When I created Nomad Influencer I made the decision to avoid politics as a topic for my blog. My political views just aren't that important and I still believe that today. Having said that, I can't stand listening to the uninformed or ignorant speak their views like its God's truth. Nothing ruffles my feathers more.
And so it went the other evening when a good friend's girlfriend decided to hijack what started as an interesting conversation about how to solve some of the local economic challenges in the Western PA region. It wasn't her lack of listening or speaking over others that bothered me so much as her blind belief that Europeans have all the right answers to how to take care of their population while progressing economically. The Europeans. Really?
This woman has never lived a day in her life in Europe - in fact she has never been out of the country other than a trip to the Caribbean 5 years ago. And even if she had visited one of the many splendors of Europe like Paris, Rome or London, it doesn't matter - a bus tour of museums and statues doesn't qualify as knowing their society. Whats more, Europe is not a place. They have over 20 countries there that are distinctly different in culture, language, history and social structure. The EU experiment is far from over as we are about to learn in the coming months.
No, if you haven't lived in a European country, earned a living, paid taxes and been subject to their system, then you really should shut your mouth and listen to those who have. To say the Europeans have it figured out and we should follow suit is as stupid as you can get.
My personal experience over there adds up to 2 years in Luxembourg, 7 years in Belgium and 3 years in the UK. Three different countries, three different social systems, three different tax rates, three different standards of living. 12 professional years that is. I also grew up in London and Belgium before heading off to the US for college. I know what I'm talking about when I say the "European way" is flawed for individuals who believe in EARNING what they have, and who don't believe in putting limits to their potential.
Let me go one step further - the social systems they have embraced for the better part of 75 years is one of the biggest forms of human bondage, thralldom and captivity in human history. Not as physically cruel as other chapters of human history, but every bit as disastrous with deeper consequence for centuries to come. The individual is being wiped out by the notion of collectivism. Or simply put, the group. This will ultimately result in the collapse of entire nationalities and religious groups as more aggressive groups move in over time. You have to just look at the rise in muslim populations on the European continent.
As strongly as I feel about this topic, I found another post that addresses this much better than I can. Arthur Brooks' article published in the WSJ nails the issue we face in the US. We are at a crossroads - to continue down the path of our founding legacy or to switch down the path of European collectivism where its not how hard you work but what you are given. Europe in 2050 will be a very different place.
Before you read Mr. Brooks' piece below let me extend an invitation - anyone wishing to discuss or debate my views in this post is invited to an evening at Enrico's Biscotti in Pittsburgh's Strip District. Larry Lagattuta, Enrico's owner, will be moderating and we will discuss all views in a respectful setting - biscotti and baked goods provided of course. The date is yet to be fixed and will depend on how many people are interested to attend. So drop me a note and lets go from there.
Enjoy the read as I did...
America and the Value of 'Earned Success'
'We found that even when good things occurred that weren't earned, like nickels coming out of slot machines, it did not increase people's well-being.'
By Arthur C. Brooks
I learned to appreciate the American free enterprise system by quitting a job in Spain.
At age 19, I dropped out of school to pursue a career as a French horn player. After a few twists and turns, I wound up in the Barcelona Symphony, which was a Spanish government job.
Even as a foreigner, I had the same lifetime work status as a clerk at the water department. Nobody ever left these jobs, except with lavish disability packages. (One colleague who injured his lips moonlighting at a dance-hall gig ended up spending the next 20 years collecting a full salary to stay home.)
I loved music—but the life of a government functionary wasn't my cup of tea. And so my Spanish wife and I decided to pull up stakes and start over in America. Neither of us had a college degree, and my wife's English was limited.
American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks discusses his new book The Road to Freedom. Photo: Manfredi Strategy Group
To friends in Barcelona, this move was ridiculous. Quitting a job in Spain often meant permanent unemployment. As we departed, my in-laws tearfully gave us a gold bracelet which, they said, we could pawn in the coming hard times.
We were fairly poor for a few years but just fine. I taught music during the day and earned a bachelor's degree in economics at night. To her astonishment, my wife immediately landed a job teaching English to other immigrants. "America is a great country," she declared—an assertion I had never heard from a Spaniard.
In the end, I concluded, what set the United States apart from Spain was the difference between earned success and learned helplessness.
Earned success means defining your future as you see fit and achieving that success on the basis of merit and hard work. It allows you to measure your life's "profit" however you want, be it in money, making beautiful music, or helping people learn English. Earned success is at the root of American exceptionalism.
The link between earned success and life satisfaction is well established by researchers. The University of Chicago's General Social Survey, for example, reveals that people who say they feel "very successful" or "completely successful" in their work lives are twice as likely to say they are very happy than people who feel "somewhat successful." It doesn't matter if they earn more or less income; the differences persist.
The opposite of earned success is "learned helplessness," a term coined by Martin Seligman, the eminent psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. It refers to what happens if rewards and punishments are not tied to merit: People simply give up and stop trying to succeed.
During experiments, Mr. Seligman observed that when people realized they were powerless to influence their circumstances, they would become depressed and had difficulty performing even ordinary tasks. In an interview in the New York Times, Mr. Seligman said: "We found that even when good things occurred that weren't earned, like nickels coming out of slot machines, it did not increase people's well-being. It produced helplessness. People gave up and became passive."
Learned helplessness was what my wife and I observed then, and still do today, in social-democratic Spain. The recession, rigid labor markets, and excessive welfare spending have pushed unemployment to 24.4%, with youth joblessness over 50%. Nearly half of adults under 35 live with their parents. Unable to earn their success, Spaniards fight to keep unearned government benefits.
Meanwhile, their collective happiness—already relatively low—has withered. According to the nonprofit World Values Survey, 20% of Spaniards said they were "very happy" about their lives in 1981. This fell to 14% by 2007, even before the economic downturn.
That trajectory should be a cautionary tale to Americans who are watching the U.S. government careen toward a system that is every bit as socially democratic as Spain's.
Government spending as a percentage of GDP in America is about 36%—roughly the same as in Spain. The Congressional Budget Office tells us it will reach 50% by 2038. The Tax Foundation reports that almost 70% of Americans take more out of the tax system than they pay into it. Meanwhile, politicians foment social division on the basis of income inequality, instead of attempting to improve mobility and opportunity through education reform, pro-growth policies, and an entrepreneur-friendly economy.
These trends do not mean we are doomed to repeat Spain's unhappy fate. But our system of earned success will not defend itself.
All surveys show that most Americans still embrace our free enterprise system—today. The crucial test is whether the country is willing to support the hard work and policy reforms that will sustain it.
The cost of failing this test will be more human than financial. In our hands is the earned success—and thus the happiness—of our children and grandchildren. The stakes in the current policy battles today are not just economic. They are moral.
Mr. Brooks is president of the American Enterprise Institute and author of "The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise," published this week by Basic Books.
And so it went the other evening when a good friend's girlfriend decided to hijack what started as an interesting conversation about how to solve some of the local economic challenges in the Western PA region. It wasn't her lack of listening or speaking over others that bothered me so much as her blind belief that Europeans have all the right answers to how to take care of their population while progressing economically. The Europeans. Really?
This woman has never lived a day in her life in Europe - in fact she has never been out of the country other than a trip to the Caribbean 5 years ago. And even if she had visited one of the many splendors of Europe like Paris, Rome or London, it doesn't matter - a bus tour of museums and statues doesn't qualify as knowing their society. Whats more, Europe is not a place. They have over 20 countries there that are distinctly different in culture, language, history and social structure. The EU experiment is far from over as we are about to learn in the coming months.
No, if you haven't lived in a European country, earned a living, paid taxes and been subject to their system, then you really should shut your mouth and listen to those who have. To say the Europeans have it figured out and we should follow suit is as stupid as you can get.
My personal experience over there adds up to 2 years in Luxembourg, 7 years in Belgium and 3 years in the UK. Three different countries, three different social systems, three different tax rates, three different standards of living. 12 professional years that is. I also grew up in London and Belgium before heading off to the US for college. I know what I'm talking about when I say the "European way" is flawed for individuals who believe in EARNING what they have, and who don't believe in putting limits to their potential.
Let me go one step further - the social systems they have embraced for the better part of 75 years is one of the biggest forms of human bondage, thralldom and captivity in human history. Not as physically cruel as other chapters of human history, but every bit as disastrous with deeper consequence for centuries to come. The individual is being wiped out by the notion of collectivism. Or simply put, the group. This will ultimately result in the collapse of entire nationalities and religious groups as more aggressive groups move in over time. You have to just look at the rise in muslim populations on the European continent.
As strongly as I feel about this topic, I found another post that addresses this much better than I can. Arthur Brooks' article published in the WSJ nails the issue we face in the US. We are at a crossroads - to continue down the path of our founding legacy or to switch down the path of European collectivism where its not how hard you work but what you are given. Europe in 2050 will be a very different place.
Before you read Mr. Brooks' piece below let me extend an invitation - anyone wishing to discuss or debate my views in this post is invited to an evening at Enrico's Biscotti in Pittsburgh's Strip District. Larry Lagattuta, Enrico's owner, will be moderating and we will discuss all views in a respectful setting - biscotti and baked goods provided of course. The date is yet to be fixed and will depend on how many people are interested to attend. So drop me a note and lets go from there.
Enjoy the read as I did...
America and the Value of 'Earned Success'
'We found that even when good things occurred that weren't earned, like nickels coming out of slot machines, it did not increase people's well-being.'
By Arthur C. Brooks
I learned to appreciate the American free enterprise system by quitting a job in Spain.
At age 19, I dropped out of school to pursue a career as a French horn player. After a few twists and turns, I wound up in the Barcelona Symphony, which was a Spanish government job.
Even as a foreigner, I had the same lifetime work status as a clerk at the water department. Nobody ever left these jobs, except with lavish disability packages. (One colleague who injured his lips moonlighting at a dance-hall gig ended up spending the next 20 years collecting a full salary to stay home.)
I loved music—but the life of a government functionary wasn't my cup of tea. And so my Spanish wife and I decided to pull up stakes and start over in America. Neither of us had a college degree, and my wife's English was limited.
American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks discusses his new book The Road to Freedom. Photo: Manfredi Strategy Group
To friends in Barcelona, this move was ridiculous. Quitting a job in Spain often meant permanent unemployment. As we departed, my in-laws tearfully gave us a gold bracelet which, they said, we could pawn in the coming hard times.
We were fairly poor for a few years but just fine. I taught music during the day and earned a bachelor's degree in economics at night. To her astonishment, my wife immediately landed a job teaching English to other immigrants. "America is a great country," she declared—an assertion I had never heard from a Spaniard.
In the end, I concluded, what set the United States apart from Spain was the difference between earned success and learned helplessness.
Earned success means defining your future as you see fit and achieving that success on the basis of merit and hard work. It allows you to measure your life's "profit" however you want, be it in money, making beautiful music, or helping people learn English. Earned success is at the root of American exceptionalism.
The link between earned success and life satisfaction is well established by researchers. The University of Chicago's General Social Survey, for example, reveals that people who say they feel "very successful" or "completely successful" in their work lives are twice as likely to say they are very happy than people who feel "somewhat successful." It doesn't matter if they earn more or less income; the differences persist.
The opposite of earned success is "learned helplessness," a term coined by Martin Seligman, the eminent psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. It refers to what happens if rewards and punishments are not tied to merit: People simply give up and stop trying to succeed.
During experiments, Mr. Seligman observed that when people realized they were powerless to influence their circumstances, they would become depressed and had difficulty performing even ordinary tasks. In an interview in the New York Times, Mr. Seligman said: "We found that even when good things occurred that weren't earned, like nickels coming out of slot machines, it did not increase people's well-being. It produced helplessness. People gave up and became passive."
Learned helplessness was what my wife and I observed then, and still do today, in social-democratic Spain. The recession, rigid labor markets, and excessive welfare spending have pushed unemployment to 24.4%, with youth joblessness over 50%. Nearly half of adults under 35 live with their parents. Unable to earn their success, Spaniards fight to keep unearned government benefits.
Meanwhile, their collective happiness—already relatively low—has withered. According to the nonprofit World Values Survey, 20% of Spaniards said they were "very happy" about their lives in 1981. This fell to 14% by 2007, even before the economic downturn.
That trajectory should be a cautionary tale to Americans who are watching the U.S. government careen toward a system that is every bit as socially democratic as Spain's.
Government spending as a percentage of GDP in America is about 36%—roughly the same as in Spain. The Congressional Budget Office tells us it will reach 50% by 2038. The Tax Foundation reports that almost 70% of Americans take more out of the tax system than they pay into it. Meanwhile, politicians foment social division on the basis of income inequality, instead of attempting to improve mobility and opportunity through education reform, pro-growth policies, and an entrepreneur-friendly economy.
These trends do not mean we are doomed to repeat Spain's unhappy fate. But our system of earned success will not defend itself.
All surveys show that most Americans still embrace our free enterprise system—today. The crucial test is whether the country is willing to support the hard work and policy reforms that will sustain it.
The cost of failing this test will be more human than financial. In our hands is the earned success—and thus the happiness—of our children and grandchildren. The stakes in the current policy battles today are not just economic. They are moral.
Mr. Brooks is president of the American Enterprise Institute and author of "The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise," published this week by Basic Books.
Posts
If this article is intended to "scare" Americans into a better future, I might as well hope it works.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I find this post disappointing - lacking insights on the root cause of those economic challenges.
The cause is a fundamental lack of knowledge about earning money. The solution is education and increasing awareness about entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency, not cutting welfare costs or discussing overgeneralized politics.
"I know what I'm talking about when I say the "European way" is flawed for individuals who believe in EARNING what they have, and who don't believe in putting limits to their potential."
There is no "European way" - like you pointed out yourself, earlier.
"In theory" entrepreneurs lack money and time - the very thing social welfare provides. Or does it cause "learned helplessness"? What about college education?
"Let me go one step further - the social systems they have embraced for the better part of 75 years is one of the biggest forms of human bondage, thralldom and captivity in human history."
In what way? Meaningless slogans with no scientific data related to human behavior and social systems. Again, a different social system by itself won't suddenly cause people to develop related neuron connections in the area of economics.
"The individual is being wiped out by the notion of collectivism."
Another pointless generalization. What about Japan? How does their adoption of welfare policies and collectivism fit into the picture? They took the recession quite well until the earthquake hit...
"This will ultimately result in the collapse of entire nationalities and religious groups as more aggressive groups move in over time. You have to just look at the rise in muslim populations on the European continent."
Country dependent. Again, there is no "European continent" from this perspective. Muslims in U.S. - 0.8%. In France - 5-10%. In Poland - 0.08%. Those are examples and I doubt they are extremes. Maybe it's harsh immigration policies that keep those Muslim populations from going to the U.S instead of attractive Spanish welfare options?.
Disclaimer: I'm ignorant. I don't care about politics myself, and I haven't found social topics more impactful on the economy than knowledge of economics, business building and marketing. I find policies rarely a good solution for any problem - they should take into account specific social and cultural heritages, globalization trends and almost never give the same effect when applied elsewhere.
I believe the comparison between U.S. and Spain is a fruitless discussion, no matter how exciting and revealing the information may be to American readers. It takes the focus away from the root cause and possibilities always available to people as individuals, regardless of what regulations bring about.
If I am wrong, I'm open to be corrected by facts and not an oversimplified overview of political differences that are supposed to magically cure all the specific economical challenges that specific businesses are having.
With that said, "learned helplessness" is a perfectly valid and pervasive issue worth bringing up and dealing with - but not from a social/political context.