Creating Jobs

Like the old adage, getting things done begins with you! (Or me if you consider the antecedent) Or perhaps you believe “Let George do it!” Whatever the adage, whatever the snippet of nonsense, things need getting done. And no one will do that unless we take personal responsibility for it. 

You want something to happen?  Do it yourself. Don’t have enough money? Cut your expenses; or, earn more income. House dirty? Clean it. Car need washing? Wash it. Clothing getting ratty? Wear it as it is, or throw it away and buy something new; or god forbid, repair the old and continue wearing it! 

Just Do it! Take action. Marshall Field’s motto: the package you take with you gets home faster! Remember that? 

Sometimes doing without is easy and reasonable. Don’t have money for the Sunday drive? Read a book instead. Or linger over coffee at church after the service. Or go home and put in a load of wash. Don’t have money for the daily paper? Get the news from the Internet. Bored? Volunteer locally. Complaining about high local taxes? Get involved and understand why they are what they are; you may learn they are not as bad as you thought, and other places are much higher. 

Doing without is also good. It teaches the value of what is missed. And if it isn’t missed, what did we learn? That the missed item wasn’t as important or valuable as we thought. 

Simpler times. Can be better times, too. Listen to the silence. The birds. The hum of equipment we didn’t hear before? The sound of someone’s voice; what they are saying. Time to contemplate. Time to create ideas. Time to… 

We worry of course. Will we have money for medications? Repairs to the car to keep it running? Will the furnace continue to operate? Will there be large repairs needed this season? And what about the air conditioning? And the insurance premiums and the food budget. Yes we worry. We think on what could happen. Most of these dire thoughts don’t actually happen, though. Things are usually better than what we fear. Sometimes not; but we get through. 

This posting may seem negative today. But it really is positive! What we fear does not occur. What we can’t afford any longer is not missed when we actually face it. What we enjoy has always been with us, just unnoticed. We can live on less. We can do without. What is important is often the most basic. Simple.  

Another facet of this same issue. We can do more for ourselves than we think. We do not have to rely on others to get a job. We can invent our own job, charge for it and earn a living. We can do extra tasks and earn additional funds that will increase household income. Government policy doesn’t work for every person. Only in the macro sense, where employers/businesses are encouraged to change behaviors and do something different that creates jobs. Tax policy changes usually are used for this. A tax credit to keep a job in the country; but this is usually short term. 

What we really need is Americans understanding, getting the message really, that times have changed and the old will not return. Our old jobs have been replaced either by a machine, or a new process which does triple the work for half the cost. This is called productivity gains. In the short term, increased productivity decreases jobs, but improves profits so prices can be kept trim or lower. Eventually the person without a job retools his skills and finds a job doing something different. This is a painful step personally, but inevitable. We don’t make horse buggy whips any more, or buggies. We have cars instead. And someday those will be replaced with something else. 

We still take trains, but for shorter distances. Planes take us the long distance. Those trips are getting shorter and thus train rides are getting shorter. Commuting by train sure; plane no; but long distance train transportation? That’s for freight nowadays. You know that. 

And buses; same thing. We rarely take buses to another region now. Within our community or neighboring towns, sure. Not long distance. Very little market for that. 

Telephones. Personal communication devices are becoming the norm. Cell phone. Portable. Tiny. Even multiple lines. Less need for the switchboards and complicated phone systems of the past. 

Communication by computer. Quick. Easy. Audit trail provided. Complicated thoughts can be presented in electronic print. The points can be argued and refined; even researched at the press of a key. Good solid progress. More news delivered faster and cheaper. Search engines which help us buy and sell things. Want ads going the way of the horse and buggy. 

Come on. Times have changed. The recession was one indication. Looking closely we also experienced a culture shift, a business shift. Things are not the same as they were nor will they come back. We are forever changed. It is time to recognize this and change our skill sets and our career goals. 

Go for retooling. Go for more education. Seek corporate retraining programs. Seek the new and you will collide with it. But you won’t if you don’t take action. You must rely on yourself. No one will do it for you. 

It’s a good thing. And it teaches us a lot; about ourself.

February 9, 2012