To Consume with Passion!

What is to “Consume with Passion?” To consume with passion is to see and use the material world with mindful and grateful appreciation of the enormous human effort and spirit that has been spent creating it.  It is also to use the products and services that one chooses or can acquire with a relaxed awareness of the senses that may be satisfied – taste, smell, touch, sight, hearing, as well as the pursuit of well-being generally. Consuming with passion is not about how much or how little of the material world one uses. Consuming with passion is the desire and ability to see that the use of commodities, whether “necessities” or “frivolities” satisfy the most basic of human needs: the need...

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What Is Economic Mindfulness (Being Mindful in the Economy)?

Economic Mindfulness Overall, mindfulness means to deliberately and non-judgmentally pay attention to the present moment. On the economic playing field, mindfulness encompasses both your own feelings toward the world about you and how you observe this world with objective and sympathetic eyes. This mindfulness brings awareness of the human producing and consuming that continuously goes on all around you. This mindfulness frees you from habitual and possibly prejudicial ways of thinking and feeling about the economy and your role in it. This mindfulness promotes balance, quiet observation, wisdom about eternal economic principles and acceptance of what is. Mindful Action on the Economic Playing Field means: Seeing yourself becoming aware of the nurturing opportunities available to you as a producer of service to others and a consumer...

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Is it fair to say that one profession or product is more honorable or prestigious than another?

Is it fair to say that one profession or product is more honorable or prestigious than another? At first blush, it might be hard to argue against the common opinion that the eye surgeon creates more value than a hamburger cook.  After all, eye surgeons likely receive way more money for their services than cooks.   Does that make the job of the surgeon more honorable, more prestigious, more worthy of respect than that of the cook? If indeed it does, then the mass of people living in the economy who are not surgeons, but are auto mechanics, truck drivers, gardeners, cashiers at the local hardware store, and cooks may feel a lack of self-respect at some level. And, if this be true,...

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What’s With the Quotes?

by Emanuel A Frenkel What’s with the quotes? Many authors like to place famous, or less-than-famous, quotes or sayings the front-end of their books.  They do this to give the reader a kind-of advance feeling of what may be main themes in the book.  I do not know if this really works or not but if any of you have read Contentonomics or have looked at the free “inside the book” feature on amazon.com, you’ll see that I’ve placed four quotes at the front-end.  Question is: what do these words have to do with the philosophy of Contentonomics and what’s the point? Well, let’s see… (1) “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” – Henry David Thoreau, from “Economy” in Walden Here we have one of the most famous...

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What inspired me to write “Contentonomics”

As an international economist and strategic planner for Bank of America I traveled to many countries.  On these trips I always tried to find time to walk through the cities I visited.  I talked to and watched people in the streets and stores.  I toured commercial shopping centers and grocery stalls.  Wherever I was, there appeared to be an ever-present link between the diversity of material life and the all-to-normal human endeavor to strive for a better state of well-being.  The material diversity in taste, personal expression, and habits was ever-evident and said much about local living, about the local economy.  But joined to the bustle and striving in the material world, another aspect of living appeared to me...

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We’re all in the Same Boat!

When it comes to Economics, we are all in the same boat. By “same boat” I mean that all of us, and I mean ALL of us, will acquire material things and the services of other people, (should we want or need to consume them) to the extent that we have the hard-earned cash, or someone else’s hard-earned cash to trade for them. These things and services span a wide range indeed. The weights in a gym, the textbook on elementary algebra, the “Tesla S” automobile, a life-saving antibiotic, a rock concert, the instruments in the rock band, a full body massage, the jewelry that adorns us, the array of magazines on the shelf at Barnes and Noble Bookstores, the...

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Welcome to Contentonomics

Welcome to Contentonomics. Contentonomics is a way living, a philosophy of action, an attitude of positive expectation. It is based on a three simple notions. The first is that the need for respect, reward, and recognition is universal, and that a sense of self-worth and contentment comes from satisfying this need. The second notion is that feeling connected to, and “at one” with, the world and its human achievements, is a source of personal serenity. The third is that it is on the playing field called the Economy where one can achieve respect, reward, recognition, and feel “at one” with the world, even if one’s life goal is to change things about it. By “living Contentonomics” you see the economy...

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