Thought for the day: Social Security

What are you going to do when you demand your money from the one who stands as judge and jailor, and he just shrugs his shoulders and pulls out his empty pocket linings?

There will be no integrity laden George Bailey to make things right.

Cheddarheads aflame

Ah, unions.

I will concede that there was a time when unions did great things for American workers, but from where I sit, I don't recall a good thing that American unions have done during my adult life. I'm willing to have my position corrected if you'd like to share. I'll listen. Really

But you'll then have to explain Madison.

The beautiful facade of Madison, Wisconsin

I've spent a lot of time in Madison, Wisconsin. During my many visits I've read the Capitol Times and Wisconsin State Journal with raised eyebrows wondering how the general populace could stomach newspapers with a bigger slant than an Augusta National green.

I understood the leftist history of the U-Dub--"Berkley Central" if you will. When things get going on State Street, though, Badgerland makes Berkley look down right Limbaughesque.

Two weeks ago they hoisted the Super Bowl trophy. Now Wisconsin looks like Cairo. What's happening up nort' is the same thing that happened to Ford and Chevy, the same thing that's been happening to the airlines, the same thing that's happening to California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. The money going out is a whole lot less than the money coming in.

I'm no Alan Greenspan, I'm not anywhere close to Adam Smith or F.A. Hayek, but I do know how to balance a checkbook. One of the most important things I learned in college and during premarriage counseling was that money-out could not exceed money-in. It's true for individuals and couples.  It's true for Wal-Mart and Wyoming.  It's true for the Mets and it's true for Mozambique. So why should Madison, Chevy, and the United States be exempt from such principles?

Wisconsin's in the hole. Over the next two years, what they are budgeting to spend based upon what they hope to bring in equates to a $3.6 billion with a "B" shortfall. That's a lot to overdraw your account. In small companies, that means belt-tightening. Pay cuts for all my friends. In fact, some of my friends might be on the street. Laid off. Looking for work.

One of the biggest fund-sucks to any government/corporation any more is retirement and medical. Here are the "draconian" measures suggested by Governor Scott Walker:

• Government employees would now have to pay half of their pension costs.  They currently pay zero.
• They are also being asked to pay 12.6% of their health-care costs, up from 6%.
• And, oh yes, collective bargaining would be done away with.

While keeping all of those things would be nice, it would also be nice if Muslims and Jews held hands around a Coke bottle swaying back and forth while they harmonized on "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing." Not gonna happen. When unions lock their feet into their unreasonable demands while their company sinks around them, it would be like the arrogant Titanic passenger demanding a medium-rare filet mignon because the center was just not pink enough while icy water lapped at his ankles. Dude, you are so without a clue.

Unions have driven most American auto manufacturers to the point of collapse. "It's the MAN's fault! He's bringing us down. There's more money. We can get more. We deserve more." And they are always so polite and courteous in their presentations.

The bailouts should never have happened. Let the ship sink into the inky and frigid abyss and take the sick-outs with it, those who would abandon the kids in the schools and torpedo their own boat.

Considering the gajillion dollar debt the nation has racked up, think of Madison as a microcosm of things to come for our nation. The answer is NOT more taxes. We, rich, poor, and middle income alike, cannot afford it. The answer is cutting our spending and paying our debts.  Guess what, boys and girls? That might mean that some of us will be looking for work. That might mean me.

That would be a far better place than to be than residing alongside Davy Jones' locker.

Fiscal disparity

A week or so ago, I noted on my Facebook page (yeah, I'm one of them, too) that it would take a USAF Master Sergeant 1,000 years to earn as much as the Dallas Cowboys mega-scoreboard cost. Today, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times included similar salary statistics from the Wall Street Journal that makes the head swim.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this is what is required to earn $100,000:

• Football's Ben Roethlisberger needs 3.6 snaps
• A-Rod needs six pitches in the batter's box
• LeBron James? 21.2 minutes on the hardwood
• Tiger Woods? A grueling 11.2 holes.
• You and me? Almost four years
  

In a culture that has grown increasingly giddy about income redistribution, such stats tend to raise the hackles. "Hey, where's my cut!" we scream, our feet propped up on the coffee table, our hand buried into an obese bowl of popcorn.

Why do we besmirch these guys for getting whatever they can for doing what they love? If it would only take Tiger 9.7 holes, I say, "More power to him!" If Ben can do it in two-and-a-half snaps, sweet! It's just money. Paul (apostle type) warned that loving such is a root of all kinds of evil. Yes, the wealthy have many cares of which we are unaware.

Our problem? "Greed is good," intoned Gordon Gekko in the middle of Wall Street, and we bought it. "YEAH!" we cried, not understanding that we were swallowing a line from a Hollywood bad guy like a fat bass sucking in a Mepps spinner.

Folks have been deluded into thinking that there were only x number of dollars in the world. No, wealth can be created. Plan one kernel of corn and you get hundreds. What a deal! It's not like your earnings are a sliced off of a portion of the fatted calf. It's not like Tiger gets 3/4 of the critter and the rest of us slobs divvy up the hind parts. We can raise another calf! Why stop there? Breed a herd; the cows don't mind.

Stats tend to make us focus on what we don't have. I don't have a 300 foot yacht. I don't even have a 30 foot dinghy. I do have a home (mortgaged) and a family. I have a couple of Suburbans for toting the family around (used), and a Suzuki (also used) for getting to and from work. We have food in the fridge and my wife knows some amazing things to do with it.

Discontentment seems more and more to be the park where we like to spend our days. We become embittered by what we do not have instead of giving thanks to the God of good gifts for the wondrous riches we do have. The writer of Proverbs nailed it when he said,

"...Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God."

So, for those who are rich, well done! I hope you do well with the responsibility given you. For the man in the mirror, I hope you, too, do well with the few dollars given you and are ever thankful to the Lord your God for the abundance he has lavished on you beyond the monetary.

Top ten reasons for a global currency

10. Now we'll get money with pictures of those wacky internationlists like Joe Stalin, Chairman Mao, and Idi Amin. Perhaps one of the lovely British queens like the Canadians have.

9. No more of that silly American bravado. The international community will finally be able to coerce the United States (if that's what we're still called) to bow to its will. If they don't like what we're about, then they'll apply the financial whammy. If our peasants aren't making enough brick, "Whammy!"

8. No more ACLU lawsuits since "In God We Trust" will be nowhere found.

7. The blood, sweat, and tears of American workers will not only prop up their own free-loaders and bailout recipients, but we'll be propping up dying and dead economies like North Korea and the Sudan.

6. Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin might finally move off American soil.

5. New pro sport names. In baseball, the Cincinnati Red Menace. In football, the Detroit Lenins, and the New York Jihadists. Oakland will simply keep the Raiders. In hockey, Montreal will have to lose its jingoistic "Canadiens" for something a bit more palatable. Perhaps the Montreal Impotent Members of the UN or I.M.U.s for short.

4. No more national independence. We'll all get to kowtow to whatever the whoevers tell us to do. Kyoto? Here it comes. International Rights of the Child? Just cede your kid to the state.

3. No more having to sweat who gets to host the Olympics every other year. If we're all singing Kumbaya, who cares if we clock the Ruskies in hockey. We're all on the same team.

2. No more multi-language nonsense. If we're going for one currency, we might as well all speak the same language. I'm pulling for English.

And the number one reason for a global currency.

1. No more pennies!

Stimulus: The physics of our demise, Part III

In the first part of this series, I noted the absurdity of the stimulus (here). In a nutshell, how is that taking ridiculous amounts of my money and your money (where else will the stimulus money come from?) and giving it to incompetent business owners who have already ruined their banks or their auto assembly lines will stimulate the economy? Do the gods in DC know better how to invest my money than do I? NOT-SO-MUCH!

Part two of the series (here) held the government accountable for thievery, legal plunder Fredric Bastiat called it in "The Law." Such conduct runs contrary to God's clear word. Such conduct also removes the responsibility from individuals to care for their fellow man because the government has taken that en masse upon themselves. This, too, is unbiblical.

Couple these two nasties together and you get the imminent demise of our nation.

We're approaching a trillion dollars in government handouts within the last six months. How big is that number? If you were given one hundred dollars every second of your life from your birth until you were seventy-five years old, you'd still be $800 billion shy of a trillion.

I heard a financial adviser speaking this afternoon, and he said that it's better to stimulate the economy now to dimish the long-term pain in getting the crippled companies back on their feet. Here's the problem. He has no clue (nor do Obama, Bush, Pelosi, Reid, etc.) that this "stimulus" will stimulate anything! Again, these CEOs and Boards of Directors have proven nothing but their incompetence and ineptitude; will more money suddenly make them sage and frugal with their money? HAH! Will the economy be stimulated or will the money disappear like the Lost Ark at the end of the only respectable Indiana Jones movie?

Failure brings about a spectacular biblical response. It is called "repentance." I screwed up. MY BAD! Not yours, not his, not government's, not Japan's. Mine. I must make amends. If I am criminal, I must repay. This is good. With regard to our sin, it causes us to realize we can't repay and need a Savior. But in our conduct with one another, we must make amends.

Caveat emptor is another great biblical principle. Be wise with your money! While "a fool and his money are soon parted" is not to be found in the Proverbs, the principle is there in spades. Perhaps I will study where to put my money with a bit more scrutiny next time.

With no one willing to man up, our government continues to grow like a malignancy. The genie is so out of the bottle only a cataclysm will get him back in. Think about this, government agencies wll be getting millions and billions with which to stimulate the economy. That will require government jobs for fiscal apportionment and oversight (wink-wink). Do you really think that any congressman or senator whose constituents will receive that money this year will want to see it cut next year? Do you?

Nobody knows what happened to the money President Bush doled out before he left office. Oh, sure, we know where it went, but what do we have to show for it? Anyone? Jobs? Stock market a-soaring? Any return on our dollar?

And of this money that will be coming out of our wallets for this next syringe full of narcotic, who's getting it and why? Who picks that? The thousand page stimulus bill hit the floor at 11 p.m. and was voted on the next afternoon. No one can scrutinize it that fast. I bet you didn't; I sure didn't. I was asleep. You have a warm fuzzy about that? You shouldn't (not my sleep habits but how the vote went down). Again, will the powerful seek to appease their constituents to shore up their re-election or will they truly seek the nation's good? The only way that will happen is by exposing the "legal plunder" for what it is.

The more the government grows, the more laws we get, the more regulated we are, and the less responsible and free we become. That's where we stand now with folks rejoicing over a hideous beast, birthed from the loins of the legislative and executive branches of our government. Our Founders built a small and limited federal government. We've turned our backs on their wisdom, and with fingers crossed, we hope the beast will redeem us.

But we have created a monster, and it's shaken loose its chains. The future looks dire.

Stimulus: The physics of our demise, Part II

On February 10th, Mike Huckabee declared the entire stimulus monster "anti-religious" (here). His accurate gripe stems from the fact that the authors (dems) omitted religious halls of higher education from being able to get a slice of the stimulus pie to repair and modernize their facilities.

Full disclosure: he wasn't the only one to note the overt hostility of the package toward things religious (here), but he has served as a dandy lightning rod. Representative Jim DeMint of South Carolina nailed it on the floor of the House, too, and that's what prompted Huckabee's comments.

I contend that the Stimulus Bill, going to the desk of the President as I peck away, is anti-religious not because it opposes religion, but because it is godless at its heart. They could give half of the 800 gajillion dollars to churches and it would still be godless.

I don't know if he coined the term, but Fredric Bastiat, in his seminal work, "The Law,"* identified to the world the dangers of legal plunder, and in a sense, prophesied the nightmare in which we find ourselves today. Plunder is thievery. Legal Plunder is thievery with the blessing of the law.

Bastiat stated,

But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law—which may be an isolated case—is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system.

The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly, defending his acquired rights. He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry; that this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and to pay higher wages to the poor workingmen.

Reread that last paragraph. He wrote over a hundred and fifty years ago!! You'd think he targeted his comments at the bulls-eye of our predicament. Is it really godless, though? That's a terrible descriptor. Read on.

When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it—without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud—to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed.

Biblically, "Thou shalt not steal."

I say that this act is exactly what the law is supposed to suppress, always and everywhere. When the law itself commits this act that it is supposed to suppress, I say that plunder is still committed, and I add that from the point of view of society and welfare, this aggression against rights is even worse. In this case of legal plunder, however, the person who receives the benefits is not responsible for the act of plundering. The responsibility for this legal plunder rests with the law, the legislator, and society itself. Therein lies the political danger.

My money gets taken by the government who in turn gives it to someone else. What does the government give in return for my money? Absurd, ridiculous, and grandiose promises. Utopianism. A socialism that would warm the heart of Karl Marx.

God's word advocates none of this. Paul summed up economics very nicely, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." And God makes provision for disaster. We, individuals, who have are to care for those who have suffered loss until such time as they are able to provide for themselves. This is thematic throughout God's word. Jesus Christ specifies that those who know Him will of their own choosing (not mandated through horrific taxation) show physical mercy to those in need (Matthew 25:31-40).

Nothing in God's word indicates that those who through corruption or sloth find themselves in financial straits should receive anything but justice. Even if they repent, they must pay back their debt...plus some! Zacchaeus, though not in such straits, is a great example of a thief who understood his responsibility (Luke 19:1-10).

When the government illegally takes my money and gives it to another, three terrible results ensue. First, they have committed a crime. Call it what it is.

Second, the recipient has no responsibility to show anything for the money they have received while the government has no vested interest in seeing that anything is returned for the money given since the money wasn't theirs in the first place.

Finally, if the government is taking care of everyone, I don't have to. Be honest, if you know that I have volunteered to take care of the Dickinson's, to see to their medical needs (think squalor) and to ensure food gets on the table, what are the chances your going to get involved in the lives of the Dickinson's? God created us to be involved with one another. Helping those who need help is messy, painful, and often times thankless, but that's the business God's in, and that's the business He wants us in.

Bastiat concludes, "Although mankind is not perfect, still, all hope (for civilized society apart from Christ's return) rests upon the free and voluntary actions of persons with the limits of right; law or force is to be used for nothing except the administration of universal justice" (parenthesis mine).

Stimulus is godless because it robs us of our dignity and our responsibility as men and women created in His image, not because, as Mike Huckabee asserted, Christian schools don't get a cut of the legal plunder.

Next time, part III: the knell of our demise.

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* You can download in .pdf format the entirety of Fredrick Bastiat's, "The Law" free at this site. You can also order it there for $4. Many thanks to KC for introducing me to "The Law."

Stimulus: The physics of our demise

Stimulus - (n) some act or impetus intended to elicit a response.

Well, here's my response to The Stimulus.

It's absurd.

It's godless.

It portends our nation's demise.

No, it's not multiple choice, but the answer is all of the above.

I cannot believe that the populace hasn't erupted against the ludicrous tax-burden that will crush us. Let's get this straight. I don't blame Barack Obama. He simply waltzed through the door that George Bush blew wide open for him. But, oh, the glee with which he walked.

Let's step through this inch by inch, and it may take a few days. Lousy bankers made lousy decisions with money that wasn't theirs. It was ours. Those lousy decisions lost our money and tanked those banks. Sadly, it wasn't just one bank. When banks begin to heave, folks sit on their money. When folks sit on their money, they don't invest it, and companies don't have the ability to expand and grow (i.e. create new jobs). In fact, if the storm gets bad enough, companies will downsize to protect themselves against an economic downturn.

That happened last spring through last fall. Here's where the former President stepped in. Rather than let than let the storm pass and let folks slowly, and wisely, begin to reinvest the money they had left, George Bush and many lawmakers (law makers, mind you!!!) figured we needed money in the marketplace NOW! No prudence. No wait-and-see. Hundreds of b-b-b-billions pumped into the economy.

Now here's the "absurd." Who got the money? Corporates who ran their ship aground!! That's like giving the captain of the Titanic the helm of the Love Boat. You might as well make Benedict Arnold the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "You ruined your company? Here's $500 million." That's like giving the man in debt for $10,000 playing the slots another $8000 dollars to walk back in the casino. Are you kidding me???

Absurd, Part II. Who's money? Here's where things get vague, but I'm thinking the Saudi shiekdoms aren't coming to the rescue. Probably not Vlad Putin, either. Pry open that wallet, boys and girls! It'll be you and me. Taxes. Taxes and more taxes. Those hundreds of b-b-b-billions are coming out of our pockets!! And get this: If we pay more taxes, we have less money to invest in the economy. If we're not investing, companies aren't growing. Jobs are not being made, and again for preservation's sake, they're likely paring.

Absurd, Part III. Presidents Bush and Obama believe government slathering our money about will stimulate the economy. I asked the question to some co-workers, "Outside the military, what has the government done well." Cricket. Cricket. "The interstate highway system," one young man finally offered. Okay. That's one. Who do you think has a greater interest in seeing that your money earns interest, you or your congressman? Hmmm?

Our Founders did not create our federal government to dance in the economy. Even good brokers will only clear you 15% growth annually on a regular basis. Walter Williams wrote a great column the other day on the how buffoonish (and unconstitutional) the government is when it comes to matters of economics (read it here, it's a great read as Williams always is). How do bureaucrats determine who gets the money?

These folks didn't and won't invest our cash. Our elected officials steal when they take money from one group and give it to another.

That takes us to the godless nature of The Stimulus...next time.

25 Crimes I wish I'd committed

Do I have your attention? Really, there aren't 25 crimes I wish I'd committed; probably only a half-dozen. That aside, "25 Questions..." have become all the rage on Facebook and blogs across the cybersphere.

Frankly, I enjoy reading them. The only ones I've read are those from folks I know, and it's neat getting to know information about friends and family you didn't know before.

That said, you'll not find a 25-list here, and here's why. Identity theft. Some considerations. Anything I post on this blog remains will last as long as the pyramids. It's out there for anyone to see. Even if I restrict the access to my blog, when I post, I launch the trons into cyberspace and trust the Blogger site manager to keep my stuff secure. And who's to say a distant friend from Facebook won't copy and paste your information to someone looking to collect such information?

Paranoid? Maybe. I've thought about this as I've read some recent 25-lists. A lot of those questions are very, very similar to the security questions asked of banks, financial, and credit institutions to verify your identity should your PIN get lost.

I'll continue reading the answers to your questions. It provides me great insight into who you are and provides me great questions to ask folks I'd like to get to know better.

But if you have the remotest desire to know my 25 (or 27) answers, give me a holler. They won't find their way onto my blog.

Riches

A good name is to be chosen rather
than great riches,
And favor is better than silver or gold.

Or so begins Proverbs twenty-second chapter.

As a committed Christ-follower, I could nod my noggin until next November in utter agreement with that principal. The foot and a half plummet from head to heart, aye, there's the rub.

In a time when moths eat holes in IRA's and rust erodes 401k's (Matthew 6:19), the Christian can lose sight of laying up treasures in heaven faster than a pea in the circus huckster's shell game. A little slight of hand a bit of misdirection and I become firmly convinced I'm properly focused.

But the shell is empty. No stuffed teddy bear and I lost my three dollars.

Perhaps thieves have broken in and stolen. No matter. Where are my eyes? Does the loss of my money have me sweating the future or do I continue to trust the one who's got the few remaining hairs on my head numbered (Matthew 10:30)? Oops, that's three fewer.

Don't misunderstand. We must be wise about preparing for the future. Consider the ant (Proverbs 6:6-11) and other proverbial success stories (13:11, 13:22, and 21:5 to name a few). Still, as one gentleman exposed to me in my younger days, if I die a fool, someone else will get my stereo, and someone else will woo my wife.

No other place offers the treasure trove of wisdom like God's word. At a time of fiscal irresponsibility by individuals (we're approaching $10,000 in credit card debt per family), corporations (can you say AIG? the Big Three?), and our own government (we will not see the debt paid off in our lifetime...if ever), I love stumbling upon simple and sage wisdom that echoes biblical truth.

I offer to you a couple of articles that passed my way this week.

1. A bold, fresh bit of stewardship. God's not mentioned but the ruminations are straight out of Proverbs.
2. Bailout, communism & the greed of the common man. Thomas Sowell winds up upon the Big Three automakers and knocks them, our nation's recent socialist tendencies, and our individual greed right on their fragile posteriors. Why do we want to see "The man" fail? He illustrates by highlighting why the American Revolution didn't devolve into class warfare as did the French Debacle.

Let's continue to be good stewards of the dollars we earn and not fretting if our mattress burns or if FDIC proves less sure than we'd hoped. Let's dig for treasure that will be secured by One that even a meddlesome government cannot destroy.

Taxes: Grab your wallet!

Today's Parade Magazine, the Sunday paper insert, included an insert titled "How Much Would You Pay in Taxes?" (linked here). Here's the table copied out of Parade.

	Obama	McCain
If you make...	you'd save...	you'd save...
less than $19,000	$567	$21
$19,000-$37,600	$892	$118
$37,600-$66,400	$1118	$325
$66,400-$111,600	$1264	$994
$111,600-$161,000	$2135	$2584
$161,000-$227,000	$2796	$4437
If you're in the top 5% of earners...	you'd pay an extra...	you'd save...
$227,000-$603,400	$121	$8159
$603,400-$2.87 million	$93,709	$48,862
more than $2.87 million	$542,882	$290,708

A few things to note. Both men vow a reduction of income tax if you earn less than $225,000. Again, this is income tax, what you have taken away from you from the government of what you earned. We didn't have an income tax until the 1860's and then it was 3%.

John McCain would like to reduce the taxes of everyone, giving the larger tax breaks to those who not only make more money, but to those who pay significantly more taxes! Barack Obama would like to increase the tax burden upon those who already live in the ridiculously higher tax brackets.

Many in the heart of the first half of the table think to themselves, "Yeah! The rich should pay more!" My question in return is "Why?"

Consider the man who makes $2.87 million. He lives in the 35% tax bracket. One of every three dollars he earns is taken by the government. His annual tax burden? $983,097! I don't care that he still clears nearly $1.9 million, having one-third of your income taken is akin to robbery.

Let's return to Senator Obama's desire. Let's slap him with an additional tax burden of $543,882. That takes that "millionaire" to $1,526,979 in taxes paid and he gets to keep $1,343,021! He pays more in taxes than he gets to take home. Senator Obama wants to increase the tax burden to 50% in some cases!

You may still be thinking, "He's still making a million and a half more than what I make." First, what a tragedy that we would revel to see our fellow man gouged so. Second, what do the wealthy generally do with their money? Most of them reinvest it. What does that mean? More money available for companies to open new markets, do more research, or perhaps reduce prices or increase wages. In other words, the little man, you and I, are blessed when the wealthy invest their money.

Another thing the wealthy do with their money is give. Philanthropers bless our communities with schools and hospitals, parks and theaters. They give to orphanages and missions. They give to churches and ministries. The wealthy have blessed America greatly. Tax them higher and there will be fewer dollars going to charitable organizations.

I've said this before; it's not a zero-sum game. If the rich have money, it does not mean that they have it at the expense of others. Wealth creates wealth. America has been blessed by its wealth. Our poor would be considered among the wealthy in some nations. Nearly anybody who is willing to work can find shelter. That's just the way it is. Goods and services in America are ridiculously affordable.

With a larger tax burden, there will be less money to invest and it will stunt growth in the economy. Less money in the hands of the wealthy equals fewer jobs and fewer raises. Most folks just don't understand that if the folks in the upper tiers get thumped, it will roll down hill and we're going to get thumped, too.

Under McCain's plan, the $2.87 million dollar guy will still be paying $692,389. You think that's a good deal?

The more we want the government to do for us, the more we're going to pay (generally through the sinus cavities), and the poorer the quality of the product we'll get in return. You can bank on that! Er, maybe you'd better not.

Is the sky falling?

One of my biggest gripes with evolution rests in the fact that secular universities have proclaimed it as fact for so long that most Christians concede to some form of transitional evolution. I'm not speaking of species adaptation but the reptiles-to-birds, apes-to-men evolution.

The same insidious deceit has crept into government. Prior to the Great Depression, government tinkered with the economy. It could only tinker because it kept getting its knuckles rapped by that pesky Constitution. Meddling in the economy does not exist within any of the constitutional Articles.

Economic catastrophe and economic panic caused the citizens to bow to the saviors in government who promised to get our nation back on its feet again. Pandora's box was not cracked, FDR threw the box wide open and then busted it into a million tiny bits. The demon unleashed, government dependence through legal plunder, would not be recaged.

Here we are today and our nation's knees are knocking. What do we do?

There are no guarantees.

Despite FDIC, your money is not 100% secure in any bank. It's not. You don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Well, land is a secure investment, you'll counter. It's not. Has land ever been seized in the past with an unjust compensation returned to its owner? You don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Gold and silver. They always keep their value, right? I remember in high school when a few friends purchased silver. They were going to get rich. They bought it at its price apex in the late seventies. Silver (and gold) lost nearly all of their value. You don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Here's the deal: There are worse things than failure, far worse. I say, let them fail. Our nation was built upon those who overcame failure and poverty. That's the American story.

When our brothers and sisters are down and out, it's incumbent upon us to reach out a hand, not to have government reach in its hand to remove our wallet and then give it to the down and out. That's thievery. Welfare without holding the recipients responsible does nothing but umbilical them to the state. We create welfare junkies.

What about me? My future financial investments have lost thousands in recent weeks, but my future investment, my real investment is secure.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

This is not a happy platitude. It is the truth, a sure anchor during times like these. Let us trust our God alone (therein is peace). Let us help our fellow man as He commands us (therein is love). Let us NOT cede those responsibilities to any government (therein is our hope).

It's really not funny

The financial panic bums me out. These two political cartoons brought a smile to my face until the sad truth crafted lines bummed me out yet again. Both deserve a close examination (note the lower right corner of the first).

by Michael Ramirez

And that doesn't even address the national debt ($9.8 trillion at this moment in history)! The next one left me in tears...you guess which kind.

By Steve Breen

KISS

No, not the kabuki-painted, fire-spitting, metal-heads. It's the old saw, "keep it simple, stupid!"

Yesterday, I posted about the idiocy of bailing out those who had squandered their money and the money of others. This column (here) addresses that predicament and is KISS in spades.

You may mock the author's bio (as many did Reagan), but his ideas skewer the bulls-eye!

Checkbooks

As I sit hear reading about the federal government wanting to spend $700 billion (that's with a "B") to prop up a fractured monetary system, I thought about a joke I'd heard a few years back.

A newly wedded husband, who upon opening his bank statement, had a conniption. The account rested $970 overdrawn.

He approached his bride with the statement and asked how it could be that after only two months of matrimonial bliss, they could be approaching one thousand dollars in debt.

She pulled her checkbook out and exclaimed, "It's not my fault. I still have checks in my checkbook."

The United States still has checks in its checkbook, but the account was overdrawn decades ago. The CPR required to keep these failing companies, banks, etc. from dying today (no telling whether they'd survive through 'til tomorrow) requires a financial burden from the population of $2333 per person. No, not per adult person. Not per wage earning person. Per every person.

If I were writing checks (does anyone write checks anymore?) on money I did not have, the government would soon terminate my check-writing in favor of rock-pounding. They'd give me a nice set of clothes, three hots-and-a-cot, but it would be in a local penitentiary.

So why can the government do this? Why can they spend beyond their budget, and then go out and spend even more?

Why? Because we let them. Really, it's our fault. You know, "...of the people, by the people." How do we let them? Silence. No letters to our congressmen. No letters to the editor. Votes. Cast for same-old, same-old without a clue how same-old has voted in the last term on issues of fiscal responsibility (or any issues). Ignorance. We don't know our own Constitution. Neither nor do we hold our legislators and executives accountable to nor do we restrain them in their responsibilities

So Uncle Sam is about to pitch $2333 of your dollars at failing companies with no promise of any return on any of your dollars. And you're going to let him.

Oh, we are a cluster of fools.

Profit!

The gnashing of teeth has become deafening regarding the profits earned by any and everybody associated with petroleum (that would be the supply side, not the demand side).

Try this on for size. Assume for every dollar invested by a company, they received an $800 return on that investment. What can and should they do with that money? Largely, they would turn that $800 right around and reinvest it in the company. They would pay the workers, fix equipment, buy new equipment, try and figure out how to better produce that investment, etc., etc.

How would you feel if the "company" pocketed $100 of that for themselves? What if you knew that it was possible that the risk was very real that whatever money the company invested could be completely lost?

Folks have come to loathe petrol companies, but what folks don't understand is that the economic world that God created is NOT a zero-sum game. What I mean by that is just because Hank gets a dollar does not mean that you won't get a dollar, too, and possibly more!

Here's the deal. One ear of corn yields on average 800 kernels. Considering that only one ear of corn grows upon each stalk, that's a staggering 800 kernels that grow from only one, an 800% return on your investment!! I'm happy to be getting 10% on my IRA's!

Now be real, does the farmer pocket all that? No way. He eats some. He has to save a mess of it to plant for next year. And some of the return has to go to keeping the plow and combine running, purchasing fertilizer and maybe irrigation, and, and, and. You get the idea.

Who else benefits from the farmers 800 to 1 kernel investment? You and I who do not plant corn. We can boogie to the local supermarket and pick up some of the Green Giant's finest. If you are richly blessed in July and August by living in the heartland, you can go to the local farmer's market and buy some of the sweetest sweet corn on the planet.

So why aren't CNN, Barack Obama, Fox News, or John McCain railing upon the farmer for receiving an 800 to 1 return for each kernel planted? Because they have come to understand how God's economy works regarding corn (though they don't acknowledge the source of economics).

While the petrol problem does not directly correspond to corn, the economics still applies in many ways. Because the oil companies have so many dollars does not mean that any of us are being deprived of dollars. The fact is, we remain a people richly blessed.

E'08: Indoctrination

In the era that we have grown up and especially the era in which our kids are growing up, we hear things over and over that we begin to believe are true. Some of these things we just accept; it's just the way it is. Some of these we've spoken of at length before, but I'll list a few here:

• Evolution as fact
• Homosexuality as just an alternative family
• TV news as a source for learning the truth about events
• Professors are objective

Here's the one I want to key in on tonight:

• We have to pay taxes

Well, yes, if we are going to have any form of government, taxation will have to pay for it. The really cool thing about our government is that it was established by the people who said, "We will pay for our government." Problem is, the things for which our Founding fathers believed the people would pay has grown at malignant proportions so now, we pay for things which are utterly absurd.

Two article give great clarity to this issue in this election season. The first is by John Stossel, investigative reporter, who exposes the bizarre nature of entitlements in our nation's budget. The second is by PhD economist Walter Williams who addresses the redistribution of wealth in our nation, taking money from one person and giving it to someone else who has done nothing to earn it. Here are his opening paragraphs (the second paragraph is a sobering doozy):

Let's do a thought experiment asking whether Americans are for or against slavery. You might say, "What are you talking about, Williams? We fought a war that cost over 600,000 lives to end slavery!" To get started, we might find a description that captures the essence of slavery. A good working description is: slavery is a set of circumstances whereby one person is forcibly used to serve the purposes of another person and has no legal claim to the fruits of his labor.

The average American worker toils from January 1st to the end of April, and has no legal claim to the fruits of his labor for that period. Federal, state and local governments, through the tax code, take what he produces. A small portion of the fruits of his labor is used to provide for the constitutional functions of government. Most of what's taken, up to two-thirds, is given to some other American in the forms of farm and business subsidies, Social Security, Medicare, welfare and hundreds of other government handout programs. As in slavery, one person is being forcibly used to serve the purposes of another person.

Track to the link above to give you a better understanding of what's happening and what ought to be happening with our tax dollars.

Allowance

A friend asked my wife recently about allowances for kids. Having done it for nearly fifteen years, we're pretty familiar. There are many ways to skin this cat, but here's how we've done it.

First, we didn't tie the allowance to anything. It's one of those bennies of being in a family. At the same time, they have chores to do that also come with being part of the family. They do not get paid for them. Their allowance is not tied to those chores at all. If chores aren't done, they may suffer some form of discipline, but we do not touch the allowance.

If a child does want to earn more money, then they can do additional tasks above and beyond the chores (car washing is a good one...maybe they can just do the headlights when they're young). Pay for a job well done. If it isn't well done, then teach them how to do well. If they still don't do it well, pay them accordingly. They'll get the idea.

We began the venture when each of our kids was six years old. Any younger and their money comprehension skills just aren't there.

Second, we use their allowance to teach God's principles about money.

Principle #1: It's all God's. Psalm 24:1 states plainly, "The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." Our kids need to know right from the beginning that our money, all of it, is God's in the first place. Ultimately, what He has given us is stewardship over that money. We are merely caretakers of that which is God's.

Principle #2: Because it is God's, the first thing we do with our allowance is to honor God with it. This principle lies within the Levitical law and the bringing of the firstfruits or the first part of the harvest to God. The first part was the best; it's not the leftovers (Malachi 1:6-14).

Paul carried out this principle with the Corinthian church when he said, "On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come" (1 Corinthians 16:4). Heart attitude is important, too (see 2 Corinthians 9:6-8).

Here's how we fleshed this out: We purchased a plastic recipe card box that would fit small envelops in it. We labeled three envelops "#1-Offering," "#2-Saving," and "#3-Spending." Let's say you gave your child $6. Give it to them all in $1's so they can split it up easily. Show them to put that $1 into their offering envelop to be given to God the next Sunday. It's a mindset. The first part is always God's.

Let me say at this point that the amount you give for an allowance will vary from family to family. Really, the amount for a wee little one, unless they are spoiled rotten, will not matter; they'll simply be thrilled to be entrusted with money (initially, your supervision is imperative. They will feel entrusted, but you will still have ultimate authority).

Be consistent. My paycheck was the 1st & 15th of every month so that is when they got their allowance. Make it a ritual with them and sit down and divide the money.

Principle #3: Save! This really covers two points. One is delayed gratification. It's a principle that will ultimately save tons of money in adulthood by avoiding debt and its associated costs. The other principle is regarding the preparing for future needs, or in their case, wants (Proverbs 6:6-11).

Going back to the example of a $6 allowance, we already allocated $1 as an offering to God (lots of good teaching lessons from the Bible associated with this principle). Next, save to save, you are saving money for "long-term" savings. Long-term to a child might be three months, but this is money the child won't touch.

We had our kids use this money for big purchases. Back then it was a Gameboy (first version, yellow screen). But we would not let them get it when they had enough saved for it, we had them save half again as much. In other words, if it was a $50 purchase, we had them save $75 dollars. That way, they never left themselves on "E".

As with grown-ups, this, like our offering, is really a small fraction of our budget (for that is what we are teaching our kids), so we would have them put $2 from the $6 in the "#2-Savings" envelop.

We can also teach our kids about debt avoidance herein, too.

The final $3 goes into the final envelop, "#3-Spend." This is for your child to spend on what they would like. Without your guidance, it would be gone on your next foray through Wally-World, but you can teach them to hold on to it until there is something that they would truly like. Perhaps there might be a missionary come through your church and they want to take some of their "spending" money and give it to that cause. Perhaps they want to channel it into their "savings" envelop to get them closer to their Oakley sunglasses or BMW.

Teach them to discipline themselves with their "spending"money. Sometimes, it will be a good lesson to let them squander it. Other times, you would be wise to run interference for your child and say, "No," when they want to fritter away their few coins. But your the parent. That's why you get the big bucks!

Kind of a lengthy blog, but I know there are young families with young kids just getting to this point. We started when they were six and ended at sixteen or when they get their first job whichever occured first. Also, when they hit ten, we increased their allowance a bit.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, if you have some advice for young parents and allowances, please comment. Lots of good books and articles from Crown Financial Ministries and others in Christian finance. I've also found good advice from Kiplinger's Personal Financial Magazine.

Oh, and we didn't use Monopoly money.