Wal-Mart and Getting Beyond Money in Economics

I don't wish to trade numbers on Wal-Mart. In my head, I believe Wal-Mart has too much money, and it is also in my head that it is important to redistribute that money. What we have here is an issue of money plumbing. The pipe leading from Wal-Mart executives out to the real world is clogged. It is time to get the plumber. Believing that money isn’t always in the right hands should be no more difficult than the unfortunate occurrence of a drain clogging.

The issue of unclogging the money drain is to make the economy fit reality. In reality, Wal-Mart has more than its fair share of money, and consequently Wal-Mart executives are not permitted to spend their money by Hashem. Sure they can admire their bank accounts, but Hashem forbids that they spend.

Some suggest that the reason executives don’t spend is due to confidence. They suggest that nervousness or uncertainty is the monkey wrench in the economic machine – imagine that billionaires more uncertain that folks making minimum wage - but their ability to spend has very little to do with confidence, especially in comparison to karma. If Wal-Mart had better karma, then they would be able to spend more of their money.

We need to take the money out of Wal-Mart's hands and do something constructive with it rather than waiting the rest of our lives for Wal-Mart to get some "confidence." Perhaps, the most important thing that we could do with this money is tackle the debt and deficit. We could also use the money to build infrastructure. Therefore, I do not suggest just handing it out to the poor at random though there should likely be some of that too.

Economics and money are 2 separate things. I looked it up in my Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and found that money was nowhere to be found in the definition of economics.

To believe that one will die without money is a popular lie. It is true that some people may die without money, but it is important to know that money isn’t life sustaining in the way that Gd creates this universe to be sustaining. You could live a wonderful life and have no money because money isn’t always the way of acquiring more stuff. It is only true that if money is demanded by you, then your experience will reciprocate that. If you demand money from others, especially those deserving and who do not have money, then money will be demanded of you at a time when you don’t have the benefit of money.

Belief that money is the solution, and that money is more important than hard work, is as the snake in the Garden of Eden telling us that if we only believe provision comes from money (and not Gd), then we will surly die for lack of money. The snake tries to trick us into selling our labor at a cost. However, I suggest working hard, and hoping in Hashem that everything will take care of itself and goodness will arise from this hard work.

I am not saying that all money is a bad thing. Money may certainly be a powerful and useful tool for good, especially in trade. However, I don't equate increasing money to increasing gain. For instance, I do believe wellness and hard work go together. I don't believe hard work, or even any work results in increased cash flow or that money equates to personal wellness. For me it is all about being well.

Historically, since capitalism has become prominent, the state of the world has drastically improved. This has led many to attribute capitalism to wellness. However, it is not just money that has improved. The world is radically different now from how it used to be, and that may be attributed to various forms of technology as well. However, money is as the training wheels of a bicycle. Sooner or later, the training wheels should come off. And then, once they do it is my hope that it doesn’t result in poverty or increased laziness. On the contrary my goal is that people work hard because working hard is rewarding.

A Spiritual Piggybank

Many people pray, and they find that their prayer gets them nowhere. This does not surprise me, nor does it negate my religion. I won’t say that prayer is important, but I will say that prayer is not a complete perspective. I suggest doing something in addition to prayer.

When we do something for someone else out of charity, while it might be something directly related to the thing you want, it may also be something almost completely unrelated. Showing an interest in others and their doings may be just what we need in order to unlock the gate to the pathway towards Eden. The places we visit on this journey may seem obscure or irregular, but journey onward to the places that Torah takes us on.

Consider this; your good deeds may not pay off immediately. Thus, I suggest thinking of your doings in this world, as is the idea of a spiritual piggy bank. It may take a lot of saving. What if you have a rare disease or a rare problem? With your hard spiritual work, you may have to save up enough spiritual capital to put a doctor through medical school, such that he can help you out of your illness.

G;d gives each of us a mission in this world. This mission becomes clearer as we study. When we study, it is the equivalent of fulfilling all the good deeds of the Torah. In my instance, in my spiritual piggy bank, I had some knowledge of science, but that needed to be unlocked. It was sealed up, until I took the time to study Torah. Once I studied Torah, someone else, my mom, just happened to come across a doctor that could cure me so that my science knowledge need not remain locked up. So, I reached out to G(d and he reached out to me in return, blazing a pathway for my mother to find a cure for me. And, I do admit that it wasn’t a perfect cure, as a still have some problems. However, instead of my problems being to my detriment, they have actually been a blessing for me. This is the way Hashem is able to work his magic in this world.

A spiritual piggybank may have some money in it. But, it must also have good deeds. This is why a Jewish king must not be wealthy. His wealth must come from his spiritual piggy bank that is not of this world in a radical type of way, similar to that of a priest, or a Levite. In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon relates a story about a person who is wealthy, but Gd has forbidden them from enjoying it. This is entirely relative to the idea of a spiritual piggybank, and a proof of it if you believe Tanach is the words of G-d. Money by itself is empty if one can’t enjoy it. This is also the idea of karma, in that there is something spiritual about this world that if we do good things to others, then good things will be done to us in return. Likewise, Leviticus 26 and other parts of Torah relate the blessings of living a righteous life, but that if we don’t do what G&d asks of us then good things happen.

So pay it forward~!~ We all have something to give and a reason for being, or G^d would not permit us to be. G*d is aware of everything in the universe, such that everything in reality is not without purpose. If your spiritual piggy bank seems empty, you may be wrong! Just keep doing good deeds and I believe that if you are able to actually toil in Torah, reading it, even if you are blind and have to learn brail, and observing the ways of the righteous, though things may get worse initially, eventually things will get better for you. Through doing good deeds we must have hope.