Economic Facts of Life

When I was a boy, my grandpa spent a lot of time trying to teach me things. Sometimes I got tired of listening to him, because it seemed like he repeated himself so much. Now I realize he was just trying to emphasize the high points.

Grandpa was always saying things like:

"You don't get anything without working for it."

"The world doesn't owe you a living."

"An education is the only thing that nobody can ever take away from you."

"You have to be responsible for yourself."

"If you don't have the money to pay for it, make do without it."

"Pay yourself first - save 10 cents of every dollar you make."

Many of us have heard these nuggets of financial wisdom. Simplistic they may be, but they are powerful because they are true.

But I wonder, is there anyone left in America who still believes in them? Apparently no one in the American Left does. The Left tells us that the world does owe us a living, whether we work or not. We are not responsible for ourselves, but Nanny Government is. Can't afford to own a house? No problem, borrow as much as you can at a low interest rate to stimulate the economy. And yes, you can get something for nothing, but only if you vote for Democrats, because those evil greedy capitalistic Republicans don't want you to have anything unless you earn it.

With so many fragmented families and single-parent households, I wonder how many kids today have responsible grandparents around who can pass along to them the economic facts of life? Perhaps the biggest problem facing America now is the simple fact that too many kids are just growing up, and nobody is taking the time to raise them properly.

My teenage neighbor was visiting me a while back, and brought over a buddy of his from school. His friend was talking about his old dilapidated bicycle and how he just wanted to get another bike. He was hoping that the next time his dad visited from out of town, he could talk dad into buying him a new one.

I couldn't restrain myself. "You know," I said, "Spring is here, and I guarantee you could make yourself $100 a week if you just had three or four steady lawn-mowing customers. You could have that new bike in no time, and have plenty of spending money all summer long."

The kid looked at me like I was from Mars. "I don't cut grass," he said condescendingly.

I sincerely hope he is still walking around without a bicycle.

I can't help it, but I just can't respect people who think they are too good to get their hands dirty in some useful labor. Working, sweating, and getting grungy are great character building exercises. (In the interest of full disclosure, let me state here that I no longer cut my own grass, but pay to have it done, because I am getting old and tired and whatever character I have is already built. But I still work and get dirty at my day job, and I did cut plenty of grass when I was younger.)

It takes some "tough love" to refrain from granting a request, so that the person you are mentoring can learn the value of satisfying that desire through their own resourcefulness. When my #1 daughter (whose daddy loves her dearly) turned sweet sixteen, she came to me and said, "Well, dad, I'm sixteen, and I have my driver's license...all I need now is a car."

It pained me to see the look of dejection on her beautiful young face when I introduced her to the real world. "Honey," I said as gently as possible, "There is just one more thing you need before you get a car...and that's a job so you can pay for it."

She wasn't happy with me at the time, but she did get a job. Soon after that she bought a used car. She has worked ever since, and has been financially independent for many years now. Making her buy her own car was the best economics lesson I could have ever given her. (As an added bonus, it left an extra $3000 in dad's retirement fund.)

I have known otherwise intelligent adults, people who should have known better, who nonetheless bought their teenage daughter a brand new car. Ponder that with me for a moment...what could possibly go wrong with such a decision? I know what you're thinking, and you are right...the new car was totaled within four months. Because she didn't have anything invested in it, the young woman never really appreciated it.

When kids don't learn the value of labor; when they don't make the mental connection between effort and reward; when we don't teach them to be responsible and work for what they want, then we are conditioning them to become pawns in the Brave New World of the government welfare state. We are cheating them out of the opportunity to learn how the real world operates.

As adults, they will be inclined to carelessly vote for whomever promises them the cushiest smorgasbord of government handouts and benefits. They will not understand the damage being done to America's financial health when the government punishes production with taxes, and rewards indolence with benefits.

They will be happy to trade away their liberties for the promise of government care. It is happening already; just look at President Obama's push for socialized medicine. In his worldview, the solution to every problem is more government control, and growing numbers of Americans are jumping onto that bandwagon.

It may make for a pleasant fantasy to imagine that we could all kick back and let someone else take care of us. Let's put the government in charge of allocating resources so that everyone gets their fair share of prosperity. Let's allow Nanny Government to "spread the wealth around."

But at some point, as there are more people taking out of the pot, and fewer people putting in, the pot comes up empty, and there is no wealth left to be spread around. Then we will experience not just a severe recession, but a calamitous depression.

That is when another one of grandpa's favorite proverbs will again prove itself to be true: "There's no such thing as a free lunch."