Joseph's "Just My Thoughts"

No matter how smart you are, if you don’t exchange values, you’ll starve to death. For one thing, being self-sufficient enables survival, but self-sufficiency is only possible if you have your own assets and can borrow from others. However, even with existing assets, one can only survive through minimal labor and effort, which means engaging in productive activities. Thus, having great intelligence and applying that intelligence to productive activities are two different things. Even if you aren’t brilliant, you can survive if you are productive. It’s essential to identify the productive activities in which I excel and those where I need improvement. If I understand that, I must act without looking back. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Some people live because of ‘doubt,’ others because of ‘confidence,’ and some because of ‘guess.’ Often, people make a living based on the positive factors we think of, but the opposite is also true. In fact, there are instances where positive factors threaten livelihood. Some people thrive on accuracy and certainty, while many live amid the unsettled and uncertain. The world is not always bright. There are many different ways to live and principles to follow. What do I do for a living? - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

People often say that as one gets older, time passes more quickly, while in youth, time seems to move more slowly. The reason individuals feel that time goes by more slowly when they are young is likely due to a decline in memory. As children, people have limited experience, so everything feels new, and they tend to remember new things well. Having less experience translates to fewer memories. Because there are so many new memories, children perceive time as passing slowly. However, as people age, experience accumulates, and they typically become better at predicting situations, making it easier to cope, resulting in fewer surprises. Since these experiences are not exceptional, they tend to forget them, and when reflecting on the past, there’s little to recall, creating the sensation that time flies. Among the aspects of aging, what is scarier than the decline of the senses is the deterioration of expectations. If the flavor of food becomes predictable based on accumulated experience, ...

Wealth is the state of accumulating added value. Most of us consider money a tool for accumulating value, but there are many other forms in this world. However, all other values are typically expressed as ‘price,’ which is a value compared to goods in terms of money. Therefore, a preconceived notion exists that most means of accumulating value are strictly monetary in nature. Nevertheless, various tools for accumulating value are available, such as jewelry, luxury goods, bonds, and real estate. The value of goods produced by labor is referred to as ‘price.’ Labor can only be directed toward production when the price level is slightly higher than the value of money. Hence, it is normal for prices of goods to continue rising. If they rise excessively, it leads to inflation; on the other hand, if they fall below their value, it results in deflation. There is a problem between the gaps. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Production and processing create added value. Wealth is the accumulation of this added value. Distribution shares this added value among economic entities. Cultivating coffee trees generates added value for green coffee beans, while roasting those beans adds further value to the coffee product. Grinding the beans and extracting them with water creates and consumes the added value of a cup of coffee. Finance enables the distribution of the added value generated by this production and processing through the use of money, facilitating the easy accumulation of that value. However, finance can leverage its power only because there was prior production and processing. The challenge arises when the compulsory circulation power of currency enables the ownership of labor and resources that underpin production and processing, along with real estate, which is foundational to its existence. If production, processing, and distribution are dictated by money’s compulsory circulation power, who will g...

‘Luxury’ has a moral original sin because it is impractical and creates a sense of incongruity between the relatively rich and the poor. Thus, it is true that ‘luxury’ also carries a negative image. However, the rich do purchase luxuries regularly, with a few practical exceptions. This is because luxury items not only incur less depreciation, but their resale value often exceeds the purchase price over time. Think of luxury handbags or jewelry. To preserve or increase wealth, you must have an eye for luxury. This doesn’t mean you should live in luxury; rather, it highlights the challenge of maintaining your accumulated wealth unless you change your habits and attitude toward acquiring assets. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”