Work, Jobs and Brands

Work, Jobs, and Brands

During the depression, government make-work “jobs” gave a lot of people money, but the paychecks were funded by taxes. (Another benefit to society was the grand buildings and roads that were built; my home town is still graced by a magnificent town hall built in the ’30s.) But those jobs ended.

To me, a real job is one that has staying power because it has a continuing value. In other words the fruits of that job are for sale.

Isn’t it true that wealth is created by selling or adding something to a commodity? A farmer takes things out of the ground for you, a manufacturer takes raw materials and makes something you want, and an entrepreneur takes raw data and converts it to usable information.

Does government create wealth? Only if it takes control of a source, transforms it, distributes it and sells it at a profit. That of course entails taking over or competing with the private sector.

A continuing stream of wealth depends on satisfying a continuing demand. To satisfy that, the seller must deliver a product or a service that is consistent. The product must be up-to-date and the seller must assume that competitors will try to take his business away.

That’s why brands are important. Brands are born of the social contract, based on trust and a law-abiding, mutually dependent society.

With a level playing field, who do you think would give you good, up-to-date products? A free society or a monopolistic government? Where would innovation come from? What about competence or trust?

Brands are the essence of freedom. Anyone can enter the game, then win or lose. Brands come and go (most of them). That’s called creative destruction. A brand doesn’t have a right to exist, just because it’s there. It must always earn its way.

How does a country get out of a recession? By creating wealth. That can only come from the bottom up. Someone will have a great idea---something that somehow makes somebody’s life a little better. Then the idea is made into a product or a service. If it sells, it can develop an identity, a personality, and reputation for consistency and trustworthiness. It becomes a brand, and in the process creates jobs.