Back to the ethic of the farm?
A philosophical meditation for your weekend:
Do we work as hard as our grandparents did?
My father’s parents raised four children through the Depression and World War II, all on a small-town pastor’s salary, and footed the bill for a private college education for all four of them. When they died, my grandparents left a surprising amount of money in their estate — as did my mother’s parents, even though neither of them ever finished school.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to say what was “better” or “worse.” We should all be glad that we’re not living through the Depression, the Dust Bowl, the World Wars, et cetera. We should be glad we live in the age of computers and readily available antibiotics. There’s no need to wallow in nostalgia.
But the fact is, many Americans (and others) who came of age during the Depression had a fundamentally different view of economic life. Many of them grew up on farms — far more than today — and they carried the ethic of the farm with them as they faced the gritty personal choices created by the sweeping events that we casually lump under the abstract terms “depression” and “drought” and “war.” For most of us in the white-collar world, we see those choices distantly and through a haze; for them it was real.
When I look at my kids, I like to think my wife and I are raising them with good values. They say “please” and “thank you” most of the time, and they know that there’s no whining in our house. But there’s no way that they’ll ever grasp the reality of the hard physical work that my grandparents did from childhood forward. And why would I subject them to it, since we don’t live on a farm and that kind of labor isn’t necessary for us?
One way of looking at it is that our grandparents — the “greatest generation” or whatever you want to call it — did their work so well that they spared us the kind of grueling effort that would make us as tough as they were. Again, I’m not passing judgment on what’s “good” or “bad” here, especially since the historian in me knows I’m glossing over a ton of details and variations.
But it’s worth reflecting on how rapidly our view of the world may be changing. None of my friends 40 or younger — not one — thinks that they can rely on Social Security for their retirement. And given the flat returns of the stock market across this decade, I hear more of my friends talking about old-fashioned concepts like “cash and carry” and “rainy-day funds” and living debt-free.
That would have sounded like crazy talk 10 or 15 years ago when I was fresh out of college. But today it’s starting to make as much sense to thirtysomethings as it did for our grandparents back in the 1930s.
The business implications of this I leave as an exercise for the reader.
- Do you think our fundamental assumptions about the economy and the markets are changing?
- What do you think current economic events will mean for businesses in the decades to come?
Looking forward to your thoughts on this.
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Related:
- The downside of a consumer-driven economy.
- Historical perspective can lessen the sting of the economic crisis.
- Not logic, but culture.
- Bringing externalities inside the system.
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Photo from the Seattle Municipal Archives.
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10 Comments so far
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Personally, I’m getting back to my roots and teaching my children some of the same economic lessons my parents taught me. My parents never carried debt, except in real estate, never bought new cars, never shopped in high end stores. Teaching my kids that their value and economic security has nothing to do with clothing labels or the latest tech gadget is important to me – even more so now.
The current economic conditions will probably be a good thing in the long run. Too many people we’re spending too much and too focused on being caught up in trends — like waiting in line two days for the first iPhone. The finance industry was (is?) unscrupulous -sending credit card offers to anyone with a pulse, including dogs and children.
I hope the prolonged recession will teach us to be less influenced by marketing (and buzz) to have the first and best of everything. In the long run, the super-consumer market of the last few years was a bubble that had to burst. If we resist the temptation to buy frivolous things, eventually companies will have to focus more on marketing products and services that have “real” value.
ooops, forgot to check send me follow up comments….
Thanks for the brain exercise on this fine Saturday! :-) I HAVE been playing with these questions, more or less in the past few months or so. Now for my two cents worth.
* Do you think our fundamental assumptions about the economy and the markets are changing?
Definitely – YES! We’ve (I’m speaking in general terms here, since I’ve never assumed anything about the economy other than ensuring that I had as much control of my earnings as possible instead of leaving it to a more “gambling” like environment such as stocks, RRSP’s etc .. ) all become disillusioned with dollars and how to make dollars grow.
We were all mislead into thinking that putting some money into groups of projects, or into the hands of those that touted the perfect algorithms / formulas for making our dollars grow – would ensure a bountiful retirement. #FAIL!!!!
We’ve actually become a society that inadvertently chose to negate responsibility and sit idly on the fence waiting for things to run on their own. Why did we do that?
The Farmers mentality or ethic if you will was much more realistic and controllable. You reap what you sow.
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.
Hard work has always been proven to, more times than not, pay off in the end. There are certainly different types of HARD work. The foolish way and the common sense way.
We need to bring that back into our mindset. We need to have more control of our hard earned money and not leave it to governments, corporations, financial institutions to do what they will.
* What do you think current economic events will mean for businesses in the decades to come?
Hmm, good question. We can all speculate. We’re all hoping that businesses will learn from these times and adapt better ways for all involved. However, this is not the first economic challenge, we’ve had a few. Businesses never learned from the past. I don’t believe America (or the world) really ever recovered from the Great Depression. Not really. There were just more creative ways of “bandaging” the financial wounds.
It’s time we stop bandaging our financial wounds and really look towards a “surgical” removal of the tumors that have grown within our very unstable and weak economy.
A cleanse is definitely needed. A Global economic cleanse that will surely impact HUGE systems that never really worked for the “People’s” benefit anyway, just the big white enterprises.
It’s clearly a time to re-think what money means to us and what values we hold. It’s clearly a time to re-think the kinds of things we are “sowing” into our lives … for what can we hope to reap if we are only sowing empty wants rather than, basic fundamental needs.
I’m back on the farm taking care of my elderly parents! I was raised farming – as the oldest child I helped a lot – I learned the meaning of hard work early in life.
The lessons my parents and grandparents taught me I hope to have passed on to my kids. They knew how to set up a budget with their income. It’s important to know how much money you need to get what you want!
The economy today is vaguely reminiscent of the Depression – and I am glad I learned how to reuse, recyle and regift as a kid! I also appreciate the value of the community I live in. It’s small, we know each other and we help each other.
I know how to can the tomatoes I grow and share the sweet corn with my friends. Push come to shove, I can live off the land!
Do we work as hard as our grandparents did? No way.
My 94-year-old grandfather built the first house he and my grandmother lived in with leftover lumber from the sawmill where he worked. It had a sawdust floor. He worked and saved those many years to eventually buy the land that became the farm where I grew up. My own father spent many years working sunup to sundown farming that land, buying some of his own, and while not doing all the work still being very hands-on to build the house in which I was raised.
I often worry that I’m not doing a good enough job imparting that same farm ethic to my girl. Thanks to the proceeds from the calves sold from the cow my father gave each of his children when we were born, I was able to go to college and build a successful career that enables me to pretty much give my daughter everything she wants (she’s only six, so the wants are not that huge yet ;-).
My father died too early, his father is too weak, and the farm land now is worked by someone who leases it from my family. She’ll never witness the real blood, sweat and tears such work takes. Will my words be enough to instill a hard work ethic in her? Doubtful. But, maybe, just maybe, her growing up in this economy will help me out some.
So, do I think our fundamental assumptions about the economy and the markets are changing? I sure hope so.
@LPT
We work further from our families than our parents and grandparents did. Most of work as long a day as they did, but most of us do much less physical labor.
Part of the change in our understanding of markets has been a change in time frame. My father’s father took worthless stock as part of his pay in the 1930’s. That company is now folded into General Dynamics — his belief that the country would come back and his willingness to wait sustained him and my grandmother, helped my parents and the last of that money is now in my and my siblings hands, Though he never farmed, he preserved capital in the same way a farmer preserves the land. It is faith and caring that allowed your grandparents to leave “a surprising amount of money” in their estate.
I grew up on the farm until 6th grade, when we moved into town, and a year after dad quit farming. I continued to work on farms in some capacity every year of my life except for the year I spent in Iraq. While the work ethic isn’t seared into me like it would have been if I had finished High School living on a farm, I find myself better off than many of my classmates.
Even when I do something stupid, or when times get tough, I can fall back on the resourcefulness and skills I picked up from all those years on farms to get through it. I’ve made more than my share of mistakes, but when people around you know you’re willing to try something new, you’ll give it your all, and you’ll stay until it’s done right, they’ll find some work for you to do.
I don’t think I have the same work ethic as my dad, much less my grandpa, who at 86 is about to transition into a nursing home, but is being held up in the hospital, and first retired from the farm 5 years ago, and would still be working there if he could.
However, even as times have changed, the midwest has held onto some of those values. As the rest of the country is in economic panic, North Dakota is leading the nation in housing values, has $1.2 billion dollars of extra money, and has a future that looks brighter than most of the rest of the country.
After my own mistakes, seeing what’s happened to the rest of the country, and observing successful businesses around me, I figure $20,000 would be a phenomenal start for a tech business in my area, but I’m doing everything I can to make it happen without needing a bank loan, even if it requires many extra hours working second/third/fourth jobs, because long term, I’ll be better off for it.
@thattalldude
Two things: My aunt(70)started putting things “back” last fall for the winter in Georgia. They raise a few things on their “farm” but mainly she shopped the specials and hid things for the long winter months. And today at church we learned of a young mother who’s going into the National Guard for 6 months and then will do a weekend each month so that she and her family can have retirement. In her 30’s and married to a man who’s legally blind, she’s not depending upon Soc. Sec. to take care of them years from now. This is a drastic step but at least they’re looking to the future and making decisions to help down the road.
When did we ever get away from the notion that we ought to take care of our own little red wagon? Oh, yeah, that was probably when someone offered us our first credit card and we said, Free money!
We have smarts but we don’t always use them! Thanks, Tim, for making us think!
I am about turn 39 years old in the next couple of weeks. Your article reminds me of what both of my Grandfathers told me over and over again, which was you can rely on your own hard work. Tough times can often produce much clearer thinking, the days of 401K’s growing at 10 percent a year and home equity loan spending have come to standstill. I personally believe a prolonged economic downturn will actually help the average American to realize what is important in life. Having a roof over your head (not “McMansion”), your personal health and a good family are what it all comes down to. Most of us really don’t need all of the “extra” stuff in our lives. Hopefully, things will turn around at a measured pass with true investment in our country’s future. The time for quick fixes is over.
Tim – love the post on re-discovering fundamental values.
Sadly this hand-writing was on the wall in 2000 but nobody believe those of saying things like that.
My analogy/model is that of dieting. After a certain point in income growth getting fed is not a problem. Maintaining a healthy weight is and that takes a “new” set of values, habits and disciplines. Quotes because they’re actually the old values re-engineered for the new times.
As I’ve argued more than a bit we’re facing the biggest structural changes in the economy and society we’ve seen in at least thirty years. Broadly the same is true for the world system.
BtW structural is very long-term and defines how things are built and work together in the system-of-the-whole. Secular defines over the longer-term how the structure behaves over time. Cyclic defines the natural internal rhythms of the structure and secular trends, think business cycle, industry cycle, life-cycle.
Welcome to the brave new world. Having coasted for most of our lives we’re about to re-discover our parents/grand-parents values the hard weighs.
Just to make it clear – when I talk about structural changes think TECTONIC. And remember the Scout motto.
Or learn why the Coast Guard’s real motto applies.