Write youI love our country. Hands down, I believe we have the best country in the world. By no means are we a perfect country, and we could certainly do a lot better. That is what I hope to help us resolve. We all know that perfection is an unrealistic expectation, but I do believe we could do so much more for ourselves and the rest of the world as well in doing so in leading by example. We are still one of the most well-educated countries in the world, we have increasing technology that allows us to communicate better than ever, yet we fail to get on the same page. I hope you hear me out, I promise to most of you I will sound a little crazy, but I also promise that this will all tie in together. If nothing else I hope we can agree on the first point I hope to make and I do believe, so long as we can agree on that, we can create a lot of good for ourselves, our future generations, and the rest of the world.

We need to unite to create a better economic environment. In my current occupation I often tell people who are going on about our troubles that I think the first thing we need to do is to stop consuming third world goods while demanding first world jobs. Consumers have lost all consideration of the impact of the goods we buy; people often criticize inflation without getting adequate cost of living pay raises, because they shop at the locations that are saving them the most money because they are only interested in the bottom line and a survival of the fittest mentality. The more quickly we can come to terms with the truth, the current economic model is not sustainable, the more quickly we unite and start forming businesses for the consumers the better off we will all be.

The key selling point of saving money has been an ongoing selling point for a long time, most people must save money to get by. I challenge this injustice, what is the point of going to slave for years for peanuts, to not have security, to not have a home, to not be able to provide for a family. I can hear the critics now pointing out criticisms such as “If they want to make more money, they need to work harder!” “If you don’t like the wage, don’t take the job!” “Why should anyone flipping burgers make so much money?” I would love to break those down while repeating that anyone willing and able to go out and work 40 hours a week, making an honest living (in my opinion), should be able to have a modest lifestyle. What is living if you are barely getting by? That’s not living, that is avoiding death.

The three criticisms are not realistic, they are loaded with all kinds of economic ignorance. There are only so many people who can be managers, there are only so many people who can be leaders, it is not as if there is an unlimited pool of positions where they are just looking for someone who just works a little bit harder. As a matter of fact, because of supply and demand, employers can increase their demands while lowering the wages they provide because, well, not dying is better than the alternative. Oh, then, if you don’t die, you will be mocked and ridiculed while you live for “Why are you not doing something with your life?” An example in my world, I just finished a master’s in finance and was trying to move into the accounting field. Many of the jobs posted on the web were paying around $25/hour even with 5 years of experience. Perhaps I am in the wrong location because I do see a load of articles suggesting there is a shortage of qualified accountants. With my background being a war veteran and a graduate, I would figure someone would want to hire this guy (or at least promote him), but this is the market we have made. Here is the first crazy thing I will say, if my opinion that anyone working 40 hours a week should be able to get by wasn’t crazy to you, the fact that I think the system is almost rigged against us may be.

We must help ourselves first and foremost. The concept of lending is those with excess money lend it to those without the resources with the expectations that the return will increase the net worth of the money lent. With the point of making money is making money, without any concern of the unintended consequences (just like saving money) it will continue to crush the citizens. Have a look at the trend, the past 100 years. After the great depression, we had a great boom as most of the rest of the world was rebuilding, and we were ready to help them do so. There was so much demand for work, women left the homes to help with production in the second world war. Once upon a time, in a land right here, we could provide for a family of 4 on one income. People were not even always finishing high school and still able to get by without any college. Today’s economy is flooded with overqualified candidates that are fighting for positions. This is to the benefit of the employers as they can now pay less and make more for qualified candidates. As more and more jobs go offshore, where the cost of the shipping and the lower wages to make the goods and services affordable to those who are working can afford them. For us to have first world wages, we must consume first world goods.

In addition to having a more fruitful life, there are so many things that could be impacted by better use of our consumer sovereignty such as healthcare, social security, politics, government, welfare, family, systemic racism and so much more. This is the beginning. Looking at the trends, if we do not change the path, it is hard to say how much longer we can keep this up. We see people stop working because, well, giving up their time is not of value to the value they would receive, so having welfare or having next to nothing at all is better than giving their time. As the value continues to go down, as it becomes harder for average people to be able to afford a home, as it becomes harder for average people to retire, as it becomes harder for people to live, more and more people are going to stop exchanging their time for money in the economy. If we stay on this trend, sooner or later, it is going to crash and it is going to be bad. The full fruits of changing it probably would not be fully felt in our lifetime, we have been digging this hole for nearly 100 years. I hope our younger citizens hear this and make a stand.