Depending On Employers And The Economy For Happiness

Strongly related to finding happiness through meaning and purpose in our lives is the role of employers and the economy. We define our lives by scarcity, the supposed mechanism of capitalism (supply and demand). We hitch our wagons to these. But the thing is, they have no official role in this. Their sole purpose is to make money.

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”
– Jesus said in Matthew 6:26 (NASB)

Economic Sectors and Income Image by Rcragun on Wikipedia — Economic Sectors and Income
Image by Rcragun on Wikipedia

This is like fingernails screeching on a chalkboard. Even I don’t like economics and I study it. So why am I writing an article that no one wants to hear about? Bet you didn’t know that economics is the primary driver in elections (pocketbook issues – how much money we have to support our families) and is the primary reason for the cultural divide in the US and many other countries. Yet no one wants to know how they are fooled so easily.

Life is not just about surviving or having our needs met. Nor does Jesus’ statement mean that each person should not support himself as strongly stated in the Bible. Everyone who can support themselves, should.

Jesus didn’t come to assert government or economic policy – he was mostly about kindness to others as spoken in God’s Word, saying in Matthew 4:4: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Meeting our life purpose often starts and depends on earning an income.

Capitalism 2.0

Economics leads to why many feel like they can’t have what they want. People need meaning and purpose in their lives, but they need an income to survive, and these two often conflict. (I’ll be writing a series on meaning and purpose later.)

What really sets people up for disappointment is when people hitch their life purpose to the economic system. The economic system is overly competitive and heartless, and as cold and calculating as a cruise missile. We think we love it, that is until it doesn’t give us what we want.

Capitalism: “is an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.” We may think that it has other purposes but it doesn’t. Profit is their God. The only purpose business has is to make money for owners as much and fast as it can. That’s it. It isn’t a system designed to benefit humanity even though we fondly think it is. I’m not against capitalism, we just need to understand it to use it effectively.

Capitalism is a system designed by people. It didn’t organically grow in nature. It barely resembles the structure Adam Smith outlined in the 16^th Century. We control how capitalism works. Unfettered it leaves people out and destroys families and communities.

Capitalism has many good qualities that other systems lack. Competition provides consumers with a continuous stream of new products and keeps prices down, when not being manipulated. It enables personal gain for new products and productivity. It creates a wide variety of jobs.

Unfortunately for some to prosper, capitalism leaves out a lot of people from good jobs. I’m in favor of Capitalism 2.0 in which the needs of all are incorporated in the formula. Call it responsible capitalism in which it isn’t just stockholders and CEOs who are important, it’s everyone. It’s an idea that is gaining ground. I coined the term Capitalism 2.0 a few years ago. It has traction – look it up on the Web.

It doesn’t have to be this way

To put it bluntly, communities don’t need to lose financial support and people don’t need to lose their jobs, homes, and even lives, so that stock market investors who push companies to earn ever larger quarterly profits can become wealthier. Even major corporate CEOs are pushing back on this system because it hurts companies as well.

The system is not a zero-sum game in which some have to be sacrificed for others to prosper. That’s a horrible characterization. Increased economic activity puts more money into the economy which helps all. We can make the system work for everyone if we take our fingers out of our ears and try. That is, if we care about others. This is kindness to others.

In being hyper-competitive and hyper-investor driven, companies do things that hurt society. It’s up to us to redesign the system.

Perception of scarcity

What is the point here? We often define our lives by scarcity. We perceive a scarcity of products, jobs, good paying jobs, education, professionals, and services. Most of all we fear the lack of love and compassion. Scarcity in our system is mostly fiction. It’s mostly contrived to keep prices up, the opposite of what competition is supposed to do.

Economic activity often depends on perceived scarcity such as putting one product on the shelves while fifty are in the store room, causing people to buy now which keeps profits up. It’s manipulation.

This emphasis on scarcity limits opportunity and causes a scarcity of the spirit, making us think that all can’t be accommodated in their need not just for food, but for life purpose.

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.”
– Proverbs 11:1 (NASB)

If we change our mentality to that of abundance for all then that is what we will have. I could cite a lot of economic theory about how the economy is expansive in many ways but my experience is that no one wants to delve into economics.

Take Home Points

We have to avoid the illusion that the economic system is the answer to meaning and purpose in our lives. The economic system is only about making money not life satisfaction. Making money can be the pathway to eventually doing what we want, but generally it’s a rat race with no end.
Never give up your dream. Follow your dream step by step, steadily achieving what you want.