AEI President and economist Arthur Brooks tells a lightly used joke in his book, “The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America.”
The joke isn’t all that funny, but it makes a point. …
An American businessman is visiting a small Mexican fishing village. He notices a small boat tied up at the dock. He’s surprised to see the boat idle, since it is about 1 p.m. — prime fishing time. The businessman walks over to investigate, peers into teh boat, and spioes one happy fisherman and one large tuna. he compliments the fisherman on his catch and asks how long it took to nab it. The Mexican man replies that it only took an hour.
‘Well, why didn’t you stay out longer to catch more?’
The fisherman replies that he has enough to fulfill all his immediate needs.
‘So what do you do during the rest of the day?’
‘I sleep late, take a nap, drink a little wine, and play guitar with my friends, senor.’
At this, the American is appalled. ‘It’s your lucky day — I’m a Harvard MBA. Let me give you some advice. First, you have got to spend more time fishing and save the money. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to buy a bigger boat and hire a few men to work for you. After a while, you can buy several boats and hire more crews. Eventually, you’ll have a whole fleet, and so you can sell your catch directly to the processor. Maybe even open your own cannery.’
Now he’s really picking up steam.
‘At that point, you could leave this small coastal village and move to Mexico City — maybe even Los Angeles! You could run your whole business from there.’
The fisherman ponders all this for a minute. Then he asks, ‘How long will all this take?’
‘I’d say about twenty or thirty years.’
‘But what then, senor?’
‘What then?! You can sell your whole enterprise for a fortune!’
‘A fortune? Wow! Then what?’
The American has to think for a moment. Then it comes to him.
‘Then,’ he triumphantly declares, ‘you can retire and do whatever you want! For example, you could move to a quaint, beautiful fishing village where you could sleep late, take a nap, drink wine, and make music with friends!’
What’s the point of this tale? It’s not that industriousness is driven by Americans, or that Mexicans are not ambitious. Far from it.
The point is that earned success means different things to different people, but the free enterprise system enables people to choose how they wish to earn their success. Prosperity is available to everyone who seeks it in a free enterprise system, but what is defined as prosperity means different things to different people.
Someone who is contented by just enough to live a self-sustaining lifestyle, or by making a fortune developing a large company will both benefit and have greater opportunity to achieve happiness in an economic system where they are free to make choices for themselves.
Read the “Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America.”
