that getting the right education, securing the right job, and managing your finances properly are the secrets to a prosperous life. That is the real reason that most of us work. That is the real reason that most of us went to college. That is the real reason that most people get up every day and repeat the same routines that our forefathers did before us. In short, we want the security that money brings to life. We want security for our children.
Few of us, however, really stop to consider the effect that bringing all that money into our life will have on the energy of our life.
Money is energy. Think about it for a second. Where is the money that you made last week right now? If you have already received your paycheck, you might quickly say that it’s sitting in a bank account. If so, then the money is sitting in a virtual digital state. That is, you can't put in into your hands unless you physically go to a bank, withdraw it, and place it in your wallet or purse. Otherwise, the money exists in an electronic state with which you will likely never interact physically. The electronic state is fine for paying bills, writing checks, paying the mortgage, using your debit card etc. Most of us don't use much cash these days. However, the money that you use is there when you need it physically. Otherwise, it is only energy.
You might then say, “Well, if I took all of my money out of the bank and used only cash, then it is physical.” Consider this, the physical money that you have in your hand is a note, essentially a guarantee to pay debt. It is backed by the energy of the government that issued the note. Without that government's backing, more energy, the note is worthless. Granted, most governments place considerable energy into backing their notes; but, again, the physical money that you now have in your hand is backed by energy. Without that energy, the note is just paper.
Now, let us take the analysis one step further. Let us use money as one important measure of wealth in general. There are others of course: land, precious metals, commodities, etc.; but for the sake of our discussion, let us stick to cash for the moment. Mankind has been creating wealth for a very long time. Scientists have dated the use of coined money in human society back to 700 B.C. The Electrum stater turtle coin, coined at Aegina island, is one of the first examples of metallic money ever found. Electrum coins were also introduced about 650 B.C. in Lydia.
Have you ever stopped to consider how most of mankind's wealth has been generated in the world for the last 2000 years? Mankind is a creature of habit. The means by which he has generated wealth tends to be related to a number of habits that we don't like to think about, but which are, nevertheless, among our prime indulgences. Forget the Fortune 500, forget sports, forget Wall Street. The ways that are most profitable are probably not at the top of your list. Let's examine them.
5.The Drug Trade
The trade of drugs has existed for as long as drugs have existed. However, the trade of drugs was fully legal until the introduction of drug prohibition. The history of the illegal drug trade is thus closely tied to the history of drug prohibition. In the First Opium War, the United Kingdom forced China to allow British merchants to trade opium with the general population of China. Although illegal by imperial decree, smoking opium had become common in the 1800s due to increasing importation via British merchants. Trading in opium was (as the heroin trade is today) extremely lucrative. As a result of the trade, an estimated two million Chinese people became addicted to the drug.
The British Crown (via the treaties of Nanking and Tianjin) took vast sums of money from the Chinese government in what they referred to as 'reparations' for the wars. The illegal drug trade is operated similarly to other underground markets. Various drug cartels specialize in separate processes along the supply chain, often localized to maximize production efficiency, and minimize damage caused by law enforcement. Depending on the profitability of each layer, cartels usually vary in size, consistency, and organization. The chain ranges from low-level street dealers—who may be individual drug users themselves—through street gangs and contractor-like middle men, up to multinational empires that rival governments in size. A UN report stated that the global drug trade generated an estimated $321.6 billion in 2003.
Of course, the estimates largely depend upon the amount of the drug trade that may be reported by authorities. The actual monetary amounts are likely to be far higher. Hundreds of billions of dollars every year are filtered through the drug trade. With this illicit trade comes the energy of an untold number of crimes perpetuated by those who sell the drugs and those who buy the drugs. Each one of those acts creates a pocket of energy that attaches itself to every dollar created in the drug trade.
4. Human Slavery
Human slavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand wages. In some societies, it was legal for an owner to kill a slave; in others, it was a crime.
The organization Anti-Slavery International defines slavery as “forced labour.” By this definition, there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today; more than at any point in history, and more than twice as many as all African slaves brought to the Americas combined.
The International Labour Organization (ILO), however, does not equate forced labor with slavery. According to the ILO, there are an estimated 12 million people around the world still working under coercion in forced labor, slavery, and slavery-like practices.
Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, some for generations. Human trafficking is mostly for prostituting women and children into the sex trade. It is described as “the largest slave trade in history,” and is the fastest growing criminal industry, set to outgrow drug trafficking. Slavery is one of the oldest