Welcome to the February Health and Medicine issue of NorthBay biz. This month, in addition to looking at what’s happening locally in the health and medical industries, we’re also featuring a special report on business “Boomers” in the North Bay. So please enjoy all the distinct local coverage as NorthBay biz continues its 38-year tradition of serving the best interests of the business community in the North Bay.
“Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome, who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and given him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the forum of the new wonderful society, which shall now be Rome’s, interpreted to mean more money, more ease, more security and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC)
And we all know how that worked out for Rome. The above quote, uttered more than 2,000 years ago, is relatable to present day circumstances. Proving what? That old adages, such as, “What goes around comes around,” or, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” are somehow prescient? Or does it mean the foibles of societies are timeless—mistakes made in the past are doomed to be repeated in the future? It certainly seems so, because we’re currently on the same trajectory as ancient Rome.
Who wants to work if they really don’t have to? I was talking with a friend over the holidays and he related how he’d just found out he didn’t get the promotion he was hoping for at work that would have included a hefty pay raise plus several other benefits. As the conversation continued, he explained that maybe it was actually for the best that he didn’t get the job. At first, I thought he was rationalizing, trying to convince himself to cushion his disappointment, until I realized he was really serious. His reasoning came down to this: Why take on all the extra work, travel and responsibility when he could coast along comfortably in his current job and not get bumped up into a higher tax bracket? He explained, with the federal rate going to 39 percent and the state rate increasing too, he couldn’t afford to pay more than 50 percent of his income in taxes. He didn’t want to be “penalized” (his word) for being successful. I was stunned he felt that way and tried to reason otherwise, but he was adamant. He was glad he didn’t get the promotion.
So, is this where we’re at in this country? Climbing the ladder of success has become something not to be pursued? How can this be? Well, as I mentioned in last month’s column, when, thanks to entitlements, it’s possible for the head of a household of four earning minimum wage to have more disposable income than a family of four making $60,000 per year, something’s wrong. When people on welfare get a job, or welfare recipients who also work get a pay raise, they can lose more than $1 in benefits for every extra $1 they earn. Quite motivational wouldn’t you say? The system has degenerated to the point where it’s clear it’s often better not to work.
Welfare systems were supposedly designed as temporary support while incentivising people to get another job. Instead, welfare itself has become “the job” discouraging people from looking for challenging work with higher earnings. Let’s face it, at some point, as the government extends more and more benefits for longer duration to more people, it’s actually providing disincentives to find work. If staying unemployed provides better benefits than finding a job, is it surprising that tens of millions of people have quit looking for one? And, unlike as in the past, there’s no shame in not working anymore—receiving government assistance is a shiny badge of the evolving culture. In fact, it’s now a right, an entitlement. My question is, with this behavior becoming the “new normal,” what does this auger for the future of the country?
I’ve always believed that, despite any differences in the ways we try to solve our common problems, we were of one mind in wanting a growing and prosperous nation in which everyone had a real chance to succeed. Economic prosperity is encouraged and has a chance to flourish when success is rewarded and failure is not. This is a pretty basic concept, but somehow its been twisted as we’ve watched the country’s debt explode as we’ve spent wildly subsidizing failure—financial institutions, the auto industry and green energy. At the same time, we’ve conjured up new villains—entrepreneurs, business people and, of course, the rich. How did being successful begin to be equated with being bad?
When hard-working people begin to realize that all their efforts to succeed aren’t really benefiting them and their families and instead are going to be redistributed to further subsidize entitlements, they lose their incentive to work. Where are we then? This has to change. Achievement should be acknowledged and rewarded. If it becomes acceptable to never try, never excel and instead stay home and wait for the next government check, all incentive for success will be lost. If the prevalent thinking becomes that only “the suckers” work, the America we grew up in is lost.
How far have we fallen if people are asking: Why work? It’ll all be taken away from you anyway. Instead, join the crowd, file for your benefits and then hang out a sign—Gone fishin’. America can fend for itself.
That’s it for now. Enjoy this month’s magazine.
