What do you think?

ECONOMY

So now I find myself seeking this “knowledge” that I am hoping to find that will give me some understanding that I hope will elevate to the level I am aspiring to not only for myself but for my loved one and those who depend on me. So I start reading and studying, researching book like “Think and grow rich Napoleon hill”. This was a excellent book, it not only dealt with making money but the very nature of the philosophy of making money and relationship a very good book to read. Next I dove into these books, Start late and finish rich, the magic of thinking Big, Rich dad poor Dad, The automatic millionaire, positioning, the Tipping point and some others and I must some of the tactic that they teach are very useful, like the idea of paying yourself first, Taking a percentage say ten percent of what you make (it can be what you are comfortable with) and setting that aside for personal or investment needs or like using the saving plans offered by your employer to put away a set amount without noticing it and having your employer match what you put into a retirement account.

It did seem interesting to me that the concept of compounding explained in “The slight edge” ran straight through many of the concepts I studied in these books, but I still didn't really understand how economics, the power of economics actually worked. How did it control our daily live and the thing we used without a second thought. Who was in charge and how did they come to the decisions that controlled many aspect's of modern life.

So I decided to take a more simple approach and look for a book that would give the very basic ideal of modern economics and I came across “Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell”. This is a common sense guide to the economy, at least that what it said. As I started to read and study these 684 pages of wisdom I began to get a clearer picture of how thing actually work and how the “market” set's prices if it is not being manipulated by politicians. I began to understand that economics is more than just a way to see patterns or unravel puzzling anomalies, it is a fundamental concern with the material standard of living of society as a whole and how it is affected by particular decisions made by individuals and institutions. Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses.

Armed with the new weapon of knowledge and understanding I pointed my attention to current events and understanding intentions and motivations of the powers that be, and it seemed like a light came on, I could almost see through a fog and the more I evaluated things the brighter the light got until it got so bright it blew out. I understood why certain policy's were discarded before they were even given a chance to work, why particular product were priced the way they were and why some were not allowed to make it to market and to be honest it made me depressed. So I got the answer I wanted but I didn't feel better even though I picked up a few tool's that would help me and my family along our financial journey (I hope), I still felt like something was wrong, like something was missing a piece to a puzzle that was missing after all more intellectual people than me have been studying this subject for century trying to get a handle on it, who was I to think I could do any better?

My name is Jerry, and when I find myself stuck I turn to the one source that has carried me through life this far the worlds best seller the Bible.

It seemed fitting to look in the book of ECCLESIATES for the answers I was looking for since I was viewing this this newly acquired knowledge sceptically and a grain of salt. First a little history about the book of ECCLESIATES: These are the collected words of a “teacher” or “preacher”, he is described as having been King over Israel in Jerusalem, And was the son of David. All of this means he was in the royal line of Judah, he is not further identified. In the book the word “vanity” or “meaningless” is a repeated phrase that warns us that life's rewards are uncertain and ultimately unsatisfying. The teacher shifts his speech between poetry and straight forward language. The book makes observation and poses questions, returning to themes like 'the wind round and round it goes and ever returning to it's course, or “vanity of vanity, all is vanity and chasing the wind”.

Then I came across this passage here which put much of what I had absorbed into perspective, at least for me it did, this is what I read.

ECCLESIATES 9:11-12, I have seen something else under the sun: - The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all (12) Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

To me this put everything in perspective that know matter what we do or accomplish if it is not aimed for a greater purpose or to the honor of the God it is all useless. As the writer put it,” God is sovereign over all things and it is our duty to follow his ways for living, since God will bring every deed into judgment.