Final Gravity

I’ve become addicted to listening the NPR program “This American Life” lately. I started with the weekly podcast about six months ago, but a couple of weeks ago I started listening to the archives that stretch back to 1995. With thirteen years of archives I’ve been listening all day, rather than waiting another week to hear the next program. It really helps my day go by. Being stuck in a 10 x 10 office all day programming web sites can get a little boring.

The opinion among my ideological brethren is that NPR is notoriously liberal. Even Howard Dean described the classic liberal as driving a Volvo station wagon while listening to NPR. While I’ve noticed the left-of-center slant in the This American Life programs, it hasn’t been something that I’ve found to be obnoxious. Not nearly as obnoxious as the racket coming out of Sean Hannity’s mouth on a daily basis. The stories presented are mostly stories about everyday people with not much of a political stance either way.

When I come across the stray liberal stance here or there I generally just take it within the context presented and brush it aside. However, occasionally one of the contributors says something that just sticks in my head.

Today I found myself pondering a story from “Dishwasher Pete” that deals with the 1996 National Restaurant Association convention. I think Pete is pretty funny, and seems like a really nice guy. I suppose his thing is that he’s there representing the lowly dishwasher among the boss types that are in attendance at this convention. While admirable in intent, logically it’s a little misguided. It’s the classic leftist shot at “the man.”

Pete’s visit to this convention is generally benign. Bob Dole is the keynote speaker, and Pete asks if he has any advice for the dishwashers of America. In classic Dole style his response is, “Just keep washing.”

Later Pete visits an automated dishwasher manufacturer’s booth. The dishwasher vendor explains that with his machine a restaurant owner can cut back on dishwasher staff, because it only takes one person to run this machine. Pete’s follow up question is the kind of thing that reveals the flaws of leftist thinking.

He’s asks something like, “How will this affect the dishwashers that lose their jobs because of this machine?” The vendor seems a little taken back and give a stupid response that seems to indicate that the machine will help to ensure job security for the remaining dishwasher.

He should have said something like, “Well, looks like the dishwasher will need to find another dish washing job, or learn another marketable skill.”

Since when is it the restaurant owner’s job to keep someone employed past their usefulness to the company? There’s this sense of entitlement that comes with liberalism that I find it hard to explain. Who is ensuring that the restaurant owner will keep his job? Answer: the restaurant owner. He keeps his job by offering something to the market that is worth buying. He keeps himself in a job. He does not have the responsibility to haul around the extra weight of an employee that doesn’t see the need to offer a compelling service to the marketplace. What leftists seem to miss is that in a free market system we are all little businesses. Every worker is a tiny little business. We all offer something to the marketplace to be exchanged for money, or we don’t make a living. Simple.

The reason that I have a job in an ad agency making decent money is because I taught myself graphic design while working as a counter guy at Kinko’s. I was making about $5.00 per hour working at there. That’s nearly equivalent to washing dishes. If I wanted to make more money I needed to expand my skills. I needed to offer more to the marketplace.. so I did.

A dishwasher can learn to cook. A cook can learn to manage. A manager can start his own business. Why is this so hard for ‘progressives’ to understand? This is the best way to root for “the little guy.” This is the best way to have a prosperous society. Help people to better themselves by helping them to learn how to offer more to the market.

John McCain was given a lot of grief when he visited Detroit on a campaign stop. He was asked what can be done about the autoworkers who are finding themselves out of a job. His response was that the workers needed to be retrained to find another place in the market. What?!? Retrained!?! That’s ridiculous!

Why should American automakers be forced to keep armies of obsolete workers on payroll? That’s is the reason that younger auto workers are losing their jobs in the first place. It’s the reason that American automakers find it difficult to compete with overseas competitors. The unions have negotiated such a welfare state for retired workers that the companies can’t afford to keep the current workers on payroll. The money has to come from somewhere. Unions are the worker’s worst enemy. There was a time and place for them a century ago, but that time has passed. The unions are a millstone around the neck of American manufacturing.

OK… enough preaching… sorry. Stepping down from my soap box.

I can remember a conversation that I had with a ‘progressively’ minded friend of the family one time. He was complaining about the minimum wage. He asked me if I was able to live on my own when I was making minimum wage. He said that no one can live on minimum wage today. In fact, I did live on my own… sort of. When I moved out of my parent’s house I shared a house with two of my friends, and we split living expenses like rent or groceries. It wasn’t the government’s job to get me more money. It was my job to get me more money. Statistically, most of the people earning minimum wage are young people who only need to support themselves. Of those earning minimum wage only a small percentage are the primary providers for a family.

Anyway… I’d better stop. I’m diving back in.

Conclusion: the best way to help the little guy is to help them to help themselves. Teach a man to fish.