| | I could have said "entrepreneur" and I could have stopped with a simple "Yes" or "No" on whether or not you own a business... or a business that employs others, paying taxes on their wages and status, etc., etc., etc. I made the question open to interpretation. It was further amended by Dean and that was fine, too.
There is a mindset that differentiates us from others... or so we like to believe. As philosophers here anyone can justify any course of action, certainly to themselves.
What remains, though, is the extent to which you create wealth, and I agree that even in Marxist terms, the employee creates wealth. The dividing line is whether you actively seek to do that. In other words, I for one, always view my employer as my best customer, regardless of whose side of the bookkeeping tracks the taxes to be paid.
Moreover, it is fully possible to own a business, to sell an indpendent service, while employed -- and many people do. Sometimes the businesses become fulltime occupations, often they do not, nor do they need to. So, I was surprised and disappointed at the dearth of responses in all and the apparent lack of entrepreneurship across the board.
Myself, since 2002, I have been an employee most often as a security guard. At the same time, I write freelance and earn a hundred or two every month that way. In addition, I get paid to speak at numismatic events. I also earn small prizes (silver ounces, typically), by placing judged educational exhibits at numismatic conventions. Last month, I set up a table in the business college of my university and sold antique stock certificates. (A dean called campus safety on me -- no business can be done in the college of business -- and there is a story in that.) But the fact is that I hustle.
I learned that from a crook I worked for. The guy went to prison. More of them should have. But one thing I had to give him was that if he was not selling something, he did not have two nickels to rub in his pocket. On the other hand, it took the government years to catch up with him because every night at 5:00 o' clock, they went home. Finally, a single FBI guy had enough and took it upon himself, a form of entrepreneurship, if you want to think of it that way.
So far, all we have here is statements of faith not deeds.
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