UPDATE! New of the New Book Better Off

by Dr. James W. Jackson

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

This is fun! Endorsements for the new book are rolling in. Take a look:

Better Off (non-fiction), by Dr. James W. Jackson (author), 2016, Winston Crown Publishing, should be required reading for every young person in the US and anyone else looking for an understandable primer on economics. 

Dr. Jackson has managed to compress into 200 pages or so an entire college level course on economics. He takes on the current political campaign fascination with redistribution of wealth and offers a more American way of achieving success so that everyone is Better Off. In addition he uses his considerable international experience to highlight examples of humanitarian principles, which benefit millions of persons worldwide. His hopeful and positive approach toward a sometimes controversial and often misunderstood subject (economics) was refreshing. His personal insights and commentaries were spot on, supporting his logical arguments about what really creates wealth. I would expect this book could be a catalyst for a new American renaissance and spur an economic recovery in the US if policy makers and politicians would put this into action. A must read for anyone hoping for an alternative to the current debate about what really creates and sustains wealth. He makes it clear that America has succeeded in the past because of the unique economic and cultural experiment of 1776.

Dr. James W. Terbush: U.S. Command Surgeon, NORAD/Northcom, Homeland Security

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Even for those who studied economics in college, the fundamental ideas that comprise the ‘economic way of thinking’ too often remain elusive. In this uniquely-styled, and very enjoyable book, Dr. Jackson provides important historical context while revealing the economic reasoning skills that will help people achieve success in their personal, business and civic lives. I highly recommend this excellent book which is a fitting tribute to a remarkable teacher-of-teachers, Dr. Paul Ballantyne, one of the giants of economic education.

Robert L. Clinton: former President, Colorado Council for Economic Education    President of the Colorado Council for Economic Education from 2000-2015, also member of the board of directors of both the national Council for Economic Education and the National Association of Economic Educators  

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I absolutely loved this book. Dr Jackson made the principles of economics easy and actually enjoyable to learn and then built on that to explain how the USA used these principles to become the greatest economy in the history of the world. Then he shows you how to apply these principles in your own life and inspires us by showing us how to succeed by making other people better off. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Jonathan Manske, Author, Coach: Law of Attraction

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Dr. Jackson has a gift for bringing economics to life in a clear and conversational way. He provides a real service with this book, explaining the keys to economic success, and how we might lose our way if we forget these keys. He has seen much in his life that he brings to bear in this fine book, and it is a particularly important read for young people today. Good planning and hard work resulted in the achievement, creativity and productivity that has enabled Americans to be Better Off. This could be jeopardized if we are not aware of the economic realities this book so well describes.

Nicholas Muller, Attorney at Law

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For those of you who received an advance copy of Better Off: How America got Wealthy and you can too!, you still have until April 29th to get your response submitted to: press@winstoncrown.com  

Thanks for making this important project so enjoyable!

Next week we continue with the saga of the Transition Journal of The Roads I Have Traveled. 

© 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

ECONOMICS of the INTERIOR: Introduction

by Dr. James W. Jackson

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

Since the summer of 2010, Winston Crown Publishing House has consistently posted my weekly articles on their site. I enjoy telling the riveting stories about Project C.U.R.E. and the unique and compassionate work being accomplished around the world. Those postings tally up to over 225 weekly articles.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed sharing articles about the economic systems and the different cultures I have personally experienced in the over 150 countries in which I have worked around the world. Those writings have eventually ended up in the gold medallion-winning books that Winston Crown Publishing House has produced and distributed.

In 2013, I began focusing my attention on finishing a book on Cultural Economics. Economics and business matters have always intrigued me. We feel that even not-for-profit organizations of charity should be run with the same care and efficiency as any Fortune 500 company. That is why it pleases me so much when Forbes Magazine lists Project C.U.R.E. in the top twenty most efficiently run not-for-profit charities in America. That’s just good stewardship.

Many of my weekly articles over the past year have been full of observations and insights regarding the economic systems and cultures of which I am familiar. I hope to include those ideas in the up-coming book. I find pleasure in bouncing ideas off of my reading friends and receiving back from them their candid responses. That process always gives me a clearer idea of what should be included in the book and what should be left on the floor of the editing room.

 In the past articles we have used as an overall definition of the idea of economics as being; the discipline of study that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The root is from the ancient Greek word oikovouia, or the combination of oikos (the house) and nous (nomos, custom or rule), simply put, the rules of the house for good management.

In my studies over the years, I have pursued the subject of economics to a further interdisciplinary bias to express my interests and observations. Cultural Economics is a branch of economics that concerns itself with the relationship of culture to economic outcomes. It studies how various aspects of human cultures interact with economic events, behaviors, and conditions. A given culture will even influence the political system with its traditions, religious beliefs, the formation of institutions, and the value ascribed to individuals.

Cultural Economics certainly leans more toward the behavioral aspects of the study of economics rather than the pure analytical number crunching of the econometrics laboratory. It is aimed at how people affect economic systems and how cultures are affected by economic choices. In the study of Cultural Economics we have the thrill of taking some basic principles of economics and combining them with the unpredictable thoughts, choices, and actions of over seven billion people on earth today. That makes for an interesting adventure that can open our eyes to a better understanding of motives, methods, behaviors, successes, and failures regarding our world’s resources and human lifestyles.

The past fifty weekly articles have generously investigated the possibilities of Cultural Economics and the thesis that Global Transformation Takes Place at the Intersection of Culture and Economics. There is one more area of economics that I would like to pursue to finish out the Cultural Economics book. It deals specifically with the cultural component labeled Individual on the Cultural Economics matrix we have frequently shown in the articles.

We will call this division of economics the Economics of the Interior. What am I supposed to do with all the personal resources, liabilities, and opportunities inside my own individual and sovereign being (my own nation-state) in relationship to the arbitrary and compulsory expectations of the economic systems in which I find myself? We will investigate that subject beginning next week.

Next Week: Economics of the Interior, Part 1

(Research ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics)

© Dr. James W. Jackson   

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

  

www.drjameswjackson.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

SYSTEMS MATTER Part 4: MARX, COMMUNISM, and CULTURAL ECONOMICS

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 move forward, I would like for us to realistically consider the radical transformation that took place in Russia as a result of Lenin’s Bolshevik revolution. In previous articles we have made the statement that all transformation takes place at the intersection of culture and economics.

It is difficult for us to comprehend what actually happened when Lenin uncompromisingly pushed for the communist agenda of totally smashing the entire culture of Russia. It was total revolution, the destruction of all systems, a declaration of complete and new ownership of all assets, all accumulation, and all wealth and value. It was an unchallenged authority with full power that would determine what each individual would access, consume, possess, or utilize. That power would determine where the individuals would live, what they would eat, the clothes they would wear, what they would read, and even what they would think or talk about.

In prior discussions we have addressed the economic components of land, labor, capital, and the entrepreneur. All of the land and production of Russia was no longer allowed to be held or even influenced by any such things as market factors or individuals. All actions of labor and work would be directed ultimately by the politburo. All capital, including personal property, all livestock, all machinery, all furniture or utensils of work would be owned, possessed, and managed by the elite politburo. As for the entrepreneur . . . there would be no such thing.

On the cultural side of the matrix, traditions would be abolished. Those institutions that carried forward those traditions would no longer legally exist. The family would be restructured and the individual would be melded into the seamless whole of the communist party.

When I think about the profound and primal transformation that took place at the very announcement of Lenin– when he declared that the Soviet government under the direction of himself, the politburo, and the enforcing management of the soldiers, the peasants and the workers– I am reminded of the scene from the film Dr. Zhivago.

When Dr. Zhivago returned to his home in Moscow, from having been conscripted to treat the wounded and medically needy of the Red Army, he was met by a houseful of newly entitled citizens who now had equal possession and management of what had formerly been his family’s home. Zhivago, his wife, and her parents had been relegated to a very small area for their living quarters. The new inhabitants were even going to hold court when they discovered that the doctor was going to use some of the wood that he had formerly owned to burn in the small stove. No longer was the wood his, neither was the stove his, nor the house!

I have tried to picture in my mind and vicariously experience with my emotions the impact of that day of announcement. The Russian economy and culture bear the stripes of inefficiency, shortage, and lost opportunity to this day.

The Chinese, in the aftermath of their Cultural Revolution and bout with communism, have been forging ahead trying to rediscover the secrets to efficiency and abundance. Russia continues to reject the phenomenon of efficient production and abundance. When it runs out of the supply it has taken from the czars, stolen from its close neighbors, or pillaged from all the old members of the former Soviet Federation, President Putin can only resort to the one strategy Russia knows for accumulation of wealth: theft by appropriation, or simply, theft.

When you don’t produce things then you must resort to taking wealth by stealing. Russia is once more embarking on the old strategy of stealing through the practice of expansionism. They must now have, again, the wealth of Ukraine.

I recall riding in an automobile near Sinuiju City on one of my trips to North Korea. As I viewed the countryside quilted with rice paddies and rectangular concrete communist housing units, I was plagued by a menacing thought. Finally, I decided to risk asking one of the communist leaders in the car this probing question:

“This is beautiful land for agriculture. I would suppose that before the Marxist revolution it had been owned continuously by four or five generations of families in succession. What was the response of the families who had owned the land for so long when Great Leader Kim Il Sung announced that they no longer owned the land, tore down their homes and dwellings, and insisted that everyone move into the rectangular concrete buildings?”

“Oh, it was a wonderful day,” was their scripted reply. “Dr. Jackson, there is no way you can understand how eager everyone was to respond to Great Leader’s glorious announcement that now no one owned anything, but everyone owned everything. From that day on Great Leader Kim Il Sung would personally take care of all of our needs. No one would be in want of anything. They were all so happy to move into their new homes with others who would be tending the communal rice fields together with them.”

I quietly continued my research over the years and discovered that the problem of surrendering the family inheritance was simply solved by graciously allowing the family members to hint at an attitude of protest only once. They were murdered. At that point the rice production strangely fed a higher percentage of the population than before. As the years have gone by the sad truth is that the population has decreased but the production has dwindled until there is not enough rice produced to even feed the hungry population, to say nothing of having any excess to sell to eager international buyers. Systems matter!

Next week, SYSTEMS MATTER Part 5: Investigating Free Enterprise.

          (Research ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics)

© 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