How do we know that God wants people to be happy?
Human happiness or unhappiness is evident in the results we see.
Therefore, we must act with intention.
Actions, results, and efforts demonstrate this. Is there anyone who does not wish to be happy?
Much of the misfortune is self-inflicted by people.
The seeds of misfortune include hatred, resentment, envy, arrogance, greed, infidelity, betrayal, lies, deceit, abuse, irreligion, self-righteousness, egoism, mercilessness, cruelty, brutality, immorality, injustice, shamelessness, cowardice, baseness, inferiority complex, rudeness, betrayal, conflict, dispute, discrimination, selfishness, crime, threats, theft, violence, lust, obscenity, temptation, avarice, poverty, disease, accidents, disasters, war, and famine.
Nuclear weapons, poison gas, and biochemical weapons were not created by God, but by humans.
Medicine can become poison if used incorrectly.”
Efforts and actions are reflected in the results. Evil deeds bring unhappiness not only to oneself but also to others. You may deceive others, but you cannot deceive yourself.
What do we mean by happiness? First, that the family is healthy.
Second, that there are no worries about tomorrow.
Third, that there is no material poverty or lack.
Fourth, that there is peace.
Fifth, that there is mutual trust and belief.
Sixth, that there is freedom and the ability to speak one’s mind.
Seventh, that one can work.
Mencius described the three joys of a gentleman: that the members of one’s family are safe, that one has no shame before heaven or people, and that one educates the talented people of the world. Kaibara Ekken, in his “Yojokun,” described the three joys as: enjoying following the way and accumulating good deeds, enjoying a healthy life free from illness, and enjoying longevity.
This leads to happiness.
Happiness means a state of being happy. In other words, to become happy is to create a state of happiness and maintain it. Therefore, indicators become important in systems. Systems and mechanisms monitor the state and determine economic policies. These are the indicators for that purpose.
Japanese people have never had trouble with places to live, food to eat, or clothes to wear. Water comes out whenever you turn on the tap, and gas flows when you turn the valve. You can buy oil if you have money. Electricity is always available with a flip of a switch.
However, the times when food, clothing, and housing were scarce lasted longer.
According to United Nations statistics, between 713 million and 757 million people will suffer from undernourishment in 2023. It is estimated that more than 3 million people die annually due to malnutrition.
Statistics show that eating delicious food ranks quite high among the times when people feel happy. Eating is an important element of happiness. Pleasure does not necessarily equate to happiness. Rather, pleasure can be a seed of unhappiness.
Modern economic policies are based on the premise of growth. However, real markets generally repeat cycles of expansion and contraction, creation, growth, maturity, decline, and regeneration. The maturity phase often lasts longer than the growth phase.
When the market becomes saturated, quality improvement is demanded. The question of what true wealth is arises.
Those who grew up in times of scarcity first seek to be able to eat. Taste is secondary. In such times, mass production and cheap abundance are most sought after. Once quantitatively satisfied and incomes rise, taste becomes important. Nowadays, gourmet programs are in their heyday. On the other hand, why are industrial products like convenience store bento and fast food chains popular?
Income and lifestyle, in other words, consumption and production, are the structure and logic of the economy.
The same applies to housing. If there is no place to live, even a shack will do, which then becomes a cheap apartment, then a detached house, and now high-rise condominiums. Conversely, vacant houses and homelessness are increasing.
Home appliances have also evolved from radios to black-and-white TVs, color TVs, LCD TVs, digital TVs, and SNS, creating new markets. Meanwhile, the decline of home appliance manufacturers is progressing.
The transition from quantity to quality has not been successful. On the other hand, automation, mechanization, and unmanned production are advancing, leading to job losses.
The prioritization of production efficiency has resulted in the neglect of quality improvement in consumption.
The place of living and the place of consumption are centered around the family.
The origin of the economy lies in the household. The source of happiness lies in the family.
The family is a community or group formed by blood relations.
A household is a group that shares a livelihood. A community.
Today, family relationships have become tenuous, and the collapse of the family has been lamented for a long time. However, in the past, the family was the center of life, that is, the economy. In an agrarian society, the home was the base of production, managing all household chores such as childbirth and childcare, cooking, laundry, and cleaning. They also took care of the sick and the elderly. Additionally, the local community also served as a base for organizing ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. In the past, they were self-sufficient.
As social division of labor progressed and the workplace and living space became separated, family relationships changed. From extended families to nuclear families, and then to individuals. With these changes, the nature of the family and the economy also changed.
However, it remains unchanged that one cannot discuss the economy without considering the nature of the family.
The family is the root of happiness. It is the last place to return to, a place of reliance, a place to return to in times of sadness and loneliness. Unhappiness often begins with the collapse of the family. Therefore, the family is the origin of the economy.
The core of the family is a pair of spouses. A pair of spouses forms a couple, and if they have children, they form a father and mother.
In the past, it was based on heterosexual relationships, but today it can also be composed of same-sex relationships. In other words, the family system is based on the marriage system.
If you wish for happiness, the fundamental element is love.
Although the family system and marriage system have changed over time, it remains unchanged that the household is based on the family system and marriage system of each era.
Everyone has a mother and father. This is an undeniable fact. The family is fundamentally formed based on blood relations such as a couple, two parents, siblings, and children.
The roles of the family are, first, to take care of the daily life of the family. Second, childbirth, childcare, discipline, and taking care of children. Third, taking care of the elderly and elderly care. Fourth, production activities and labor. Fifth, taking care of the sick. Sixth, organizing ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. These tasks have been divided between the spouses. When there was a shortage of labor, children and the elderly also became important labor forces.
Among these, production activities became separated and independent from the household and livelihood, becoming the sole source of income. The place of living and consumption and the workplace became separated. As a result, the status of men, who were responsible for cash income, became relatively superior.
The role of the family is to serve as an investment in the household and long-term funds. That is, the three major funds in life are, first, education funds. Second, housing funds. Third, retirement funds. In addition to these three funds, there are expenses for marriage, childbirth, illness, unemployment, and so on.
The external economy developed to earn the necessary funds for the household.
After World War II, it was said that the most rationalized labor was household labor. Household chores became more efficient with electrification. For example, electric washing machines, electric refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and gas rice cookers. As household chores became more rationalized, women’s participation in society was also promoted. This promoted the nuclear family, and the nuclear family promoted the outsourcing of household chores.
The outsourcing of household chores allowed the logic of the external economy, the market, to penetrate the household.
Such changes have also led to the disdain of household labor and unpaid labor. Fundamentally, household labor is consumption labor.
The background to this is the idea that production is superior to consumption. Household and consumption are private. External and production are public and social.
This is influenced by the idea of whether something can be converted into money. The idea is that things that cannot be converted into monetary value have no economic value.
Women’s participation in society promotes women’s economic independence. This has improved women’s social status.
As social division of labor deepens, families have been disassembled and dismantled.
Changes in the family system have also influenced family-centered ethics. In other words, it has shifted from family-oriented ethics to individualistic ethics.
The control relationship based on family-oriented ethics is shifting to a control relationship centered on money.
In the past, the issue of the relationship between a wife and her mother-in-law was a serious family problem, but now living separately has become the norm. Inheritance issues are still serious, but the inheritance of the eldest son has now been changed. It greatly differs depending on the fundamental idea of inheritance tax.
There are also changes in the way people think about ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. In the past, marriage was an issue between families, but now it has been replaced by an individual issue.
Furthermore, changes in the family system are also one of the causes of the increase in lifelong singles and the declining birthrate.
This is because the value and necessity of the family are being lost.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare classifies “household structure” as follows: (1) Single-person household A household with only one member. (2) Nuclear family household A. Household with only a couple A household consisting only of the household head and their spouse. B. Household with a couple and unmarried children only A household consisting only of a couple and their unmarried children. C. Household with a single parent and unmarried children only A household consisting only of a father or mother and their unmarried children. (3) Three-generation household A household consisting of three or more generations centered around the household head. (4) Other households Households other than (1) to (3) above.
These classifications reflect changes in the structure of the family.
The external economy developed through social division of labor.
The essence of the economy is reflected in the population structure. Why can consumption be said to be the foundation of the economy? It is because the target of consumption is the entire population. In contrast, production involves the working population, and distribution involves the population of income earners.
How much of the total population is supported by the working population? Who are the income earners in a household, and how many are there? This forms the basis of the economy.
As social division of labor evolves, production becomes independent from daily life. Additionally, the development of social division of labor promotes the formation of markets.
The place of production is divided into public and private sectors.
Public work is the work to maintain the community. Fundamentally, it is about protecting oneself from external enemies and maintaining public order. Additionally, the development of social infrastructure, disaster prevention, education, social security, and income redistribution were added later.
Although Japanese people declare the renunciation of the right to defense and consider national defense a taboo, the primary motive for the establishment of a nation is national defense. This is not limited to humans; in the natural world, animals also prioritize protecting themselves from external enemies, which is an undeniable fact.
Private work fundamentally involves producing and procuring the resources necessary for living, selling them to obtain living expenses, and earning money. In short, it is about working, producing goods or services that can be sold, and obtaining the necessary “money” to live.
However, not everyone in the world can earn enough “money” to live by working. There are people who cannot work.
Mass production is based on the idea that it is sufficient to fill everyone’s stomachs for the time being. However, many people are not satisfied with just having their stomachs full and start seeking taste, that is, quality.
Furthermore, the separation of consumption and production leads to the formation of markets. With the expansion and development of markets, a monetary economy is established. Money is a means of distribution.
In the process of establishing a monetary economy, the financial industry develops.
The economy forms five sectors: households, businesses, finance, government, and overseas.
Both communism and liberalism agree on the direction of salaried employment.
The economy is about distributing the necessary resources to all people as needed and when needed to live. First, “money” as a means of payment is distributed according to each person’s work. By using the distributed “money” to purchase goods produced by people’s work from the market, distribution is realized.
The economy is maintained by balancing the produced goods, distributed income, and expenditure for consumption.
”Money” is a means of distribution.
Currently, when we refer to “money,” we often mean paper currency. To understand the function of modern “money,” it is necessary to clarify the nature of paper currency. Paper currency is representative money, not commodity money.
To understand the function of paper currency, it is necessary to know its origins.
Keywords to understand the elements deeply involved in the origins of paper currency include government bonds (debt), war, taxes, central banks, parliaments, civil revolutions, constitutions, democracy, corporations, and capital. These words hold significant meaning in understanding the function of paper currency.
In the UK, the issuance of paper currency originated from the central bank taking on government bonds increased by war expenses in exchange for the right to issue paper currency. This background includes the influence of the civil revolution and the Magna Carta, which prevented the king from arbitrarily increasing taxes without parliamentary approval.
Similarly, American paper currency originated from government bonds issued during the Civil War. In this way, paper currency is deeply related to war, government bonds (debt), and taxes. This is an important factor in understanding the function of modern “money.”
War and government bonds are deeply connected. Much of the war expenses are covered by debt. This is because war is unproductive. Expenditures used for the military are not directed towards living expenses. In other words, goods produced for the military are expenditures that do not benefit daily life. Here, production and consumption are not directly connected. Therefore, reliance on debt becomes inevitable.
This is a point that must not be forgotten when considering “money” and finance.
I do not mean to say that debt is bad, but rather that it is important to correctly recognize the fact that modern society is built on debt.
Furthermore, I want to emphasize that there is a negative space in the economy, which is in a complementary relationship with the physical space.
“Paper money is banknotes, but what exactly are banknotes?
Banknotes are debt certificates issued by banks.
If they are gold coin exchange certificates, it means that by bringing the paper money, one can exchange it for gold coins.
From the perspective of the issuing bank, it is a certificate indicating the obligation to pay gold coins, in other words, a debt certificate.
The first paper money issued in Japan is said to be the exchange company paper money issued in 1869. It was not issued by the government, but by exchange companies. Initially, multiple exchange companies were established, but by 1873, all exchange companies except the Yokohama Exchange Company were liquidated.
In other words, the essence of paper money is that it is a debt certificate.” (From “The History of Currency in Japan” by Hisashi Takagi, Chuko Bunko)
Firstly, “money” is a numerical value and a product of recognition. It is not something that occurs naturally.
Secondly, “money” is not absolute but relative.
Thirdly, “money” is an exchange value, a medium of exchange, a means of payment, and a means of settlement.
Fourthly, “money” preserves value and has the ability to accumulate.
Fifthly, “money” has liquidity.
Sixthly, “money” unifies value.
Seventhly, “money” has the nature of debt and liability, and there is an obligation to repay. Eighthly, “money” derives interest and creates time value.
Ninthly, “money” has anonymity.
Tenthly, “money” provides a unit of currency and a measure of economic value.
This high liquidity and the ability to preserve and accumulate value are important functions. Furthermore, it fundamentally has the nature of debt and an obligation to repay. Additionally, it derives interest and has time value. This is a decisive difference from assets like land.
The difference between goods and “money”:
Goods have intrinsic value, while “money” has nominal value. Goods have use value.
“Money” has exchange value and serves as a means of distribution.
Goods are based on existence, while “money” is based on recognition.
Money is a means of distribution. However, what should be particularly noted about the function of money is its long-term and short-term functions. In particular, the long-term function involves the time value, from which interest is derived. The important aspect of the long-term function of money is that it forms liabilities and assets, with the underlying basis being claims and debts. While it is the basis for depreciation in terms of profit and loss, it behaves differently from actual cash flow. This point needs to be noted. Liabilities carry the obligation of repayment, but the repayment of liabilities is not recorded in either profit and loss or the balance sheet. However, if the repayment of liabilities is delayed, the company will go bankrupt. A company does not go bankrupt immediately just because it is in the red, but if the repayment of loans is delayed, it will go bankrupt immediately.
Unifying value means that economic value can be quantified and calculations can be performed. For example, it becomes possible to combine time, people, and labor, or to add the value of apples, boxes, and juice.
This has made it possible to calculate all economic values.
Quantifying makes it possible to securitize claims and debts. Securities are rights, and it becomes possible to divide, lend, borrow, buy, and sell these rights. Paper money is a type of security.
The economic value of goods is difficult to divide, lend, borrow, or sell as a single item. For example, land. By converting the value of land into money and securitizing it, liquidity can be provided or enhanced.
By using land as collateral to borrow money and invest in equipment, assets and liabilities are formed through the flow and function of this money.
The issuance of paper money has established the concepts of assets, liabilities, capital, revenue, and expenses, forming the foundation of modern accounting.
A financial statement is a table that calculates the economic condition of a company based on the function of money within a unit period, for the purpose of reporting to managers, stakeholders, and tax authorities.
The problem is that the function of money in accounting does not necessarily match the actual flow of money. A typical example is depreciation. It is often said that depreciation is an expense without accompanying expenditure, but that is incorrect. There is no account item that is not linked to the flow of money. Originally, depreciation should be an item linked to the repayment amount of debt, but the repayment amount of debt is not recorded in profit and loss or the balance sheet, and is expressed as a difference account of liabilities. Therefore, depreciation is set to maintain the balance between assets and liabilities. However, liabilities for non-depreciable assets such as land remain unsettled in the balance sheet.
In the short term, accounts receivable and accounts payable have similar functions.
Depreciation is the most arbitrary. There is a concept of creative accounting in British accounting thought. While accounting rules state what should not be done, they do not state what can be done. It is often said that Westerners have the idea that if they cannot win, they can change the rules, while Japanese tend to strictly adhere to the rules once decided and regard them as sacred.
What is important in the economy is the repayment amount of debt. The deficit in terms of profit and loss is only a reference, but if the repayment of debt is delayed, it leads to bankruptcy. However, the repayment amount of debt is not recorded anywhere, so cash flow is not visible.
The reason why the economy is biased towards production is that income generation is in the production sector. Therefore, households are placed in a weak position, but in reality, consumption is the ultimate goal. To maintain a normal economic condition, it is necessary to adjust the whole so that the government, finance, private companies, households, and foreign trade can each fulfill their roles. Therefore, it is important to model the economic system and control the economy with instruments based on indicators.
By linking the flow and function of funds to each sector, it becomes clear what actions each sector should take. Simply responding to phenomena or dealing with them in a reactive manner will not solve the problem, but rather exacerbate it.
War fundamentally stems from the breakdown of international division of labor, and it cannot be resolved unless countries cooperate to confront it. If that is the reality, then it is indeed the will of God.
All impurities, distractions, impurities, and waste are stripped away and burned away, leaving only the pure existence, the soul. That is considered God. In other words, it is an innocent and pure faith in the truth. This is also the fundamental spirit of science.”
God does not wish to make people unhappy. It is people who make others unhappy.