Much of the recent bad economic news has been blamed on troubles in the housing market and the banking and credit industries.
While these problems are serious, the more fundamental and insidious economic problem is the lack of knowledge about what exactly creates a vibrant, thriving economy.
The formulation of effective policy starts with the essential question: what is required for a nation to create and sustain wealth? Justice on All Levels Before any economy can be talked about, there must be justice.
The investor must be able to trust an organization to behave responsibly and wisely with their investment.
The retail store must be able to trust visitors to act cordially, respectfully, and honestly (e.
g.
no shoplifting).
Individuals must have "confidence" in the goods they are buying.
A nation with any economy at all must involve people who can trust each other, and the products and services they offer.
This trust in the laws of fairness must be enforced justly, otherwise trust erodes and fear prevents ventures from ever taking place.
Once people can trust each other, there is room for teamwork.
Trust is generated by justice.
Justice must exist before any economy can take place.
The American economy has been strong until now for many reasons, not the least of which is the trust generated by excellent law enforcement.
While law enforcement has been very effective on the grassroots level, it seems to have waned on the large scale.
A Wise People Skilled labor is required to pull minerals from the earth and turn them into goods.
This wisdom, this skill, is required to accomplish great ventures.
Auto makers and oil refineries are networked mazes of complex systems kept running by very wise and skilled workers who are well paid for their expertise.
Agriculture, Aerospace, Manufacturing, Investing, and every single economic sector without exception requires skilled labor.
Without skilled labor, a nation must either return to the most basic forms of agriculture or import skilled laborers to run the complex systems.
America is now noticing a high influx of imported labor (ask Whirlpool) and my personal experience has seen employers wondering where America's upcoming skilled labor market is going to come.
A Loving People Once complex systems are in place, wisdom must be passed from generation to generation in order for the populace to compete.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, the new generation must quickly learn the techniques and protocols that have already been learned and implemented by the previous generation.
There must be a caring relationship between generations to impart wisdom on how to build, maintain, and improve complex systems.
It seems at the moment that there is a lot of ladder climbing but not a lot of discipleship going on in Corporate America.
A Strong Production Base Physical wealth begins with taking minerals from the ground and then turning those minerals into something valuable and useful.
This process can be called production, the generation of products.
  Agriculture and Mining pull minerals from the ground and manufacturing turns those minerals into products.
All other economic fields depend on these.
As the American economy shuns these values in favor of services, entertainment, or any other economic sector, there will be less and less of a foundation for the economy to stand on.
All taxes and burdens placed on these sectors exponentially impede all others.
Conclusion Economies are fundamentally human qualities and values.
As those qualities and values change, economies will shift accordingly.
  If the qualities and values are dead wrong, the economies will not function correctly.
If the qualities and values are right, they will thrive vibrantly.