Not to get into it with you, but something that totally opened my eyes was working for a man who owned his own business.
Something many American workers never understand is that getting a job does not require a help wanted sign. What made America what it is is entrepreneurs who found a need and filled it. They didn't polish up resumes hoping some big company would hire them. They CREATED their own job.
There is nothing wrong with being a salary worker under a "secure job". You are providing a service for your employer and are compensated for it. However, the trick is not falling into the belief that an employer is required for work. Simply a need in the market is required.
All the positive mental attitude, bootstrap rugged individualism stuff is no substitute for just plain being on the wrong side of history. It is no match for monied power. And for as long as powerful transnational economic elites are committed to reducing the American standard of living to make rich people richer we are all on the wrong side of history, playing a fixed game.
The only answer to monied power is for people to fight back instead of deluding themselves that they can somehow avoid the consequences of living in a country with net downwards social mobility.
And this is not in the least about "government regulation". It is about labor costs, pure and simple. A third world who makes a tenth of what the American worker does doesn't have to be as good as the American worker. Just good enough.
Looking at the volume and intensity of these posts, this is obviously an issue that could blow the Republican coalition to smithereens. If the Right doesn't seize it, one of these days the Left will use it to rebuild the New Deal coalition. Characters like Pukindog and Lurker certainly are well cast for the part of 1935 Liberty Leaguers railing from their mansions and penthouses about "that man in Washington".
Not to get into it with you, but something that totally opened my eyes was working for a man who owned his own business. And what totally opened my eyes was owning my own business, and seeing it (along with much of my life) go down the tubes.
Something many American workers never understand is that getting a job does not require a help wanted sign. What made America what it is is entrepreneurs who found a need and filled it. They didn't polish up resumes hoping some big company would hire them. They CREATED their own job.
So did I. Trouble is, I went broke at it. That's why I'm not doing it now.
Fact is, most new small businesses fail. I thought I was dedicated enough and hard-working enough and talented enough to beat the odds. But they were stacked pretty high, and I didn't beat them. They beat me.
That's not to say I'll never go into business for myself again. I almost certainly will. But first, I have to find a way to survive today.
Simply a need in the market is required.
A lot more than a need in the market is required. Connections are required (which I did not have). Skill in business management is required. Skills in sales and marketing are required. Legal knowledge is required. Capital is required (again, which I did not have). ALL the necessary skills for doing what the CUSTOMERS want are required.
Again, I've no doubt I'll do it again, and hopefully this time I'll succeed. But first, I have to fully recover from business failure (as well as stretches of unemployment and underemployment). Financially, emotionally, my family... Right now, even $10 an hour in the hand, as little as it is, is better than theoretical riches in the bush.