Waiting for the Economic Rebound?

Reading the news this morning, I'm struck by the number of articles about how people are taking paycuts for new jobs... who expect their salaries to go back up when our economy recovers.

Seems to me that the American standard of living, prior to our economic downturn, was unsustainable. Paying people decent salaries for various degrees of senseless, redundant, nonsense is what got us where we are. While companies are still reliant on those kinds of services to an extent, staying competitive means restructuring.

Even on a good day, most people would agree that their jobs are unnecessary. People are paid because they put in the time, and not because they contribute.

What does that mean for the middle-managers? What happens to the average American?

Simply put, we need to find something to contribute. Each of us needs to find something our culture actually needs, and then we need to assess it's value independently of what we might have been paid for providing it five years ago. If we decide the value isn't high enough, we need to find a way to make it better.

Then, it's up to each of us to take personal command of getting that value out there into the world, and for collecting the money we deserve. Sometimes that will mean finding the one company that needs that value the most, but more often it means letting various people compete for our individual goods and services.

Today, when one company or one person can find out what literally any other person or organization worldwide is up to, that holds especially true.

This is how economic competition has always worked, and it is absolutely the responsibility of the individual.

In my opinion, looking forward to the return of corporate security is both futile and counter-productive. Don't wait for the economy to rebound. Find a new, more rewarding way to engage your skills. Take some risk.

Looking for a business model? Look at the tech guy who invents something in his parents garage. Look at the rapper who practices every day in the Times Square subway station, and finally records an EP. Look at the guys who built Facebook, or Google, or Apple, or Miramax, or Dreamworks, or Pixar, or Marvel, or any number of other less sexy, but equally risky endeavors... Look at how Obama won the presidential election.

Because that's the new America.