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Me, I'm a wage slave, but I do have a friend who put up his savings, borrowed money from a bank and built and opened a car wash. He hired a dozen or so young m
by JackFr 12y ago
Me, I'm a wage slave, but I do have a friend who put up his savings, borrowed money from a bank and built and opened a car wash. He hired a dozen or so young men and women who staff it, while he is an owner/manager.
He has been successful -- he judged the demand for a car wash correctly. Probably not a %1'er, but as a local small business owner is able to live a comfortable middle class life.
Certainly without customers and without the bank he could not have succeeded, but I think it's ludicrous to say the 'economy' created the jobs. There are some agents within the economy who 1) recognize opportunities for profitable activity and 2) direct resources these opportunities. I think it's reasonable to describe these people as job creators.
- gerbal 12y agoThis argument isn't about people starting small businesses, but rather about millionaires patting themselves on the back for being wealthy. Many of whom think of themselves as job creators because they have a maid and a gardener while getting richer by being clever on the stock market.
- akmiller 12y agoBut it's certainly reasonable to assume most of his customers are middle class individuals with enough discretionary income to spend on occasional car washes. The articles point is not that your friend doesn't deserve credit in creating jobs, but the initial creation is only one part. Sustaining those jobs requires sustaining the customers and to do that they must maintain enough discretionary income to spend on car washes. With the income disparity ever increasing it's easy to see the middle class fading and as that happens so shall your friends car wash business.