What the Amish Can Teach America About Economic Mobility

One of my favorite comments from the article:

“If we’ve got plenty of jobs, I just go to my competitor and I give him a couple jobs,” said Miller, who is Amish. “I’m here so my employees can make a good, honest living…. I’m not here to collect all the wealth I can absolutely collect.”

The fact that other local businesses are viable because larger chains aren't available also seems to be a factor, but again, is a wave of prosperity already seen in other communities. It turns out, enabling entrepreneurism is really good for building a middle class!

The trick will be if this wave can continue, or if the prosperity will be overtaken by the capitalistic cannibalism (gentrification) that happens to economically-viable areas. In the meantime, this feels to me like an attempt at a feel-good story that millennials can and should be able to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, just look at the Amish.