St. Thomas Aquinas and the Economy

There's always a tendency that people have when things are going well, to believe that it will never end, and there's always a tendency to believe that when things are going poorly, that it will never end. There's no logic in either space, really smart economists during the residential boom, truly believed that residential home values would continue double digit gains every year. This is totally illogical, ridiculous even. Then I heard a quote from Ron Paul two weeks ago, that we were headed for a 15 year economic depression, the problem would not be if he had the facts to support this, the problem was he has been predicting this for the past 40 years! Both sides are totally illogical.

Here's where St. Thomas Aquinas can help us, he often taught that, "A is A", we have to deal with reality as it is, not with false optimism, and not with false pessimism. We live our life constantly saying I wish I didn't have this kind of debt, I wish I never purchased this house, I wish I never took this job, if only I did this, if only I didn't do that. We are so much better off, focusing on what is real, and then creating postitive actions to deal with our problems. Problems and challenges are a part of every man's life, and we can either whine about them endlessly, or look for the opportunities in every challenge. This economic downturn is frought with opportunities, not only for economic gain, but opportunities to show virtue in the face of trial, so as to be a light to others. Its really our choice, and it starts today!