brad van houte

I like to ride bikes.

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

We asked grok to create a picture based on our profile, and this is what it came up with.

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

Is socialism compatible with American values? Let's hear what Rich DeVos had to say about “the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy” in some of his famous speeches. Follow The Believe! Journal for more.

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

https://t.co/LpwRM0H9Sk

[Doug DeVos @Doug_DeVos]

America turns 250 tomorrow. The Believe! Journal just launched our summer issue dedicated to one idea: Selling America.

[RobbReport @RobbReport]

SailGP has turned into the hottest show on the seas, with the foiling race series distinguishing itself from other sports around the world. https://t.co/kqlNg09Ji2

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

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[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

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[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

Today, we remember Rich DeVos by remembering some of his most powerful words. These are from his book, Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People, he used them every day. His legacy lives on in so many places, and The Believe! Journal is one of them.

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

Believe! Principle #1: UNLIMITED POTENTIAL. Do you have an impossible dream? When you Believe! in your unlimited potential, you remove the “impossible” and turn that dream into reality. Learn about the 9 Believe! Principles by following The Believe! Journal: https://t.co/RDav9b0m7h

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

https://t.co/anjI1N3bNR

[SailGP @SailGP]

#SailGP & @AmerMagicTeam have come to a historic agreement launching the league's first long-term training base at the state-of-the-art American Magic Performance and Innovation Center in Pensacola, Florida. 🤝

Read more 👉 https://t.co/rfCU08osmn

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

“The Savior, yes the Messiah, the Lord has been born tonight in Bethlehem. How will you recognize him?” Merry Christmas from The Believe! Journal family to yours.

[Wall Street Journal Opinion @WSJopinion]

As the U.S. approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, the country feels as if it’s coming apart. To find a path forward, look to the revival of my hometown during the 200th anniversary year, when I was 11, writes @Doug_DeVos
https://t.co/thR7tMDCTc

[Dad Saves America @DadSavesAmerica]

Former Amway CEO Doug DeVos breaks down why sales is far more than a job—it’s a mindset of self-sufficiency, service, and free enterprise. @Doug_DeVos @BelieveJournal_

[National Design Studio @ndstudio]

Merry Christmas, America! 🎅

https://t.co/kffR9xhbAH

[brad van houte @bradvanhoute]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

America's future isn't just in boardrooms and government offices--it's right there in your living room. Happy Thanksgiving from The Believe! Journal.

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

Free enterprise only thrives in a free society underpinned by property rights. These rights require a system of checks and balances on government, to enforce contracts and prevent usurpations of power. @JTLonsdale

[TheBlaze @theblaze]

The one virtue America lost — and desperately needs back https://t.co/NdD0iyv7pF

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

Free Enterprise underlies everything around you. The Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom show you how. Read them all in The Believe! Journal: https://t.co/YWKek8W1Q3

[The Believe! Journal @BelieveJournal_]

The goal of The Believe! Journal is to restate America’s founding principles, and in this issue, centered on Free Enterprise, we could think of no better introduction to our theme than The Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom. Conceived as etchings in bronze by the American Economic Foundation and displayed at the 1964 World’s Fair, they were purchased by Amway founders Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos in 1973, and are now enshrined in sculpture at Amway’s World Headquarters in Ada, Michigan. They speak to our Free Enterprise system’s resiliency while also identifying threats to its integrity, such as excessive regulation and ill-conceived economic stimulus programs.

The Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom

1. Nothing in our material world can come from nowhere or go nowhere, nor can it be free: everything in our economic life has a source, a destination and a cost that must be paid.

2. Government is never a source of goods. Everything produced is produced by the people, and everything that government gives to the people, it must first take from the people.

3. The only valuable money that government has to spend is that money taxed or borrowed out of the people’s earnings. When government decides to spend more than it has thus received, that extra unearned money is created out of thin air, through the banks, and when spent, takes on value only by reducing the value of all money, savings and insurance.

4. In our modern exchange economy, all payroll and employment come from customers, and the only worthwhile job security is customer security: if there are no customers, there can be no payroll and no jobs.

5. Customer security can be achieved by the worker only when he cooperates with management in doing the things that win and hold customers. Job security, therefore, is a partnership problem that can be solved only in a spirit of understanding and cooperation.

6. Because wages are the principal cost of everything, widespread wage increases, without corresponding increases in production, simply increase the cost of everybody’s living.

7. The greatest good for the greatest number means, in its material sense, the greatest goods for the greatest number which, in turn, means the greatest productivity per worker.

8. All productivity is based on three factors:

- natural resources, whose form, place and condition are changed by the expenditure of

- human energy (both muscular and mental), with the aid of

- tools.

9. Tools are the only one of these three factors that man can increase without limit, and tools come into being in a free society only when there is a reward for the temporary self-denial that people must practice in order to channel part of their earnings away from purchases that produce immediate comfort and pleasure, and into new tools of production. Proper payment for the use of tools is essential to their creation.

10. The productivity of the tools—that is, the efficiency of the human energy applied in connection with their use—has always been highest in a competitive society in which the economic decisions are made by millions of progress-seeking individuals, rather than in a state, planned society in which those decisions are made by a handful of all-powerful people, regardless of how well-meaning, unselfish, sincere and intelligent those people may be.

Our upcoming content explores how intricately these Pillars are woven into the fabric of American life, the rights and obligations they confer on our citizens, and the importance of upholding them during these challenging times.