In America

I am taking a class this semester entitled "Rethinking the Welfare State". One which the professor calls one of a kind, pushing the envelope, revolutionary, and all of those other cliche things professors say when they think they are the kings of academia. I am all for questioning public policy and attempting to develop ways in which to reform it. The one and only exception is when someone tries to tell me that consumerism and capitalism are why poor people are poor, why people spend their welfare checks on crack, and why John Kerry understands the little people better than George W. It isn't the professor who is trying to indoctrine the rest of us with hypocrisy, it is the crazy free loving, weed smoking, let's plant more tree's type of students. Where did they all come from and why are they so interested in reforming the welfare state? Maybe it's because they think the government should send everyone a monthly check...who knows but here is my take on the problem with America and the rest of the world too.

It is my permanent position that in America you have an oppurtunity to make something of yourself if you work hard, posess a little ingenuity, and have a desire to succeed. The way I see it, everyone has this oppurtunity and everyone can take advantage of it as they see fit. If you're idea of working hard is setting up a meth lab in your grandma's basement then cool and if you're idea of making it big is managing your local McDonald's then good for you. Ingenuity, desire, and dedication aren't things you can find on the grocery shelf. I can here you whining already about classist wealth disparities and how they place limitations on the poor. Well guess what, this is America and I don't see any Kings, Queens, Princesses, Knights of Honor, etc. The money that people have accumulated is for the most part derived from a simple equation of degree of work = magnitude of reward. If you aren't willing to put the hours in, you shouldn't expect to be compensated. And there lies the problem. American citizens have a bizzare sense of entitlement to things they haven't earned but have come to expect.

People in class complain a lot about the sums of money CEO's, CFO's, etc acquire in proportion to the work they do. I think it's hard to believe that these people are cutting themselves checks. I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the chain of command these salaries have been approved and justified. I mean I'm not a CEO of anything but I imagine that it would be a position requiring a lot of accountability and knowledge. If a company goes bottom up you don't see MSNBC blaming Joe and Bob in the microchip factory. I'm pretty sure that these executives have a lot of capital invested in these corporations anyhow and when their company dies so does their career. When was the last time you saw a listing in the Employment section of the newspaper for a CEO?

My class is complete with critics of Capitalism. They blame the insitution of trade for instability and inequality. To some degree this is true, Captialism provides incentive to only those willing to invest time, energy, and their lives. If you're content with begging on the street then you're destined to stay poor. Capitalism only makes the deserving rich. What makes me laugh is the alternative these weirdos suggest...none other than Socialism. You know they've got a point, Socialism has worked soooo well in the past I don't see why we don't start redistributing our wealth tomorrow. Sounds like a plan to me.