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Well, Sydney, you are a tough act to follow.
I don't know if I can do this.
Well, thank you very much, Provost Kopper
and Chancellor Telfer.
I'm honored to be here today.
And I want to thank all of you-- the faculty, the staff,
the students, and parents--
who make this university so incredible.
The University of Wisconsin, Class of 2013, you know I got
to do this.
All right.
[LAUGHTER]
Perfect.
That is going on my Facebook page.
[LAUGHTER]
And seriously, that is worth sharing.
Am I right?
You never are going to look happier or more hopeful.
There will never be a happier or more hopeful photo on
Facebook than those two.
You guys look great, and you've graduated.
You've got to give yourself a round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
You do really look great.
But what do you say to someone who just finished four years
of college?
Congratulations?
I know the program says that's what I'm going to say, but I
don't think so.
Congratulations are for those who have won something--
a prize.
Congratulations, you've won the Publishers Clearing House,
or congratulations, you're the millionth shopper.
But you didn't win this.
You worked for it.
You've earned it.
I think the best thing to say to you of the Class of 2013 is
best wishes.
You certainly deserve our best wishes for how hard you've
worked for achieving your goal--
your goal of graduation.
I wish you success and achievement in your next goals
in your life, too.
But I also want to wish you good luck as you enter the
workforce, because, boy, you're going to need it.
Today, America has one of the highest unemployment rates for
young adults among first-world nations--
16.2% in April.
On the surface, things are still looking
pretty good for you.
The unemployment rate for college graduates in April was
just 3.9%, compared to 7.5% as the national average.
That's not bad.
But underneath, there's some perilous facts.
According to CNN Money, more than 40% of those graduating
college in the last two years are in jobs that do not
require their degree.
Employers are hiring college-educated workers for
jobs far beneath their college-level skills--
positions like receptionist, file clerks, waiters, rental
agents, and so on.
Last year, 284,000 college graduates had
minimum-wage jobs.
Employers today view a college degree as the new high-school
diploma, a new minimum requirement for getting the
lowest-level job.
The bulk of the jobs created in the last few years have
been low wage low skilled.
It's not your fault.
It's what we're all facing.
America is in trouble.
There's just not enough jobs, and it's not getting better
fast enough.
In fact, the greatest challenge facing our nation
today is job creation.
For the first time in four generations, many mothers and
fathers here today are watching their children
graduate, certain you are entering one of the most
difficult times of your life, which reminds me, parents--
congratulations.
You have won the grand prize, a vaguely
familiar new house mate--
[LAUGHTER]
--Who will be in your refrigerator, and on your
health care, until they're 26 years old.
Seriously, the same percent of Americans are working today as
were working 31 years ago--
63%.
That's down significantly and is the same just before I
graduated college in 1982, as if it is if our economy never
changed since I was your age.
And I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry, and I apologize for that.
Let me tell you why.
We've all heard the phrase, "the American
way." You've used it.
We all know Superman made it famous--
"truth, justice, and the American way." But what is it?
As I was thinking about talking with you today, I
wanted to know exactly what that was, especially since I
knew I wanted to tell you the American way was it risk.
It was at risk like never before.
So I read everything I could get my hands on, and I love
this definition.
"The American way is the privilege of self-expression,
the right of self-government, and the opportunity of free
enterprise." That's the system behind my success.
That system sets us apart in the world, and that system
will fuel your success, too.
We've also heard the phrase, "the American
dream." You've used it.
We all know the Realtors use it as a tag line to sell
houses, but what is it?
I learned through the magic of Google that the American dream
is the goal we share, that if we embrace the American way,
we may leave our children better off than ourselves.
And they may do the same.
You see, that is the American dream--
continuous improvement of your family circumstances across
generations.
And that's where our generation owes your
generation an apology.
We failed you.
I know your parents can relate to that.
We wanted better for you.
Polls show that most parents are sure you're not better off
than they were at your age.
That's a fundamental breakdown of a
promise of a great nation.
We've left the American way in dire circumstances.
And today, you're throwing your caps in the air and
walking straight into the mess we left you.
And I'm sorry.
In 1982, when I was graduating with a bachelor's degree from
University of Chicago, I went right to
work for Merrill Lynch.
Like some of you, I worked for the company as an intern and
part-timer, so I created a path to my
first job out of college.
Like you, I had a better chance with a college degree,
even though the nation was suffering 11% unemployment,
the highest since the Great Depression.
No matter how you count it, the unemployment rate when I
graduated in 1982 was much higher than
what you face today.
The young-adult unemployment rate was a whopping 17.3%.
As I recall, I didn't think anything of it.
I moved easily into the workforce.
Many of you will, too.
But unfortunately, many of you will not.
The American economy started a cycle of robust growth right
about the time I graduated.
Still, like you, nobody was feeling positive as I sat in
my graduation robe.
If you have a job waiting for you today as you graduate, I
guess you are a lot like me.
But I want to speak for a minute to those who do not
have a job.
If I can give you one piece of advice, it would be this.
Do not get a job.
I know what you're thinking, parents.
There goes the media room.
[LAUGHTER]
But that's right.
You heard me right.
Do not get a job.
Do more.
Start a business.
Create a job or 100 jobs.
With the American way gasping for air, our greatest heroes
are the risk-takers who create private-sector jobs, not
government jobs.
[AUDIENCE WHOOP]
Today, job--
[APPLAUSE]
--Today, job creation is as vital as building railroads
were in 1860 or the war effort in 1941.
The need of job-creators today is more important than John F.
Kennedy's 1961 call to land a man on the moon.
In fact, there's a lesson for us in early aviation history.
It's the story of Samuel Langley.
In the 20th century, America was in a race with Germans,
British, French to invent an airplane.
The winner would gain a huge military
and economic advantage.
Washington bet big on Samuel Langley, the head of the
government's Smithsonian Institute and an accomplished
scientist and scholar.
Known in those days as one of the nation's largest brains,
Langley received the modern-day equivalent of
millions of taxpayer dollars to invent an airplane.
He catapulted a few unmanned aircraft some distance, and he
named his invention with all the false modesty only a
bureaucrat with buckets of taxpayer money could muster--
the great Aerodrome.
On October 7, 1903, crowds lined up.
The media showed up in full force to watch Langley's
aircraft being launched from a catapult on a houseboat in the
Potomac River.
After much fanfare, the not-so-great Aerodrome was
launched and promptly plunged into the river.
"It fell like a ton of mortar," one reporter wrote.
Two months later, Langley tried it again.
The airplane got caught up in the launching mechanism and
was in the water again.
Just nine days later, after Langley's second failed
experiment, two Ohio bike-shop owners did what Langley and
all the government money could not.
With $2,000 of their own cash, Wilbur and
Orville Wright flew.
4 miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wrights'
airplane flew for 59 seconds and traveled 852 feet.
They ushered in an era of modern aviation and lit
imaginations that landed us on the moon.
As Midwesterners, they chose a modest name for such a
momentous invention.
They called it simply Flyer.
Orville Wright, who outlived his brother, Wilbur, went on
to advance their invention and created
an $11 billion industry.
As I stand before you, more than a half a million
Americans work in aviation.
Aviation has also always been a passion of mine.
I've been amazed how the Wright brothers' success was
defined in such a short distance.
Flyer traveled only 852 feet in the air and changed the
world forever.
The Wrights' fundamental breakthrough--
three-axis control, which helped the pilot steer the
aircraft effectively and maintain equilibrium.
You see?
As bicycle repairmen, the Wrights knew that the balance
required to keep an airplane aloft could be learned, just
like riding a bike.
Langley clearly missed that important lesson as a
government bureaucrat.
Maybe there were no bike paths in the nation's
capital, but who knew?
Orville Wright inspired me to invest in Morgan Aircraft, an
aviation company based right here in Wisconsin.
We set up to build a revolutionary fixed-wing
aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
Our fundamental breakthrough--
we drilled holes in the wings and put rotors in the wings.
For years, many people believe holes in the wings would be
disastrous.
We were the only ones crazy enough to try it.
But who knew, right?
For years, the Smithsonian Institute falsely credited
Samuel Langley with inventing the airplane.
It wasn't until 1940 that the record was corrected.
Langley died in obscurity, a broken and disappointed man.
Quite the opposite, Orville Wright lived a long and
prosperous life.
40 years after his historic flight on April 19, 1944, a
new Lockheed Constellation broke records flying from
Burbank, California, to Washington, DC, in just under
seven hours.
On the return trip, the aircraft stopped at Wright
Field near Dayton, Ohio, to give Orville Wright his last
airplane ride.
Some say he even briefly handled the controls.
But even more interestingly, the Constellation was piloted
by Howard Hughes.
In modern English, that's Bill Gates, or better yet, Mark
Zuckerberg.
Orville Wright lived in a horse-and-buggy age, changed
it completely for $2,000, and lived to see the dawn of
supersonic flight.
On that last airplane ride with Howard Hughes, he smiled
and said, the wingspan of Constellation was longer than
his first hop on Flyer.
My advice to those of you about to enter the job market
is do not get a job.
Don't be Samuel Langley.
Be Orville Wright and create a job.
Sometimes it's as simple as riding a bike, or drilling
holes in your wings, or that crazy idea you and your
roommates talked about at Pumpers and Mitchells.
[LAUGHTER]
Sometimes it's the crazier, the better.
What you really learned from this
university isn't knowledge.
It's control over how and what you think.
And even if you have a job waiting for you, it's never
too late to be a job creator.
Tom Wilson, of Ohio, enlisted in the US Air Force and
eventually worked as a CIA analyst.
In his late 20s in 1994, he and some friends were relaxing
at his tiny home, complaining about a Major
League baseball strike.
It had ruined the season.
Now, as I understand, some of you may be doing tonight, Tom
and his pals were drinking a bit.
[LAUGHTER]
Tom suggested they pool their money and by all the Topps
baseball cards deeply discounted direct from the
manufacturer.
His idea--
resell the collectible cards at auction after the baseball
season started.
Of course, his friends laughed.
How in the world would they get enough people interested
in buying baseball cards and create a marketplace?
On the internet, Tom said.
And it was 1994, so his friends asked the obvious
question, the inter-what?
That year, Tom patented his idea, the fundamental
breakthrough--
united in bidding, and payments, and web auctions.
Today, we know that intellectual property as eBay.
Tom Wilson didn't create jobs.
He created a platform where thousands of Americans started
their own business.
In fact, eBay changed the way the world does business.
It's amazing what a few friends and a bottle of
single-malt scotch can do, right?
But who knew?
As many of you know, the Blackthorne Initiative right
here in Whitewater is also creating a platform, a
platform for analyzing financial data and patterns.
I'm excited to be involved in this partnership and proud
that 11 graduates in this audience work for Blackthorne.
And just in case you think it's easy, neither Orville
Wright nor Tom snapped their fingers
and got rich overnight.
Both worked endless hours and fought in courts for years for
the rights to their invention.
Both endured endless trials and tribulations.
But they never gave up their dream, and neither should you.
As Steve Jobs said, "Time is limited.
Don't waste it living someone else's life."
Today, America's greatest threat is our economy.
Far too many Americans are unemployed or underemployed
and for far too long.
This must change in your 20s, or don't expect much from
America in your 50s.
So what lessons can Orville, Tom, and I give you on this
important day?
As I said, don't get a job.
Do your country a great service and
dare to create a job.
Surround yourself with intelligent minds who think
like you do.
Look around.
They may be sitting right next to you.
Find investors.
Make your ideas real.
Become the hero of your own life through action.
Action leads to accomplishment, and
accomplishments create jobs.
I'll consider my time with you successful if just one of you
in this outstanding Class of 2013 hears me and refuses to
be Samuel Langley.
Maybe it'd be one of the students I've worked with at
the Global Business Resource Center.
I know firsthand the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and
well with many of them and many of you sitting here.
Whoever it is, refuse to be Samuel Langley.
Instead, take that great idea you scribbled in your
notebook, that idea you talked about with your lab partners,
that idea that keeps you awake at night, and run with it.
Take the dream and be like Orville Wright, that modern
Midwestern man-- a bicycle repairman who flew with Howard
Hughes, who got us to the moon and beyond, who change the
world completely.
Tom Wilson, who was once a federal worker, taught us it's
never too late to be a job creator.
If you aren't an entrepreneur, if you aren't a job creator
after you leave here today, there's always tomorrow.
For those of you who have a job, if it doesn't work out,
your chance to be a job-creator may come later.
If it does, seize it.
Our country needs you.
Tom also taught us that not all great ideas come from New
York City, Chicago, or Silicon Valley.
Many come from small towns in Ohio or Edgerton, Wisconsin.
Of course, we've learned another lesson from Tom today.
Sometimes it's an incredible idea, even if it is just the
scotch talking.
I suspect there will be a lot of incredible ideas around
town tonight, right?
[LAUGHTER]
Don't be Samuel Langley.
Be Orville Wright.
Be Tom Wilson.
Be grateful for those who came before you, and
stand on their shoulders.
Live your life with integrity, and be thankful our country is
still the land of opportunity.
But please be mindful that our country
desperately needs you today.
It's our railroad.
It's our war effort.
It's your generation's man on the moon.
You're a great challenge.
Now it's up to you to save the American way.
We need you to rebuild this economy of this great nation.
Don't just get a job.
Create a job.
Change the world.
Thank you very much, and best wishes.
[APPLAUSE]