The Hare and the Tortoise

Most everybody is familiar with Aesop’s fable about the Hare and the Tortoise. About the Hare, hasty and over confident, while the Tortoise was slow and self-assured. And ultimately who won the race?

Watching the manic depressive cycle of “The Market” over the past 50 plus years of my life I have often thought that the politically controlled process that we have called “The Market,” or rather those that control it, behaves very much like the Hare in Aesop’s analysis of life. Yet it is amazing how many folks still trust in the market in their efforts to produce wealth.

This past week with Jack Abramof spilling the beans on CBS, about his infamous rise to the top of the food chain in the lobbyist world on K Street, I find it fascinating that many people seem shocked about his revelation concerning politicians having insider information about Wall Street deals. What else can you expect from a politically controlled environment like Wall Street? The fact is that Wall Street is not the market any more than your dog is human. The real Market is what you own and are willing to exchange for what you want or need. That, along with many others freely acting accordingly, is the real Market. And the real Market behaves more like the Tortoise in Aesop’s allegory.

You see the real Market wouldn’t race rapidly up only to crash you down on the rocks of devastation just to make a profit at your expense. The real Market wouldn’t destroy others so an elite few can rise to the top as lords and masters over the rest of society. No, the real market plods steadily along never concerning itself about exploitation because the real Market is driven by the needs and desires of individuals and how the needs and desires of one individual person or family can be fulfilled through an unrestricted interaction with another free person or group of people with their own unique needs and/or desires. Not that a certain individual or group would never take advantage of another individual or group of people, but how long would you continue to exchange with a person or group of people who has taken advantage of you? But regulations mandating that you must continue to deal with such corrupt practices puts you at a disadvantage. And as Abramoff confirms this is exactly what we have going on in Washington. And the ones doing the mandating are the ones that are profiting at your cost and loss.

As the Occupiers demonstrate throughout the world it is important to realize that the unfettered exchange of goods from one party to another party is not an evil. The evil is the massive regulation which has perverted the freedom to exchange into a political rewards game that impoverishes the masses while lining the pockets of certain political elites. In this manner, Aesop’s Hare is rewarded for his deviant behavior in a perverted “Race in Life,” whiles the Tortoise who actually has a winning attitude and plan is affronted.

How can this politically correct game of “The Market” be mended you might ask?

Corporately I believe the system is past fixable. Just look at the spin the elites in Washington have spun in response to Abramoff’s telling tales of corruption. But individually there is a solution. The solution has been plodding along Tortoise-like now for over 200 years in this country, quietly minding its own business and never concerning itself about “The Market.” The solution is; free individuals contracting with other free individuals, and meeting specific needs and desires of one party in exchange for the needs and desires of the other parties involved. The solution never exploits others for its own profit because that would destroy its ability to even exist as “The Solution.” And if one person or group of persons in this model does exploit another then the word is quickly passed around who the cheat is and nobody else continues to exchange with them. “The Solution” remains productive and profitable for all involved because of these very facts.

So why aren’t more folks informed about “The Solution” to the corruption which “The Market” has represented as the way to create wealth? Greed and ignorance would be a couple of quick but not completely accurate responses. So the deeper, and therefore better, answer would be, “The lack of self-responsibility and determination in today’s world.” These traits are exactly what the Tortoise had in Aesop’s great tale, determination and self-respect which comes from being responsible.

Today, however folks would rather vote to entrust empty promises from political pimps with their needs and desires, instead of pulling on their own boots and moving about in the world to find others whose needs they can meet in exchange for what they themselves need and desire to obtain in life.

This is what we coach folks how to do. How to win the race between the “Hare and the Tortoise.” Or to put it more bluntly, “How to behave more like a tortoise” because they win races, but hares are erratic. I like to associate with winners. What about you?

By Tomas McFie