Happy Independence Day

Hi everyone,

I still remember when the movie "Independence Day" starring Will Smith came out around the time when I was still in middle school. I remember seeing that movie and thinking about what it meant to live in an independent country. Does it mean being the strongest country in the world and having the ability to fight off an alien invasion? Does it mean capitalism and free market trumps all? Does it mean freedom of speech? What about security? What about equality?

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That is what independence is all about here in America. We are lucky to be given that freedom. Many people across the world have no idea what independence means or feels like. However, even in America, certain groups of people in society are left behind in the pursuit of independence. Many avenues of society are still left unjust and distribution of freedom is unequal.

For example, why is it that the top 10% of the richest familes in America own about 75-80% of the wealth in America. How did they accumulate that wealth? Was it capitalism?
Benjamin Franklin

One of the fouding fathers of this nation was one of the earliest entrepreneurs of our country. He wrote a book full of aphorisms that we have internalized and come to value in our society. America is one of the hardest working societies in the world. Many of us unconsciously follow Franklin's ideas of "time is money" and "a penny saved is a penny earned."



But, the fact is that this nation has become greedy through those values. Look at the recent subprime bubble and the last internet bubble. Everyone is out to make a quick buck. Meanwhile, the richest people are trying everything to accumulate even more wealth, increasing the wage gap between the richest people and the poorest people in this country.

Independence Day. We should all think about our own pursuits of happiness and make sure that those do not take away from others' ability for the same opportunities.
Instead of looking for the next cash cow, we should think about whether the product or service we are offering provides a value to the whole of society. Business is not just all about making money. It's about doing what you love, because here in America you have that freedom.