Learning from Ants

Have you observed the ants? During summer they work very hard building ant hills and storing enough food grain for the rainy season. The ancient Indian economists followed this ant philosophy and taught us to save a portion of our earnings for the rainy days. In addition, we were told to maintain a sustainable standard of living so that we don’t have the misfortune to reduce the standard of living during the days of recession. We were also advised to save enough to invest in the education of the next generation because those wise men knew that empowering the young through education holds the key in ensuring the future security of the society.

In sharp contrast, look at the American economists? They want people to spend, spend and spend regardless of their financial capacity. If you have no money, use credit cards, buy today and pay later so that manufacturing industry will survive and so their employees. Then when they reach the saturation point, people don’t buy anymore, manufacturers produce less, jobs are cut, those already bought up to their credit limits cannot pay up and the whole system collapses. Luxurious living became more important than safeguarding the interest of the next generation.

Irresponsible over-consumption and artificial credit creation are responsible for today’s economic disaster. Long ago, Abraham Lincoln, one of the first Presidents of the USA said, “You cannot build a strong economy on borrowed funds” and he was absolutely right!