- Nov 10, 2002
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Why the Recession Is Good for Us[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, from Gatwick Airport in London[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"You Americans will come out of this mess just fine," a top executive at a publicly traded British company told me this week. "You always do."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Sometimes it takes a challenge to find out what you're made of," he continued, and I was eating it up. "Americans are not afraid to work."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This last statement stopped me... Is that really true? Do we still have a work ethic back in the States? [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I thought about how, for the for the first time in American history, the life expectancy of an American might actually be going down, thanks to bad eating and lack of exercise. And I thought about all the reality television in the States, celebrity meltdowns, video games... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I wondered if Americans are willing to work as hard as he believed.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Then I thought of it from his perspective... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"We had a bloke pick up a computer off a desk and throw it at a window," my friend told me. "But thanks to English law, we still couldn't sack the guy for weeks."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He says it's incredibly difficult to fire someone in England. Worst of all, the employees know it. This causes two problems... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]First, English companies are afraid to take risks. They're afraid to be entrepreneurial. If they have a business idea that requires 10 employees to try, they might not try it, simply because they can't fire the 10 guys if it doesn't work.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Second, since the employees know they're not at risk, they can be lazy – really lazy. Apathy kicks in around the office if you know you can't be fired. You just clock in and clock out. It's like lifetime employment, with the government insuring your job. As he explains it, it sounds terrible... It's sounds like the UKSR... the United Kingdom of Socialist Republics.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In order to keep up a socialist republic, a government must have an insatiable appetite for money... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The big news in England this week was British Chancellor Alistair Darling's tax hikes. Taxes are up on the easiest things to raise taxes on: booze, cigarettes, and pollutants. What legislator is really going to stand up and argue against those?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, from Gatwick Airport in London[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"You Americans will come out of this mess just fine," a top executive at a publicly traded British company told me this week. "You always do."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Sometimes it takes a challenge to find out what you're made of," he continued, and I was eating it up. "Americans are not afraid to work."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This last statement stopped me... Is that really true? Do we still have a work ethic back in the States? [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I thought about how, for the for the first time in American history, the life expectancy of an American might actually be going down, thanks to bad eating and lack of exercise. And I thought about all the reality television in the States, celebrity meltdowns, video games... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I wondered if Americans are willing to work as hard as he believed.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Then I thought of it from his perspective... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"We had a bloke pick up a computer off a desk and throw it at a window," my friend told me. "But thanks to English law, we still couldn't sack the guy for weeks."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He says it's incredibly difficult to fire someone in England. Worst of all, the employees know it. This causes two problems... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]First, English companies are afraid to take risks. They're afraid to be entrepreneurial. If they have a business idea that requires 10 employees to try, they might not try it, simply because they can't fire the 10 guys if it doesn't work.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Second, since the employees know they're not at risk, they can be lazy – really lazy. Apathy kicks in around the office if you know you can't be fired. You just clock in and clock out. It's like lifetime employment, with the government insuring your job. As he explains it, it sounds terrible... It's sounds like the UKSR... the United Kingdom of Socialist Republics.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In order to keep up a socialist republic, a government must have an insatiable appetite for money... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The big news in England this week was British Chancellor Alistair Darling's tax hikes. Taxes are up on the easiest things to raise taxes on: booze, cigarettes, and pollutants. What legislator is really going to stand up and argue against those?[/FONT]