DavidNR
January 19th, 2008, 03:27 PM
Folks,
Gen 41: 48-57
Matt 25: 14-30
I've been reading and every now and then responding to the various Ecology & Economics threads and I read of hopelessness, despair, told-you-so, pro-libertarianism, shame on those mortgage lenders, shame on those borrowers, taxes are too high, taxes are evil, the USA will be bankrupt unless we DO SOMETHING...
It seems to me that the "do something" always involves some strange nationalization of all industry, banking, production, etc. It's strange because this is the land of opportunity, not forced servitude and Americans shouldn't be collectivists, ever.
Those of us, like myself, are American citizens and we, certainly, have a vested interest in the economic health of our nation. The nation has survived economic downturns in the past, extremely bad ones, too. And each takes its course and the nation and the people come out stronger and richer.
I once found myself in a dire situation, financially, legally and morally in trouble. - this was before I became a Christian. I was desperate need and attempted to get some money by selling things that I'd collected over the years (word to the wise: unless you've got the entire run of never-read X-men comics, that comic book collection isn't going to be worth squat). This plan wasn't working well... What was I to do? I stepped back and considered my options and decided that selling things of value only to me was a waste of time. My time would be better spent on getting a job and working at whatever I had to to make up what needed to be made up. This gave me peace of mind and the time to finally read the Bible, and a month later I received the Lord Jesus Christ. It took me three years of agonizing monthly payments to wipe out my debt. But that's the direction Jesus put me in. I focused on that and that alone. Ever since, I've only been careful with my finances and financial decisions. I have been a citizen of the US through apparently good and apparently bad economic times. One thing I've noticed is consistent during either is that people with money usually keep it and make more of it no matter what. The people who don't have money, man, it's like the world is just not going to get off their shoulders. And they panic. They are helpless - and no one will help them, especially the government as the media parades on camera whichever spokesperson will say "we can't do anything because the people in office just won't let us" or similar.
Here are some interesting, contemporary, rational, albeit secular, websites that talk non-panic when everyone else seems to hyper-exaggerate bad times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/46cdad5c-c30e-11dc-b617-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24015#post24015
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_lewis&sid=amkLoop8pArk
That's it. Thanks for reading:wave
Gen 41: 48-57
Matt 25: 14-30
I've been reading and every now and then responding to the various Ecology & Economics threads and I read of hopelessness, despair, told-you-so, pro-libertarianism, shame on those mortgage lenders, shame on those borrowers, taxes are too high, taxes are evil, the USA will be bankrupt unless we DO SOMETHING...
It seems to me that the "do something" always involves some strange nationalization of all industry, banking, production, etc. It's strange because this is the land of opportunity, not forced servitude and Americans shouldn't be collectivists, ever.
Those of us, like myself, are American citizens and we, certainly, have a vested interest in the economic health of our nation. The nation has survived economic downturns in the past, extremely bad ones, too. And each takes its course and the nation and the people come out stronger and richer.
I once found myself in a dire situation, financially, legally and morally in trouble. - this was before I became a Christian. I was desperate need and attempted to get some money by selling things that I'd collected over the years (word to the wise: unless you've got the entire run of never-read X-men comics, that comic book collection isn't going to be worth squat). This plan wasn't working well... What was I to do? I stepped back and considered my options and decided that selling things of value only to me was a waste of time. My time would be better spent on getting a job and working at whatever I had to to make up what needed to be made up. This gave me peace of mind and the time to finally read the Bible, and a month later I received the Lord Jesus Christ. It took me three years of agonizing monthly payments to wipe out my debt. But that's the direction Jesus put me in. I focused on that and that alone. Ever since, I've only been careful with my finances and financial decisions. I have been a citizen of the US through apparently good and apparently bad economic times. One thing I've noticed is consistent during either is that people with money usually keep it and make more of it no matter what. The people who don't have money, man, it's like the world is just not going to get off their shoulders. And they panic. They are helpless - and no one will help them, especially the government as the media parades on camera whichever spokesperson will say "we can't do anything because the people in office just won't let us" or similar.
Here are some interesting, contemporary, rational, albeit secular, websites that talk non-panic when everyone else seems to hyper-exaggerate bad times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/46cdad5c-c30e-11dc-b617-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24015#post24015
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_lewis&sid=amkLoop8pArk
That's it. Thanks for reading:wave