A New Freedom
I’ve witnessed many significant changes in the years since my birth but one truly increased our freedom, even as few recognized it. In the generations prior to the Baby Boom, workers—mostly men—toiled in the same job/industry/company their entire lives. A few might advance to more senior positions but mostly with the same industry and generally at the same company. Those who “job-hopped” found employers had concerns about their loyalty.
The world shifted as I moved into my adult work life. As the concept of downsizing and layoffs took root, loyalty flew south. Changing jobs became a normal, if not expected, part of your career AND, more important, you could also change careers. The freedom to evolve your interests and try new things was daunting for some, but liberating for many.
Instead of telling college students the importance of picking a lifelong career which they must prepare for over four years, you learned that you were merely prepping for your first job/career, with the option to reinvent yourself as your interests or needs changed. This also meant that as senior citizens, “retirees” could continue to work, if they wanted to, opting to address their passions rather than simply seeking financial gain.
The Present Day
Recently, a change has occurred whereby the work ethic we had learned from our parents and other influential parties no longer seems to matter to the young. Instead, people aspire to a life free of work, or at least, free of work they aren’t interested in and that could pay their bills. They believe the government should provide them with a basic income. The problem is that the government doesn’t have any money except that which they take from those who work hard. Thus, those who demand free stuff are basically saying their “freedom” depends on enslaving everyone else. (I’m exempting children and those who are truly too handicapped to work, which is actually a pretty small number). In olden times, we had such a model—serfdom.
The argument seems to be that if you have to work to survive, you aren’t free. But if you believe that you shouldn’t have to support yourself, then you are free—free to starve, free to live on the street and free from the “annoyance” of paid labor. No one owes you a living, college, food, smartphones or anything else, not even your parents, once you’ve become an adult. And in reality, there is no free lunch for any of us. Every person’s work is deserving of compensation and as such, you can’t get something for free without stealing from them.
A Reality Check
No, a reality check isn’t a check you can cash. Given that most of us can’t produce everything we want/need in life, there are only two options:
1. Earn dollars to pay for these things
2. Steal money from others
Getting the government to extract money from workers is stealing. Your “freedom” cannot come via slavery. Our world works on free, consensual exchanges; my money for your labor or vice versa.
Many condemn successful companies and entrepreneurs for pursuing profit, but the only way they profit is by providing goods and services you want. Things that were initially too expensive (i.e., cell phones), come down to affordable levels as more people buy them. Yes, Apple makes a ton of money, but because of their innovators, all of us carry an amazing tiny computer in our pockets. What’s it worth to you?
Progressive Democrats are all about promising you things, but again, they aren’t writing checks to pay for them from their own accounts. They make other people pay. As minimum wages rise, all costs go up because a business cannot survive losing money. So those incremental wage increases don’t amount to a real gain for those earning them, as everything begins to cost more. Too much unemployment makes people decide to stay home longer. Keep in mind: Democrats want to turn you into minimally productive dependents of the government. This is how socialism/communism works. But if you read history, you’ll see that the temporary freedom you get while they transform America will quickly turn ugly.
Once they achieve their goals, everyone will be working, but not at jobs of their choice. Central planning means they will assign you a job, whether you want it or not. They will pay you as little as they can get away with. What happens to all the innovation? When people can’t invent something that people want and make money, they stop innovating. Life will become gray and lifeless.
The Value of Work
Work produces goods and services we all need. Farmers produce our food, electrical companies keep us powered up, tech companies provide entertainment and the health industry keeps us alive. These things happen because we have voluntary cooperation between people; we trade value for value and society benefits.
But we benefit personally. Growth happens through being challenged and when you accomplish something, you get the reward of self-satisfaction and an increase in knowledge. Sitting on the couch cashing checks is the human equivalent of leaving an animal in a cage and shoving food through its bars. It’s demoralizing, the animal ceases to thrive and grow and regresses to an eating/sleeping automaton. Is that what you want? Stop asking for free stuff and take on the fascinating and exciting challenge of work.
And what you've outlined is so obvious and clear why the push back? Tangentially I blame the educational institutions for failing to teach the most basic economic concepts. I think our government leaders understand it but their blind loyalty to their party and misplaced ideology prevents them from enacting sensible rather than emotional legislation.