Thoughts on America
Hey, America. I’m here. Deep in the middle of the Sunshine State. With 25 million of your grandparents, 2–3 million illegal immigrants, endless miles of canals and a whole bunch of alligators.
I came here to manufacture a product that I hope will soon be on Amazon. Yes, an actual thing that you can touch and feel.
There are still real physical things people buy and reasons why everything in the world can’t be virtual, software based or in the cloud. But, silly me, I came from Start-up Nation where our motto has become “Do Epic Sh*t” -and I haven’t heard “NO, that just can’t be done” in forever. We start with nothing, no natural resources, no funding, no affirmative action, no grants, no small business loans or the possibilities for going into credit card debt — and we just build. Whatever it is. We build. Biotech, agricultural advancement, solar, software. Cyber security, telco, medical devices -we sit in garages and tiny labs and just make it happen.
For the past 20 years I’ve been a member of Start-up Nation and amazingly, I’ve forgotten what is so special about our little Island of DO. The land where there is no, NO and similarly no impossible or inconceivable. Only, “Let’s try” and “what about..” and “what if”. Granted sometimes those discussions are heated and even involve some chair throwing or yelling or hand motions that would make an American office worker cringe -but we get sh*t done. Epic sh*t in record time.
Last night as I watched snippets of the Presidential debate and the aftermath where the press tried to make sense of a country about to potentially elect Donald Trump to the highest office in the land, I heard lamentations about industry and economy that has been lost to China and Japan and the Far East. I heard politicians speak about job development and growth saying it would only come from large taxes on imports and a large wall with Mexico. That the economy can only be rebuilt if socialism is allowed to reign free and wealth more fairly distributed amongst all. Special interests be shut down from buying and selling government officials.
You know what, that all sounds great. Well, not the wall or the 45% import tax, but who doesn’t want to see opportunity for everyone and income equality.
The problem is America, what in the world are you going to do with these policies if you get them? Because honestly, between you and me -you’ve already forgotten how to make stuff.
As I mentioned, I came here to build my product, fully expecting to pay more, but excited to support the local economy and keep American money here. Only guess what? No one wants my business. No one said, “hey, we can do that. We can build that or sure we can make that….” Instead I faced a broken sea of trash websites built for SEO and black hat search rankings, crappy Google listings and companies that once I finally found them and reached a human said -you’d be better off doing that in China. It would take us 6–10 weeks and cost many times more. Sounds like a great product but we can’t make it here. Those companies that did bid were 10–20 times the price and make me really work to get a quote and understand the complexities of how to work with them. I work with suppliers in Israel all day every day in my other jobs. 10 cents of advice to small businesses -when you make it that hard to work with you -you won’t stay in business long. The irony, it is cheaper to build my product in Israel, with VAT (value added taxes) huge import and customs taxes and no manufacturing base then it is to build in the US. Yeah, really. By a factor of nearly 50%.
At the same time, I went to China figuring I would see how hard it would be to work with them, get samples made and get to production. What I found was perfect English, fast quotes, easy to find and vet suppliers and my prototype is already on the way via DHL.
America, there are things you do brilliantly (honestly, is there anything as glorious as the veritable freeway of frozen food aisles of an American supermarket ??), but simply put, America, it is time for you to get scrappy again.
Yes, software and tech advancements have replaced some jobs and others are cheaper to outsource. But if you want to continue as the leader of the free world, you’ll need to learn how to make something other than hair and nail salons and processed food. For a country that consumes so much stuff -requiring entire stores dedicated to selling you storage boxes for all your extra stuff -you need to get back into the stuff business! You need to start building again.
The American economy cannot stand on fast food chains, nail salons, pet grooming, entertainment and skin care products alone.
The America of the 20’ and 30’s recovered from the Great Depression by building epic sh*t across the country. Dams, highways, bridges and national parks. Most of that building has now outlived its functional life. Those bridges and dams and roads need huge investment to keep functioning safely. So it is time for a new shift to building more epic sh*t. Take the billions of dollars of special interest terror state budgets funding extremists and radicals and focus those budgets back in the US. Put the underemployed and unemployed back to work on infrastructure projects within the US. Get scrappy again America. Start saying YES again. Socialize your healthcare, get rid of your outrageous Tort laws and lawsuits, get a hold of your campaign financing and special interest controls on government and stop making it so attractive not to work.
Oh, and who should you vote for to get this all done? Honestly, none of the above.
