Law protects

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

The rule of law helps obtain justice for the poor and powerless. Just outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, the area of La Cava lacks the protection of the rule of law.

Without clear property title, it's hard to prove your property belongs to you. Without lawful enforcing of contracts, it's hard to go after the compensation you negotiated. Without access to courts, it's hard to pursue your "just reward."

Rule of law

Two-thirds of the world's countries operate under the "rule of man," which means that men and women with power can reward their friends, punish their enemies, and ignore the insignificant. They are largely free to govern as they like.

One-third of the world's countries operate under "rule of law," which means there are stable, reasonable laws that apply to everyone.

It should be obvious which system enables more people to live and create.



(cont'd tomorrow)

Earned it

To plan and prepare for the future is a grown-up thing to do. But there are plenty of adults who would rather go for the immediate pleasures, who never do discipline themselves to prepare for their future.

That's what sets apart Kevuntez King. As a 12-year-old he looked ahead to what would be best for his 17-year-old self, and decided he would want to go to college. So every Sunday he sold newspapers and saved his earnings, and this spring he was accepted to go to Tennessee State University - and it's paid for.

He says, “Make sure you surround yourself with people that’s trying to go up in life and not trying to bring you down. Just stay positive and always believe in yourself and push for it.”

He's got self esteem. He earned it.

Moral benefits

Arthur said something unique about free enterprise (yesterday's post), that you never hear in media:

"There's another side to free enterprise that's actually more important [than making money].  Free enterprise matters not just because of its unparalleled material benefits, but because of its unparalleled moral benefits."

"Only a system of free enterprise lets us decide what makes us happy and then go do it!"

"Happiness is not about materialism . . it's about defining our lives and our goals and achieving happiness on our own terms.  That's the promise of free enterprise."

I've seen the term "freedom economics" used in place of "free enterprise."  I like that because it highlights the freedom Arthur is talking about to place our effort where we want to.  It also highlights the freedom of a consumer or customer to freely choose whether to purchase our product or purchase somebody else's.

Pursue happiness

You've probably heard that lottery winners surprisingly become less happy after winning lots of money.  Why is that?

Arthur Brooks, formerly an economics professor at Syracuse (NY) University, has written about happiness and economics and has an answer.  I was in the audience at a talk he did a few years ago on a university campus and found him smart, authentic, articulate, and well able to defend his research.

His answer to that opening question is related to another statistic that may be surprising:  entrepreneurs are happier with their jobs than most people are.  Watch his four minutes:

Weight of Glory

(cont'd, C. S. Lewis)

"Weight of Glory" is now read as an essay though it first was a talk that Lewis gave at a church in Oxford, England, in 1941.  Maybe part of the reason why it is popular is its unusual approach:  the argument for God from desire.  

Everyone has probably had the experience of greatly desiring something and getting it - but then finding it disappointing, not the satisfaction that you hoped.

It's a common thing, and Lewis thought it could be a clue to what we're made for:  this world is not our ultimate home and our deepest longings can't be fulfilled by earthly pleasures but only in fellowship with God.

 " . . nearly every description [in the New Testament] of what we shall ultimately find if we [deny ourselves and follow Christ]  contains an appeal to desire. . Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Ross Douthat, columnist at the NY Times, had some comments about "Weight of Glory" last week.

Correcting the millionaire image

The Millionaire Next Door authors Stanley and Danko say that their research (1995-6) "is the most comprehensive ever conducted on who the wealthy are in America - and how they got that way."

If the millionaires of your imagination started out with a huge inheritance, your imagination describes just a very small percentage of them.   Of the millionaires they researched:

• More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance
• Ninety-one percent never received . . as much as $1 of the ownership of a family business
• Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents or other relatives

Chapter 2's title describes these people as:  "FRUGAL FRUGAL FRUGAL."  They have detailed annual budgets and the authors' advice is, "Whatever your income, always live below your means."

Stanley & Danko describe this concept with this story:

"Big Hat No Cattle" - we first heard this expression from a thirty-five-year-old Texan.  He owned a very successful business that rebuilt large diesel engines.  But he drove a ten-year-old car and wore jeans and a buckskin shirt.  He lived in a modest house in a lower-middle-class area.  His neighbors were postal clerks, firemen, and mechanics.  After he substantiated his financial success with actual numbers, this Texan told us:

"'My business does not look pretty.  I don't play the part .  . don't act it . . . When my British partners

first met me, they thought I was one of our truck drivers . . . They looked all over my office, looked at everyone but me.  Then the senior guy of the group said, "Oh, we forgot we were in Texas."

"'I don't own big hats, but I have a lot of cattle."

  

Millionaire image

Public opinion probably considers Paris Hilton a bad example of wealth, notorious for gluttonous consumption and reckless waste of resources.  She leveraged her multi-million dollar inheritance into notoriety, then used her name to sell stuff.  Thousands may lay down good money to buy her celebrity fragrance, still it rankles people that her pampered position in life was unearned in the first place: unearned, undeserved, and managed badly.

But does this description apply to most wealthy Americans?  Not at all, as reported in The Millionaire Next Door: Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy, by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.  The surprise is that, movie and tv fiction to the contrary, those secrets are so humdrum -  apparently, most of them live below their means and invest the rest!

They live in average homes valued at around $320k and don't drive the newest cars.

Here's an excerpt from the introduction:

"Why do I continue to write about rich people?  It is not for the benefit of rich people!  What I write is designed to enlighten those who are confused and misinformed about what it means to be rich.  Most Americans have no idea about the true inner workings of a wealthy household.  The advertising industry and Hollywood have done a wonderful job conditioning us to believe that wealth and hyper consumption go hand in hand.  

"Yet . . . the large majority of the rich live well below their means.  As one millionaire woman trained as an engineer told me, "After college my husband and I both got good jobs.  We lived on one income and saved the other."

Looks like most millionaires earned their financial security.

Your own effort

Isaiah 65:21-22 (Amp) - God describes His  vision for the good life in His new creation:  

"They shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.  They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat . . .My chosen and elect shall long make use of and enjoy the work of their [own] hands."

It's good to be rewarded with the results of your own effort. Real life backs up scripture in this principle. In his book, Gross National Happiness, Dr. Arthur C. Brooks cites studies that show happiness and satisfaction come from achieving success in your chosen goal whether it's a business or a charity or anything else that you consider worth doing.