pale.”

“The way forward is to go back”, Gerber says. “Back to those inspirational days when the nation took its first awkward steps, the Constitution was written and the Bill of Rights was tacked on like a brilliant afterthought”.

“If it becomes a political discussion, it misses the point,” Gerber says. “It was never political back then, it was existential. It was an existential reality to liberate each of us to follow our own path.”

The end of the “high protein” is in sight, but what will consumers want next?

New research by Datamonitor Consumer predicts the decline of the high protein trend will start within the next five years, with consumers turning away from fad diets and going back to basics by enjoying all of the food groups in moderation.

The trend for high protein has been riding high for the last few years, with food and drink innovation being dominated by “protein” variants, from breakfast cereal to salty snacks, and even bread. Datamonitor Consumer predicts an inevitable backlash within the next five years, as consumers become more aware of dangers of the diet for our health, especially as the majority already consume more than enough protein.

Focus on Fiber

Lack of fiber attributed to diets high in protein and low in carbohydrate can lead to digestive health problems, ranging from mild constipation through to colorectal cancer. These effects on digestive health are already starting to filter through among the biggest consumers of protein: young adults. According to Datamonitor Consumer’s recent global survey, younger consumers (aged 18-34) are most likely to be trying to consume "as much protein as possible,” and in turn are also the most likely to be currently concerned about constipation.

Melanie Felgate, senior analyst for Datamonitor Consumer, comments: “concerned young adults will be actively seeking out solutions to the problem, in the form of food and drink that is high in fiber, while aligning with their protein intake goals. The trend is already starting to gain momentum, with an increasing proportion of new food launches in recent years tagged as both high in protein and high in fiber.”

While consumers won’t immediately abandon their high protein diets, as digestive health problems become more apparent, Datamonitor Consumer anticipates that they will increasingly seek out protein sources which are also high in fiber.

Felgate continues: “Protein claims will continue to attract consumers in the immediate future, but we will soon start to see a shift towards innovation which combines the benefits of protein with fiber like Danone Activia’s Fiber Topper, a yogurt with a high fiber wheat bran cereal topper. Sources of protein will also change, as consumers switch to beans and pulses which naturally offer the benefits of fiber and protein in one.”

The end of the “diet cycle”

In the slightly longer-term future there will be a shift away from diets that single out specific food groups, whether “high protein” or “low fat” or “low carb.” Instead consumers will take a more “back to basics” approach to eating, seeking out natural, unprocessed whole foods which encompass a balance from all the major food groups.

According to Felgate: “in five years’ time, we will see many consumers move away from traditional fad diets. With conflicting information around the health benefits, or drawbacks, of fat, protein, and carbs (and sugar), consumers will go back to eating all food groups in moderation, but with more emphasis on eating foods as close to nature as possible, with minimal processing.”

Brands must adapt to stay relevant

Food and drink brands must prepare for the inevitable high protein backlash, so they are ready to respond to the next big dietary trend and stay relevant.

Felgate suggests: “The onset of a more balanced and natural approach to eating means that packaged food and drink brands must reassess how they position and market their products. Terms like ‘raw’ and ‘natural’ will become much more appealing than ‘low fat’ or ‘high protein’.”

Further insights are available in Datamonitor Consumer’s recent publication “The Inevitable "High Protein" Backlash: When and What Next?”

House Agriculture Committee Holds Hearing on the Role of the Charitable Sector in Feeding the Hungry

Today the House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing on the vital role that the charitable sector plays in feeding vulnerable Americans. Men and women who work for and have received assistance from these organizations gave committee members a first-hand account of what is working and what is not working on the ground in their communities. They specifically addressed the partnership between government nutrition programs and charitable organizations that are dedicated to providing nutrition assistance and helping individuals rise out of poverty. This hearing is part of the committee’s ongoing review of the Past, Present, and Future of SNAP, currently known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and formerly referred to as food stamps.

“Addressing the nutritional needs of Americans is not solely the responsibility of the government through SNAP,” Chairman K. Michael Conaway said. “Recipients benefit from a strong partnership between the government and the charitable sector. Churches, food banks, and other local organizations are deeply rooted in their communities and often have more flexibility to meet the specific needs of individuals and families they serve. If we understand the complementary relationship between SNAP and these other organizations, it will help us all achieve the goal of improving the lives of those in need to move up the economic ladder.”  

Written testimony provided by the witnesses from today’s hearing is linked below. Click here for more information, including Chairman Conaway's opening statement and the archived webcast.

​Witness List:​




Ms. Kate Maehr, CEO, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago, IL

Ms. Keleigh Green-Patton, South Holland, IL
Mr. Dustin Kunz, Salesforce Administrator & Research Project Manager, Texas Hunger Initiative, Waco, TX

Ms. Lynda Taylor Ender, AGE Director, The Senior Source, Dallas, TX

Mr. Jonathan Webb, Director of Foundations and Community Outreach, Feed the Children, Edmond, OK

New Report: Rise in For-Profit Detention Corresponds with Millions in Lobbying by Private Prisons

AUSTIN, TEXAS — A new report released today by Grassroots Leadership, a national social justice organization that works to end for-profit incarceration, examines the increasing seizure of the immigrant detention industry by for-profit prison corporations and their extensive lobbying of Congress to protect their bottom line. Since the creation of the immigrant detention bed quota in 2009, the immigrant detention industry has become 13% more privatized. Today, 62% of ICE immigrant detention beds are in facilities operated by private prison corporations and 9 of the 10 largest ICE immigrant detention facilities are operated by for-profit prison corporations.

Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota, written by Bethany Carson and Eleana Diaz, focuses on the lobbying of the two largest private prison corporations, CCA and GEO Group, which together made nearly $478 million in revenue from ICE immigrant detention in 2014.

See the full report: http://bit.ly/forprofitdetentionreport

Corporations like the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America have reinvested their profits in Congress to the tune of more than $11 million of lobbying in quarters when they lobbied on immigration issues. Much of this lobbying was on the DHS Appropriations Subcommittee, the birthplace and point of control of the quota. The report also features the stories of four people formerly detained in private immigrant detention centers.

“The immigrant detention quota is taxpayer-financed insurance for private prison corporations that the government will maintain their bottom line at all costs. Now, we are seeing those same corporations invest millions in the Congressional committee that created that insurance policy for them,” explained Bethany Carson of Grassroots Leadership. “Congress’ vast immigrant detention system is tearing apart families and communities, and creating an enormous profit from human misery.”

Statement from Rep. Adam Smith, WA-09, on the report:

“Because of the immigrant detention bed quota, too many people are locked up for no good reason. Individuals should be detained only in cases where the government has proved that no other method is feasible. In order to ensure this, Congress must repeal mandatory detention laws and defund appropriations quotas that require 34,000 daily beds and instead invest money into community-based alternatives.”

 The report also interviews former detainees Marichuy Leal and Muhammad Nazry (Naz) Mustakim.

“Trans women and the LGBT community aren’t safe in detention centers. I wasn’t safe,” said Marichy Leal, who spoke about her recent experience in Eloy Detention Center.

Naz, who emphasized how immigrant detention harms families and his experience being separated from his new wife by immigrant detention, said “Through my detention, our eyes were opened to the injustice of the immigration and detention system and now we are advocates for those who are detained."

Rev. Kelly Allen also spoke about the implications of immigrant detention for people of faith. “Everywhere you turn in scripture, we are commanded to seek justice for the vulnerable, speaking out against greed and the idolatry of wealth,” she said. “The primary narrative of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Christian Old Testament) is the story of God leading people out of a country that perpetrated violence against them and into a land where they could be safe.”