There is no question that capitalism is disfavored by a majority of voters. According to CEO Magazine, “All eight ex-CEOs or business owners who were highlighted for their political ambitions in a Chief Executive story in the September/October issue got defeated at the polls on Election Day.” Also in the news is the closing of an icon in the bakery business, Hostess. The company is a victim of unions who want to bleed all the wealth created by risk-taking investors even though the unions want no part of risk taking.
It is clear what is going on here. The 47% of the country that was locked into voting for Obama over Romney has become the 51%. Voters want to hear a message of “free stuff,” “entrepreneurs didn’t build that,”and “tax someone else to give me what I want,” rather than a message of free markets, independence, self-reliance and work. Free riders have taken over American politics, and only the politicians who pander to them can get elected.
The long-term future is indeed very bleak. Free riders will whine and complain about “fairness” and generally make life miserable for the people who actually do take risks to create wealth, i.e. the entrepreneurs. Eventually free riders will overwhelm the entire system and the nation will be plunged into darkness. Eventually there will be only the very wealthy, who are politically well-connected, and the very poor, who will cling to the notion that government will provide for their every need. Right now the middle class is being decimated by every regulation and executive order issued by a president who hates free markets and his dutiful minions. In the long run entrepreneurs who form the backbone of the middle class will be driven out of existence and the free riders will devolve into complete poverty.
What about you? Are you working for someone else because you are risk averse? I guarantee you that someone else you are looking to for a job sees the writing on the wall. They are eyeing the exit just like the executives and investors at Hostess. Everyone knows America is no longer able to create wealth enough for everyone, so everyone is trying to usurp the last dollar from whomever they can before the crash. Working for someone else will no longer keep you in the middle class. Politicians who represent the poor are determined to create more poor people than ever before, and the best way to do that is to impoverish the working middle class.
What does this mean for you right now? You might think my underlying message would be negative, but I take an entirely different view. If everyone else wants to be a free rider, headed for poverty and being subjects of big government, you should go into business and work for yourself. Yes, in the long run free riders will collapse the system taking themselves down with it. But I think that collapse is still years from happening. In the meantime, you need to start that company and build it quickly then get out. It’s the only possible way for you to be one of the rich people after the collapse, not one of the poor.
Yes, starting a company is a risk, but what’s your alternative? Join a union and hope management at the company you work for doesn’t move all of its operations to a country with more of a future? Work for the government? If you believe those are viable options you’re one of the takers, not one of the creators. Good luck with that plan.