A thought to remember, Marx said:
"Remove one freedom per generation and soon you will have no freedom, and no one would have noticed."
There was a professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.
He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn
again and you put up another side of the fence.
They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America & Canada. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/ Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.
One should always remember two truths:
There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
If you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America & Canada, you might want to share this with your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably not share this. BUT, God help us all when the gate slams shut!
Think about this quote for today:
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living."
11 comments:
GREAT PARABLE.
"you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself."
That is not necessarily true. If you make $X/hr at your job and can work overtime and the person you are hiring to do the service for you only charges less than $X/hr then it is cheaper for you to work some overtime and hire the person. This especially works out if the person is more skilled at the service being provided than you and you are self employed.
7:31, you are overthinking. The point is, if you don't work, you don't eat. Free stuff is not really free over time. We gradually give up our freedoms while being distracted with receiving the free stuff.
7:31 AM, Always one in every crowd
Prior to 18 months ago this would have been correct,but not now.The entire dynamic has changed.
Good post, Thanks Joe !
8:04 I'm not overthinking. You however are using poor reading comprehension. What you are trying to explain is covered by "There's no such thing as a free lunch", which is a truism. However the other statement I was pointing out is not a truism it is just an oft repeated fallacy that people believe to be true. The same type of fallacy that Democrats use when they say immigration is always good.
Your labor for your own project is free. If you are tied to a job so badly that you can't do for yourself certain jobs at home you are surviving and not "living". The Corporation loves you till a younger worker comes along and says 'I can do his job for less money!'...
5:35 Why should I do a job myself at home (say 3 hours of yard work during the week or weekend) when I can work at my job for 3 extra hours and make more money than I pay someone to do the yard work for me.
For instance say I am a plumber, or electrician, or a welder with my own business. I get a call from someone that wants me to come do a job for them on Saturday that will take 4 hours to do when I have plans to do some yard work at home that will take me 6 hours to do. I take the job and make $400 because I charge $100/hr on weekends and I hire some one that needs work for $25/hr and pay them $200 for 8 hours of work. I still come out ahead.
You say "Your labor for your own project is free" but it isn't free your labor for yourself is of the same value as it is for a employer. Study economic theory. It isn't about being tied to a job. If I can work a little extra and make more money and then enjoy my weekends doing other things then it is worth it. Especially if I like doing my job.
Why do think so many women joined the workforce instead of staying home doing housework and taking care of the children? It is because they can hire house cleaners and daycare workers for less than they make.
As far as your comment "Corporation loves you till a younger worker comes along and says 'I can do his job for less money!'...", all I have to say is don't price yourself out of the market. I would say more but I don't want to be typing for the next hour.
Joe,
I can't dare communicate with you via email or identified comments lest my employment with the City of Salisbury be terminated by the quasi-socialist and controlling government of our town. The Daily Times has repeatedly shown it's true colors as a vehicle for the young socialist movement overtaking our community. They have been provided with important information about the present administration and they have declined to publish it for fear of being ostracized by the city administration. Are we living in Russia or Salisbury? So let's address just a few of the issues that you won't hear in the disappointingly biased local media:
- Why is the police department significantly understaffed but has no one hired to attend the next police academy? Has Barbara Duncan and the political elite created a workplace where no one wants to go?
- The Recruitment officer at SPD has always been a lieutenant or sergeant but for the past two years has been filled by a corporal; yet, he has the same job description as his higher paid peers. Is that lawful or fair to pay someone a significantly lesser salary for doing the same duties? Is this part of the recruitment problem?
- There was an internal SPD employee survey done some time ago and the results were damning. There was essentially a vote of no confidence by SPD employees and yet, Mayor Day has chosen to continue with her incompetent "leadership". The Administration promised to release the comments of that survey to all SPD employees, but after realizing the unequivocal negativity, has refused to publish them. That's lying to your people; but it goes untouched.
- The Salisbury Fire Department is paid to eat and sleep. The city also pays a substantial amount for paid firefighters to be enrolled in the Law Enforcement Officers Pension System despite the fact that they have no authority to enforce the laws at hand.
- There is a female employee who has worked at SPD for 44 years, starting as a secretary but presently doing accounts payable, human resources and other important functions. She makes less than $40k per year, less than $1k per year of her service.
Spot On !!! I'm having all my friends and family read this blog !!!!!!!!!
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