I'm mad too, son!!

Letter #20

Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash

Hello Tom,

There are so many things to address from your previous letter. I may make statements in this letter that I believe but they’re always open for discussion, that’s what makes for a good exchange of ideas.

Let me back up for a minute and say that I remember when we watched the documentary on Netflix called “Minimalism.” It made a real impact on me that your generation was in large measure rejecting the materialism of the past. I was struck by the fact that the focus seemed to be more on traveling and keeping your independence. The whole focus was so appealing to me because the attitude was that personal freedom was more important than being tied up in a 30-year mortgage. I think any movement that prioritizes freedom over excess is good. This life is really only possible if you work for yourself to make that possible. However, if you want to have children, then I think that has to be reconsidered. But the point is that when I saw that I thought these young people are really onto something that my generation would’ve never considered. I really admired that about your generation, and it shows in many ways that you guys have a different type of courage that you trust yourselves that much not to follow the status quo and to do your own thing.

I think the one area that’s absolutely different is the cell phone. There’s no question about it. It’s had as big an impact as the industrial revolution or really anything in my humble opinion. This has most definitely impacted at least the last 20 years and has had a huge impact on human relationships.

Has it been mainly for the good or the bad for your generation? I’ll let you answer that, and I’ll give my opinion in the next letter.

So no, I absolutely do not think that you guys are lazy. You just have challenges that we need to figure out how to overcome.

I did watch the presentation by Scott Galloway, and I especially liked the point he made that 60% of the cost of housing are the permits that have to be pulled in order to build the house. I wish he would’ve dissected that a little more but there are pros and cons to this like most things. The pros are you will have an inspector come after the work is done to ensure it’s done right (that’s the way it’s supposed to work) but the cons are there is a great possibility of corruption and abuse of power. For instance, in California I read about a homeowner that was renovating a portion of their house. They had to spend $1700 for a “technical building review” and after 4 months were slapped with a $6500 permit fee. Guess what this did? It killed the project.

That’s why so many people don’t pull permits.

As far as his point about colleges and the cost and how increasing enrollment would bring costs down, I’m somewhat skeptical. Like I stated before, this all depends on the character of the people in authority. For instance, I believe that SOME people in these institutions are definitely taking advantage of any program that helps young people go to college. If the ones in authority know this money is guaranteed wouldn’t there be a temptation to raise the costs? I think this is some of the reason tuition is so expensive.

And it’s sad that this is having a huge impact on your generation. I know that one of the reasons you left your country is to pay off your loans in a country where the cost of living is so low. So, we lose the benefit of having a great American like you live here where your impact is badly needed. We could even make the case that in large measure your disease was brought about by the astronomical costs of your college education and the stress it brought.

I absolutely agree with Scott that costs are way too high and killing you poor kids, I just hope he’s onto something with his solution.

Now about work and your generations attitude towards abuse. You guys have already had an impact as many employers are now offering all kinds of different packages to attract workers. Flexible hours, more vacation time are just a few things that have changed, and I have to give credit to your generation for having an impact on that. As you know I am a rebel and any time people like us can fight for something and see it realized always gives me cause for celebration.

Power to the people!

I did want to raise one point about raising the minimum wage and the impact that has on a small business. Imagine a business that has 10 workers that’s paying $16 per hour, and it’s raised to $25 per hour. That’s going to create a real hardship for that business. The only way for it to survive is to pass the cost onto the consumer. The larger businesses won’t be as impacted. We could discuss all the points and counterpoints but suffice to say this is not as easy to solve as one might think.

I would like to look at an honest assessment of many of these corporations to see exactly what the profit margin is and to see how fair the people are being treated. I know at my place of employment there have been years where we finished the fiscal year in the RED and the top administrators still got their bonus when the rest of the hospital was in a pay freeze. You know I’m all about America and the free enterprise system, but that’s not to say that there isn’t injustice and abuse of the system and when it happens, I’m all in on changing it and calling out abuse. Why should those administrators have gotten a bonus when we were in the red?

Our medical corporation knew this. They had to. And let me say this after working there for so long, there are just as many left leaning people running the show as right leaning people. The bottom line is that when it comes to the money, a person’s real character comes out. Management looks out for management. There is little value placed on the multitudes of people behind the scenes that are doing all the other important things that are also contributing to the success of the corporation. But many in leadership don’t look at it this way, they see many of us as expendable.

Your generation is not alone in this fight Tom, it’s been going on since the dawn of time and may I say it’s the reason that so many people may have a problem with the free enterprise system. If those in power rig the game, or are not fair in their treatment, you’re going to get a figure like Karl Marx to rise up. I wish more people would remember that. We must be benevolent to people. We must be fair, and we must treat everyone with respect. That’s why I personally love a business with profit sharing, and I wish that those types of businesses would thrive and grow.

Which leads me to another question that I wonder about. The market is supposed to dictate the rate of pay. It’s just a fact of life that the more knowledge you have and the greater skill you bring to the table the more your labor is valued, which dictates the rate of pay. I understand that. I can see that a CEO that works a much higher-pressure job than I do and puts in a lot more hours and has the education which makes his labor more valuable gets paid more. As to my trade and the market, the same thing is true, the more knowledge an HVAC guy has makes his knowledge more valuable than the other HVAC guy will make his pay compensation higher. For me it took a while before I had a boss that saw that my skills deserved more money. If you have a boss that doesn’t want to see it or doesn’t care you’re truly stuck unless you leave. The general rule usually is that the biggest raise you’ll get is when you leave a job for another job.

So, my question is this. Is this not happening for today’s younger workforce? Are you guys still not getting paid what you’re worth in spite of your education? I really don’t know. I’m looking forward to the response from you and our reading family. I don’t want to get into a lot of politics at this time and I really only bring this up because it’s a factor in this discussion. This country is over 30 trillion dollars in debt. We’re devaluing the dollar by this escalating debt, and I really fear for your generation and your future because of it. I just wish we could look at this collectively as Americans and come to a solution.

Looking forward to your response Son