This group means business

Imagine if a bakery were robbed -- and someone suggested the problem was having too many bakeries.

That would be absurd, of course. The store isn't to blame. Nor are other law-abiding customers.

But for some reason, when there are abuses of capitalism -- rogue CEOs, in-your-face excess (such as going on fat-cat junkets after being bailed out by taxpayers) -- some people are ready to junk the whole system.

The problem isn't too much capitalism. When someone abuses the system, it's the person's fault, not the system's.

Meanwhile, impressionable young minds may be too fresh off the truck to remember the war against Nazi Germany or the U.S.'s titanic stare-down with the Soviet Union -- classic struggles of human freedom versus tyranny.

They may think Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is cool because Hollywood stars tell them so, or because he takes colorful jabs at conservative American presidents. They may not realize the "free" stuff he gives out has merely been seized from someone else (like if the bakery robber in the above example got credit for handing his loot out to the hungry).

They may not look beneath the irony and idiocy of Chavez's recent remark that "every day I'm more convinced that socialism is the kingdom of God on earth. That is what Christ came to announce."

Chavez's modus operandi , and that of every other state thug with "president" on his business card, is morally disgusting. But only if you understand the immorality of socialism (hint: taking what isn't yours), and have a rudimentary understanding of the relationship between financial freedom and freedom (hint: you can't have the first without the second).

It all starts with an understanding of capitalism and what it does for the world. And from the looks of things, that message may not be being imparted enough in our schools.

Thank the heavens there are programs such as Junior Achievement.

A respected and longstanding nonprofit, Junior Achievement does on a shoestring what we would be wise to be doing with our tax dollars in public schools: It teaches students K-12 about the economics of both the business world and the home.

It does so on a shoestring -- without a penny of public money and without United Way funds.

What it does have is smart, forward-looking companies and individuals who contribute dollars to the 16 programs JA offers students in and out of the classroom. In the CSRA, Junior Achievement reaches 7,200 kids with classroom curricular and opportunities for job shadowing and special seminars on the business of communications and the business of the arts. The business of technology is soon to be added.

Local business men and women, with a brief but incisive training from JA staff, volunteer to take a ready-made kit of instructional materials into area schools for a handful of one-hour classes. They also bring with them a real-world experience replete with much non-academic wisdom the students will find invaluable as they look forward to graduation and a working life.

If you're a decade or two removed from school, you may fondly remember a brush with Junior Achievement way back. But you may not realize how critical this mission has become -- how desperately needed this information is needed in schools, if for no other reason than for the American system of free enterprise to be understood and appreciated.

Nationally, Junior Achievement can trace its roots to 1919 -- in this area, back to 1964. But we can't imagine its contribution to American society has ever been more critical than it is today.

Socialism is all about putting limits on people; free enterprise is about living life without limits, becoming everything you can be.

It is, indeed, about achievement.

(The Junior Achievement CSRA Business Hall of Fame dinner recognizing leaders in business will be Tuesday, Nov. 17. This year's inductees into the Hall of Fame will be Clayton P. Boardman III, James M. Hull and Boone A. Knox. For more information, call Junior Achievement at (706) 736-3070, or e-mail lcook@georgia.ja.org.)