The annual holiday party for our company took place this past weekend at Steak ‘n Stein. As the President and Founder, I felt compelled to share a few thoughts. Here is an excerpt from my somewhat impractical musings…
To start, 2013 proved to be another challenging year for our modest business. Every perceived success was overshadowed by our persistent shortcomings. Opportunities that we encountered seemed to slip away as we invariably stumbled over ourselves, often ending up flat on our faces. Yet, we refuse to let these setbacks dampen our spirits.
When we launched our publishing venture in 2006, we didn’t aim to reinvent the wheel. We envisioned selling newsletters to be as effortless as peddling bagels with cream cheese. We thought attractive promotions, such as a deal where buying five would yield the sixth free, would attract a throng of eager customers.
Alas, this was merely the first in a series of miscalculations. Selling newsletters has proven to be akin to peddling ice cubes to Eskimos; we find it nearly impossible to give them away, let alone sell them. To make matters worse, our paid publications have met the marketplace with a silence that feels almost deafening—it’s akin to popping our eardrums.
A few months back, for example, we produced an intriguing publication detailing how to profit from President Obama’s shortcomings. We envisioned profits so plentiful that we could leave our day jobs, fund our children’s college education, and even relocate to a luxurious estate. Unfortunately, our sales figures are so dismal that they can be counted on our fingers and toes.
The Moral Questions We Delight In
Still, we meet our failures with a smile. Each day, we approach our work with the relentless determination of a pack mule. With a bit of luck and years of dedication, we may eventually find ourselves as overnight successes.
However, even if we never achieve that level of success, the joy and hope we derive from our efforts are far more valuable than the work we put in. Each morning, we open our eyes, look around, and marvel at the extraordinary world we inhabit. It often feels as if we’re living in a wildly absurd dream.
We are fascinated by the unpredictable nature of the economy and the markets. The relentless drive of governments to manipulate circumstances to their advantage captivates us. We are also astounded by the outlandish strategies bureaucrats employ under the guise of sound policy.
These officials make promises they cannot fulfill for things that are often unearned, borrowing money from foreign entities along the way. Through their supposed philanthropic efforts, they convert millions of capable individuals into dependent state beneficiaries, all while inflating the national debt to staggering proportions.
At the top of the list of absurdities, however, is the Federal Reserve, which sustains this madness by generating vast amounts of digital currency from nothing and injecting it into the economy. Where does this money originate? To whom is it disbursed? These are the intriguing moral dilemmas we contemplate.
Confessions of a Compulsive Scribbler
Unlike your typical Congressman, we bear no burden of improving the world. We harbor no grandiose ambitions to combat climate change through regulations on cow emissions, nor do we seek to reduce unemployment by printing money.
We don’t dictate to our neighbors what kind of light bulb to use or which website they ought to visit for health insurance. We’re not concerned about whether their children consume soda or chew gum. In essence, we refrain from meddling in the private lives of others.
Instead, we clock in each day, absorb the chaos, and jot down our thoughts with the hope of assisting others in making sense of it all—while perhaps making a profit ourselves. The entire charade may appear ludicrous, yet this is the extraordinary world we navigate, and it’s what drives us to continue. Frankly, we can’t help ourselves.
Above all, we are grateful to our readers. They exist out there, appreciating and investing in our work. They share in our wonderment as the world continually spins upside down.
There may indeed be more lucrative and esteemed professions, but is there one that offers as much enjoyment?
We have yet to discover one. Have you?
Thus, we are compelled to give it another shot this coming year—and beyond. Occasionally, we’ll dig deep and swing for the fences, confident that we will hit our mark eventually.
Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
MN Gordon
for Economic Prism
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