Mike Donahue is a hard worker

Lots of people are making fun of financial adviser Mike Donahue's cry for understanding, and for lower tax rates. I will join them.

Since I graduated in 1983, I have been in straight commission sales and have had many 60- to 70-hour work weeks. No secure salary, no big promotions, no pension — just me profiting through helping others while being subject to the swings of the economic cycle. The first 20 years were tough, but it's finally starting to pay off ... I have more than most only because I've worked harder than most and because I am a saver.

"Just me profiting through helping others." And profit Mike did: Now he makes more than $250,000.

I don't want to get into a long argument about the role of luck in outcomes. Suffice to say that Mike -- who's pictured above -- is a white guy in a rich country who graduated from college and rode a series of unsustainable booms in the financial sector that ultimately did terrible harm to the economy.

But one of the things that people need to think harder about when they pop off about this stuff is the difference between comparing the incomes of people in the same sector and comparing the incomes of people in different sectors. Hard work might account for some of why Mike makes more money than other financial planners. But yesterday, I rode in a cab driven by an African immigrant who works during the day at a printing press. Hard work doesn't account for why Mike makes more money than that guy.

What does account for it, in part, are rules. The rules of the game help decide who wins the game. If basketball hoops were five feet tall, then the sport wouldn't be dominated by giants. Same goes for policy rules. The Bush tax cuts, for instance, made Mike richer than he would've been if, say, he was a financial planner in Denmark. Alan Greenspan's low interest rates contributed to Mike's financial well-being. Government policy that encouraged the spread of universities helped Mike. And if you look at the demographics of Congress, the rules are made by, well, people like Mike. Andy Stern got at this well in our interview yesterday.

For people at the top, since they get to make the rules, the rules work really well, no matter how hard they work. Whether you were born rich and the estate tax is reduced to virtually nothing, or you get legacy admissions into elite universities, there's a lot of history and self-perpetuation of the rich to continue to be rich that has nothing to do with hard work.

Later in the op-ed, Mike drops a bomb. "My patience and pocketbook are reaching the breaking point," he complains. "I am not for equal outcomes regardless of effort. I'm tired of being the mule. Maybe I will quit and live on the dole for awhile." Maybe. But if he thinks $250,000 is an equal outcome, he should give living on the dole a try. He'll soon learn that the rules written for people who aren't like him don't feel all that equal after all.

Photo credit: Donahue Wealth Management