Lazy Americans

I read an article today about how "lazy Americans" are hurting the economy and I gotta say I'm a little offended.

The article starts out with Tyler Cowen, an economist, pointing to the fact that Americans have not started nearly as many businesses were started in 2014 as in years past.  

Have you looked at the startup of a business venture?  Holy crap.  If you want to go with purchasing a franchise you need to have a large amount of liquid assets available, not to mention your net worth.

I looked into franchising a donut shop I think would succeed wonderfully on the East Coast.  Ever heard of Shipley's Donuts?  Oh my they are wonderful.  To franchise this company they require $200,000 liquid funds, $600,000 net worth, not including ability to purchase land in the area you are looking to build.

Most Americans I know don't have half of that even available.  Hell, even going a cheaper route would be the Taco Truck thing.  I've looked into it and it would still take almost $20,000 just to have a pull behind taco stand to set up.  That doesn't include purchasing recipes (I am no chef but I've found several recipes that are terrific, I would feel obligated to reach out to those whose recipes I would use and purchase them), advertising, food costs, utensils, plates, the list goes on.

I wouldn't consider myself a Lazy American by any means but I definitely won't be starting any businesses just for the simple fact that I'm trying to get out of debt, not dig myself deeper.  I work my ass off for what I have and so does my wife.  Besides, I like to travel and if I were to open a business I wouldn't be able to travel at all unless it becomes a successful business, and that could take several years.

And no way I'm going to be a landlord, been there, done that (at least assisted with my father's slum lordship and I'm not going down that road, especially with this economy).

He claims we Americans have created an insulated life for ourselves and our children and we're afraid of change.  Ok, I'll give him this point.  Change is scary for a lot of people.  I look to my own family and extended family and I see a lot of people going through the same motions because they are afraid of changing their norm.  They complain about their life on Facebook but do nothing to change it (and that's part of the reason I'm only on Facebook a few minutes a day, my eyes can only roll so many times before they start to hurt).  Even our little family has a routine that is difficult to change (we allow a lot of flexibility but for the most part it's the same, even down to the food).

Cowen also reports that we Americans aren't moving as often as we used to.  Is that a bad thing?  Living in one house usually means you're paying your mortgage down.  I've lived in the same house for almost 12 years.  We would like to make some major changes to it now that we can afford to do it but financially it doesn't make sense (to me, wifey might think differently at times).  Yes we could probably sell our house but it would be at a significant loss from when we purchased it (right before the crash when everything was inflated).  The only thing I would want to do is move closer to my wife's job so she doesn't have to commute so far but the houses in that area are a lot smaller and have no land (I need the land, I can't live so close to people, they bother me in large groups).

The article continues stating there is a great reset going to happen soon into Trump's presidency.  He claims it usually happens after a great trauma or war (considering we've bombed Syria and Afghanistan in the last few days, I'm leaning toward a war).

The last thing I'll point out from this article is the fact that he wants people to take more risks in their personal lives.  Once again, I'll give him this but only to an extent.  Making a change in your life to improve it for the better is always a good thing.  Taking a risk here can be extremely beneficial in many aspects.  But before just "flipping a coin" there should be a lot of thought and consideration that goes into the decision.  In addition to studying out the options one should pray for guidance (I will always encourage someone to reach out to Heavenly Father for guidance, as long as you believe he will help direct you).

After working in group homes and the parks and recreation department for over 10 years I realized I wasn't going to ever support a family.  I needed to make a change so I returned to school and became a nurse.  It wasn't cheap (combined debt for 2 bachelors degrees was well over $50k) but it has been significantly better for our lives.  Now at this point in my nursing career, as much as I would like to further my education it doesn't make sense.  I would have to return to school (not a bad thing) but that would take time away from my family for the 2-4 years.  It would incur more debt, probably close to $100k, and I won't even double my current annual income doing this.  Is it worthwhile?  Probably not (it hasn't stopped one director from trying to convince me to return).

Going back to the offended part, just because we're not taking as many risks to "help the economy", why does that make us lazy?  There are many more educated people out there than in the past, many of whom are living frugally so they can save for a nicer retirement.  Or vacation.  Our captivation on the internet is living vicariously through people who can afford to do things (at least for me).  Why is it wrong to live frugally, save money, so we can have that week or two extravagant vacation with a few other nice outings while we wait?  Once again, I work my ass off as does my wife, for what we have.

I don't think so

I have a 15 year old female patient who claims she can't see after getting hit in the face with a cell phone.  She obviously has a swollen black eye to one side but no trauma to the other side.  She refuses to even try to open her eye (unless she thinks you're not looking where she'll not only open both eyes but she is able to text from her phone without any problem until you walk in the room where she'll then pretend she can't read/write anymore on her phone).

At one point she needed to walk to the bathroom, once again "walking blindly" with her younger sister helping her out.  She calls my name and grabs my elbow (how could she see where that was?) so I can help "guide" her to the bathroom (where she then proceeds to take care of everything herself, presumably, because no way in hell I'm hanging out in there).

By the end of the night it's time to determine whether or not her eye will need stitches.  Because of all the dried blood near the site of injury (because when you're bleeding you just let it run down your face, no need to try and control it) we have to soak (damp cloth) and scrub (gauze and elbow grease). Because of the pain she is in (honestly I believe she hurt, just milked it for everything) she said she needed to hold my hand.  At this point she reaches out and grabs my hand (miraculously able to see exactly where my hand was even though her eyes were still "swollen shut").  Keep in mind her girlfriend (whose perfume smelled a lot like wacky tobacky), mother and sister are in the room with her cousin cleaning the room next door (who also couldn't figure out how to unlock a push lock door, that's something special).

Seriously, she just needed to push the handle down to unlock it and she couldn't figure it out.  Please don't breed...

I don't think so.  I literally pulled my hand away from her and pointed out her family and friends who could hold her hand during this "traumatizing moment" (ok, I didn't actually say traumatizing moment, just told her about her family in the room who could hold her hand).

Several co-workers said I should have just let her hold my hand so she could get a contact buzz from the situation (I think there was enough buzz in that room just going second hand. Here's hoping I don't get drug tested any time soon).

So, what would you do in this scenario?

What would you do?

Hypothetically speaking what would you do with your toe if it was amputated in the ED?

Personally I think I would not only get the tattoo shown above but I would probably try and pickle it and put it in a jar.  Or even better (and probably a little less crazy of a conversation point) bury it in the flower garden and make a nice headstone dedicated to the piggy who went to market.