"A Disease For Which There is No Cure."

Approximately 16.1% of our citizens are entrepreneurs.

That's about 50,0000,000 of us.

The folks who are selling us hot dogs on the corner.  Or renting us kayaks by the river.  Or starting a business and hiring your neighbors.  Like Elon Musk.  And Zuckerberg.  And Donald Trump.  All of whom have thousands of employees.

An enormous 61% of us are paid by the hour.  Including every cop, up to the rank of Asst. Chief.  They have to sign in when they get to work by the hour, just like most everybody else.

Almost everybody who works for anybody works by the hour.  To me, as an ex-employer, that's a really stupid way to do it.  We almost never get an hour's worth of work out of anyone anymore.  And never did.  We have to assess whether "the clump of work" we get out of several hours of an employee's time all packed together in a day, is truly worth the investment.  And much of the time it is not.   

Especially when our business partner, The State in Which We Work, forcibly extracts from us 35% or 40% more than an employee's salary in terms of Workers' Compensation and Unemployment and Payroll Taxes.  Like New York City, which charges an 8% excise tax, over and above all other taxes, just for the privilege of working there!  You drive across the River from New Jersey in to NYC ($8.00 fare) and you incur an additional 8% tax just to go work there.  That's why an employer has to always consider whether he's getting his money's worth by committing to hiring another employee.

Or maybe just working a bit harder or smarter and putting that unspent money in his pocket. 

And God knows I know that.  I started and managed my own business for nearly 40 years.  My wife and I created an entirely new medical specialty back in 1977 with a $2,000 investment.  And wound up employing more than 50 nurses, technicians and doctors.  And servicing more than 30 Los Angeles and Orange County hospitals by the time we'd grown it up.  I was additionally asked to teach a class for the MBA candidates from Chapman University, entitled, 

"Entrepreneurism:  A Disease for Which There is No Cure."  

So I both lived it, and taught it.  Both successfully.  I am a serial entrepreneur, having started 7 businesses, and through my management company, aided another 15 to a turnaround.  Every entrpreneur I know failed at least once in their efforts, and many 4 or 5 times.  But they never stopped trying.  And that's why I so adamantly advise anyone who will listen.  

A college degree won't guarantee you a job.  

Nor should it.  Private employers won't guarantee you a job.  There are a lot of Ivy League graduates these days asking, "Would you like fries with that?"  While also paying off gargantuan student loans.  So, my advice to you is:  

If you want true job security, create your own job.

And, on my way out the digital door, consider carefully your decision to attend a college or university.  They cost $30,000 or $40,000 or $90,000 a year, and for what?  You'll not learn how to find a job, or how to keep a job.  Or God forbid, succeed at a job!  You will learn all about "Medieval Lesbian Poetry," if that's your desire.  But in our society, that won't feed the bulldog.  New UPS truck drivers start at $175,000 a year.  Computer nerds start at $125,000.  Even cops start at over $100k.  Ferriers (horse shoers) are earning $250,000 a year!  And they get to breathe fresh outdoor air and play with horses!  With no student loans!  

And for those so inclined, you may also learn along the line what you need to know to start and operate your own business.  Successfully.  And that's the Brass Ring, so as far as I'm concerned...