© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. A friend likes to say, “If you do not get what you want, check the incentives you are using.” That is great advice. Everything in life is tied to incentives and we must use correct incentives to be successful.
The use of incentives has been in effect as long as human have walked the Earth. Even people ignorant of the principle still apply good incentives because it leads to success. Many people do not realize how success is achieved while to others find it simple.
B. F. Skinner contended we humans are conditioned to do more of what we like and less of what we dislike. If what we like leads us to success, then we are successful. Since this is not rocket science, all humans should be happy. However, for the most part many Americans are not happy.
One explainer is that humans are noted for their contradictions. Doing wrong things and expecting successful outcomes is a contradiction. Worse, people continue doing wrong things even though they never get success. Buying Lottery tickets and expecting to win comes to mind.
Does that mean the incentive factors do not work? No, they work all too well. Our missing incentives for success condemn most of us to not achieving the success we want. But it can change in an instant when we realize that we must use the right incentives.
Let us apply this to what is happening in our world where people are not getting what they want. What is it that they want and what incentives are they willing to use? Most people want to be safe, healthy and without money woes.
We recognize the contradictions when Americans go places they know are dangerous, continue unhealthy behaviors and use a fiscal policy only a lunatic would consider. This is not a recipe for success. Very occasionally someone can go against all good advice and prosper, but that is not the way to bet.
Most of us wish to live in a society where our children and grandchildren live better lives than us. It was the wish of my grandparents and my parents that I live a better life. The rub is that this generation has spent the last forty years spending our money and our children’s money and our grandchildren’s money.
The national debt is around Seventy Trillion dollars which works out to about a quarter million dollars of debt for every man, woman and child in our nation. And it is getting worse. More Americans are riding in the cart and fewer are pulling the financial cart. Will my children and grandchildren live a better life than me? Not if my generation leaves nothing but debts.
Of course it could all change if our energy policy was such that America was energy independent and our private sector was going strong. This assumes politicians not spend that extra bounty. With the extra revenue America could reign in the runaway spending and leave a fine world for our children.
This leads me to wonder: what incentives have we Americans put in place for our economy to zoom and dispense with this overwhelming debt? None, we are still printing money. We have turned off the engine of prosperity for political reasons. Politicians passed a healthcare law that takes the private sector to its knees.
We have a society that insists on sitting rather than pulling the wagon. Their incentive is to get something for nothing. This flawed incentive will lead to a bad ending for all of us Americans.
These people waiting on a handout will be very much at risk if the economy crashes for good. Who can the politicians rob to pay their political debts when the whole economy crashes like it did in Germany in the 1920s? There will be no one left? The “rich” will flee the country or lose like the rest of us.
Most of us plan to hunker down and try to ride out the wild ride when the people who do not work have no one left to rob. This missing incentive for success will shape our future. What we miss the most in our country are reasonable people who can understand incentives.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico on six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
