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"Prize Winner" Is A Good Metaphor For Today's Economy by Michael D.Hume, M.S. If you haven't seen "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," you should. Normally, Hollywood preaches a predictable liberal sermon about greedy corporations, the evil military, mythical global warming, and the fantasy triumph of progressive ideas. But someone in Tinsel Town messed up with "Prize Winner"... this 2005 movie, starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, is an outstanding metaphor for the real relationship between the government and the economy in today's America. I should warn you that it's a film most would consider a "girlie movie," aimed at the emotions, and featuring a female hero and a male ne'er-do-well. But if you're a guy, don't let that deter you. Instead, see unlucky Kelly Ryan (played by Harrelson) and his enterprising wife Evelyn (Moore) as the U.S. government and its economy, respectively. And I don't think this brief explanation will ruin the flick for you. Young Evelyn had the brains, talent, and work ethic to take her places as a wordsmith for the local newspaper in the 1950s. Bored, though, she was attracted to young Kelly, a talented singer who liked to play it fast and loose. He was fun. He was new and different, so she married him (read, "elected" him). But an accident cost him his vocal cords, and he fell into the classic "victim mentality." Still, since they were a married couple in the '50s, he was the boss, and it was up to her to try to help him - maybe save him from himself. Kelly had a spending habit, and he ran up an unmanageable debt to pay for a lifestyle beyond his means (sound familiar)? Of course, like that to Hell, Kelly's road was paved with good intentions: he wanted his kids to eat steak (though they'd have preferred more basic fare), and he wanted his wife to have nice things he thought she should have (whether or not she wanted or needed them). Needless to say, it was feast-or-famine in the Ryan household, featuring a lot more famine than feast. Sometimes the family enjoyed luxuries, but most times there was no money for milk. Curiously, the feast-times were sponsored not by high-rolling Kelly, but by hard-working and enterprising Evelyn, who used her writing talents to win the sort of contests that were all the rage in the '50s and '60s. Evelyn was persistent, living by the phrase embroidered on a sign above her desk: "The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Get." No matter what hardship befell the large Ryan family, Evelyn had the creativity and motivation to come up with the winning slogan, or jingle, or whatever - often beating hundreds of thousands of competitors - and the gap between what was needed and what Kelly provided was filled, almost always, if only temporarily. If the metaphor is lost on you (and I doubt it is), let me spell it out: a celebrity government gets elected by being new-and-different, and by promising to cut down the "fat cats" and give us each a share of someone else's pie. But their nanny-state policies prove (again) to bring the inevitable unintended consequence of hamstringing the real engine of the economy (entrepreneurship) while still failing to deliver the goods. We have "universal" health care, but that ends up meaning we have no quality health care at all. Free education means only forced indoctrination; and stimulus packages do nothing to stimulate anything but the stimulus business. The government uses our money to tell us how much using our money for the government's programs will help us, asking us to choose between what we see and what they tell us. In "Prize Winner," Evelyn sums it up best. After a typical episode in which Kelly hurts her when he'd meant to help, he declares with great contrition that all he wants in the world is to make her happy. "I don't need you to make me happy," says Evelyn, "I just need you to leave me alone when I am." It's just a movie. But if the U.S. government would stop trying to make the businesses of this country happy, and merely leave us alone when we are happy, we'd have a speedy end to the recession. And we wouldn't even care if they took the credit. -30- Michael Hume is a speaker, writer, and consultant specializing in helping people maximize their potential and enjoy inspiring lives. As part of his inspirational leadership mission, he coaches executives and leaders in growing their personal sense of well-being through wealth creation and management, along with personal vitality. Those with an entrepreneurial spirit who want to make money "one less thing to worry about" can learn more about working with Michael at http://oneyearplan.net/michaeldhume Anyone wanting to jump-start their vitality can browse through the best (and most convenient) nutraceuticals on the market at http://shop.enivausa.com/239824 Michael and his wife, Kathryn, divide their time between homes in California and Colorado. They are very proud of their offspring, who grew up to include a homemaker, a rock star, a service talent, and a television expert. Two grandchildren also warm their hearts! Visit Michael's web site at http://michaelhume.net
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economic reform, financial debt, finance reform, prize winner, victim mentality,
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