In the beginning of chapter 7 of "The Seen, The Unseen, and The Unrealized" by Per L. Bylund, the author discusses how natural disasters, wars, and other forms of destruction can affect a country or area's economy and citizens. For example, after the May tornado in 2013, Oklahomans were just trying to rebuild and survive. Many families lost everything. Because of this horrible storm, an abundance of people did not have shelter, belongings, or really anything to their name. They did not have time for leisure. If they were not working, they were trying to rebuild what had been lost. Like Bylund mentions, survival is held a higher value than leisure. (Bylund, p. 100). In this chapter he alludes to the fact that leisure is a luxury that not everyone has. After World War 2, countries were simply trying to rebuild capital and get back on their feet. Not only had they just moved past the Great Depression, now they had to rebuild what was destroyed in the war, or grieve who they had lost. Once again, they were just trying to survive. However, natural disasters, wars, and other forms of destruction are all temporary setbacks to society. They can cause a lot of damage to an economy, to the state of their citizens, and to actual property, but all of these things can be rebuilt with time.
In the next part of this chapter, Bylund dives deep into how bureaucrats and policies affect business owners and their employees. He uses an example that I found very interesting. The reference of Adele throughout the book refers to a woman who starts and runs an apple orchard. In this chapter however, he talk about potential policies and laws that she might have to abide by in the future. New laws and regulations that are passed that make running her orchard difficult could easily be worked around, but that is only if she is forced or chooses to abide by them. as Bylund said in some situations, it is extremely difficult for authorities to regulate the populations actions, unless they assign people to ensure that each business is following the rules. (Bylund, p. 104).
"...the effectiveness of government, and therefore it attempts at regulation, is dependent on the silent majority sanctioning or at least accepting its claim to influence." (Bylund, p. 104).
This means that if the majority of the population disagrees with the regulations, and most likely rebels, the government cannot do much about it. In my opinion, the government relies on the morals, values, and common sense of their citizens. For example, we must file taxes. As a consequence the IRS can fine you or you could even go to jail. Most people are afraid of this so they file their taxes on or before the due date. However, there are still some individuals that do not file their taxes and the are faced with the consequences. On the other hand, an example that Bylund uses is Adele. If Adele produces over 1,000,000 apples, a policy will affect her. But how will the government know if she produces 1,000,000 apples? Unless someone counts and records every single apple on every tree in her orchard, she can easily get away with producing more than 1,000,000 apples. (Bylund, p. 103). Many things could be worked around or simply just ignored if the majority of the population disagrees with a policy that the government puts in place. It would be extremely hard to punish millions of people for not abiding by the laws.
In chapter 5, Bylund discusses predictions and values. When talking about predictions he says that "As many variables change at the same time and, indeed, all the time, this is a very difficult task
and it is likely impossible to perfectly predict the outcome (Bylund, p. 74).This can tie into chapter 7 because policies are always changing and people are becoming more rebellious to social norms. it is almost impossible to predict what will come next. It is possible, however, to make an educated guess, but they may not be correct. This must be taken into consideration when creating a business. As we have previously discussed in other essays, people values are rapidly changing as well. As an entrepreneur it is vital to see things in a different light than most. Predicting trends, policy changes, and individuals needs and wants is what separates entrepreneurs from other people. While it is nearly impossible to know exactly what is coming in the future, it is very important to anticipate change. values change all the time as well. What is valued extremely highly one day could be valued much lower the next. The "Unseen" that Bylund is referring to in this book is that change. It is not something we can see or predict but rather something we must expect.
Bylund, P. L. (2016). Chapter 5: The Seen and the Unseen. In Seen, the unseen, and the unrealized: How regulations affect our everyday lives (pp. 73–82). essay, Lexington Books.
Bylund, P. L. (2016). Chapter 7: Taxation and Regulation. In Seen, the unseen, and the unrealized: How regulations affect our everyday lives (pp. 99–115). essay, Lexington Books.
