The Economy Explained

For those of you wondering about the economy I thought I would take a minute and explain it.

Generally a recession is triggered when something everyone knows to be true turns out not to be true (usually the belief that prices will always go up).   The shock triggers fear so that people who have money don’t spend it.  This causes the normal market adjustment mechanisms of supply and demand to break down.  People who would have purchased at a given price before they were scared hold on to their money.  The liquidity of assets is lessened and the market based wealth calculations suffer.  Making people feel poorer increasing fear and the cycle is repeated.

Ask any responsible person with a job what they did the last couple of years and they will say they limited discretionary spending.  Give these people a tax cut and they will put the money in the bank.  Saving rates have increased but bank lending has decreased.

What is needed to break this cycle is someone to act “irresponsible”; to buy when every one is selling to invest, even if you are not sure that the market has reached the bottom.  Government (We the people : all of us collectively)   is the only entity capable of doing this.  Government can also help on another front with a safety net, which decreases fear; which is the root cause of the recession and, Conservatives.

Found this on another blog http://treasuresintheirpockets.blogspot.com

MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2011

Ten

quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. 

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." 

"Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

"Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles; Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency ask the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right."

"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude." 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals."

“From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

"I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man." (from a speech the day before he was assassinated)

May this great and courageous man rest in peace.

Eric Hoffer

One of my favorite philosophers is Eric Hoffer.  He was popular when I was in collage as the longshoreman philosopher.  When he retired from the docks he wrote several thin books composed of very short paragraphs.  The two books I remember where “The True Believer” and “The Passionate State of Mind”.  In the True Believer he outlined his belief that the dynamics of believing in a cause; being part of a movement, provided emotional support. For many adherents to a cause the logic or values of the cause had very little to do with their fanaticism.

“Weak” people tend to immerse themselves in a cause as a source of identity.   They claim the supposed worth of the cause as their own worth.

I remember several of his pithy one liners.

 *
“Rudeness is the Weak Man’s imitation of strength.”

 *
“It is sad, but most of us know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.”

In Hoffer’s thinking the strong character knows who he is and what he believes without relying on external sources. He knows himself as an individual not as a member of a class or group or as a "Believer".

Thinking about Eric Hoffer’s writings was also my introduction to the idea that there are many factors involved in why a person holds one political opinion over another.  Factors separate from logical self-interest religion or personal philosophy.  I have been pondering questions such as who are conservatives for 30 years.

Letter To Hannah

Hi Hannah

You enjoy philosophy so I thought I would share some of my thoughts.

As humans we have doubts, insecurities, fears, rages.  We are born unsatisfied, questioning, striving; looking for more. I believe that we are born this way because it is a survival trait. It is this feeling of being unfinished that pushes us to build, create, strive.  It also causes us to suffer, even when we are warm and feed.

Traditional physiology suggests that if we are troubled that we look for the "causes" in our past.  When these causes are understood and accepted then we are given a reason to believe that we can be at piece with ourselves.

It has always seemed to me that the explanation of “causes” whether they are a type of demon possession as Scientology suggests, a traditional Freudian explanation or prenatal trauma etc... , are less important to inner piece than the belief that there is an explanation.

I believe that these approaches are incorrect and many times counterproductive.  First of all they start from the premises that I am wounded and there is some specific trauma to blame.  Both of these assumptions are wrong.  I am not wounded; I am, for the most part, as I was created, and blame has never been a very good tool for planning future actions.

The key in my opinion is to accept the human condition. We are born unsatisfied; but we can decide what to do about it. What is needed is a philosophy (personal set of rules) for living in the present.

This is where the teachings of Jesus (the man) are important to me.

• We are connected one to another.  I can most effectively maximize my own happiness by working to enhance the happiness of those around me.
•  Jesus also taught that you are Loved, you are valued, and you are forgiven.
•  ( “Your OK I’am OK” I liked the book)

Treat yourself as you would hope to treat your child.

· Be supportive, nurturing, forgiving, loving, … to yourself.  You are the only tool you have to make the world a better place.

· Take care of your tools and they will take care of you", as the saying goes.

Don't forsake caution but strive to banish fear.

• Be open to people and to what life has to offer. ( I liked your statement “I choose happiness”)

Love Dad

Heading for the top.  I love to climb trees and I have never fallen.  My dad recently passed away This is one of his 50,000 slides.

Why Not Blog

In school I was voted the student most likely to volunteer the answer. ( not really but I could have).

While I always have an opinion I do not believe that I am opinionated as I am always happy to be proven wrong.

As I believe that it is my duty to mankind to give you the benefit of my wisdom you will find some of it here,
and as the Worlds Leading Expert on my own opinions I am eminently qualified.

Love to all
Chuck Y