Economics

[winston]

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Although he is rightly called the father of free markets, Wealth of Nations is no justification for amoral greed.

Smith was interested in economic prosperity, but he devoted his career to a single philosophical project, the betterment of life. His genius was to establish economics as a scientific discipline.

Today we don't know much about Adam Smith, the man. He didn't keep a diary. He wrote little correspondence. And he burned his unpublished papers and lectures before he died.

From his friends and colleagues, we do know that his favorite subject was mathematics, that he was a religious skeptic but with an abiding faith in economic freedom, and that he lived most of his life with the only woman he ever really cared about, his mother.

[winston]

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Smith also enjoyed society and conversation, calling them "the most powerful remedies for restoring the mind and its tranquility." And he kept unusual company.

His best friend was the philosopher and essayist David Hume, but he also knew Edward Gibbon, Samuel Johnson, Sir Walter Scott, James Watt, Voltaire, Rousseau, Edmund Burke and Benjamin Franklin, among others.

As biographer P.J. O'Rourke points out, "It's impossible today to imagine knowing a range of such people. There are no such people."

Smith's economic ideas are so fundamental to modern economics that we no longer appreciate their brilliance. He was among the first to realize the power of free minds and free markets.

He correctly saw how we could raise ourselves up by harnessing our mental and physical capacities, thereby making rulers as unnecessary and inconsequential as possible.

He understood that unlocking human imagination and creativity is the shortest route to happiness, liberty and prosperity. And he argued that the only way to become rich – and stay rich – is to manage your affairs so that your income exceeds your expenses.

A man for all seasons, he pointed out that this principle applies to nations as well as individuals.

Source: Spiritual Wealth

[winston]

Every bit of it is about economics.

Every bit of it, without exception.

Everything about religion is about economics.

Everything about politics is about economics.

And everything about economics is personal satisfaction.

Everyone is personally motivated to do the best that they can possibly do for themselves.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Boulder, CO on Saturday, June 12th, 2004 # 7


Source: www.abraham-hicks.com

[winston]

Why is your economy more today than in the past?

Because human desire has summoned and created.

Where is this Well-being coming from? What is the economy?

The economy is the exchange of human Energy, it expands proportionate to the ideas or desires that you create.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Boston, MA on Sunday, October 11th, 1998 # 16


Source: www.abraham-hicks.com

[winston]

Here’s What $5 Buys Around the World

Here’s how much coffee, meat, beer, McDonald’s, and more you can buy for $5 in countries around the world.

For starters, you can buy a lot of beer for $5 in China.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... dS8qjJ4lQ0

[winston]

Sacred Economics

Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth.

Today, these trends have reached their extreme – but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.


http://www.mindbendingvideos.com/sacred-economics/

[winston]

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.

Published in 1946, this is the book to read if you really want to understand economics and why the U.S. (and many countries in the world today) is in some serious financial trouble.

Its brilliance is immense and is the one book I recommend when someone asks me, “If there were just one book on economics that would help me to understand everything I need to understand about the topic, what would that one book be?”

Yes, it’s an easy-to-read and understand look at basic economics and why the more government intervenes and free-markets are hampered the lower the standard of living will be for practically everyone. But, that wasn’t the big takeway.

While the book –written so long ago – still manages to take on practically all of today’s hotly-debated economic issues, the big lesson, the one thing came smack dab in Chapter One, and that was:

“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

In other words, all decisions (not just economic ones) are based on cause and effect, and bring consequences that – while we cannot see them at first (and, in many cases, simply choose not to) they are in the process of developing.

Ignore the hidden and/or secondary consequences of your actions at your own peril. They will manifest eventually. They must. It is Law; both economic and life.


Source: ETR

[winston]

by behappyalways

Morgan Spurlock explains economics

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/economy ... d=HP_River

[winston]

The Magic Of CPI: Watch How Economists Transform A 400% Price Increase Into A 7.1% Decline by Tyler Durden

Source: Zero Hedge

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-0 ... 71-decline

[winston]

"The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it."

- Adam Smith