Stats Favor Wages Over Work

Paycheck or production. Work or wages. Two things that should be hand-in-hand, instead are toe-to-toe. In a post-recession fallout, Americans everywhere face a decision centered around the struggle between Give and Get.

Late President John F Kennedy stirred the nation years ago, compelling Americans to ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. It’s a speech still echoed today by coaches, leaders and bosses to people on a team. Sacrifice. Pitch in and contribute for the sake of a common goal.

Many managers and business owners, strapped for cash, struggling to balance a budget, are now forced to ask many of their employees to make similar sacrifices. Bosses can’t afford to give out raises. Wage growth can’t keep up with inflation. The heavy burden of taxes mounts heavier and heavier on the backs of the middle class.

Corner office corporate level executives pour over spreadsheets, looking for ways to fatten the wallets of their investors. And they’re good at it too. The richest 10 percent are the only group of people in America who saw their paychecks go up last year. Meanwhile, laborers, warehouse workers, builders and sometimes even public servants are all sweating it out, a growing number living paycheck to paycheck.

Politicians often give their strongest pitch to the small business owners of America, but that audience is getting smaller with every passing year. Even with creative TV shows like Shark Tank and The Profit encouraging entrepreneurial innovation with endowments and investments, the number of people starting small businesses in this country is shrinking more and more, every year.

In the upcoming elections, both this year and in 2016, employers, employees and job seekers alike will all be looking to Washington to find a way to grow their income. People pushing for a higher minimum wage. Corporate cronies lobbying for tax loopholes. Both rich and poor, stuck in class warfare, distracted and derailed from the real task at hand.

The answer is not found in politicians, but in production. There needs to be a shift in trust. Not in corporations, but in creativity. Not in welfare, but in work. Not in institutions, but innovations. The quality of what you can make will always determine the quantity of what you can take to the bank.