[Traveler]

Darvin and DigitalShadow – and a few others: The point is that when the things we use come directly from our own pockets we very quickly develop a different attitude about them. I use to believe that because I worked hard and earned a lot for the companies I worked for that I was entitled and earned the benefits I received.

One year I received a $1000 bonus for working with a company that brought the company two million in profit. A VP (that got me my bonus took $200,000 for himself in bonus from that profit. I went direct to that VP and we had a little talk. Bottom line he felt that because he was a VP that he was entitled to his cut despite the fact that he never did a thing and never even met with the customer or anyone involved with doing any of the work. He just saw the money and took it because he was entitled. He did give me an additional $5000 for our little talk which was not the purpose of our talk.

There are two points I think are important in our discussion. The first point is that when you really get compensated for what you do then you have 100% control over that compensation and you begin to make decisions based on your values as to what you do with what you earn. I believe that the problem with the medical profession in the USA is that the entire system is designed to only treat someone that is not actually paying for the service. Talisyn has made a decision that health care is of so little value to them that they are not willing to “budget” anything they earn and spend on what they would rather have toward health care. Most people would spend much less on health care if they knew it was their nickel.

The second point is that entitlements cost you much more when someone else is paying for them than if you paid for that same benefit directly yourself. The truth is that everybody takes their entitlement cut out of your entitlement. I can prove this point with a ton of stories. The problem is that because we are willing to pay much more than the cost for a benefit when we think someone else is picking up the tab that the real results is that the cost escalates completely out of control – even when the best minded people are involved.

For example – several years ago the LDS church did a study and discovered that by consolidating purchases and repairs that they could save thousands of dollars that missionaries spend on bicycles and repairs. So in a pilot program through several missions the mission purchased all the bicycles and paid for all repairs. Much to the surprise of all, once the missionaries realized the entitlement; the amounts spent on bicycles more than quadrupled over a 4 month period.

I do have one more thought about entitlements – but before I go there I want to let the forum chew on things for a while. Hopefully, you will all begin to see what entitlements do to your freedom and your personal thought processes concerning yourself and others. One thing we should realize that no economy can pay for entitlements but every economy can pay for what its citizens are vested in achieving.

The Traveler