LET' MAKE A DEAL

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Before we get back to the business of sharing more exciting stories of the Roads I’ve Traveled excerpt series from my original Travel Journals, let me hit you with a crazy idea:

Winston-Crown Publishing House will soon be releasing a hard-bound edition of my newest book: Better Off: How America Got Wealthy and You Can Too! I’ve wanted to write this book for a long time and I have dedicated it to Dr. Paul Ballantyne my graduate level economics professor at the University of Colorado.

The Publishers ran a few soft-bound advance copies to distribute for book reviews and endorsements. When I saw them` I grabbed a handful of them. I figured who in the world would I rather have reviewing and recommending my new book than the special and loyal readers of my weekly blogs. Some of you have faithfully read every weekly blog for the past five years. Every Tuesday morning you find them on your computer and you open them and read them. Many times you comment on how important they are to you.

Like my friends in South Korea say to me, “Now you can help me by giving me a free ride on your paper airplane.” I would love to have your help. Here’s the deal:

On a first come-first served basis I want to get these twenty-five advance, soft-bound copies out to a few of my faithful readers. If you are willing to read the book and write to me your short review or endorsement, and send me the information where I can send you the book, I will put the book in the mail to you.

The reason I say that this is kind of a crazy idea is that I may be setting myself up for a bloody nose. If a lot of you respond I may be scrambling with the few books. So don’t wait around. Be one of the first to let me know so that you will get an advance copy before they are gone!

I think you are going to like the book. And I think our little “lets’ make a deal” will help each of us be Better Off.

Now, let’s get back to our Travel Journal excerpts!

© Dr. James W. Jackson   

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

  

www.jameswjackson.com

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

MORE EXCITING NEWS: Looking Forward to the New Book Better Off: How America Got Wealthy & You Can Too!

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

We talked last time about why some countries are wealthy and some countries wallow in misery and poverty. On page 20 of the new Better Off book I use a couple of real-life examples.

A Tale of Two Countries

In the early 1980s, I embarked on one of my first international economic assignments in Zimbabwe, Africa. I was there at the invitation of prime minister Robert Mugabe—who later became president—and members of his cabinet. It didn’t take long to realize that Zimbabwe wasn’t the place for me. Civil war had not only claimed thousands of lives, but the government had also imposed a policy of forced redistribution of assets and property. However, I was there long enough to become well acquainted with the political and economic situation.

Formerly known as Rhodesia, the “bread basket of Africa,” Zimbabwe has a population of more than thirteen million people and boasts some of the richest farmland on the face of the earth. The country also has one of the finest railroad systems in all of Africa, as well as the world’s largest platinum reserves. In the past century, the Marange diamond fields were one of the greatest discoveries, but Zimbabwe is most famous for the great Zambezi River that flows over the majestic Victoria Falls.

Zimbabwe has everything imaginable to qualify it as one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But today it wallows in poverty. According to the Mundi index of gross domestic product (GDP), as of January 1, 2014, the per-capita earnings of the people of Zimbabwe amounted to just $600 per year. That’s $1.64 per day! Out of 228 countries, Zimbabwe ranks 227!1 Why?

Next, let’s consider a little spot on the globe called Hong Kong. More than seven million people inhabit this 400-plus-square-mile parcel of land bordering the South China Sea. Most residents emigrated to Hong Kong from Guangdong Province in China to escape conflict. In 1997, Great Britain returned Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, and it has remained under Chinese rule ever since.

Hong Kong possesses very little arable land and almost no natural resources, except for a shoreline sufficient for a port. As of 2013, the Hong Kong dollar was the thirteenth most traded currency in the world.2 The tiny administrative region has become one of the most important financial centers in the world, following New York and London,3 and is considered the epicenter for management, finance, Internet technology (IT), business consultation, and professional services.

Hong Kong has a well-developed transportation system and is lauded for the exquisite quality of life its residents enjoy. In fact, life expectancy in Hong Kong is one of the highest in the world—eighty years for men and eighty-five for women.4

Year after year, the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom has listed Hong Kong as the freest market economy in the world.5 The Mundi index of per-capita income ranks Hong Kong sixteenth in the world, with individual earnings at nearly $53,000 per year.6 That’s $145 per day, or approximately 90 percent more than the folks in Zimbabwe earn in a year.

Hong Kong doesn’t possess even a fraction of the natural and human resources available to Zimbabwe, and yet it’s one of the wealthiest regions on earth. Why?

The hunt for clues continues!

© Dr. James W. Jackson   

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

  

www.jameswjackson.com

 

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

EXCITING NEWS: Get Prepared

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

The publishers have nearly completed their work: editing, book cover and exterior design, interior book design, artwork and graphics, proofing, typesetting . . . and now the book is in the hands of the talented book manufacturers and printers!! (Nothing more I can do!)

It’s the book I always wanted to write about the discipline of ECONOMICS. The title is: 

Better Off: How America Got Wealthy and You Can Too.

In the book I deal with investigating my curiosity as to why some countries are abundantly wealthy and some countries are stuck up to their ears in abject poverty, sickness and misery. Why?

I discuss the phenomenon that throughout history insecure people have turned to governments to take care of them from cradle to grave. And those in leadership wield legitimate authority and power to compel obedience from the same people who empowered them. No wonder leaders with unlimited power will do practically anything to retain that power.

In nearly 250 pages I try to share what I have personally seen, heard, and experienced in the over 150 countries where I have traveled and worked. The study of economics deals with how to make good choices. I want to share what I have discovered about making good choices.

I passionately want to get back to sharing with you more excerpts from the actual travel journals I have written while traveling over the past thirty years. So many of you have been so kind to respond and tell me how the stories from the journals have helped enlighten and encourage you in your personal lives.

I will get back to sharing those travel adventures in a couple of weeks. But I also want to keep you informed of the exciting things that are happening with the new book.

Thanks for being my traveling partners.

© Dr. James W. Jackson   

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

  

www.jameswjackson.com

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS: Roads I Have Traveled...Excerpt # 6 Nagorno-Karabakh, 1998

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

(continued): Nagorno-Karabakh: August 19,1998: This morning our delegation traveled north and east out of Stepanakert to the city of Martakert. It is near the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border where incidents of sniper fire and land-mine explosions are still occurring. The hospital there serves fifty-seven smaller villages in the region. Immediately upon arriving at the hospital I met a young soldier and photographed the wounds he had just received.

The thought flashed through my mind that I could have easily been the one in the cross hairs of the sniper’s sights. The sniper’s bullet had entered his upper-left chest cavity, collapsed his left lung, and exited out his back. The shot had somehow missed his heart, and the doctors assured us that the young man will survive and heal successfully.

 All the hospitals we had visited in Stepanakert needed everything. In Martakert, they simply needed more than everything.

 It kept blaring inside my head, These are the brave doctors on the front lines of this ongoing conflict, and they have nothing to work with. Just the donation of a little would go so far.

Dinner, again, was very late, and by the time I headed for my room, the wind had begun to blow and it was trying to rain. The last thing Baroness Cox told me was that Zori had informed her there will probably be no possibility of taking the helicopter back to Yerevan, Armenia tomorrow. The storm that has moved in has brought with it very dense clouds that are totally blocking the mountains. I asked Lady Cox what the difference in travel time will be if we have to drive back over the mountains.

“They have repaired some of the bombed-out places in the roadway,” she said, “so now even in good weather, we are probably looking at fourteen hours as opposed to an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half by helicopter.

I went to sleep thinking about the probability of returning over the mountains to Armenia tomorrow in a caravan of vehicles, bouncing over rutty roads and sitting on metal seats for at least fourteen hours. I awoke in the middle of the night and listened to it rain. Then I fell back to sleep singing a little ditty I had composed in the dark: “No caravan to Yerevan, Lord. Let me fly by chopper.”

Thursday, August 20

In the morning the clouds had lifted a bit, but it was still raining. At breakfast Dr. Tony Peel and I discussed our presentation to the prime minister. Even around the table, it was the consensus of opinion that the pilots will probably not chance flying the chopper across the rugged mountain peaks in the storm. We all moaned at the thought of a fourteen-hour ride back to Armenia. I kept humming, “No caravan to Yerevan, Lord. Let me fly by chopper.”

Our meeting with the prime minister could not have gone better. He guaranteed personally that the medical goods from Project CURE will be received under his watchful eye, free of any tax or duty requirements. Dr. Peel and I laid out our recommendations that they not put any more expense or effort into trying to salvage four of the hospital buildings in the city of Stepanakert. Rather, contrary to the old Soviet model, we recommended they choose a new location for a unified hospital that would include separate departments for each specialty. That way each department could take advantage of a centralized laboratory, a modern radiology department, and common surgery facilities. We pointed out that they would be able to cut down on the number of beds in the combined hospital and would have better cost control over the supplies and staff.

The prime minister just beamed. He had been thinking about the same things but was certain he would encounter opposition from the heads of the separate hospitals because they would be losing “turf.” We pointed out that he and the minister of health could reassure those directors that they would still have control over their individual budgets for their departments, even in the unified hospital.

One of the members of our medical team had talked to me a couple of days ago about making an anonymous gift of $1.5 million toward the construction of the new hospital if I could get the minister of health and the prime minister to go along with the idea and agree to certain guidelines. I presented the prime minister with that possibility, and Zori, Baroness Cox, and the prime minister all just about took off into orbit.

The prime minister and Zori repeatedly thanked us for having done such a thorough job in our research and recommendations. Now they can start planning how to totally change their health care delivery system and dump the old inefficient Soviet nightmare. It was about noon when we left the prime minister’s office. The rain had stopped, but the clouds were dense and low over the mountain peaks. Zori just shook his head and announced at lunch that there would be no helicopter. “No caravan to Yerevan,” I hummed as I enjoyed my lunch of greasy, fried eggplant and beans.

About 1:00 p.m., a strange thing happened. As we were ready to load up the vans for our caravan trip, the sun broke out, and the clouds began to lift. I actually watched the dense cloud line move up the mountain peaks. As we finished loading the luggage, word came to Zori from the helicopter pilots. They now felt it would be safe to fly! The caravan of luggage and passengers headed to the airport instead of the mountain pass. “No caravan to Yerevan,” I continued to hum.

As we flew back to Armenia, I once in a while caught a glimpse of the winding road traversing its way up and over the mountain range. I smiled and told God, Thank you.

Friday, August 21

Today was a whirlwind day. At 10:30 a.m., I had the privilege of meeting with Viken Aykazian, bishop of the Armenian Orthodox Christian Church. At 11:30 a.m., the foreign affairs minister of Armenia met with us.

Between 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., a news conference was held at the main government building in Yerevan. About twenty-five newspaper reporters and TV journalists assembled in the official press-conference room. Baroness Cox was really the star of the press conference. Nearly everyone in Armenia knows her and her tireless work around the world on behalf of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. She introduced me, and I was able to talk about Project C.U.R.E. and its impact around the world, as well as our findings in Nagorno-Karabakh and our plans for the future regarding its health-care system and the medical institutions we had visited.

We used our last dinner together to honor the helicopter pilots who had been so kind to us during our stay in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and all the other helicopter pilots who had given their lives to keep the corridor open between Armenia and Karabakh during the recent war years.

My research of the Armenians and the Nagorno-Karabakh situation had somewhat prepared me for a cursory understanding of the history of the Karabakh region, but I was in no way prepared for the emotional wrenching I experienced during my stay. I know I can’t keep up forever the pace of what I am doing now. My exposure is high, and the risks I am taking are, according to common sense, quite stupid. But while God gives me good health and high energy, I want to make my life count for kindness, justice, and righteousness. I truly believe those are the high objectives that will delight the heart of God.

© Dr. James W. Jackson   

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

  

www.jameswjackson.com

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com