Lesson 56 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Men only dare greatly if they expect great rewards. The government that seeks to limit the size of reward that a man may hope for or expect is foolish at best and tyrannical at worst.

Some say that greed, or need is the mother of invention and I would have to say that the first is closest to the truth. That is because no matter how great the need of a people group is the only reason something new is attempted (which is the essence of invention) is if the person who is making the attempt believes he will reap some reward that he feels is adequate to his effort.

The only difficulty I have is in calling the self-interest that inspires invention greed. This is because I do not believe that wanting a better life in and of itself is a manifestation of greed. It seems to me that greed is when you try to prevent other people from having a better life. Or when you desire something and steal it rather than work for it.

The characterization of profit as evil is one of the many ways in which the lazy and greedy rulers of a society work to make it easier for them to steal from those who work and produce the good things they desire but do not wish to soil their hands with the production of.

© 2012 Vic Jones

Tough Times Ahead

I extracted the following quotes from this article. http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/bobbeauprez/2012/01/08/obama_fails_math_portion_of_presidency_test/page/full/ I believe that it is well worth your time to read but if you don’t feel like it then consider these words of wisdom.

"The history of taxation shows that taxes which are inherently excessive are not paid. The high rates inevitably put pressure upon the taxpayer to withdraw his capital from productive business and invest it in tax-exempt securities or to find other lawful methods of avoiding the realization of taxable income. The result is that the sources of taxation are drying up; wealth is failing to carry its share of the tax burden; and capital is being diverted into channels which yield neither revenue to the Government nor profit to the people." Andrew Mellon Secretary of Treasury for Warren Harding.

It seems to me that we would be very foolish not to look at history and see what has occurred at other times from the current era to the fall of the Roman Empire which can be traced back to policies that are very similar to those of the current president of the USA.

For wisdom let us look at someone from the party he says he represents though from another time: John Kennedy.

"Our true choice is not between tax reduction, on the one hand, and the avoidance of large Federal deficits on the other. It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits… In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now." John F. Kennedy

We are spending money we don’t have to make things better in the USA today. This is like a family maxing out all of its credit cards. The question remains this: What will happen when no other nation will lend us money? That I believe is a fearful day and fast approaching. Worse yet is the day when no one will accept our money, when it is viewed with the same disdain as the peso… indeed times are going to get tough.

© 2012 Vic Jones

Lesson 46 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

There is no time when you are not making a choice. You may choose to stay where you are or you may chose to move from where you are. The most important thing to remember is that in either case you're making a choice.

Being able to understand this principle can help you to recognize when you have made a choice. This is because many times we fail to recognize that attempting to not make a choice is impossible because the only time you are not making a choice is when you are dead.

© 2011 Vic Jones

 

Addiction is Insanity

I’ve been looking at addiction from the inside for many years. And while it would be possible to make the excuse that my addiction is fairly harmless I would be less than truthful in saying that it has caused me no harm nor pain.
One of my addictions is playing solitaire on the computer. Another is reading anything and everything with a concentration on fiction. Both of these are activities that I will do even when I could be doing something else (like writing) that has the potential to increase my income. I will also do them rather than go out to meet people. Even though that too has the potential to increase my income or open opportunities for me to share my writing with an even larger audience.

Thus I can see that even the mildest of addictions has many negative impacts on my life, yet I will not stop doing the things that I’m addicted to! This is insanity.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 19 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

The reason negative thinking works more often than positive thinking is that we are more apt to act on our negative thoughts than on our positive thoughts.


A fine example of acting (or not acting) on negative thinking is saying, ‘I can’t,’ when you (or I) say, ‘I can’t,’ we immediately act on that thought and simply refuse to try what ever it is that we said we could not do.


Wise people have told me (though I don’t do well at following their advice) that in order to overcome the tendency to say, ‘I can’t,’ I should look closely at one action that I’m avoiding by saying, ‘I can’t,’ and do that action to the best of my ability even if I don’t do well.


© 2010 Vic Jones

Lesson 14 from The Hard Knocks School of life

Change is inevitable; how you react to change will either make you a success or a failure. The first and most important attitude that anyone must have in the face of change is that change represents opportunity.
Success is always a function of how well you deal with unexpected opportunities.

A good question to ask yourself is: How are you doing at dealing with the opportunities that life has handed you?

© 2010 Vic Jones