Once again, our delightfully reactionary society has created an absurd double standard in the midst of chaos. During a time when our market is undergoing its horrifying and painful mutation from a bull to a bear, our understanding of its processes are becoming distorted, and our opinions of American businesses have become frighteningly ad hoc.
On the one hand, our good elected men and women are writing billion dollar checks to businesses up and down Wall Street. Despite the fact that these corporations' old age and bulk have prompted some state of mass senility, judging by their truly questionable business practices, I don't disagree with the concept of a bailout.
I take issue with the other side of the debate: consumers hard-pressed by the recession are sniping businesses who have remained stable through the downturn in order to feel better about their own situations. It's a common argument whenever we see new spending. When a business has a "help wanted" sign, consumers who fashion themselves critics are quick to snap, "Who are they to spend more on labor during these tough times?"
When a business opens a new office to expand its market base, the retort is, "What wasteful spending!"
Such negativity about small businesses is what we really should be concerned about.
The bottom line is that success is going out of style. Many businesses weren't immediately affected by the domino collapse of subprime loans and have healthy savings accounts for when the going gets tough. However, when we see them continuing their growth and entrepreneurship, we immediately assume poor judgment.
It's a significant problem because these responsible small businesses are our best way to get out of this recession. Regardless of whether or not you support President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan the only thing left to decide is just how many hundreds of billions of dollars are going to be put into the economy. However, no recovery plan is going to work unless there are strong businesses to pump money into.
When the government makes pledges to build roads and bridges, it does not plan to do so itself. There's no roving band of men and women from a corporatized Department of Housing and Urban Development constructing new homes for American to live in -- the government does not hire Robin Hood figures to travel from town to town performing random good deeds. Instead, the government pays small businesses to take on these construction projects, and compensates them in kind -- the normal business practice.
There's also the larger issue of what we might call the "American spirit." We're a diverse people, and hopefully there are not too many sweeping generalizations that apply to us. However, American entrepreneurship is comparatively unique. We have always been a nation of individuals, which has created a strong tradition of praising those who can successfully manage their own enterprises. When we criticize business for showing signs of success, though, we jeopardize this philosophy. Who wants to invest a significant amount of labor in their business if its productivity will only be met with criticism and cynicism?
If our negativity about companies growing and being prosperous during this recession spreads, we will not be able to find businesses willing to help us out of it.
That's not to say all spending is ultimately good spending. Indeed, one need not look away from this campus to find evidence of frivolity: it has become cliche to criticize Dartmouth Dining Services for purchasing flat-screen televisions. But then there are always national issues to lambast, like AIG bonuses (the media's favorite). It's our job as citizens to point out such wastefulness, but we must have a discerning eye for those only wishing to reap the rewards for their hard work.
Optimism is beginning to make its way back onto Wall Street, which is good, because the economy has never recovered in spite of people, only because of people. However, we have to maintain our willingness to praise those who are able to accumulate wealth if we want to preserve our "American" economic identity.
