I hear people talk about what scares them. Paying the bills. Health care. Giving their kids a fair start. I see it, because I live it.
I have worked for companies that paid me barely enough to live on. Then I would read about how much money the company made last quarter. These companies are built so that no outsider gets a say in how they run. The tax code lets them skip a lot of what I think they owe. Then they spend that saved money on politicians, who write them a break that lowers the bill even more.
But I see the other side too. When people are free to take big risks, you get Nvidia. You get Tesla. You get the internet, the power grid, and modern phones. That gives us a computer in every pocket, travel that is cheaper and safer, and a world that is all connected.
It trickles down into better living. Refrigerators. Air conditioning. Medicine. The ability to talk to anyone on earth. Everything the world knows, right under your thumb.
And yet I work two or three jobs, sixty hours a week or more. There is no time left to enjoy any of it. My health is slipping. My family feels like strangers. My debt keeps growing and I have no retirement.
Then the business crowd tells me I am just not trying hard enough. Work harder. Save more. Find an angle. Then I could rise above everybody else.
I'm tired. I don't want to be Gates, Buffett, or Elon. I want to be the millionaire next door. I want to enjoy my kids, my wife, and this world. I want to see it do well. Not just for me and mine. For everybody.
Common Man, Part 2 →rasp1.com · also me: jasondpike.com