Posted on 07/07/2018 3:05:23 PM PDT by RightGeek
I went for a haircut today. Money is no object when it comes to my appearance – only the absolute finest will do. So I went to Sport Clips in the strip mall next to Target, with a $3 coupon in hand. Like many other fashion-conscious men, I frequent this establishment and don’t think I’ve ever had my hair cut by the same person twice. Like many other seemingly mundane things, this interests me. Well, most of the things that interest me actually are mundane, I suppose. But I’m fascinated by these young ladies. Who are they? Where do they come from? Where do they go? So I’ve applied for a federal grant to study attractive, rural, 30-year-old women who cut hair at gimmicky chain barber shops.
Well, actually, no – I just talk to them. And I learn a lot.
Kaitlyn (not her real name) just moved here from Georgia. Her husband is an auto mechanic. “He can fix anything with four wheels! Well, except my car – it runs like crap!” She went on at some length about how good he was at fixing things. His plan was to start his own shop once they moved here. They moved into a double-wide trailer that had a nice pole barn out back, which he planned to outfit with electric and a high-end air compressor, maybe even a grease pit, and start his own business.
He spent almost a year working on permits, licenses, inspections, and so on. He spoke to people from the county, city, state, feds, and the EPA. He talked to attorneys, accountants, and consultants to help wade through all the red tape. After about a year, he realized that the start-up costs were more than he was willing to gamble on the eventual success of a business that did not yet exist, so he got a job with the city, maintaining their trucks and mowing equipment. It doesn’t pay very well, but it has good benefits. It’s not a bad job, she says. Nothing to complain about. Everything is ok.
Kaitlyn did a great job on my hair, was very pleasant and personable, and is clearly very intelligent. She said that a few miles from their house, a barber recently retired. She considered buying his shop. She’s always dreamed of owning her own business. She said that’s the whole reason she went to cosmetology school. I said that sounded great – the shop is already set up, it has a large group of established customers, and she could expand from there.
She said that she spent several months looking into it, but she would need permits, licenses, inspections, and so on. I pointed out that it has been a barber’s shop for years, so the inspections, permits, and so on would already be done. She said that it would be a new business, and she would have to pay for all that to be done over again. She spoke with attorneys, accountants, and consultants to help wade through all the red tape – some of the same individuals that her husband had just consulted. She soon realized that the start-up costs were more than she was willing to gamble, so she got a job with a chain. The pay is not very good, and the benefits are lousy. One reason her husband took a government job was for the health insurance for their family. But she doesn’t mind working for Sport Clips – it’s a decent job, she says. Nothing to complain about. Everything is ok.
So how does this story end?
Well, in my view, it’s already ended. This young couple from a modest background has all the potential in the world. They’re both ambitious, intelligent, and very good at a valuable skill. They’re devoted to their family, their dreams, and each other. They dream of better things and are willing to gamble, willing to work hard today for a better tomorrow, and willing to take on the additional responsibilities that come with owning a business. They’re savvy enough with modern government to hire attorneys and consultants to help with the red tape.
And even they can’t open a new business, to do something they already know how to do.
And 30 years from now, nothing will have happened.
My Uncle Fred (Frederic Bastiat) described this as the seen versus the unseen. Progressives win elections because the benefits they provide are immediate and obvious. They give people free money with taxpayer dollars, or build highways with taxpayer dollars, or start new general assistance programs with taxpayer dollars. They’re working for you, and anyone with eyes can see it. The benefits provided by progressives are seen.
But the damage they cause is mostly unseen. In 30 years, Kaitlyn and her husband could have retired to a very nice community on the Gulf Coast and played golf for the rest of their lives. But they won’t. She’ll still be cutting hair for $12 an hour plus tips, and he’ll still be fixing lawn mowers for the city. Just like they are now.
They didn’t lose a fortune, because they never had the opportunity to earn one. Nothing happened. There they sit. And there they’ll stay.
Progressives may think they’re utopians who dream of a better tomorrow. But, in reality, they are the robotic defenders of the status quo. Everything stays the same because nothing happens. And when things don’t happen, those things don’t make the evening news. They didn’t happen at all, so there’s nothing to complain about. Everything is basically ok. And that’s the way it will stay.
Until it doesn’t.
Change is scary. You never know what might happen. It might be good. It might be bad. You roll the dice like this young couple tried to do. Twice.
Or you don’t. Like progressives do, every day.
I wonder if Kaitlyn views progressives as nice people who are trying to help her. Or if she views them as well-meaning fools, as I do when I’m trying to be charitable.
But in bed late at night, I wonder if she ever hates them for destroying her life and the lives of her children.
Probably not. Because nothing really happened. And nothing ever will.
There’s nothing to complain about.
Everything is ok.
I left her a $10 tip for a $15 haircut, and I walked out. I looked good – it really was a sharp haircut. But I felt like I wanted to puke.
Everything is not ok.
Spot On! Thanks for posting this.
Land of the free? Ppffttt...
One thing Tip O’Neil was right about, “All politics are local”...
Stalker!
DINKS are in a sweet spot.
One can take the safety net job to be able to let the other one swing for the fences.
It’s pretty easy to get 4 in before noon.
Then you can coast the rest of the day......
Yup. Back in my long ago drug days, many before noon.
L8r
Bought a Flo-Bee in 1989. Haven’t seen the inside of a barber shop since. I figured up once that $8.00/cut x once a month, that I was saving $96/year. Over 28 years that has added up.
Be sure to take your Hair Cut Records with you.
re: Big Bang
See that all the time. The wife works a low level job at the hospital for the insurance and benefits, while the guy works on his business. Works out good for a lot of couples.
The are both Democrats and Republicans in the political/regulator class, and they love to regulate against potential competition. They also like social and legal policies that break families to prevent them from rising as business competition.
During the 1970s, a boss of mine said that competition is healthy for businesses and good for competition. Businessmen like him are gone and have been replaced with what we see today.
Meanwhile Jose just fixes cars on the front lawn of his rent house while his wife Rosita cuts hair in the kitchen. And they don’t ask anybody about no stinking permits, licenses or inspections they deal strickly in cash and don’t collect any sales taxes for the city,county or state. They undercut the gringo’s prices and get their business. Because they are illegal the city, county, state and federals leave them alone as they are from a protected species.
Damn! Makes me want to puke, too. I was a self-employed barber for 35 years, retired in 2005. When I started out, I had to spend a required # of hours in state approved schooling, pass the state board exam (for which there was a fat fee), pay for my professional license every year, and buy some professional liability insurance. Over the years, more and more regulations cropped up, more yearly fees were extorted for the privilege of staying in business. Insurance coverage had to increase, as well as the cost of that insurance. WA State levied a business & occupations tax on our GROSS income (sorry suckers, no deductions for overhead expenses here), started requiring a license for the shop (in addition to professional licenses), and the list just goes on and on. It became crippling and spirit crushing to know that I was working so hard and not taking home any more money than I could get as a single mom with 2 kids collecting welfare. No, things are NOT OK for the average Jane and Joe out there.
You would be surprised at the number of Conservatives on the Cape. The population is older due to it being a magnet for retirees.
Same with law school.
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I have to disagree with you on that. A law degree doesn’t grant anyone permission to open business as a lawyer in any State.
They must pass State Bar Exams to prove they understand the State laws of each State where they want to operate their business. (Hillary, failed the D.C. bar exam as I recall)
... (IECC) dictates construction ‘standards’ for all new construction throughout the continental US and also applies to remodels of existing buildings.
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Never heard of it, but it sounds like just another of the ridiculous United Nations “dictates” that they push on everyone.
WHY is the US still following such stupid crap coming out of the UN?
Back when I was working, I went to a small shop in a strip mall that was owned by a female and only had female barbers. Went there about 12 years (cost $10, but I gave a good tip and they often offered a beer, so I would occasionally take them a 12 pack).
I was at an airport bar around 2000 waiting for a flight to Vegas one day and felt a tap from behind on my shoulder. It was the shop owner who had cut my hair for years. She said she would recognize the back of my head anywhere! They were going to Vegas on the same flight. She retired and closed the shop a year or two later.
I never found another suitable shop, so bought clippers and eventually a Wahl to cut my own beard and hair.
I recently nixed a remodel on my business because of all that nonsense being imposed by the city. Almost worse than the tree/parking spot ratio crap.
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