01
Some things are funny because they are true. This is one of those times. Though it makes me cry a little as well.
Courtesy of Mises and SoundMoneyCafe
18
I had an intersting thought about taxes last evening when my girlfriend found out that she owed over $200 in city taxes. She called me and was very upset.
It seems that no one cares about paying taxes as long as we don’t actually have to pay them at the end of the year. The development of witholdings has blinded Americans to the amount of taxes that they actually pay. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the case worldwide as well.
I would like to start a campaign (maybe “The Great Tax Challenge” ?) that encourages people to take as many deductions as possible so that when April 15th rolls around they actually realize how much they are paying in taxes.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
16
16
I read this article this morning and thought 2 things: Everyone should do this if you can. If you can’t you can’t, but if you can it will improve your life and everyone should ensure the passions that they are seeking are Godly passions that Christ has placed in your life.
Here are some verse to meditate on:
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
Ecclesiastes 9.10
The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Proverbs 16:1
There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
Proverbs 19.21
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Proverbs 16.3
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
Jeremiah 6.19
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29.11
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psalm 37.23
The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
Psalm 37.31
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3.5-6
I haven’t written much of anything here for a while for 4 reasons:
What is this P90X deal? It is basically a workout program designed to get you ripped in 90 days. As of this morning I have completed 5 of the first 6 days. That means I’ve done workouts for chest/back, plyometrics, arms/shoulders, yoga, legs/back, and abs. They are all good, solid workouts. The hardest? Plyometrics by far. A close second is the ab ripper followed by yoga only because they involve things that I’m bad at – strong core/abs/balance. The other ones were all great workouts, but I already lift so they weren’t devestating like Plyometrics.
After completing the first five days I can say a few things that I like and dislike about the program.
What I like:
What I don’t like:
If you’re thinking about doing P90X, I think you should. Take it slow and go at your own pace. Always push yourself to get a little better! If you don’t then this workout will do nothing for you.
And, generally speaking, If you’re thinking about excercising then I think you should. If you want to lose weight then eat less and move more.
09
By far, the greatest and funniest video I’ve seen in ages. (here)
09
Has anyone noticed how impatient everyone is these days? I would describe it as ridiculous.
Just as an example, this morning I had some one write a blog post. At the moment of publishing, they assumed that this post should propagate itself across the internet through all feeds and caching. Did it appear in 5 seconds? No. Did it appear in less than a minute? Yes.
How about a little patience in the digital age?
03
This morning I received a daily devotion with the following verse:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must belive that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. -Hebrews 11.6
This is very challenging because it is something that I struggle with deeply. It’s just hard to have faith. I find that it is so much easier to lean on myself, on knowledge, and a plethora of other things. But the truth is that our only security comes from Christ.
I have recently found myself not trusting Christ and not having faith. This economy is a mess – not only in the US but worldwide. Our money is slowly becoming worthless. Our freedoms are slowly being taken away. Our morals are eroding.
It’s scary if you don’t have faith. This world is corrupt and hard. We are fragile and so small compared to the rest of creation. We are at the mercy of others and nature. It’s terrifying without God.
So this will be my new daily challenge: To fully put my faith in Christ, trusting in His sovereignty and goodness.
03
No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping toward destruction. Therefore, everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interest of everyone hangs on the result.
Just think about it.
27
I was listening to NPR this morning on my way to work. They had an interesting segment on how to save the financial system (The story can be found in written form here).
The first part of this story is really what we all already know – we are going to pay for being so indebted. Nationalization and socialism is just around the corner. Obama will raise taxes. Our debt burden will slow down the economy and make life quite difficult.
The section called “Twin Peaks” is what really fascinated me . The point is that there are two moments in US history where our debt levels have been equivalent to 100% of the GDP – 1929 and 2007. This is not happy news.
We are in massive debt just like we all were in the 1920s. Who let us get here? To put it simply, the Federal Reserve. We have been operating at record low interest rates since 2001. Now the interest rate is around 0%. That means that credit and lending have been super cheap. Cheap enough to cause market distortions that would encourage us all to borrow more than we could afford.
In the late 1920s the Fed knew the interest rates were too low but did not raise them quickly enough. Credit was too cheap and the country was in too much debt. The following is taken from http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Smiley.1920s.final:
By early 1928 the Fed was again becoming worried. Stock market prices were rising even faster and the apparent speculative bubble in the stock market was of some concern to Fed authorities. The Fed was also concerned about the loss of gold and wanted to bring that to an end. To do this they sold securities and, in three steps, raised the discount rate to 5 percent by July 1928. To this point the Federal Reserve Board had largely agreed with district Bank policy changes. However, problems began to develop.
During the stock market boom of the late 1920s the Federal Reserve Board preferred to use “moral suasion” rather than increases in discount rates to lessen member bank borrowing. The New York City bank insisted that moral suasion would not work unless backed up by literal credit rationing on a bank by bank basis which they, and the other district banks, were unwilling to do. They insisted that discount rates had to be increased. The Federal Reserve Board countered that this general policy change would slow down economic activity in general rather than be specifically targeted to stock market speculation. The result was that little was done for a year. Rates were not raised but no open market purchases were undertaken. Rates were finally raised to 6 percent in August of 1929. By that time the contraction had already begun. In late October the stock market crashed, and America slid into the Great Depression.
If you want to blame someone, then blame the Federal Reserve. The Fed has distorted the credit market by keeping interest rates artificially low and the money supply artificially high through a combination printing fiat money (money that is worthless) and fractional reserve banking. This intervention in the free market has caused many speculative bubbles that are now all bursting (dot.com bubble, housing bubble, the list goes on) and crashing our economy. Had the free market been left to work, lending would have slowed long ago under higher interest rates. This would have at least lessened these bubbles if not stopped them altogether.
If you really want to help, then End the Fed so this will hopefully not happen again.
