[Jewelry making - Article 00225] - Re: [Orchid] Should Goldsmiths unionize/organize

[Linda Holmes-Rubin]

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    In reply to Steve Stempinski--Amen! 

    Clearly, schools these days don't teach anything about economics or
    markets or how the world really works. If you sell your time or a
    product, you are part of a market, like it or not. And with modern
    travel and technology, that market is the world. You therefore have
    to provide something someone wants and have to price your time or
    product so that someone wants to buy it. No one owes you that. There
    is no free lunch. If the government (or union) provides something to
    you, it must have taken it from someone else to do it. And if you
    accept, they have power over you. Personally, I consider myself grown
    and prefer to make my own decisions, even when they're bad. 

    And for those of you who think I must live in some gated community or
    was born rich, I have worked at horrible sweatshop jobs, for large
    financial corporations, for small companies, and for myself. I have
    been an assistant shop steward (and got screwed by the union, as well
    as the employer) and owned my own company. My Dad was an Okie and I
    am the first generation to go to college--a very prestigious private
    school. I got an academic scholarship and worked my way through,
    attending full time, working more than full-time and raising a son
    alone. Sometimes I was so exhausted I cried. I got an MBA, not
    because I wanted to, but because it would help me raise my son. Was
    it unfair that I couldn't pursue the arts because it wouldn't support
    us both? Should you have been forced to contribute so I could live my
    dream?

    I did the corporate thing, but along the way I was downsized several
    times and had to start over several times. Finally I struck out on my
    own and failed several times, almost lost my house, had no medical or
    dental care for 7 years, no new clothes, no nothing while I repaid
    debts. I didn't file bankruptcy although I could have. I'm doing
    well enough now and can consult from my home. I'm not doing what I
    want, but I built a shop on the 15 acres of land I own, have mostly
    equipped it, take classes in metalwork and when the mortgage is paid,
    I will finally do the metal art I've wanted to do for so many years.
    I will, however, sell my work and treat it as a business--make things
    people want for a price they are willing to pay. And if they don't I
    won't cry and say its unfair--I'll create better work or charge less.

    Finally, for all of you who constantly complain about the rich,
    guess what? ewelry isn't a necessity and the beautiful things are
    bought by the rich. Do you think Michaelangelo and Leonardo had to
    please their patrons? You bet, and they still created beauty. 

    Now I'll climb down from my soapbox. 

Linda

Linda Holmes-Rubin
ForCapital Associates of Atlanta
Phone: 770-479-7837
Fax: 770-720-7555

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