Self Employed or Bust

Wealth Redistribution and Other Copouts

July 2, 2008 – 10:38 pm

But why self employment, Dave? Why not something that balances the playing field and makes the corporate world a more fair and balanced place to work? It’s been tried. It’s called communism. It doesn’t work.

My wife engaged in a discussion with one of the workers in our company mailroom and the topic of choice was wealth redistribution. The employee, the son of immigrants, emphatically felt that the American system of enterprise was completely imbalanced and completely unfair. Well, in some ways he’s entirely correct and I’ll discuss that in a future post showing just how out of whack earnings in America are, but his solution – the redistribution of wealth – is utterly naïve. We’ll use my own story as an example to explain why.

For reasons I won’t disclose here, I do not have a college degree. That’s strike one against me. I compensate for that in several ways. First, I work my tail off. As mentioned in my first post, Self Employed or Bust, I put in anywhere from +/- 60 to 70 hours a week. Second, I’m very self-educated. My own annoyance over the lack of a degree has led me on a life-long quest to constantly study, learn and better myself. I’d wager I’m comfortably advanced relative to the majority of the beer-swilling party animals who spent 4 years wasting daddy’s dime on all-night keggers and earned diplomas in subjects like underwater basket weaving.

I also pay attention. Where most of my colleagues treat their jobs as, well, jobs, I treat mine as a career. I focus on more than just my assigned tasks, volunteer for extra responsibility, pay close attention to my manager’s needs and, whenever possible, ensure that I’m learning my boss’ job at the same time I’m doing mine. That makes me invaluable. Bottom line, if you can fill in for your boss when he or she is on vacation then you gradually position yourself to take over the role when they leave for good.

Finally, I have always approached my jobs from a managerial perspective. I think as much about the company’s bottom line as I do about the specific tasks I am assigned. I think about my coworker’s needs as much as I think about my needs. I think about risk exposures, budgets, savings opportunities, financial threats, competition trends and a host of other considerations not assigned to me but which make me successful and valued to my leaders.

Now, let’s say somebody makes wealth redistribution a reality. Let’s say they cut my salary in order to raise the salary of one of the guys in the mailroom.  The playing field is leveled and his salary now far more closely matches mine. He didn’t work any harder, he didn’t apply himself any more, he didn’t put in extra hours or add any additional value beyond his usual 8 hour day. Do you honestly think I’m going to feel inclined to keep working as hard as I have been? Why should I bother when I could cool my heels in a cushy mailroom job making close to what I’m making in a job that eats up 70 hours of my week?

Wealth redistribution, leveling the playing field, punishing the rich and rewarding the poor for nothing more than their existing incomes, all of these things sound great to the poor but have no place or value in reality. In my next post on free market economies, I hope to make even more plain why that’s the case but for now just understand this… as much as those fat cats at the top of the heap annoy us, they serve a real purpose and it is in everybody’s interest to keep them there. Don’t believe me?

Let’s close with a question that might help bring this point home – If it weren’t for people starting companies in the interest of becoming wealthy, just where would you work?  

Stumble it!