No Accounting for Jerks...

Our industry's big trade show, SIGGRAPH 2005, is next week.  So I was driving home from work yesterday, after busting my butt all day to get ready for a show that could make or break our tiny company, and Sam Seder was on the radio working hard to get listeners to call their representatives to vote "no" on CAFTA.  Admittedly I've been out of the loop on this one since I've been heads-down working to make my company succeed, and I couldn't make the call he was urging since I don't think that people should use phones while driving (and I'm one of those insane people you've heard about who doesn't even own a cell phone).  But I listened to what he had to say and it seemed reasonable given that what I've heard about CAFTA has all been bad.

Then some sort of small business owner called in to argue.  We'll call him Gary.  I don't recall exactly what he said, but it followed a very familiar plot line.

"I don't understand," he whined, "why I should care if some guy wants to take his business to some other country."  He then continued on a weird non-sequitor, "After I've invested millions of my own money in my business, shouldn't I have the right to take opportunities where I can do what I'm supposed to do -- make money for my company?"

I'm not even completely clear what argument he was trying to make, but the form indicated it didn't really matter.  "Why am I supposed to care..." is not designed to engage rational argument; it's employed to put the opposition on the defensive.  Not only is your argument incorrect, it says, but first you have to engage my enthusiasm.  Of course you never can.

To his credit, Seder gave the caller several good reasons why he should care despite the fact that this individual might make more money exploiting cheap labor in other countries.  At the very least Seder explained why other people care about this particular bill and it's consequences.  As predicted, it didn't really matter.

"I don't understand," the guy began again, apparently after not listening to anything the host had just said, "why I should care..."  And he did the whole spiel over again, about millions of his own money and how it should be his choice and so forth.  At this point I would have hung up in disgust or shouted "I just told you why you should care!" but Seder pressed on with examples, like how businesses cause far more degradation of the public highways than all the commuters and holiday motorists put together and yet highways are paid for mostly out of individual taxes.  The poor rich businessman finally fell back on what he felt was his ultimate trump card.  "But I took the risk," he said proudly.

Risk?  Risk?  This guy doesn't know risk.  Putting millions of your own dollars into your own business is not a risk.  That's a goddamn golden opportunity.  Not everybody gets to do that.

Risk is going to work every day at Wal-Mart knowing you have no health insurance because the company pays you slightly less than the government-mandated threshold level to get it, and hoping you don't get sick.  Risk is being fired from your dead-end job when bills are due, and hoping your meager savings hold out for food and shelter.  Risk is putting your phone and your car payment on the credit card so you can keep interviewing, hoping that you have a new income before the bill collectors start calling.  The real risk is just living as a lower income person in this country.

What did Gary do to feel he deserved so much credit?  As an entrepreneur he invested his savings in something that he anticipated would net him a positive return.  The very worst thing that could happened to this guy, if he really sunk his whole fortune into his venture and it turned out badly, would be that he would become a lower income person himself.  Gary's downside risk is the everyday life for millions of Americans.

Sorry, but you get no sympathy from me.  Your much vaunted "risk" doesn't justify trashing any responsibility you might have to other members of the society in which you live and thrive.  The "risk" you take in seeking your fortune does not relieve you of the responsibility to the orphans of capitalism -- the truly poor who live by the skin of their teeth day after day.  If you want to sidestep them you cannot get past me with a simple "why should I care..?"  You should care because your mama trained you to care.  Or perhaps you thought you knew better, and more's the pity that we all have to learn that lesson again because your mama failed.

Gary does not speak for me or the millions of other small business owners who have the ability to think beyond our bottom line.  We know that a just and equitable society is an essential part of any success we might achieve, and we pay our taxes and accept the restrictions on our businesses gladly.  We'll make Gary do his part too, even if he doesn't want to.  Tell Gary, if he calls again to bleat about why he should care, that it's called a level playing field and even if he doesn't care, a lot of us do.

- jack*

Comments

[Mookie]

Nice post, nice to know a small business owner that actually cares about other people. I may return to this blog to hear more words of unrandian wisdom.

[Witch]

Bravo, Jack*!

I agree, the real risk is being a working poor american.

When I was 21 years old, I divorced my husband while pregnant, left with $50 and no job. I swiped my way to opening my first retail store. My parents furious with my *risk*, I explained that not making this opportunity for a better life would be the real risk.

Chin up, Jack! You can be a benevolent employer AND make $.

Now, go buy a cell phone...

[la]

I think that the Bible took care of the correct answer for this guy. "What profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"

[The Liberal Avenger]

Was your company made or broken at SIGGRAPH?

[jack*]

SIGGRAPH was pretty good; we had a lot of good press coverage. Now we have to make good on our promises. By Christmas I'm thinking that will be done, but then there will be the next thing...