The erosion of jobs and employment benefits will hurt most young people starting out in their careers. But the lack of benefits and jobs are nothing compared to the grand slam of government policies. With the national debt climbing and federal deficits out of control who will have to shoulder the burden to raise revenue for the government. This generation is already dealing with staggering college costs and credit card debt, not to mention absurd health care costs. Oh, and did I forget........the costs of rents, food and gas. Most young people today are stuck in low paying jobs with no healthcare benefits, the thought of them having to pay higher taxes will only put more pressure of their stifling lives.
When the federal government was smaller, through the 18th and 19th century, it ran temporary deficits only in times of war and prolonged recessions. These were later made up with years of surpluses. But the Great Depression and World War II blew up domestic and military spending for good. In 2005, the national debt was three times as large as the entire federal budget-more than $8 trillion. Due in part from a lack of tax revenue. Tax revenues have been at there lowest in years and tax cuts are continually given to rich corporations and rich geezers........middle-aged or older Americans.
The current budget deficits amount to garnishing the wages of young people to fatten the wallets of todays moguls. As low-earners, with the lowest net-worth of any age group, young people gain little from tax cuts or tax breaks on investment. However, as the Boomers approach retirement, they will probably liquidate their assests. Rather than invest their money or buy consumer goods, they will hold onto their cash, creating shortages in consumer demand. Even now as we face a global slow down, the impact of global aging will be of such consequence, that there will no way to restore balance.
When analysts assess the fiscal health of the government, they look at current budget deficits, income, and spending. The generational-accounting approach compares total government spending, including long-term obligations like Social Security, with the total tax revenues expected from living generations over their lifetimes. In the long run, every discrepancy between the two must be made up, with interest, by unborn generations through higher taxes and higher debt payments.
Many young people today worry that Social Security will not be there for them when they retire simply because the federal social insurance system and perhaps even the entire federal budget will collapse under the strain of 70 million Boomers. When and if those beams buckle, todays young people will feel the weight. Even now, they realize that they are paying for choices they did not make and benefits they may not enjoy. How are these young people going to fund their retirements when jobs are scarce, pensions are all but gone and inflation is eating away at just about any savings they may have. I am sure many are angry at the prospect of paying far more than their share because irresponsible politicians have been running up deficits and making promises they can not keep.
And thanks in part to these deliberate policies by both parties, the generational divide has become a class divide. Boomers today benefited largely from the GI Bill, helping them attend college and then buy their homes. They have the highest average net worth by far, and the members of Congress, many of whom are Boomers, preserve their fortunes and pass the bill to their own grandchildren through those tax cuts on wealth and growing budget deficits. Keep in mind though, that spending on old people rewards the accomplishments of the past, but spending on young people endows the achievements of the next century.
But right now, this generation has little hope of grasping the American dream, much less making any progress towards a better life. Personally I think Social Security is the biggest ponzi scheme known to man, even worse than Bernie Madoffs. Consider Ida May Fuller. She was the first person to receive a Social Security benefit check. Ida May, a legal secretary in Vermont, paid 1% of her income into the system from age 63 to age 65, for a total of $24.75 in payroll taxes. She retired in 1940, lived to be 100 and collected a grand total of $22, 888.92 in benefits, almost a 1000 times return on her *investment*. And all those Ida Mays add up. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Americans born between 1876 and 1937 are projected to receive a total of $8.1 trillion more out of the Social Security system than they paid into it. And who makes up the shortfall...........well we already know that.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Thoughts of Heaven even on a good day!
Looking at this picture makes me think of a vacation with joyous rest, where there are no worries or cares in the world. Imagine nothing but peaceful bliss and yet even on this good day, it simply can not compare to what Eternity with the Lord Jesus will be like. The Bible gives us a glimpse into this glorious abode where supernatural to us now is only natural and normal there. Where there is perfection and beauty beyond comprehension. And yet, I wonder how many of us who personally know the Lord Jesus Christ actually ponder this. Unless, of course, you have been through struggle after struggle and difficulty after difficulty.
Suffering makes you long for Heaven. It makes you long to be in the presence of a perfect God while embracing and feeling His rapturous love, a feeling this earth and physical existence could never give you. Right now, we can not fully feel the height, depth, length and breadth of Gods love until we are made into the incorruptible (I Corinthians 15:52-54). Certainly we can experience and know of Gods intimate love and care over our lives but nevertheless, it does not negate the pain and suffering of living in a flesh and blood existence that is subject to weakness, fraility and sin. We know each day we are dying, certainly as we age.
It is sin that has brought death to all (Roman 5:19), but it is Jesus Christ who has conquered death and the grave! Oh Praise be to Jesus who has given us the victory over death and the grave! The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.....I Corinthians 15:56-57.
I was reading an inspiring book written by Don Piper called *90 Minutes in Heaven*. I felt such excitement, but also relief, when I read this book because I finally found someone with which I can relate. I too just want so badly to be in Eternity with my Lord Jesus. I think about it every day. This mindless physical existence inspires very little hope for me and is a constant reminder to affectionately long for my real home where my true citzenship is. This book tells the real story of Don Piper who, in 1989, was in a serious auto accident that literally killed him. He had no vital signs, no pulse and was declared dead by rescue personnel. During his 90 minutes of death, he was taken to Heaven and given a glimpse into this realm of glory. While he was there, God sent a pastor at the site of the accident to pray for his dead body. The man who prayed was certain God was telling him to do that. So 90 minutes later, after the pastor prayed for him, the supernatural, although completely natural and normal to God, happened and Don came back to life.
But not without many years of agonizing pain and suffering. Because of the severity of his injuries.....much too tramatic to describe without making ones stomach turn, he was reduced to such limitations that he felt worthless. I know exactly how that feels, Lord knows I do. He struggled every day with depression, often times longing for isolation, refusing help from people trying to minister to him. He lie there in a hospital bed for several long agonizing months in one position. His injuries prevented him from being raised up or being turned and repositioned in the bed. Just the slightest move of his extremeties caused excruciating pain, even while on large doses of morphine. He endured many bedsores before they finally switched his mattress to an air mattress designed specifically for bed ridden patients (bed bound patients often struggle with phenomia and decubitis ulcers). His recovery was long and arduous and that is why the realities of his circumstances were so hard to accept. He questioned God so many times as to why God would torture him by bringing him back to this kind of suffering. He wanted to die every day, especially after he experienced Heaven for 90 minutes. But why would God do this. Why would God inflict such horrible pain. These questions he asked himself everyday. I imagine Job who cursed the day he was born and questioned God as to why God would allow him to be born.....only to know trouble and sorrow all the days of his life (Job chapter 3).
Don Piper went to Heaven when he died and yet God allowed him to live to see his devoted wife and children again, and yet still, he wanted to die, again and go back to the paradise that Jesus showed him. That right there is enough to explain why many Christians long for Eternity right now..........they do not want to wait, they want to go right now, even leaving behind many temporal blessings. When God allows you to taste excruciating pain and rejection or loss, or when God gives you a glimpse of Eternity, there is only one response.............to be where Jesus is and nothing else! That is what I want every day because therein lies my future (Job 3:20-24).
I would encourage everyone to read Don Piper*s testimony. He will inspire you to long for Eternity and it will remind you of how awesome our Lord God Jehova is!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Who really is running Washington
I was reading the USA TODAY paper from Friday January 30, 2009, and I had to save a comic strip from the Forum section. The comic strip reveals a Republican and a Democrat on a ledge and the Democrat is throwing a large bag of cash with the words econ. bailout into the LARGE mouth of a man labeled RICH BANKERS. The Repulican says to the Democrat, *That is crazy. Step aside*. Right beneath is the exact same picture but with the Republican throwing a large bag of cash with the words Tax Cut$ on it into the LARGE mouth of the same man labeled RICH BANKERS.
And how true it is! For anyone who actually thinks Amercia is still a democracy, they need to get their head out of the stone age! Things have changed radically and perhaps more and more people will open their eyes to the truth. The financial industry is really running policy in Washington, not the elected officials. The Justice department, the White House, the Federal Reserve, and both houses of Congress are basically run by *The Bank*, which is immune to the most basic oversight. These banks have powerful lobbyists that have literally usurped Congress. In a word, they are Congress! With billions of dollars spent to protect the bank and all the clandestine favors awarded, coupled with intimidation and manipulation, they (the bank) have essentially taken over. After all, Congressmen have their own preferred customer lists.
But this is why Washington does not work anymore and why it is *broken*. You can kiss the American dream goodbye as well as your savings, if you have any, and the only way change will be in order is to go back in history and listen and learn from the likes of Lincoln, Jefferson and Jackson. All unique in their own right, for no one, not even the current President, can be compared to them. All three of them had such disdain for those international bankers and feared the *creature from Jekyll Island*, aka the Federal Reserve.
If you are a Born-Again Believer, you probally are already aware of this as it is your duty to seek the Truth and to ask God for discernment. Unfortunately, there are still many Believers who are ignorant of the times. Texe Marrs, although not a popular author but brilliant nonetheless, wrote an excellent book called *Circle of Intrique*. It is about 10 men who believe themselves to be blood line royalty and a dynasty intended to rule the world, because of their untold fabulous wealth. He calls them the *Ulluminati*. And much to the chagrin of the reader, it is not a conspiracy theory as some suggest, but rather a hidden global agenda to bring all nations under their subjection, hence the NEW WORLD ORDER. Much like freemason, as many of our former Presidents are, but on a much larger scale treating those in high positions of power, i.e. the US President, as nothing but a puppet who strings are pulled by the Ulluminati. Before you write it off, remember this.............the rich have always ruled the world!
And how true it is! For anyone who actually thinks Amercia is still a democracy, they need to get their head out of the stone age! Things have changed radically and perhaps more and more people will open their eyes to the truth. The financial industry is really running policy in Washington, not the elected officials. The Justice department, the White House, the Federal Reserve, and both houses of Congress are basically run by *The Bank*, which is immune to the most basic oversight. These banks have powerful lobbyists that have literally usurped Congress. In a word, they are Congress! With billions of dollars spent to protect the bank and all the clandestine favors awarded, coupled with intimidation and manipulation, they (the bank) have essentially taken over. After all, Congressmen have their own preferred customer lists.
But this is why Washington does not work anymore and why it is *broken*. You can kiss the American dream goodbye as well as your savings, if you have any, and the only way change will be in order is to go back in history and listen and learn from the likes of Lincoln, Jefferson and Jackson. All unique in their own right, for no one, not even the current President, can be compared to them. All three of them had such disdain for those international bankers and feared the *creature from Jekyll Island*, aka the Federal Reserve.
If you are a Born-Again Believer, you probally are already aware of this as it is your duty to seek the Truth and to ask God for discernment. Unfortunately, there are still many Believers who are ignorant of the times. Texe Marrs, although not a popular author but brilliant nonetheless, wrote an excellent book called *Circle of Intrique*. It is about 10 men who believe themselves to be blood line royalty and a dynasty intended to rule the world, because of their untold fabulous wealth. He calls them the *Ulluminati*. And much to the chagrin of the reader, it is not a conspiracy theory as some suggest, but rather a hidden global agenda to bring all nations under their subjection, hence the NEW WORLD ORDER. Much like freemason, as many of our former Presidents are, but on a much larger scale treating those in high positions of power, i.e. the US President, as nothing but a puppet who strings are pulled by the Ulluminati. Before you write it off, remember this.............the rich have always ruled the world!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Greedy, deceptive banking practices.........
I wonder how many of you out there have experienced what I have just experienced with my bank, (I am sure it is too numerous to count). I had a check come through for $450 and several small debit transactions for items such as gas and food and one for a drug store all on the same day, just one day shy of my usual $350 direct deposit from work on Friday. The bank cleared the large check first and then paid all 5 other small debit transactions but not without hitting me up with 6 overdraft fees of $36 each. When I called the bank, I was made to feel like I was an idiot and a bad money manager and when the bank did credit 4 of the 6 overdraft fees, they made it quite clear to me that they were being MORE THAN GENEROUS. More than generous! WOW, they just got $700 billion from Congress and they could not even credit me one more fee of just $36! That simple credit of $36 would have saved me.........I needed that money for gas and food for the week until I got paid again. I am sure many of you out there have gone through this very thing.
And what has Congress done to regulate such clever banking practices.............absolutely NOTHING, as usual! Between 20 and 40 million Americans do not have a bank account.......not because they do not have the money or that they have bad credit, but because they simply do not have ENOUGH money to avoid all these deceptive fees and TRAPS! Many banks authorize debit cards over their limit, then slap insufficient-funds fees when the transactions put the customers account into the red. These banks computers are PROGRAMMED to clear the largest checks first, so if an account is overdrawn, it is overdrawn multiple times rather than only once. This, of course, means multiple fees, which have risen from $10-$15 to $30-$45 over the past decade. Banks have made millions of dollars from these fees, perhaps even billions and its irresistible to them to make more profit even if its unethical and immoral. Though it seems hard to believe, pawnshops are more heavily regulated than the banks-and ofter cheaper. Pawns have to charge a uniform, capped interest rate with no special penalties. The rate schedule must be printed in full view of customers and there are no additional fees. Banks used to be bound by the same kinds of laws that now protect alternative customers, but now they can charge whatever interest rates they determine necessary and whatever fees they consider fair- these remarkable and unprecedented freedoms, COURTESY of the United States Supreme Court.
This is America right, so by god, let freedom ring! At least that was the sentiment of the banks. They should be allowed to do whatever they want. Walter Wriston, the brainchild of Citigroup Center, succeeded in demolishing the laws restricting credit, laws that had been designed to protect both the banking industry as well as the consumer. The financial industryès record of legislative and judical victories since Wriston began his crusade is simply too impressive to list in full. Sadly, in 2004, while we watched record foreclosures, defaults and bankruptcies higher than the Great Depression, President Bush awarded Wriston the Presidental Medal of Freedom!
Because this is not the first time this has happened to me, I will tell you, it will be the last because I no longer have faith in the banking industry, nor do I have confidence in the bank having any barometer for moral behavior because it is through and through corrupt like cancer destroying all the good cells in the body (even Washington is aware of this and they see the banking industry on the verge of nationalization). The number of millionaires hit an all-time high in 2005, even as foreclosures and defaults kept on rising. Bank profits and credit card company profits are exploding while their customers savings disappear. We talk of ownership in this society, yet ownership society is nothing more than a red herring as quoted by Warren Buffet. He says what we are creating IS a society of sharecroppers, not owners. Neither the mind-set nor the statistics inspire much hope that the DISPARITIES in wealth created over the past generation-the greatest since the 1930s-will get better before they get worse.
All over the country, we are voting to put ourselves deeper into debt in order to have trophy-like skyscrapers and sports stadiums that will be owned by billionaires who did not pay for them. Colleges and universities are cutting deals with credit card companies and still forcing students to mortgage their futures in order to boast of winning football teams and gourmet food services. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) warned that profligate spending was not only destabilizing the world economy but pissing everybody off! All the elements for a revolution are now in place as this country is looking more and more like a third world country. In fact, it already is. All it would take is for communist China and India to stop loaning us money because they feel we could not pay it back. Still our government chooses to take the money from the Arabs and the Chinese while they still want to give it to us and to do it while they can before the money vanishes as magically as it appeared. China, India and the Arabs own this country, yet we continue to boast of our $14 trillion economy, all the while sinking deeper and deeper in the abyss of debt. Curtailing spending is a good thing. Having the banks freeze credit is a good thing. People will begin to save and understand the extremely fragile state of the world economy that can tank, not even with a moments notice. Consider when banks loan money to nations around the world, particularly poor nations, to pay off old debts. Liabilities must be piled on top of the original debt in order to avoid default. Eventually the amount of cash needed to pay off old debts plus the new debts become such a burden that the whole thing collapses beneath its own weight........except of course if you have a large printing press in your back room, which we all know as the U.S. Treasury.
The financial industry spends vast amounts of money spreading the myth that banking is good, debt is good, that what matters is a good credit score and a low interest rate, APPROVAL, as though that approval still means what it did a generation ago when denial was the norm. That it is more important to take that carribean cruise than it is to take care of your financial future. That doing without is immoral and that debt is actually freedom......if you can believe that. That wealth is spending, not saving (i.e. United States Government), and that there will always be more credit, as long as you remain of the preferred-customer list. This propaganda is being spread every second of the day and this taste for credit is being cultivated into a voracious appetite among those who can least afford it. There have been no checks and balances over these such abuses of power and no laws have been passed to protect consumers from these abuses.
How is it that we see record profits in corporate America and large banks, yet see the SO MANY poor people in this country. Is it not because these corporations and banks are so damn greedy that they can not even spare a dime or show mercy to someone about to foreclose or default. The emergence of a class structure is nowhere more evident than in the differential in pay of corporate CEOs and average workers. CEOs have always been paid better that the average employee in this country, but over the past decade the disparity between the two has become even more wide. Median CEO compensation went from $1.8 million in 1992 to $6.1 million in 2000. CEO pay increased 340 percent from 1992 to 2002, while compensation pay for rank and file employees increased a mere 36 percent. By 2004, the average CEO pay was $9.6 million, with one hundred CEOs making more than $10 million and forty making more than $20 million. In 2005, the median pay for CEOs in the one hundred largest U.S. companies increased to $17.9 million- an increase of 25% from the year before. The average employee got a raise of just 3.1 percent during the same time period.
Perhaps I have gone off focus from the original title of this post but nevertheless, all things related, they come full circle. You can not have greedy deceitful banks without having records defaults and home foreclosures and you can not have enormous profits without a large disparity between the rich and the poor........someone, and that someone is you and me, is contributing to these enormous profits and billion dollar pay checks for CEOs. Just because I am a Born-Again believer is Jesus Christ and I have full confidence in His Sovereignty over this injustice, greed and deceit of these banks and corporations, does not mean I should not stand up for righteousness and speak of justice. We are called to justice, just as we are called to righteousness and standing up for the poor and those who are powerless is an act of justice.
Ecclesiastes 5:8
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent preverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. AMEN
And what has Congress done to regulate such clever banking practices.............absolutely NOTHING, as usual! Between 20 and 40 million Americans do not have a bank account.......not because they do not have the money or that they have bad credit, but because they simply do not have ENOUGH money to avoid all these deceptive fees and TRAPS! Many banks authorize debit cards over their limit, then slap insufficient-funds fees when the transactions put the customers account into the red. These banks computers are PROGRAMMED to clear the largest checks first, so if an account is overdrawn, it is overdrawn multiple times rather than only once. This, of course, means multiple fees, which have risen from $10-$15 to $30-$45 over the past decade. Banks have made millions of dollars from these fees, perhaps even billions and its irresistible to them to make more profit even if its unethical and immoral. Though it seems hard to believe, pawnshops are more heavily regulated than the banks-and ofter cheaper. Pawns have to charge a uniform, capped interest rate with no special penalties. The rate schedule must be printed in full view of customers and there are no additional fees. Banks used to be bound by the same kinds of laws that now protect alternative customers, but now they can charge whatever interest rates they determine necessary and whatever fees they consider fair- these remarkable and unprecedented freedoms, COURTESY of the United States Supreme Court.
This is America right, so by god, let freedom ring! At least that was the sentiment of the banks. They should be allowed to do whatever they want. Walter Wriston, the brainchild of Citigroup Center, succeeded in demolishing the laws restricting credit, laws that had been designed to protect both the banking industry as well as the consumer. The financial industryès record of legislative and judical victories since Wriston began his crusade is simply too impressive to list in full. Sadly, in 2004, while we watched record foreclosures, defaults and bankruptcies higher than the Great Depression, President Bush awarded Wriston the Presidental Medal of Freedom!
Because this is not the first time this has happened to me, I will tell you, it will be the last because I no longer have faith in the banking industry, nor do I have confidence in the bank having any barometer for moral behavior because it is through and through corrupt like cancer destroying all the good cells in the body (even Washington is aware of this and they see the banking industry on the verge of nationalization). The number of millionaires hit an all-time high in 2005, even as foreclosures and defaults kept on rising. Bank profits and credit card company profits are exploding while their customers savings disappear. We talk of ownership in this society, yet ownership society is nothing more than a red herring as quoted by Warren Buffet. He says what we are creating IS a society of sharecroppers, not owners. Neither the mind-set nor the statistics inspire much hope that the DISPARITIES in wealth created over the past generation-the greatest since the 1930s-will get better before they get worse.
All over the country, we are voting to put ourselves deeper into debt in order to have trophy-like skyscrapers and sports stadiums that will be owned by billionaires who did not pay for them. Colleges and universities are cutting deals with credit card companies and still forcing students to mortgage their futures in order to boast of winning football teams and gourmet food services. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) warned that profligate spending was not only destabilizing the world economy but pissing everybody off! All the elements for a revolution are now in place as this country is looking more and more like a third world country. In fact, it already is. All it would take is for communist China and India to stop loaning us money because they feel we could not pay it back. Still our government chooses to take the money from the Arabs and the Chinese while they still want to give it to us and to do it while they can before the money vanishes as magically as it appeared. China, India and the Arabs own this country, yet we continue to boast of our $14 trillion economy, all the while sinking deeper and deeper in the abyss of debt. Curtailing spending is a good thing. Having the banks freeze credit is a good thing. People will begin to save and understand the extremely fragile state of the world economy that can tank, not even with a moments notice. Consider when banks loan money to nations around the world, particularly poor nations, to pay off old debts. Liabilities must be piled on top of the original debt in order to avoid default. Eventually the amount of cash needed to pay off old debts plus the new debts become such a burden that the whole thing collapses beneath its own weight........except of course if you have a large printing press in your back room, which we all know as the U.S. Treasury.
The financial industry spends vast amounts of money spreading the myth that banking is good, debt is good, that what matters is a good credit score and a low interest rate, APPROVAL, as though that approval still means what it did a generation ago when denial was the norm. That it is more important to take that carribean cruise than it is to take care of your financial future. That doing without is immoral and that debt is actually freedom......if you can believe that. That wealth is spending, not saving (i.e. United States Government), and that there will always be more credit, as long as you remain of the preferred-customer list. This propaganda is being spread every second of the day and this taste for credit is being cultivated into a voracious appetite among those who can least afford it. There have been no checks and balances over these such abuses of power and no laws have been passed to protect consumers from these abuses.
How is it that we see record profits in corporate America and large banks, yet see the SO MANY poor people in this country. Is it not because these corporations and banks are so damn greedy that they can not even spare a dime or show mercy to someone about to foreclose or default. The emergence of a class structure is nowhere more evident than in the differential in pay of corporate CEOs and average workers. CEOs have always been paid better that the average employee in this country, but over the past decade the disparity between the two has become even more wide. Median CEO compensation went from $1.8 million in 1992 to $6.1 million in 2000. CEO pay increased 340 percent from 1992 to 2002, while compensation pay for rank and file employees increased a mere 36 percent. By 2004, the average CEO pay was $9.6 million, with one hundred CEOs making more than $10 million and forty making more than $20 million. In 2005, the median pay for CEOs in the one hundred largest U.S. companies increased to $17.9 million- an increase of 25% from the year before. The average employee got a raise of just 3.1 percent during the same time period.
Perhaps I have gone off focus from the original title of this post but nevertheless, all things related, they come full circle. You can not have greedy deceitful banks without having records defaults and home foreclosures and you can not have enormous profits without a large disparity between the rich and the poor........someone, and that someone is you and me, is contributing to these enormous profits and billion dollar pay checks for CEOs. Just because I am a Born-Again believer is Jesus Christ and I have full confidence in His Sovereignty over this injustice, greed and deceit of these banks and corporations, does not mean I should not stand up for righteousness and speak of justice. We are called to justice, just as we are called to righteousness and standing up for the poor and those who are powerless is an act of justice.
Ecclesiastes 5:8
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent preverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. AMEN
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