The economic boom generated by the capitalist powers-that-be yields an ennui as people head toward the vacuous glitz credit booms spawn. In the past people who have had near death experiences talk of "going toward the light." The most recent credit boom generated all these light filled products, and so we now have people experiencing "near life experiences" as they melt away into the facebook account, or whatever, as they head toward the LCD light. No wonder heroin use it up among the young in USA.
I see in Asia young people from all over the world trading. Almost zero Americans. In the 1970s, USA small businesses were legion. I've asked around and yes, USA is a huge buyer, but it is huge companies represented by Asian agents.
The three credit booms, Wall Street in the 80s, dot.com in the 90s and housing in the 00s wiped out at least two generations of entrepreneurs. USA is now overwhelmed with people whose first concern is entitlement. Sure there are some young people who have it, but not the critical mass we once had. As the Austrian School of economics points out, the damage is done during the boom. The damage is felt during the bust.
I have another advantage in teaching around the world. I hear from plenty of young Americans from overseas at the same time I am hearing from young Asians, Africans, South Americans, Eastern Europeans, etc. The Americans that have moved to Asia seem to organize in some way or another around entitlement. The other people around the world tend to organize around "what works?"
Maybe these people from around the world are much more like Americans were in the 1950 and 60s. Back then so many more young Americans were self employed and their work was their lifestyle, where young Americans today count everything in money (which is funny, since they have none, only credit. They actually think their bank balance is money.)
For my part I'll keep teaching what we knew back then. For example, the small order FOB MOQ order strategy. The HKTDC did a survey in 2011 and found 50% of companies who did "bulk purchasing" (FCL) also bought 100 - 1000 piece orders. 55% of suppliers accept orders below 1000 pieces. The call this a trend. Well, if you only discovered it in 2011, you can hardly call it a trend. But it is a fact. It is no trend since it has always been the case. It is now being highlighted because there is a renaissance in small business everywhere else in the world, just not USA.
Why would there be, when 47% of American voters have an EBT card loaded each week and the another 47% make $200,000 a year spying on Americans on how they spend their EBT money. (How come when white people get $200,000 welfare it is called "intel work" and black people get $18,000 it is called "welfare?" What a whimsical country we have!)
There is a solution. Give people the option of zero safety net, zero taxes up to the first one million in profits on a business start-up. You sign away all safety net programs. But you keep your money. (Schools with which I teach commonly ask me to do this, so it is not unheard of.)
Money people would back new small businesses for the tax exemption. Economic activity would increase. Welfare rolls would decrease. And we'd grow our way out of it.
But that won't happen. People love their welfare checks, especially the $200,000 a year ones.
Starting a business is the most revolutionary act an american can make.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
I see in Asia young people from all over the world trading. Almost zero Americans. In the 1970s, USA small businesses were legion. I've asked around and yes, USA is a huge buyer, but it is huge companies represented by Asian agents.
The three credit booms, Wall Street in the 80s, dot.com in the 90s and housing in the 00s wiped out at least two generations of entrepreneurs. USA is now overwhelmed with people whose first concern is entitlement. Sure there are some young people who have it, but not the critical mass we once had. As the Austrian School of economics points out, the damage is done during the boom. The damage is felt during the bust.
I have another advantage in teaching around the world. I hear from plenty of young Americans from overseas at the same time I am hearing from young Asians, Africans, South Americans, Eastern Europeans, etc. The Americans that have moved to Asia seem to organize in some way or another around entitlement. The other people around the world tend to organize around "what works?"
Maybe these people from around the world are much more like Americans were in the 1950 and 60s. Back then so many more young Americans were self employed and their work was their lifestyle, where young Americans today count everything in money (which is funny, since they have none, only credit. They actually think their bank balance is money.)
For my part I'll keep teaching what we knew back then. For example, the small order FOB MOQ order strategy. The HKTDC did a survey in 2011 and found 50% of companies who did "bulk purchasing" (FCL) also bought 100 - 1000 piece orders. 55% of suppliers accept orders below 1000 pieces. The call this a trend. Well, if you only discovered it in 2011, you can hardly call it a trend. But it is a fact. It is no trend since it has always been the case. It is now being highlighted because there is a renaissance in small business everywhere else in the world, just not USA.
Why would there be, when 47% of American voters have an EBT card loaded each week and the another 47% make $200,000 a year spying on Americans on how they spend their EBT money. (How come when white people get $200,000 welfare it is called "intel work" and black people get $18,000 it is called "welfare?" What a whimsical country we have!)
There is a solution. Give people the option of zero safety net, zero taxes up to the first one million in profits on a business start-up. You sign away all safety net programs. But you keep your money. (Schools with which I teach commonly ask me to do this, so it is not unheard of.)
Money people would back new small businesses for the tax exemption. Economic activity would increase. Welfare rolls would decrease. And we'd grow our way out of it.
But that won't happen. People love their welfare checks, especially the $200,000 a year ones.
Starting a business is the most revolutionary act an american can make.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
6 comments:
I don't mean to revel in schadenfreude for my fellow Americans, but the lack of initiative in them becoming entrepreneurs just means more opportunities for Americans like myself who are taking the initiative to start small businesses and prosper (assuming they can still buy our products). I keep reading news articles on how Americans are avoiding entrepreneurship like never before.
Another thing that I've seen is that many people do not look down on collecting unemployment, welfare, disability assistance (when they aren't really disabled), etc.. They view it as a right and think: "Hey, I paid into this system when I had a job, so why shouldn't I feel entitled to get it? - I'm just getting back what I had to pay into. I'm not really one of those lazy slacker types." This attitude shift is another big problem for this country. What ever happened to the Protestant Work Ethic?
Schadenfreude is delightful as far as it goes, but the rest of us are denied the good of what these people would produce if they were not abused with the proffered freebies. And we lose them as customers, for they will know nothing of the finer things of life, such as we produce. They turn to crack and heroin so the intel agencies can have off-budget money to commit crimes worldwide.
AS to the Protestant work ethic, all churches too have taken welfare, so they went the way of their congregations, if they didn't actually lead the way.
When an entrepreneur persistantly pursues their self interest in developing a new innovative product or service in order to prosper and build wealth for themselves, society as a whole benefits as well since the entrepreneur brings into existence desirable goods and services that would not otherwise exist for everyone (from Adam Smith I believe).
Wealth is not just the number of dollars in your bank account or the Lexus SUV in your own driveway, but also the increase in number of better products and services available to you and everyone (I think I heard this from you John - it's a good quote and a more accurate way to think of total wealth that many people don't think of, but should).
It's unfortunate that more young people do not persue entrepreneurship and self-employment. With social conditioning, youth today who want to be known as "high achievers" and who want to "make something of themselves and be somebody" are inculcated that they have to be doctors, lawyers, or some other college-educated professional (usually parasitic, fee-extraction, rent-seeking, or non-productive vocations). I'm not one to belittle doctors or lawyers, society obviously needs them, but it is assumed that there is no other alternative option. Entrepreneurship is viewed as being too risky - but as we know (from Drucker), this is a misconception. The entrepreneurs and creators are the people that move society forward.
America falls behind in entrepreneurship:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100821311
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