One of the current Presidential candidates espouses the oft
heard crie de coeur that we hear justifying increasing Government control. She
states[1]:
Nobody in America succeeds on their own.
Government-funded labs are fueling world-changing innovations. Much of American
wealth was built through government-sponsored home equity. Strong American
businesses are powered by American workers educated in public schools. Their
goods are brought to market on roads funded by taxpayers.
Now I humbly object. My success, simple as it may have been,
was all accomplished outside of the US. I got my Irish citizenship and started companies
in twenty countries, Russia, Poland and Czech Republic being the best ones. In
the US, I was inhibited by one Government entity after another. The FCC awarded
Pioneer Preference licenses in wireless to two companies which were backed by
massive existing news entities. Any chance I could have won there? No, too political and
I was not a player.
I tried again, and again we found we had to construct a
company to meet the structures demanded by the Government, along their own
specific preference lines. So we actually did that and then we saw what
happened when one group claimed issues against another. The Government mandated
structure to satisfy political constructs. The only country in the world that
mandated how we were to operate! Russia was a competitive haven, at the time.
Even my US subsidiary was plague with power failures here in
New Jersey, move the main thing to Prague, more reliable, and by Government
overhead that just drove costs up.
Was there anything that I relied upon in the US Government?
Yes, one thing, that I had to move the entire company to the Czech Republic. We
built out fiber in Central and Eastern Europe, no Government help, especially
the US. We all paid our US taxes, but the benefits that are alleged above were
naught.
Oh yes, public schools. Never saw any. We went to parochial
schools where we paid. My paper route and lifeguard salaries paid for High
School, and other jobs through College. I did not go to Rutgers, I did at MIT
and paid tuition. Although then there were not as many Deans mandated by the
Government so tuition was low; about $1200 a year in the early 60s!
The Candidate continues:
Here's the thing — I grew up on the ragged edge of the
middle class in a family with a tight budget and no room for error. My parents
worked hard and did the best they could, but when I was 12 years old, my Daddy
had a heart attack. Everyone thought he was going to die. He came back home,
but he couldn't work. There was no net to catch my family. We lost our station
wagon and would have lost our house if my mother hadn't saved our family by
going out and getting her very first job outside the home — a minimum wage job
answering phones at Sears.
We all have our trials and tribulations. My father and his
six siblings were thrown into an orphanage after their mother died of TB at the
young age of 32. Try that on for size for trials. No nets? My first job was at
ten, mowing lawns for a quarter. Try and find any ten year old doing that
today! Many people have stresses growing up. It is part of life and often
defines who we are to become, depending on how we respond to those challenges.
Welcome to Darwin. I have been working for 66 years, paid into Medicare every
year since it began and into Social Security since 1959! Still do. But then
again these folks want to take this away, those "benefits" we had
paid for, and the economy we helped to build, globally.
As for cars, we never had one for years. The first family
care was a beat up 1939 Plymouth, blanched red, large round lights, wool seats,
torn. I remember polishing it a dozen times so I would not be embarrassed with
all the new cars up and down the street. We walked everywhere, including
shopping. It was a mile and a half to the A&P and during the Korean War we
still had rationed food; meat and butter and sugar. But there were no obese
kids.
So when I hear Candidates bemoan as above, I see people who
have little understanding into what make for success in a business. It is hard
work, good luck, and trying to avoid the ever increasing burden of the
Government!
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