Any solution to our economic problems that is not based on new business formation will fail. Borrowing more money to pour into failed initiatives only mkes things worse. To gain some improvement there will have to be cut backs on regulations and taxes to open opportunities, and there will have to be people willing to take advantage of the opportunities.
I’ve addressed “why people do not start companies” previously. One problem is the reflexive conditioning which causes people to predicate a decision as to go/no go for biz startup on "health care coverage." This is so strange, since a mere 50 years ago if you had an income, you could buy health care like groceries or rent or anything else, or buy insurance yourself. No one sat around worrying about “health care.” Although there is a crisis in funding the unsustainable “health care” regime now, there is no crisis in obtaining health care. How people have been duped into thinking they must arrange their lives to accomodate a problem that does not exist is an astonishing thing to behold. I suppose it is a matter of deprogramming people to move them off their inordinate fear of “health care” shortage.
But let’s move on to another item, whether those who would form new business are able to to so, for want of another predicate: cultural capital. I see rather widespread a simple lack of expertise handed down. Like farmers whose kids never worked the farm (let Mexicans do it) and fled for college as soon as possible, the children of past entrepreneurs could no more start a biz with what they know, than farmers’ kids could make a farm work. The serially bad ponzi booms of financial services, dotcom and real estate bubbles crowded out the good of cultural capital inheritance.
This hand-me-down expertise is something Thomas Sowell calls "cultural capital." I think why I see so many immigrants start biz is 1. they have the cultural capital. 2. they will not follow "the rules."
Part two has to do with a. not knowing "the rules" and b. making a calculated risk that violating the rules is worth it. By the rules I mean compliance with regulations and taxes, the social contract that is widely assumed and acknowledged and accepted, in spite of the fact that the said contract was imposed through election fraud. Not only do I think this noncompliance is widespread among some groups, I think there is tacit approval for it by the powers that be.
Welfare is not enough to live on, so everyone on welfare is cheating the system somehow to survive. This statement is not remarkable. People cheating on taxes and regs are not on welfare, which saves the state money. Allowing this on the margin (with some immigrants) saves money, creates new jobs, and reduces welfare cheating. For those contemplating such an act of independence, with nothing to lose anyway, and a choice between cheating while indolent (welfare) and cheating while producing (start up biz), the choice is of course cheat while contributing.
The solution of course is to somehow carve out opportunity that does not require "cheating." (Since the rules are unjust and grounded in fraud, they are not moral obligations, but this does not mean you cannot be sent to jail. Never mind the regime is illegitimate, crossing the regime will land you in jail, since the judges are regime judges.) This could be "no rules and regs on your first million in sales," or some sort of new Hong Kong located in USA.
New business generation is the solution to our problem. We need freedom, and to rebuild our cultural capital.
1 comments:
So very true. The middle class in North America has forgotten how to make money and consequently has become dependent on corporations and government for their paychecks. When those paychecks don't meet their expenses, they go to the bank and borrow. They're just too proud to sell things so they sell their time and work for others.
In Canada some remark on how Chinese Canadian families seem to have all the money. And they wonder why, as though there is some ancient Chinese secret that unlocks the heavenly gates of worldly lucre. Well, it begins first with wanting to make money. Chinese families teach their children not only how to make money but also reinforce the motivation for doing so. As Deng Xiaoping said, "To get rich is glorious!"
Sadly I came from a family that, like most North Americans, was too proud to "sell things." The consequence of such pride is all too often poverty and serfdom. What I've learned about business has come from my Chinese wife, through whom I have been able to access a vast reserve of cultural capital. Thank god for that.
Post a Comment