The cover of this issue of The Economist depicts one of the greatest misconceptions I have encountered regarding economics and finance in my professional career as quantitative analyst as well as in my personal pursuits regarding the subject matter. “Hope” for a brighter economic future is depicted as a center piece of “White Light”, whereas the politicians that the world population of “Little Fish” looks to for answers are far removed in the top right hand corner. The manner in which The Economist is laid out, with the various illustrations surrounding the “White Light” allow me the opportunity to discuss the lack of knowledge relating to spirituality in economics and its involvement in the subject matter dating back some four thousand years. Many will argue that the cover of this Economist has nothing to do with spirituality, yet I will show the reader that the reality is; this cover of The Economist is exposing a hidden message of spirituality in economics and that “Little Fish” have looked for answers in the wrong places.
It can also be argued that economists, analysts, and professionals within the field economics are the answer to a brighter economic future, yet If we are to consider that these professionals for the most part are either employed by banks, are associated with banks, politically motivated, sponsored by major corporations, etc… then it is fair to assume, that these groups of professionals and once again I state “for the most part” are directed by the “Big Fish” on how they are to deterimine their analysis and business conduct. Here is one example:
“As part of Mr Spitzer's case against Merrill, he has released some entertaining e-mails in which the bank's Internet analysts dismiss...
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...and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, "Bow the knee!" Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." (Torah – Bible, Genesis 41: 41-44 ISBN-10: 1581343167).
“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.” (Torah – Bible, Exodus 1: 8-11: 41 ISBN-10: 1581343167)
Popjes, Jack D. "From Economics to Theology: How the Canelas Understand the Good News." Jacks INsights OUTbursts. N.p., 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. .
Through the Old Testament we begin to understand and learn that Exodus is a book written by Moses a descendent of Abraham. Exodus paints the reader a picture and describes a chain of successions and Gods requests and responses from his people. Approximately, four hundred years had passed since Joseph made the profound decision to pick up his life and move his family to Egypt. Every one of Abraham’s descendants had matured and grown immensely becoming essentially over two million strong. In Egypt there was a new pharaoh ruling, one in which believed the Hebrews to be foreigners with numbers tremendously frightening. The pharaoh decided to take all of the Hebrew people and force them into slavery, hence they wouldn’t upset his balance of power.
In the beginning of the movie, we see the lavish life the Egyptians live. To complete this life style they have slaves building their city. Hebrew slaves will build Ramses city. As stated in Exodus,
Ancient Egypt was a single tightly organized state for much of its history (Centanni, n.d.). In all its phases, the Egyptian government was led by the pharaoh. The pharaoh was held to be descended from gods, with the power to assure success and control the rituals that assured the flow of the Nile and the fertility derived from irrigation. Wanting gods to favor Egypt, the entire population of people did not hesitate to carry out laws that the pharaoh placed upon them. Egypt’s pharaohs claimed additional power and authority as actual incarnations of the gods
Ideologies unite groups of people and promote the collection of ideas necessary for operation of a properly varnished society. E.K. Hunt and Jared Diamond are two well known authors who discuss the scrupulous importance of ideologies within society. Their books, Property and Prophets and Guns, Germs, and Steel, discuss the success of certain ideologies throughout history, while also integrating the commendable relevance of economics. In determining the correlation of the two novels, one must assess the social, political, and economic factors associated with their viewpoints. Through interpretation of their understandings we can determine the rationale of medieval ideologies as well as, the breakdown of the Christian Paternalistic Ethic as
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
The biblical account of Joseph perfectly encapsulated the truth of God’s sovereignty and His complete control over all circumstances. Throughout the story, Joseph found himself in many horrendous situations, but he acknowledged how they were all overseen by the Lord and were ultimately used to serve His greater purpose. Joseph was sold to slavery by his brothers and was taken away from his home to Egypt. However, he did not remain a slave. Instead, he would eventually gain prominence and become the second most powerful ruler after the pharaoh. When the Middle Eastern world suffered
Adam Smith is widely regarded as the father of modern economics and one of the greatest economists throughout the course of history. He is mainly famous for a two books that he wrote, these two books are considered thee base and infrastructure of the world of economics. The two books he wrote were, “The Theory of Moral Sentimental” and “The Wealth of Nations”. But although Adam Smith was such a great economic philosopher, he wasn’t a very good foreteller or future predictor. The economic scenario now is very different from the economic landscape of the 1700’s. Giant super-corporations can now govern the flow of the market, unlike Smith’s time’s. Even though elements of Smith’s ideas have changed over time, some of his beliefs remain important factors in economics to this day. One of those truly unique philosophies is the “Invisible Hand”.
The Book of Exodus begins hundreds of years later once Joseph and his brothers have all died. This leaves a void in leadership over Israel and is eventually subdued to Moses. He is a Hebrew boy who starts off as a slave, and eventually encounters God through the burning bush where he is convinced to assume his role as leader of the Israelites. With the help of his brother Aaron, they face controversy with the Pharaoh of Egypt trying to rid their people and lead them to a land full of prosperity, which God has promised. It is through Moses leadership that they find freedom and religious conformity as a community. Although Moses is initially timid, he consequently develops the willpower of a traditional hero through attaining a personal relationship with God and his people through the breaking of the clay tablets along with using the power God has given him through his staff to intimidate the Pharaoh and shows his urgency and pride as leader of a great nation.
The greatest question many have sought to answer is the creation vs. evolution debate. How did we get here? Were we created or did we evolve randomly? Are we the product of purposeful intelligence or are we the result of countless mistakes? Does it even matter? The story of money is similar to the story of humanity. Was money created or did it evolve. If it was created we can assume it will die. If money evolved then we can assume the future is unknown. In his book, The Ascent of Money a financial history of the world, Neil Ferguson historic analysis of money answers many of these questions. Ferguson believes money essentially mirrors mankind, magnifying back to us our progress, failures, values and weaknesses.” (The Ascent of Money, 358) The history of money shares many similarities to the history of man; Ferguson parallels between finance and Darwinism, illustrating the natural mechanism of our financial ecosystem that evolves, creates, competes, and dies.
The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique for thinking, which helps the possessor to draw correct conclusions. The ideas of economists and politicians, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." (John Maynard Keynes, the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money p 383)
In this class we constantly talked about the free market place and how it truly made a government different. How it made a country different. How it made a people different. Today, we are going to explore the ideas of economics and how the economic greats, Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keyes, and Milton Friedman changed the ways we would forever do business.
In the Biblical Book of Exodus, Moses was not originally supposed to be born under the Pharaoh’s rule because he was an Israelite male. Pharaoh decreed all Hebrew boys born were to be killed in the Nile River. Moses survived because Pharaoh’s servants feared God more. This law was one of Pharaoh’s ways to oppress the Hebrew people. It was a tactic to keep the majority of the population from growing as well as implementing slavery. However, that did not stop the Israelites from multiplying in size: “’And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt’” (New English Translation, Exodus 3:9-10). In this passage, God is speaking to Moses in the form of a burning bush that he has seen the hardships Pharaoh put the Israelites through, and that he will deliver them from their sufferings. M...
The pharaoh was the supreme ruler of Egypt. The people believed the pharaoh was a god among men. He had a divine contract among the god to which he would build monuments to them, and in return the gods would protect Egypt and regulate the flooding of the Nile River (“Egypt, Ancient: Social Organization”, 2004). The contract of the gods came as a great responsibility to the pharaohs. They must keep order of their subjects and the records. Pharaohs proclaimed laws and duties to citizens. Egyptian Social Structure says that the laws were enacted at the discretion of the the pharaoh (2013). Also, pharaohs must control the surplus of food and the Nile River in order to remain the supreme ruler. The pharaohs would proclaim taxes to benefit the entire the kingdom. The surplus of food was maintained by the lower classes, such as the farmers paying grain for their taxes (“Egyptian Social Structure”, 2013). This would help the compensate food for the kingdom in c...
According to Sloman (2003), many people think that economics is about money. Well, to some extent this is true. Economics has a lot to do with money: with how much money people are paid; how much they spend; what is costs to buy various items; how much money firms earn; how much money there is in total in the economy. But despite the large number of areas in which our lives are concerned with money, economics is more than just the study of money. It is concerned with the production of goods and services and the ...