Mark Cuban says the most patriotic thing you can do is "Bust your ass and get rich." More:
I’m not against government involvement in times of need. I am for recognizing that big public companies will continue to cut jobs in an effort to prop up stock prices, which in turn stimulates the need for more government involvement. Every cut job by the big companies extracts a cost on the American people in one way or another.
Entrepreneurs are needed to create and grow companies to absorb those people in new jobs. If entrepreneurs don’t create those jobs, the government ends up having to spend more money to help them one way or another…
In these times of “The Great Recession” we shouldn’t be trying to shift the benefits of wealth behind some curtain. We should be celebrating and encouraging people to make as much money as they can. Profits equal tax money. While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes. I don’t. I find it Patriotic.
I’m not saying that the government’s use of tax money is the most efficient use of our hard-earned capital. It obviously is not. In a perfect world, there would be a better option. We don’t live in a perfect world. We don’t live in a perfect time. We live in a time where the government plays a big role in an effort to help lead us out this Great Recession. That’s reality.
So I will repeat my point. Get out there and make a boatload of money. Enjoy the shit out your money. Pay your taxes.
It’s the most Patriotic thing you can do.
Befuddled 
I agree. Entrepreneurship is the sure antidote to the dehumanizing neoliberal globalized crony corporatism which employs so many of us making a living wage. Service jobs pay wages upon which one may in fact starve.
But as you and many others have found, there are good jobs to be had out there, usually working for smaller companies. And except for securing one of those positions, the only real alternative is to start your own.
Here, in Greensboro we’re losing one restaurant per week, while others are thriving. This economy has become a sharp knife which excises the Donatos and Jimmy Johns, but exposes the Jersey Mikes. The consumer has money and is willing to spend it. That they are becoming more discriminating is only natural. Those, like my wife, who can specialize and those who can perfect their models will prosper.
In a declining economy, it still may not be a zero sum game, but it does at times resemble one.
Thanks Fec. You’re absolutely right about starving if you only make what many service jobs can pay. It’s been interesting watching my kids try to find work – the competition for jobs at Burger King was brutal.
The worst job I ever had was with the biggest company I ever worked for. I’m not saying there aren’t good jobs to be had in large corporations, but I will say that it just seems logical to me that the larger an institution the greater likelihood that it will have aspects that are dehumanizing. I guess my main goal in the adult working world has never really changed – I just don’t want to be a number.