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The Economy
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Take this Job and (Really) Shove It!
Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Americans have grown addicted to the box we live in. Politicians are the pushers on the corner that give us a little free sample of bondage and make us think we want to live in the little box they've sold us forever. (See This is Your Brain on Government.)
One of those inside the box addictions we have is to jobs. That is because in a dynamic economy the job force is constantly undergoing metamorphosis. As one type of industry or skill or trade dies a natural death (remember blacksmiths, linotype operators, telephone operators?) politicians get to make hay with the loss of jobs and the displacement of the American worker. They can pander, promise more jobs, promise legislation that keeps a dead industry on life support, and serve another term before the next big thing comes along and unemployment disappears as an issue. Soon enough another industry will bite the dust and the politicians can stand on the street corner offering political speed once again, and the voters are never the wiser.
But the point is, that a healthy economy is dynamic and it does continuously kill off its least efficient industries, professions, skills and trades, while giving birth to new industries and the fortunes to be made in them, the jobs created by them, and the boom that comes because of them.
In fact, the more meddling in this process by outside intervention, (e.g. government) the longer it takes this process to work itself out, and the less powerful the new trends are when they emerge.
But, is there really any such thing as a good job?
Is having a job the great American dream, even if it is a really good job? Perhaps for some, but perhaps not for many. How good is the best job if you have no control over what you can earn , how you utilize your best abilities and assets, or even when you take a break or receive a personal phone call or email?
Surveys show that a significant number of Americans who have "good" jobs are not happy in their jobs, feel unappreciated by their employers, and feel very insecure about their ability to keep the job as long as they need a job. Still, the thinking inside the box is that for most people, a job is the best or only way to adequately support oneself and one's family.
For many, having a good job, with good pay, good benefits, job security (real or perceived) is a disincentive to do what they would otherwise be doing: starting their own businesses, developing their own ideas, finding ways to capitalize on their greatest skills, abilities, interests, expertise. And that is why many of our most successful entrepreneurs and capitalists will tell you that if they hadn't lost a good job somewhere along the way, they never would have taken the risk to do what they've done. --jwh--
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| When Life Gives you Lemons... Open your own chain of lemonade stands.
So in spite of the fact that there are many people in power in our society who want to perpetuate the dependence on employment that most Americans feel, the fact of the matter is that our economy thrives when jobs are lost and entrepreneurs are created.
Once one has experienced the vulnerability of losing a job, the financial and psychological devastation it can create temporarily, one often vows never to be in that position again-- of depending on someone else for one's livelihood and one's family's wellbeing. All of a sudden when there is nothing left to lose, the creative juices start flowing and dreams come to life-- dreams that may have been nurtured in one's youth, but with age, seniority, and a relatively good salary, were buried by complacency and a false sense of security.
Once the job is gone, the dreams quickly re-emerge like dead bodies floating to the surface of a lake, but unlike those corpses, the dreams can be resusitated.
Best selling author and financial guru Robert Kiosaki, in his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, says that we are trained from childhood to think in terms of getting a good education and in turn getting a good job. He challenges us all to think outside the box and realize that for many people, the key to maximizing security and a quality of life is to build a business, not getting or keeping a job, no matter how good that job may be.
If it takes an employment crisis to convince us to think outside of the box and discover how we can turn our experience, interests and abilities into a permanent stream of income that we control and enjoy, so be it.
If you are typical, if you do not already own a business, you probably have an idea, a dream, perhaps even a business plan filed away somewhere in the recesses of your subconscious, that could make you wealthy, or at least comfortable and secure, beyond anything you could achieve by working for someone else, helping them build their dream and create their stream of income.
It is true that there are some who have little interest in or ability to start a business or create a company but even these people benefit from jobs created by those who are better off employing than being employed. --jwh-- | | Libertarian policies would make it easier to succeed at starting a business and easier to thrive as an employee in dynamic new businesses.
Hopefully, you'll never hear a Libertarian candidate making promises to tinker with free markets to "save" jobs. Prosperity does not come from saving jobs but creating businesses that in turn create jobs and create spin-off businesses often owned by those who gain special expertise through employment in new companies in a dynamic economy. The best thing government can do to fix the economy is to stay out of it. The best thing government can do to "save" jobs is to allow old economy jobs to die a natural death, and remove regulation, taxation, licensing and any other obstacles to the creation of new companies, businesses, whole new professions and careers, from which jobs are always abundant for those who want them and opportunities to create and build successful companies are always abundant. To adapt the old saying about teaching a person to fish, I would say, you can give a person a fish and feed them for a day. You can teach them to fish and feed them forever or until the lake is fished out or dries up. But if you teach them to find a market for the fish they catch, one the fish are gone, they will know how to sell whatever they can still catch or grow or build, and they will not only be fed for a lifetime, but will live well and feed many. This is not to be insensitive to those who suffer from constant worry about losing their jobs or those who are currently unemployed. It is intended to be a message of hope to those in the job market and those who might be. Liberty is the freedom to control one's own destiny without interference or obstacles. The result of liberty is increased economic dynamism, increased growth of business, increased research and development of new products and industries, and increased financial security and financial freedom for all, at least on a relative scale. --jwh-- | |
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