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If you think you've had to meet some tough challengers in your time,
consider the historic sales call made by Robert Fulton, the famous
American who manufactured the world's first commercially successful
steamboat. His meeting was not with the average, easy-going small businessman
or head-of-house-hold trying to keep his head above water. His
prospective client was Napoleon Bonaparte, who was busy trying to blast
all the world's ships out of the water to become ruler of all Europe.
Fulton made what he felt was a very effective presentation.
Napoleon turned on him and screamed, "What, sir? Would you have me
make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire
under her deck? I pray you excuse me. I have not time to listen to such
nonsense."
Fortunately, Mr. Fulton did make other sales calls. He produced the
first money-making steamship between New York and Albany and changed
the entire course of world history. And world history keeps on
changing.
Surely it was sheer coincidence that Adam Smith's, The Wealth of
Nations, was published in 1776, the year of the birth of the United
States. His book proposed open competition, a free marketplace and the
creation of wealth for the hardworking individual.
That was some year, 1776. It produced the most effective political
system in the world and an economic theory that produced more personal
wealth than the world had ever seen.
Now here we are, 220 years later, undergoing a full-scale national
debate about the purpose and role of this very government, tying with
it dire warnings about the consequences of not balancing the federal
budget soon and getting our country's financial house in order.
As the debate continues - augmented by the energy of the current
presidential election season - we stand on the last leg of the 20th
Century. The year 2000 will be upon us before we know it.
The question is, will we be ready - as individuals and as a nation - for the challenges this new century will bring?
We have a lot of work to do.
First, savings are too low in the United States. Far behind the
savings rates of other countries. Japan's personal savings rate is 15
percent. The U.S. personal savings rate is less than 5 percent.
Second, savings must be increased in the United States if we are to
pay our own way as a government, and to provide the investment capital
we need for domestic corporate expansion and investment in overseas
opportunities, all of which create good, well-paying jobs.
Third, if money is the economic compost in which products and
corporations grow best, it is also the natural nourishment nations need
in order to flourish.
We must pump new economic life into America and our future. To do
that, we must commit ourselves to a national strategy of personal
savings and investment. This can be done through IRAs, stocks and
bonds, simple savings accounts, and even life insurance and annuities.
There is something for everyone. It's only a matter of doing it. Many
people are, far too many are not.
For too long, Americans have lived their lives the way Joe E. Lewis,
the famous nightclub comedian, lived his. He said, "I have all the
money I'll ever need in my whole life...as long as I die at 4:30 this
afternoon."
Such a national commitment would re-inspire people to become more
self-sufficient on their own. People could be freer to start
businesses, get out of debt, and enjoy the liberating experience of
economic freedom. They would prosper enough to give more to their
churches and charities, and others in need.
America is ready for it. People are growing weary of a plastic life,
paid for by plastic cards on revolving accounts that never get paid
off. People are also growing leery of foreigners taking greater control
of our resources - even to the financing (at a handsome profit) of our
national debt.
As a nation, we should make a commitment to do all the right things
to put our country on a sound track financially (which public opinion
polls show we all want), and to embrace as individuals a strategy of
personal savings and investment, no matter how small. The results will
not only be a good example to our children, who social scientists say
have adopted our own free-spending habits, but will enable all of us to
have greater control over our lives, financially and personally.
Sure it will be a challenge, but like Robert Fulton found out, sticking with it will pay off in the end.
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