How Society Creates Entrepreneurs
How does the world get rich? With the entrepreneurial bourgeois
We Are Mind-Blowingly Rich
- Extreme poverty is at the lowest rate ever recorded
- People living on less than $2/day worldwide* * CPI-adjusted
- 1800: 85%
- 1966: 50%
- 2017: 9%
- People living on less than $2/day worldwide* * CPI-adjusted
- Most of the world population is among the middle class
- In 2019, 79% of people were middle income earners
- Up from 67% in 1960
- In 2019, 79% of people were middle income earners
- The U.S. is a powerful and wealthy country
- Total household net worth: $98 trillion
- Average individual net worth: $68,828
- From 2010-2018, poverty decline by 23%
- Just 0.17% of Americans are homeless
- Our standard of living has increased substantially
- Average household owns 1.88 cars
- 68% of Americans own real estate
- Americans eat out nearly 4X a week
- 24-25 year olds budget $95 a week to eating out
- Our richness was built on conditions for a flourishing economy
- Secure property rights
- Open and competitive markets
- Long-lasting political structure
- Limited government
- Consistent legal system
- All maintained through the egalitarian Bourgeois Deal: Anyone who wishes to innovate may innovate
But richness didn’t come from material causes
Who Are The Bourgeois?
- The bourgeois are the middle class
- Where did the bourgeois come from?
- The Aristocratic Deal: “Do what I say and I’ll let you work”
- Act I: Do as I say, pay your taxes, honor me; or be jailed
- Act II: You cannot seek protection from another aristocrat
- Act III: Kill others and your own for my glory
- The Bourgeois Deal: “Leave me alone, and I’ll make you rich”
- Act I: I innovate and creatively destroy
- Act II: I attract competition and thereby lower profits
- Act III: Everyone will be better off by my venture
- Income rose 900% from $3 per day
- The Aristocratic Deal: “Do what I say and I’ll let you work”
- How did we change from the Aristocratic to the Bourgeois Deal?
- The 5 Rs
- Revolution: The rise of manufacturing created a growing middle class
- Revolt: Overthrew the aristocracy in England, France, and the U.S.
- Reading: Spread new ideas as presses became less censored
- Reformation: Free thought led to the protestant reformation
- Revaluation: Unlimited innovation built on freedom to create
- The Bourgeois Deal brought a larger, better connected, and more prosperous population
- The 5 Rs
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest” — Adam Smith, political economist and philosopher
Giving Entrepreneurs Free Reign Will Keep Us Rich
- The Great Enrichment DID NOT come from
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- Competition
- Science
- Property rights
- Modern medicine
- Consumerism
- Strong work ethic
- Free trade
- Natural resources
- Aristocratic gestures
- These things are nice to have, but cannot explain:
- Up to 9,900% increase in standard of living
- Higher income levels
- Greater displays of virtue
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- The Economy Is A Conversation
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- Mutual sympathy of sentiments (shared values)
- Appeal not to humanity, but self interest
- The two invisible hands:
- Social hand
- Self interest hand
- We got rich because the conversation changed
- Changes in the way we think
- Changes in the way we talk
- Changes in world income
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Today, everyone is a merchant — Women, people of color, and diverse groups are empowered to create
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- The West grew rich because of historical accidents that
- Created a competitive republic of ideas
- Distributed through the free press
- Helped people flee the aristocracy
- The West grew rich because of historical accidents that
- The Free Market Fuels The World
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- In government-controlled markets
- States create monopolies
- Institutions limit market extent
- Markets limit division of labor
- Regulations choke innovation
- Free markets by themselves are not enough, we need
- Liberty, dignity, and equality
- A balanced approach
- Virtues of faith, hope, love, & courage
- Values of justice, temperance, & prudence
- In government-controlled markets
- The world is better because the Bourgeois deal
- Recognizes our ability and right to self-author
- Does not ask for permission from the elites
- Extends liberty and dignity for everyone (all races & colors)
- Empowers women and minority groups to innovate
- If we keep our ethical wits, we can all be enriched
Leave me alone and I’ll make you rich
Further Reading:
- Free Online Colleges and College Courses
- Nationally Accredited Online Colleges
- Trade School Careers Resource
- Tuition Free Colleges
- Trade Jobs
Sources:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?end=1960&locations=XM-XP-XD&start=1960&view=bar
https://www.gapminder.org/topics/extreme-poverty-trend/
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/demographics-and-entrepreneurship-chapter10.pdf
https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20190606/html/b101h.htm
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2011/demo/wealth/wealth-asset-ownership.html
https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/files/currenthvspress.pdf
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/bourgeois
https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-macroeconomics/wealth-of-nations-economic-growth