The Reality of Value Enhancement
Today economics columnist Robert Samuelson wrote a piece called "The Engine of Mayhem." In some ways it was one of those typical "This is really what the problem is" pieces, yet Samuelson has a way of plainly elucidating what happens in markets.
He brought up a novel term for the wild misassessment of value going on out there right now. It is appropriate to flesh this out especially on a day when the Dow got the biggest bounce in history, jumping over 900 points, an 11% increase. This exuberance doesn't mean everything's fine, it actually means everything is just as unstable.
Samuelson's term was deleveraging, the practice of too quick a call for capital instead of debt. He concludes by pointing out that the financial system in place now is "inherently fragile" and what is needed is one with "firmer foundations."
What this means most plainly is this.
People are realizing that a whole lot of powerful financial people have lied about how well they assess value. The fluctuating market is simply the barometer for how much everyone can take stock in the answer to the question, "Can I trust you?"
Of course everyone and his cat have been saying "Oh, we must trust one another again." Blah blah blah. What is never asked is how the answer can be considered trustworthy.
World inhabitants can only say, "Wull, we'll just try really really hard to make good value assessments." They'll also turn to the government to rein them in and say, "Look! Government regulation! That's gotta be good!" And a whole lotta people buy it. Sort of.
How about this answer to the "Can I trust you?" question:
Yes. Yes indeed you may trust me, because I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Because He loved me by dying for me, I know I can love you. Because he has given me the Kingdom and all the bounty within it, I may invest His gifts within me in what you're doing that's good. And because I belong to Him I cannot disrespect you or your value in any way. Again, I can't.
Because I love you.
How many people can give that answer? How many people are so ungrafted to the World of fearful value extraction, hacking off values from others anywhere they can just to ensure they have something left for retirement?
How many can actually say that?
I'm ashamed. I think it is a tiny portion of people. I think most people in this World think of Jesus Christ as a banal religious figure to give lip service to. Here He is, the Firm Foundation that Samuelson speaks of, and people blow Him off.
Jesus knew about this. He knew people would believe in all sorts of what He called anti-Christs. What is so mind-blowing is how so many people can continue to treat the God of the Universe with such brazen dismissal.
I'll even share what I shared above, that Christ is the true foundation for value and reaping the bounty of all we'd ever want, and Christians will just shrug and say, "Yeah, you're right, uh-huh..." and still maniacally protect their useless contracts with the World, those W-4's and 501c3's and mortgage agreements that cede the lordship over their lives to usurers.
What would it look like to have a few more than the 0.01% of the populace fully abandoning themselves to Christ in this way? Communities filled with people invisible to World operatives and sowing tremendous wealth both material and spiritual--right now, in profound abundance? Growing in God's riches and exploding in His pleasure?
Samuelson pointed out that the value of all the world's wealth right now is estimated at $250 trillion. What if what Jesus said is true, that when we abandon ourselves wholly to Him we'd have 100 times what we had when we once prized our World moorings so highly? What would be the value of those things then? It'd be $25,000 trillion, or $25 quadrillion.
Wow.
Some will say they can't imagine an amount that big, so why bother? What's the point?
Sad. They can't even understand that the $25 quadrillion isn't just "stuff," but people.
In fact, Christ's blood makes the $25 quadrillion look like a rusty nickel to a millionaire.
He brought up a novel term for the wild misassessment of value going on out there right now. It is appropriate to flesh this out especially on a day when the Dow got the biggest bounce in history, jumping over 900 points, an 11% increase. This exuberance doesn't mean everything's fine, it actually means everything is just as unstable.
Samuelson's term was deleveraging, the practice of too quick a call for capital instead of debt. He concludes by pointing out that the financial system in place now is "inherently fragile" and what is needed is one with "firmer foundations."
What this means most plainly is this.
People are realizing that a whole lot of powerful financial people have lied about how well they assess value. The fluctuating market is simply the barometer for how much everyone can take stock in the answer to the question, "Can I trust you?"
Of course everyone and his cat have been saying "Oh, we must trust one another again." Blah blah blah. What is never asked is how the answer can be considered trustworthy.
World inhabitants can only say, "Wull, we'll just try really really hard to make good value assessments." They'll also turn to the government to rein them in and say, "Look! Government regulation! That's gotta be good!" And a whole lotta people buy it. Sort of.
How about this answer to the "Can I trust you?" question:
Yes. Yes indeed you may trust me, because I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Because He loved me by dying for me, I know I can love you. Because he has given me the Kingdom and all the bounty within it, I may invest His gifts within me in what you're doing that's good. And because I belong to Him I cannot disrespect you or your value in any way. Again, I can't.
Because I love you.
How many people can give that answer? How many people are so ungrafted to the World of fearful value extraction, hacking off values from others anywhere they can just to ensure they have something left for retirement?
How many can actually say that?
I'm ashamed. I think it is a tiny portion of people. I think most people in this World think of Jesus Christ as a banal religious figure to give lip service to. Here He is, the Firm Foundation that Samuelson speaks of, and people blow Him off.
Jesus knew about this. He knew people would believe in all sorts of what He called anti-Christs. What is so mind-blowing is how so many people can continue to treat the God of the Universe with such brazen dismissal.
I'll even share what I shared above, that Christ is the true foundation for value and reaping the bounty of all we'd ever want, and Christians will just shrug and say, "Yeah, you're right, uh-huh..." and still maniacally protect their useless contracts with the World, those W-4's and 501c3's and mortgage agreements that cede the lordship over their lives to usurers.
What would it look like to have a few more than the 0.01% of the populace fully abandoning themselves to Christ in this way? Communities filled with people invisible to World operatives and sowing tremendous wealth both material and spiritual--right now, in profound abundance? Growing in God's riches and exploding in His pleasure?
Samuelson pointed out that the value of all the world's wealth right now is estimated at $250 trillion. What if what Jesus said is true, that when we abandon ourselves wholly to Him we'd have 100 times what we had when we once prized our World moorings so highly? What would be the value of those things then? It'd be $25,000 trillion, or $25 quadrillion.
Wow.
Some will say they can't imagine an amount that big, so why bother? What's the point?
Sad. They can't even understand that the $25 quadrillion isn't just "stuff," but people.
In fact, Christ's blood makes the $25 quadrillion look like a rusty nickel to a millionaire.
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