Will Our Stimulus Plan Work?

There has never been a more truthful candidate for President than our current President. He promised change and the winds of change are blowing — gale force. We are getting what he promised and by our collective vote it was indicated what was wanted — by most but not all.
1980 the Carter administration was going out and the Reagan administration was coming in. Our nation faced significant challenges. Many who are now saying our nation has never seen times as difficult as these need to consider our history.
In the early 1980s unemployment was in double digits. Today it is approaching 7 percent.
Inflation ran rampant in the early 1980s with interest on loans between 13 and 17 percent. Today it is 4 to 5 percent.
During the Reagan years our nation enjoyed a recovery and a resurgence. There was no panic and claims of a catastrophe such as the current administration has declared. By the way what ever happened to getting away from the politics of fear?
Everything the Reagan administration did to achieve the revitalization the current administration is doing the opposite. This has prompted Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to comment, “What we are doing is worse than nothing.”
The approach we are taking is not new. Eight times since World War II Japan has tried similar efforts without success.
Hidden in this stimulus plan is the rationing of health care for the elderly. It will require seniors to be more accepting of conditions that come with age instead of treating them. As an example, for a female 75 years of age with heart disease it could be calculated her life expectancy is 81 years of age. Consequently she has an estimated 6 years to benefit from the prescribed treatment to correct the problem. The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, not consisting of doctors would have a complete electronic medical report on every citizen and could use it to deny the treatment. Hence, if you are considered too old and sick to be given care in a “cost-effective” way you need to just go ahead and die. Can you spell euthanasia?
Another change involves the Census Bureau which has for years reported to the Commerce Department. Now it is to report to the office of the President. The census determines congressional districts and certain fund allocations. This change can enable the President to strengthen his party’s numbers.
Little comfort can be derived from the type of cabinet the president has assembled. Virtually every one has had to have a major flaw overlooked that would have disqualified a candidate in previous administrations. Some that finally made it through were the second person recommended for the post. Here is a chill. The people that selected those individuals might well be the people who select two Supreme Court Jurists.
It is said we are passing on to the next generation an enormous debt. That is not all together true. The debt tsunami is coming faster than that. It is going to be incumbent on younger adults of the present generation to face the deficit all this will create. Can you say “inflation?”
However, there is a bigger debt to be incurred. It is a moral debt resulting from avarice, rapaciousness,(in summary greed) and gullibility (in summary hearing a word like “change” and assuming it is all going to be good for everybody). These are symptoms of our moral condition. Until our moral and spiritual condition is changed we will never get out of this crisis. Oops, pardon that fear word.

The Cause of Our Welfare Overload

I am proud to be an American! I am delighted to pay taxes and receive such benefits as protection by our military and local law enforcement personnel, fire protection, the best roadway system in the world, schools, and many other advantages. America isn’t perfect but it doesn’t come in second to any other nation.
However, there is a limit to my ebullience over paying taxes. Some taxes goes for things I would not choose for it to go to. In reality governments take from me and spend on causes of their choice money I had rather keep and happily give to cause of my choice. Like all of us many of our preferred causes are under funded while those of the government’s choosing often get what they don’t deserve.
A case in point is Sharon Jasper who was displaced by hurricane Katrina. She has new government provided housing now. As a matter of fact Sharon has lived in government housing for 57 of her 58 years. Her children like her parents before her are now doing so.
Sharon reflected on her one year out of Section 8 housing recently: “I tried it for a year — you know, working and all. It’s not anything I would want to go through again, or wish on anyone in my family …” Your tax dollars at work.
She is back in Section 8 housing in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. She made the above statement sitting on her sofa on her new hardwood floor by her 60 inch HD TV of which she said, “It may look nice but it is not plasma… Now they want me to pay a deposit and utilities on this dump….”
At a New Orleans City Council meeting Sharon could restrain herself no longer asserting: “Our families have been displaced all over the United States. They are being forced to commit crimes in cities they are unfamiliar with. It is a very uncomfortable situation for them. Bring them back, then let’s talk about redevelopment.” She concluded her diatribe, “I may be poor, but I don’t have to live poor.”
That mentality is more pervasive than we might like to think. Some folks need and deserve government assistance and I delight to pay taxes to help meet some of these legitimate needs, but….
John Marshall, longest serving member of our Supreme Court observed: “An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy, because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.” Are we there yet?
With gratitude I have served our state on the Board of Human Resources, the Child Protection Task Force, and other roles. I have seen compassion at its best and torpidness at its worst.
Those who abuse the system are professionals. Not professionals in the sense of being in the NFL or NBA but professionals at manipulating the system. They make a living, no they sustain their life, existing off tax dollars without paying taxes themselves. They are products of our society. They have been trained to expect something for nothing.
Meanwhile some very admirable causes go under funded and legitimate needs not met. Some hard working couples both have to work in order to pay taxes to support the Sharons in our society.
Times are tough and likely to get tougher. There will be more people with legitimate needs. I am thankful to be able to pay taxes to help a bit. Any person deserving help should not be reluctant to accepting it. However, to the Sharons of this world — get a life. It really is enjoyable. Work is rewarding.

Causes Of Economic Depression

Our current cultural and economic condition is the fog clouding our vision rising from an era with no well defined ideology. It is perhaps best classified as a period of materialism.
Spiritual, moral, and ethical values have been devalued and the vacuum filled by materialism.
An example is our proclivity for brand name shopping. There was a day when regardless of a person’s socio-economic status they could find fulfillment in spiritual values. They were somebody not because of who they were or what they had but by whose they were. People were gratified because of their spiritual value and values.
Today this same sense of fulfillment and gratification is found in not just shopping but shopping for name brands. A sense of worth is only found for some in the brand name they wear.
We have been described as spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like.
The economic quagmire we are eye ball deep in has existed in America before. Even a global economic depression has existed. There is a period in our history known as the “great depression.” Interestingly there was economic depression in Europe at the same time but it was called “the depression.” There is a reason ours is called “great” and theirs not.
We were rocking along very much like Europe suffering a 10 percent unemployment rate. Then the government was led by President Roosevelt to get involved. Many today think Roosevelt got us out of the depression. Actually he deepened it. He doled out money and instituted government work projects. Unemployment responded to government intervention by rising to 20 percent.
I would hope the same thing that got the nation out of that depression won’t be today’s cure. World War II ended that depression.
In a more recent time America was gripped by another depression. Actually since World War I there have been several.
In a recent time the economy faltered and the stock market went into eclipse. America’s president at the time knew the government needed to act to insure a recovery. The action was to do nothing other than let the free market work its way out. To do that rather than the government getting more involved they got less involved by reduced taxes. That economic recovery is often referred to by the name of the president who advocated such an approach to economic recovery, “Reagan Economics.”
With taxes reduced more businesses could buy new equipment and that revitalized a large segment of the economy. The increased purchase of equipment resulted in more people being hired to build it. This principle rippled through the economy.
Many economists know these two scenarios and which works. More are speaking out against our current government following the Roosevelt model.
We can’t control what our government does. We can do what many have been reminded by our current dilemma to do. That is, reestablish the basis of our personal fulfillment by returning to our former ethical, moral, and spiritual values. To once more return to loving people and using things rather than loving things and using people.

Our Economic Crisis

Heroic stories abound of our predecessors’ thrift, industriousness, austerity, assiduousness, and self-sacrificing in order to live prudently and provide for the future generation. This was the norm for many generations. It is difficult to state an arbitrary date as to when this life-style changed but the older a living generation is the more pronounced it was among them. Whereas they were concerned about providing for future generations an almost imperceptive new philosophy emerged.
Simply stated it involves mortgaging the future for today. Little wonder the name given some is the “now generation.” Driven by self-indulgence giving birth by greed it slowly became the norm for many. Debt by individuals and governments gave us today what tomorrow promised. This concept permeated all of our society. It even became global in emerging societies.
Entitlement became a mantra for those looking to government with outstretched hands. Many individuals seemed to feel personal debt gave them the right to exceed their means.
This has led to the future being mortgaged beyond its capacity. Suddenly for many the future became the present and pay-up time came without them having the ability to pay-up. Institutions, industries and individuals bumped their noses against the plate glass reality of insolvency. Many who were less guilty than others were sucked into this vortex of over indebtedness. Numbers who had acted reasonably could have made it if the economy had stayed solvent were swept along by this tide.
It has been a tough class of economics 101. Lessons have been learned that will benefit legions in the future. Some slow learners will slip right back into this quagmire.
It has become ever increasingly apparent it is unwise to over extend. What our society has been guilty of we are now desiring our government to do. That is, to mortgage tomorrow for today. Haven’t we learned tomorrow inevitably comes. The money  wanted to be doled out today will come from the pockets of future generations. There is no way the future generation can handle the debt we are deferring to them any more than we can handle it today. Tomorrow will come fast enough to impact a significant segment of people who are alive today.
Our area and the state in general has a good core of competent public officials. We are fortunate. However, in the mix their voices are often in the minority of unheard.
This conundrum is too complex for the average citizen. However, individually we can work to get our personal financial houses in order.
Step one is to curb our personal cupidity, that is, our desire to obtain. That will necessitate budgeting our resources and living within our means.
Financial consultant Dave Ramsey urges people to “live off beans and rice — rice and beans” until they get out of debt.
Purchase of an item that does not depreciate is in reality an investment not a debt. An affordable mortgage on a home that appreciates is an investment.
A Baptist moved next door to a frugal Quaker. The Quaker visited him and said, “If thou neediest anything let me know and I will tell thee how to live without it.”
Score one for the Quaker.

Time A Prelude To Eternity

Time flies. Or does it?
At dinner with an astronaut recently who is scheduled for her third ride into space she described launch as a “sensory overload.” That surely is a succinct description.
A second talking point I raised related to time. I commented when it is noon here it is 6:00 PM in Israel and 6:00 AM in Hawaii. What time is it deep in outer space?
The conversation was generated by my interest in time and eternity. She said they relate to earth using Greenwich Mean Time but they operate by launch time. Their personal watches show the time in which their friends live so they won’t call home at the wrong time. Everything on board is related to the time of launch. Thus time is relative depending on your perspective.
Grasping the meaning of time is propaedeutic  to an understanding of time and God.
Physicists in particular have given it a lot thought. Consider their imaginary visit to our nearest star, Sirius. It is nine light years away. Traveling there at 99.99999% of the speed of light the following would happen. Persons here on earth would have to wait about 18 years for your return. Upon returning the traveler’s watch and body clock would indicate he or she was gone 12 hours. The traveler would be 12 hours older and earth bound friends 18 years older. If a traveler could accelerate to the speed of light time would stand still.
Scientists say on the cusp on black holes in distance space there is no time.
By now the concept of eternity was coming a bit clearer from a human perspective.
The Gospel of John opens with a statement when translated from Greek to English to read: “Before time began to begin…”
Most often when we think of creation space and matter are considered. There is a third component to creation —- time. Before creation there was no time. At a certain point the celestial clock began clicking.
The Bible also speaks of a point when time shall no longer be. That means time is a parentheses in eternity. We are temporarily in a time lock, a warp, called time.
Solomon, spoken of as the wisest of wise men, made a stunning statement when speaking of God. That is a subject most folks are willing to admit is bigger than they. A modern translation of Solomon’s statement reads: “from vanishing point to vanishing point you are God.” He was wise enough to realize some subjects go beyond the human mind to comprehend. He was saying think back in history and out in space as far as you can and there comes a point beyond which you can not think. Reasoning just runs out, vanishes. The same is true of thinking into the future and distant space. The mind reaches a vanishing point beyond which it can’t conceive, a vanishing point.
Thus, Solomon postures God as always having existed in eternity. From His perspective in eternity He sees things differently than we and is able to counsel us —-  in time.
On a lighter note imagine this interview with God.
“God, what is a million dollars like to you?”
“Like a penny.”
“What is a thousand years like to you?”
“Like a minute.”
“God, will you give me a million dollars?”
“In a minute.”
Athletes like to be challenged by contesting superior opponents. Musicians like to try to master great compositions.
Cooks are delighted to try especially difficult dishes. In that same vein I like on occasion to challenge my limited mental resources by tackling a difficult subject. Time and eternity provides such a task. By gaining a better understanding of time we can gain a better comprehension of eternity, though never fully understand it.
Keep in mind clocks didn’t come into existence until the thirteenth century. There are still vast people groups who do not use time pieces. Measuring time in minutes and seconds is a relative new art.
Subdividing time into different schools of thought is a starting point. There is subjective time and objective time.
Subjective time is from an internal human perspective, where time seems on occasion to fly by and at other times drag along, even though these perceptions may not be confirmed by external measuring devises.
Objective time is metered by external metering devises. Einstein physics theory showed that no measure of time is absolute, all is relative.
German scientists have defined time as a tri-polar structure of endogenous, exogenous, and transcendent time.
Endogenous time is derived from internal experiences, our biological or circadian rhythms. These are influenced by many things. A classic example is how we feel when traveling across several time zones.
Exogenous time is the form that arises from our interaction with the environment and social time. It helps us structure our schedules and lives. It is relative. For example where does an hour go when we cross a time zone or have to reset our clocks. We tend to envision time as a number of points along a time line. Duration flows without measurement. This is used to show time is arbitrary, relative.
Transcendent time is a sense of timelessness arising from mystical experiences.
This is the school of thought in which a concept of time known as “stasis” or “tenseless” theory.
We tend to date things based on the “now.” A thing is either past, because it came before the present, that is “now,” or future because it is to come after the present “now.”
In the transcendent time theory everything is in the now. It is a divine timelessness. God does not see things as present, past, and future but all as now. He experience all things in the “eternal now.” That is how He can speak prophetically of things that are to happen in what we call the future. Persons who believe in human free will believe that because He knows what is to happen it does not mean He makes it happen.
If you don’t understand all of this welcome to my world. I am so glad there are things to great for our human minds to comprehend. However, for time, space, and matter to exist there had to be some understanding of it too give it order. Oops, there is where God steps on stage and I really can’t understand Him. There are a lot of things I believe in I can’t understand and God is foremost on that list. Millions not only believe He exists but that He exists and loves us.
That can give you a brain cramp. I owe thanks to a much better brain than mine, Dr. Steve W. Lemke, of the New Orleans Seminary for many insights herein.