In the 19th century, successful entrepreneurs were sometimes called “robber barons”, especially if their wealth and corporations were built on “unethical or unscrupulous practices” Several of these established business or industrial empires which made them fabulously rich, and ushered in an era known as the Gilded Age.
Some of the more famous of these included John D. Rockefeller’s oil company, Leland Stanford and railroads in the West, Andrew Carnegie and U. S. Steel, John Pierpont Morgan in finance, Jay Gould in gold among others.
I posit that the modern day (coronavirus version) of robber barons are doing a disservice to many in America. They are robbing people of the dignity of work and the satisfaction of earning what they get paid.
One of the most satisfying feelings I felt was when I was paid for my own work. Money that was not given as an allowance, but money that was earned by what I did was much more valuable than any gift. Riding a tractor for $1 an hour, or “bucking bales” of hay for so much per bale gave to me (and to my cohorts) a sense of worth as we got our checks for some hot, sweaty and sometimes backbreaking work. My first job in college was as a gofer in a downtown pharmacy, doing all the menial but necessary work to keep the place running smoothly.
Yet, today, when the edict came down to shut down the economy, those in power decided to help out those whose jobs were lost by giving out a stimulus check to everyone in the nation (with just a few exceptions). $1200 per person, $2400 per couple were and are being dispensed across this country to alleviate the suffering of the loss of incomes.
In addition to the stimulus check, unemployment payments have been extended for six months — the average unemployment check in America is $370 per week. And extra is included in certain instances there. Already it is seen that many can make more money sitting at home and raking in the government’s largess than going back to work. How long will it take for this situation become, in the minds of many, just another entitlement that is owed?
Americans have always worked hard for what they had. Historians trace this to what is called the Protestant Work Ethic, drilled into many by the teaching of such theologians as John Calvin, whose predestination dictated that we didn’t know who is going to heaven, but if you worked hard and accumulated wealth it might be a sign that God is favoring you in this life and the next.
So it was that the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Quakers and others came here determined to make a success of building a nation through hard work and sacrifice. From sea to shining sea we see examples of people building up businesses, farms and industries to leave to the next generation to build upon. Today, the United States is the “gold standard” of how to have a successful nation, one that leads the world economically, militarily and socially. With free enterprise and a minimum of government interference in the economic and personal life of the people, Americans are the envy of those who live in foreign lands. Still, even in these perilous times, we are a magnet to those who yearn to live free and succeed, the land of opportunity.
What will all this government spending do to this idea of earning one’s own bread? Will we be raising a generation of Americans who feel it is the government’s duty to pay us for just being? Just this week another politicians floated the idea of a guaranteed wage for every citizen; where people would get a monthly check for just being.
Part of the demonstrations against the lockdown of our economy is to allow those who have lost jobs to go back to work. This is very commendable, and those of our leaders should see this and do their work to open up the country to do what we do best — work, succeed and enjoy the fruits of our own labor.
Otherwise we will descend into the abyss of the Roman Empire. There the leaders knew to keep the masses happy, they only had to provide “bread and circuses”. And we know what happened to that Empire. Demand to go back to work! Don’t allow the modern robber barons (politicians) to take away our self worth in labor.