I was visiting a blog this morning that I check regularly these days, and read this post: http://imataxpayertoo.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/sound-advice/
I commented about it, asking what has happened to personal initiative? Hard work? Determination?
By that, what I was getting at is that we have become a nation, maybe even a globe, that gives to those who won't do for themselves. I'm not referring to those who need help because THEY ARE UNABLE to do for themselves, but those who WON'T do for themselves. Most of us have to work hard to achieve things like earning a living, getting an education, getting ahead in the world. Very few of us succeed without a great deal of effort.
What I am seeing, and have seen for some time, is that a large segment of our population INSIST that those who have worked hard to succeed need to pay those who haven't worked hard, and to me that is fundamentally wrong! It's like rewarding a child for bad behavior. Oh, I forgot... we are no longer allowed to do that either!
And then there was this statment:
"You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn."
This is such a simple concept, and yet we are looking at a globe where the masses are panicking because our banking industry and our auto industry are collapsing due to massive overspending, and in the case of the auto industry, the unions are adamantly refusing to accept wage reductions in order to help in preventing the demise of the very industry that hires their members. True, just reducing wages of the workers isn't going to save the industry. The powers that be, the auto execs, will need to work very hard to restructure the industry if it is to survive. This is a case where the patient is seriously ill, and we don't need Dr. House to diagnose the ailment! Greed, incompetence, no clear plan for competing with companies based in other countries where the unions don't have a stranglehold on them...
I feel badly for the employees of these behemoths... they are just trying to make a living, feed their families, just like most of us. To have not only the company you work for, but the entire industry jeopardized in this way is a travesty. The dilemma here is whether a 'bailout' from Congress or the White House will serve to cure what ails the industry. Will it change their way of thinking? Will it help them to prevent the same thing from happening again? Or will it just postpone disaster? I have my opinion about the matter.... what's yours?
2 comments:
Hi Judy, I find that Leadership is usually what everything rises or falls upon. You said the employees are not at fault, they are just trying to make a living...so it must the guys on top who messed up, just like the guys in Washington. But, I don't think it will permanently hurt our young people to go through a time of hardship....perhaps they will learn some of the things you mentioned. Just maybe.
Absoloutely, Kathy. The only way we can truly learn is to experience. Our parents never forgot that lesson... their main 'shortcoming' if you will was their desire to protect us from the hardships they endured, thereby preventing us from experience that would have helped our growth. Along came the next generations, who learned that asking for something usually got them things, so doing without became a thing of the past. Now they have to learn a painful lesson, but one that has great value in the long run: Having things doesn't make us happy, accomplishing things does, and doing without isn't the end of the world!
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