You’re On Your Own

Wonderful article online yesterday saying that relying on solutions from Washington may create a worse economic situation by encouraging many to believe politicians will take action to help you get ahead.  The danger is that such a belief may make it less likely you will take the necessary action to improve your economy.

If politicians and policy wonks were really honest – image calling for honesty from Washington! – they would be telling us: You’re on your own. Face it: the government is broke and dysfunctional and was never designed to be our nanny, sugar daddy or any other relative.  The grand American experiment, as the Europeans have called our country and its constitution, was set up to have as little government as possible.

Remember Jefferson: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.”? Remember Don’t Tread On Me?

But I digress. The best advice is to forget any new policies designed to make the economy more “fair” and instead learn to be more self-sufficient.  And the trick according to this article is to figure out what you can do to make yourself more employable. Though I would suggest more entrepreneurial.

Doing either implies understanding a few things, most natably “a decline in economic mobility, which means it’s getting harder for people to boost their earnings, move up the socioeconomic ladder and improve their living standards.”

Like it or not, we ARE living in not only a brave new world but a new economy too so pay attention to three key elements all of which YOU control.

• Education
• Technology
• Attitude

 Education – is your training outdated?  If so go take some classes, get new skills. No excuses.

Technology – are you familiar with most of it? I know it changes rapidly BUT THAT”S the point! Those who are up to date on it and whose jobs depend on digital “know how” have a clear advantage. Don’t know how to do something? Google it!

Attitude – what’s your voice sound like and your body language saying? Need I say more?

Relying too much on others, especially the government, has contributed to the economic mess we are in. Realizing that things have changed, and not for the better, is certainly a rude awakening from the prosperous pre-2008 economy. Understanding that just showing up for work won’t cut it right now is just the beginning. All that is not enough.

You are at a crossroads. Address those three key elements listed above or sink into deeper dependency.

The jury on the Grand American Experiment is still out but I’m hopeful because despite all the difficulties, people are STILL dying to get into our country. Do they know something you have forgotten: It is up to you.

Yup. We’re on our own.

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