I hope y’all will indulge me today. I have been thinking a lot lately about America and the way our economy is set up (capitalism, of course) and I wanted to share those thoughts with my readers. In case you missed it, my husband is losing his job at the end of month, and apparently I just love to worry about whether or not he’s going to find a new one. 😉
So last night, as I watched the fireworks exploding overhead in amazing brilliance, my mind started to wander, and I started to think about how in America, you can make as little or as much as you want. If you have the drive and willpower to succeed, you can make the changes necessary to make it happen. In America, you can set up your own business, run your own company, and be your own boss, because no one is telling you what to grow or where to work or how much you can make.
I started thinking back on how much I’ve complained in the past on message boards about people bidding on job sites like Guru and Rent-A-Coder at stunningly low wages (think a dollar an hour, or even less). Just a month or so ago, I placed a bid for a data entry job on Rent-A-Coder for a 40 hour job, and I bid the job at something like $6 – $7 per hour – it was a work-at-home position, and I figured I could make a little less per hour just because it would be such easy work. Well, I lost the bid, and when I checked to see what price did win the job, I was shocked to see that someone actually bid $40 for the entire project, meaning that they were going to make $1 per hour. Except it gets worse: At Rent-A-Coder, they take 15% of what you make as a flat fee, so this person was actually going to make a whopping $0.85 an hour by time all was said and done.
That got me hot under the collar. I fumed and stewed about that for at least a good hour or two. Why would anyone actually agree to make so little per hour? I just couldn’t understand it. If I worked 40 hours and only made $34 for everything I had done, I would be in deep trouble. I try to make at least $50 per day, which means that if I only made $34 for the week, I would be short $216 of what I needed to make. That’s a big shortfall and not something my checkbook would be okay with.
Then one day I was listening to the radio, and I heard three people discussing Cuba. One used to live there, the other has studied the country and has traveled there extensively, and the third person was the host of the show. As I listened to them talking, one of them mentioned that the average monthly income for a Cuban was $16. Monthly income. $16. I just stared at the radio. Surely I misheard that. My husband and I spend that much buying dinner one evening at a restaurant! They went on to say that since that is the average income, there are quite a few people who make less than $16 per month. My mouth dropped open even further.
And I realized that my derision of anyone being willing to only make $0.85 an hour needed to be replaced by an understanding that to some people, that is really good money. For a Cuban, they would be making 8.5 times more per month if they made $0.85 an hour, than they do right now ($16 a month vs $136 a month.) Who wouldn’t be delighted to make 8.5 times more money per month than they do right now? I know I would certainly be thrilled to death if I got that kind of pay raise!
So last night, as I sat and watched the fireworks, and contemplated our country and the freedom that we are granted by our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, I realized, again, how blessed we are to live in America. Next time I see someone outbid me, and win work by offering to make mere cents per hour, I’m going to work hard to remember that not everyone is blessed as you and me by being able to live in America. Not only that, but when I spend time getting mad about that, I am wasting time I could be working. What good does it do for me to get mad? No one cares. People certainly aren’t going to start bidding higher just because some gal in Idaho thinks they ought to. My anger doesn’t hurt anyone but myself.
Has anyone else dealt with this problem of being seriously underbid by people from other countries? What did you do about it? Tell me your thoughts on the subject by leaving a comment below or e-mailing me at Hava L {at} Families dot com.
God bless America!