Dan

Calabrese

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July 21, 2008

Phil Gramm Is Right, Part 2: Learning to Access Opportunity

Of all the themes that recur in this column, one fills my inbox with angry e-mails like no other. It is the notion that you can and should take control of your own life and your economic destiny. It’s my deeply held conviction that if you learn how to do the right things and make good decisions, you will never need to participate in any “recession.”

People hate this. Every time I say it, I get barraged with indignant feedback from people who tell me I don’t understand how tough it is.

This was never more true than after my column of July 14, 2008, which expressed support for former Sen. Phil Gramm’s comment about the “mental recession” and America as a nation of whiners.

Readers wrote in to tell me that I, too, am out of touch. They explained to me how they are working hard but struggling. Several went to pains to point out that they, like me, are small business owners and by no means are they lazy. This is all well and good, but they missed the point of the column, which was: If you have problems, some politician coming along and showing you how “in touch” he is by empathizing with your misery won’t do a damn thing for you.

Too many of the people who are struggling in America today lack an understanding of how to access opportunity. Despite what Democrats and the Associated Press would have you believe, this land abounds with opportunity. The problem for too many people is that they are unfamiliar with where to find it, how to prepare themselves for it and how to behave once they are presented with it.

I have been self-employed for nine years. My track record is certainly not what you would call an unqualified success. I nearly went bankrupt with my original ill-conceived business concept, and I am using my earnings from my more successful current endeavor to pay off the debts from the first one.

Along the way, even while experiencing a lot of failures, I became familiar with how to access opportunity in America. This is invaluable information, and it is not a closely held secret. Lots of successful people will be happy to share it with anyone who asks.

But far too many people don’t have it, because no one taught them and they’ve never explored the question on their own. And for those people, life will be an economic struggle. No government economic policy will change this.

Schools’ core curricula do not include courses on accessing economic opportunity. Granted, I’m not sure we’d want them to, because I shudder to think of the advice that would be offered by a bunch of teachers’ union members.

Some of this involves knowledge of the working world. For example, how many people – regardless of age – could explain what it costs a business to employ a person, and what kind of value the employee needs to produce to justify that cost? To put it simply, making money requires you to deliver a product or service to someone who needs it, at a cost that provides you with a decent return and provides them sufficient value to justify what they will pay. This applies to employees of companies as well as to independent business people.

Too many people think their salary or wage should be determined by what they need, or by what would afford them “dignity” or some such thing. That has nothing to do with it. What anyone pays you will be determined by the best interests of the person paying. In order to make what you want to make, you have to make it in their interest to pay you.

But even more basically: Can you show up on time every day? Can you take sick days rarely or never? Can you return everyone’s phone calls? Are you well organized, or do you let things “fall through the cracks”? Do you take responsibility when you mess up?

Do you smoke marijuana, use other “recreational” drugs or find it necessary to get a buzz from alcohol to relax? Do you behave in the workplace in a manner that causes consternation for your colleagues or bosses?

Here’s why all this matters: In a slow or even contracting economy, it’s the people who can’t conduct themselves like mature, professional adults who will be the first to have problems. And if you get downsized, knowing how to handle yourself and knowing how the business world works will put you in the best position to land on your feet.

This is usually where people get upset with me for “blaming the victim.” Well. Present unemployment is 5.5 percent. That means 94.5 percent of the workforce is either self-employed or working for someone else. By historical standards, that’s excellent. If you understand business, maintain good personal habits and do what you’re supposed to do in a reliable manner, it is highly unlikely that you will be part of that 5.5 percent for very long, if ever.

It is your responsibility to see to all these things. Not John McCain’s. Not Barack Obama’s. Not George W. Bush’s. Yours. If you don’t, then it is your fault, and I hereby blame you.

There is so much opportunity in this country, it’s ridiculous. But you don’t get a piece of it just for being here. You have to know the right things to do, and do them.

The fact that you can control your own destiny is good news. You should be glad. But if you’d rather get mad at me for saying it, fine by me. I’m sure some candidate for high office will make it all OK for you.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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