Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Tough Love

In my daily reading, I come across a lot of rubbish and it is sometimes hard to seperate the wheat from the chaff. I think, however that the paragraphs below are worth passing on. This is from an article in US News and World Reports and is written by Rick Newman. What I think it boils down to is quit complaining and blaiming everyone else for your problems, suck it up and take responsibility for your life: "The economy is changing rapidly, and it's not completely clear why it's gotten so much harder to get ahead. But there are certainly clues. Education has a lot to do with it: There are very limited opportunities these days for people who don't have a college degree or whose training is outdated. Technology is another factor. People whose careers are tied to the digital revolution enjoy the good fortune of working in a burgeoning field, while many others work in shrinking fields being decimated by new technology. Workers able to ride the wave of globalization, at companies that do business around the world, have an edge. Attitude is another factor. Too many American workers rely on somebody else for their livelihood, without the grit that it takes to adapt and recover when something goes wrong. This is the natural byproduct of a long era of prosperity in which living standards rose for nearly everybody, just because the economy was booming. It didn't take extraordinary fortitude to get ahead. Often, all you had to do was show up. Things are different now, and the bar for success is higher. Instead of arguing over the abstract causes of income inequality or hoping for miracles from Washington, national leaders ought to be sending this message to America's workers: Get smarter. Work harder. Go where the opportunity is. Prosperity isn't going to trickle down from the wealthy, or arrive in the form of a government check. The only person looking out for you is you." Tough love, but it makes a lot of sense to my simple mind.