Dont Get Comfortable Now, Here Comes Capitalism's Creative Destruction, and How!

Ever been shocked, surprised, or confused by job loss? A career change? By a company, industry, or sector of the economy disappearing? Then you need to wake up and smell the capitalist coffee.

Think unemployment is a solvable problem? That at some point it won't exist? Think again, capitalist coffee sipper, for the mere nature of capitalist competition means that there will always be other companies trying to do it better, faster, leaner than the company you're working for. So there will always be jobs, companies, and industries coming and going, coming and going.

But for most, this is nothing new. This is old hat. This information is so prevalent, so obvious and in the air that Adam Smith ( Wealth of Nations), founding father of market competition, conjectured that this creative destruction was evident as the millennium of agrarian economy came to a close during the Reformation of the eighteenth century. He didn't have any pre-existing data to go on, no reams and reams of input. He just knew. To him, the obvious staring him in the face.

At the dawn of capitalism and its competitive markets, people were pretty psyched because it was a breath of fresh air. People were able to move away from ecclesiastic and state restraint, and for the first time in the history of Western Civilization people saw themselves as individuals able to make individual decisions and to act freely.

That sounds great, doesn't it?

Kind of.

However, along with the open markets of capitalism come certain inevitable negatives such as the collective unpredictability of human decision making, restricted wealth distribution or the majority of it being in the hands of the few, and the focus on what Ayn Rand called the "virtue of selfishness." Adam Smith saw this and spoke of capitalism's self-interest: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, of the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interests." But what is interesting is that from this self-interest and opportunity for ownership came great satisfaction, satisfaction that turned the hearts of the individual to the greater good (Rand's "virtue" coming forth), ala Andrew Carnegie's "Wealth" which teaches the talented business owner to not just give money away but to manage it for the betterment of the greater good to ensure greater prosperity and freedoms.

Capitalism is the end-all and cure-all? No, but it's the best we've got. But there are challenges.

Along with this greater freedom comes greater instability, accountability, and work, work, work. Don't look now, you lover's of capitalism, but there's no dictator to tell you how to do, think, be. Sorry, Uncle Samers, the work's on your shoulders.

One thing that was good about the agrarian economy was predictability. You were born into farming and stayed farming your entire life. No job loss there. However, the average life expectancy was about 25 years of age. With capitalism came greater per capita income and longer life expectancy. However, there was also the problem of risk (or should I say, challenge), not "I'm going gambling with a million dollars" risk, but risk that is managed with informed, well-thought out planning.

But nevertheless risk and lots of people don't like it so they play it safe. Or at least think they're playing it safe by working for somebody else, but in this day n age, not a lot of stability out there. Getting an "education for job security" is a thing of the past. What with the cost of living high, global competition increasing markedly in the last twenty years (due to collapse of communism and central planning), the consumer savings rate at an all time low, downsizing, outsourcing, and so on, the individual more than ever is responsible for her economical well-being-while working and through retirement. Companies have to run lean so they aren't there for the long run anymore, nor should one rely on them for insurances, work-years income, or retirement. Things of the past. Get used to it. Sorry.

Never before has the onus been on the employee to take care of business, so to speak. And here we are really talking about building one's skills with great diversity and depth so that when change occurs-jobs lost, businesses go under-you are prepared. No longer can you sit back and rely on a skill, an industry, company, and so on. You, I am not happy to say, by being in the workforce today are more accountable than ever for taking care of your career and financial well-being.

To be of use to yourself and to companies looking to hire, you must become the guru of you and develop greater intuition and insight, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking skills (how to analyze, synthesize, infer, deduce, think deep and wide), and so forth.

Today is the day n age of the entrepreneur (1 out of 6 Americans) and the knowledge guru. You must become so valuable, insightful, with a finger on the pulse of your industry, profession, field, that one would be crazy to let you go. But ultimately, if you want to stay alive economically, you must forget the archaic worker or job mentality and take on the new mindset of entrepreneur and take on the responsibility of business owner / entrepreneur, even investor so that you can have the tax breaks and multiple streams of income that are critical to staying solvent in today's economy.

Is there no other way?

No, there is no other way.

So get going today. Put away the old and prepare to the new.

Here's to you prosperity.