A while back, I wrote an article titled “What Caused the Economic Downturn? How Do We Rebound?” It was an entry for the What Would John Templeton Say? blog contest. With a top prize of $500, second place of $300, and third place of $200, I thought there would be plenty of entries. Unfortunately for the website running the contest, there weren’t. (Though that was fortunate for me!)
Apparently some people thought it was too complicated to garner many entries. I think that’s crazy. It wasn’t very difficult at all. The premise was simple. Taking John Templeton’s lecture “The Religious Foundation of Liberty and Enterprise” into account, which vice is most responsible for the recent economic downturn and which virtue is most important to the economy’s rebound? To learn what John Templeton described as the economic vices and virtues, you simply had to read 10 short posts on the website. Here they are:
Economic Vices:
Economic Virtues:
That was it. I didn’t find the reading or concepts very difficult at all. I think I spent a total of 2-3 hours reading, preparing my thoughts, and writing my entry. Even if I had only won third place, that still would have been a nice return on my time (better than most of the articles I have written…).
I’m not sure what the personal finance lesson is here. When the risks are low and potential rewards high (or just moderately high) then take your chances? Or maybe it’s just to keep your eyes open for opportunities and be ready to take action. What do you think?
