First it was the dotcom boom generation which achieved a lowering of cost and widening of access to communication and research. That is a lot, but that is all. No more than that. We overpaid by incalculable factors for that, because government policy so distorted the markets. But another cost that went unnoticed is all of the creative people who went to work for those innumerable dotcoms (which eventually evaporated) never started their own businesses. They did not take instruction from an earlier generation on how to start up. They did not struggle themselves, learn hard lessons, experience personal transformation, and be in a position to teach the next generation. And they never learned a skill that was marketable.
Never mind about the next generation. The real estate and "banking boom" got them. So they too made a lot of money on paper but did not start businesses. They did not take instruction from an earlier generation on how to start up, but there was not an earlier generation anyway. They did not struggle themselves, learn hard lessons, experience personal transformation, and be in a position to teach the next generation. And they never learned a skill that was marketable.
And since people were not starting up new businesses, and the state was growing exponentially, minions in the state began writing rules and regs that apply to start-ups, "grandfathering" in all of the present businesses. Too few objected because there were not enough people starting up businesses. The minions were free to tinker. Now we have 30 plus years of whimsical pointless rules and regs to overcome to start a business.
People complain about illegal immigrants on welfare of some sort. Ha! The problem is USA citizens getting welfare of some sort. 47% are getting left wing welfare and another 47% are getting right wing welfare. These groups have no interest in starting a business. They want their free money and "health care." What illegal immigrants take is a speck in the eye compared to the beam in the eyes of the complainers.
Some of these people on welfare would be great clothing entrepreneurs. There probably has not been better opportunities in USA to start a clothing business in the history of USA. I am watching
alsattire.com grow his business. When he first opened up, I though he was a tailor. Turns out, now that he is expanding, and selling handmade shoes, that he is actually a cobbler. He has too much business to find time to expand any faster. He sells some things he makes off the rack in his store, but he does a lot of business in tailoring.
Tailored clothes are worth the investment. They actually cost less, when you consider durability and usability, than anything you can buy off the rack of any store from Walmart, H&M to Saks. Of course you can "afford" tailored clothes, because whatever you spend for clothes in a decade, that is enough to put together a tight wardrobe of sharp clothes that wear for more than the ten years in which you'd spend money for Gap clothes.
Of course, you need the tailor also to teach you, given your budget, what clothes your should make in what order to build your essential wardrobe. Europeans often dress sharp making combinations out of a few excellent pieces. Learn it.
When I see all those people working for google and amazon and biotechs, walking around Westlake in Seattle, or BelSquare, dressed like children out to play in a sandbox, and worse, with a tag on a lanyard, like an unaccompanied child at an airport, I see people who cannot think for themselves.
Sure, they can write code to process information for companies that would not exist was it not for state support. That is just following recipes from a cookbook. But they cannot dress themselves. Let alone start up a company.
Of course the kiss of death in such a company is failure to conform, and to look good or dress like an adult, or worse, both. That would be a career killer.
There are probably 1000 others like Al in San Francisco who are starting up businesses. It is contemptible that there are not 10,000 others. 9,000 people are denying us the good of their creativity by hanging out, living on EBT or welfare or "disability" or working for google or the state when they should be struggling to build a business. The struggle of course is the personal transformation required to move from employee or welfare to creative, productive player. There is the rub.
Now it is not the hand you are dealt, it is how you play the cards. You cannot judge a man for the decisions he makes, or how he plays the hand. But no one should we require us to buy into others decisions, and play along like we need paid fire fighters or a postal service or EBT is ok or we need a standing military we need food inspectors. If you are so insecure in your choices that you need praise for your choices form others, perhaps there is something missing inherently in the choice.
I recall being at the Canton Fair a few years back an noticing there were no young American there. All of the young were from Eastern Europe, Russia, South America, Africa. And so it is no
surprise to read:
"Russia coming to the fore as the traditional European markets fail us comes as a surprise," Shou says. "With Russia entering the World Trade Organization, that growth will accelerate."
Wei Changjun, president of Shaoxing Mina Textile, voices similar optimism, saying Russia holds great potential for Chinese textile companies. The company registered a branch in Russia this year, and exports to the country totaled $3 million in the first half of the year.
"In the past, most textile products in the Russian markets were from South Korea or Turkey, which they think are of better quality. But most of the Korean and Turkish products themselves come from Shaoxing, so we are connecting with the Russian market directly," Wei says.
Faced with a downturn Chinese textile makers are getting busy doing what free people do.
To encourage companies to innovate and be more creative in developing fabrics, Shaoxing county has set up a special fund that will reward enterprises and individuals. Preferential rent and tax policies are also being offered to attract companies to focus on creativity.
"Product innovation is the key to survival for companies in this industry, and it is our duty to lead them on that path," says He, Shaoxing county's Party chief.
Seventy-nine textile and garment design research and development institutions and designers' studios have already joined Shaoxing's Creative Industry Base of China Textile City, which aims to promote innovation, he says, voicing confidence about the future.
In the meantime, in the USA, we are busy moving from welfare housing to welfare food, and calling this an improvement, when it is just moving fungible money around. And we are moving from war to drones, which is just moving fungible money around.
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