Tony Huppert, CEO, Team Oil Inc.
I have said over and over, politicians’ raising the minimum wage to gain votes is now coming to haunt those responsible.
Headlines are reading “The New Economy: Unemployment rate falls, but teens get left behind.”
As economists will insist, raising the minimum wage doesn’t affect the numbers substantially. It is ‘who is employed that matters.’ Work ethics are not taught in schools, they are taught by employers. If a student fails a test, they get a bad grade. If a student fails on the job, they get sent packing—no check. ‘Big difference.’
Handing a graduate a degree to someone in their mid-20s with no work ethic, is like giving a set of golf clubs to someone who watched golf on TV and expects to get a hole in one just because they have new clubs. We have to do more to get our youth working. Raising the minimum wage is not the way.
Parents and schools must teach that getting a job is good. Starting at the bottom is the foundation to success and parents have to stop thinking they don’t want their kids to struggle like they did when they were young. Wake up; it helped make you what you are today.
I saw one of the posters held at the McDonald’s protest. It said, “You are forcing me into poverty.” My question is, ‘What does not having a job do’? Taking responsibility for one’s own actions isn’t an option; it is part of life. Deal with it. Prove your worth by your actions not by holding up a sign. It goes with the old saying, “Actions speak loader then words.” You have a choice, “Work your way up, or whine your way down.”
Tony Huppert is a Wisconsin businessman of 40 years and CEO of Team Oil Inc., the family-owned and operated Team Oil Travel Center, and Subway in Spring Valley, Wis.