"Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." Jesus, Revelation 2:5
I'm a few days later than I would have like to have been on my blog, I know this. But for good reason. Our ISP filed for bankruptcy last week and as a result, a valuable lesson has been learned. Avoid a company that is dependent on government money to stay afloat. Now we have roadrunner internet so hopefully we should stay online for good. ANYWAYS....
This week, I'm going to try and stay observational but it will be hard. This is a topic that may need more attention later as it is a deep topic and has been on my mind for some time. As a Christian, it's painful to see Christians fall so far into a sinful act. It's normal for a Christian to screw up and do something "simple" like let a swear word slip or entertain negative thoughts about a co-worker, but it takes dwelling in continuous sinful acts to reach certain harmful acts or measures, like being a Christian and living together outside of marriage. To compare, it would be the difference between spilling a glass of milk and breaking the glass. It's easy to clean up milk. Not so easy fix a broken glass, and the damage lasts a lot longer.
As I browse my facebook friends list, I see many friends on the list who call themselves Christians and definitely live it, despite the hardships and temptations they faced growing up or even in their lives now. Some friends of mine just lost a loved one, yet they rejoice in the tears because this loved one, like them, was a sister in their faith and they will see her again after their days here on earth are done. There are also people on my friends list that have professed their faith in Christ, yet have experienced a difficult struggle or time in their lives and live in the depths of sin as a result. Don't worry, I won't name any names or tell any stories. This is all about demonstrating the contrast. It's kind of like grains of rice. A Christian who has consistently achieved victory over sin may be like white rice, and a Christian who stays in sin may be like brown rice. Both are the same grain, but on the outside, and inside to some extent, they clearly have different characteristics. But they are both still rice, i.e. Christians. Christians and non-Christians alike can see the difference between a victorious Christian and a despairing Christian.
Now it's to the point that I need to hold my tongue because this is where the observations end. In three weeks, this topic will be continued. First, I must hold true to my word and stick with my first five observational blogs. Jesus said "let your yes be yes and your no be no" so it is only appropriate I follow suit, lest I be a liar. When my thoughts are more collected and the upcoming two blogs are complete, I will explore this topic more and share my own thoughts and ideas on it then. Please check back weekly.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
A Greecy mess
Then (Jesus) said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” -Matthew 22:21
Watching the mess in Europe unfold is stunning and should be for anyone who knows what a budget is, and keeps one. Over the past week, the first, and by many claims just the initial, implosion of the Eurozone occurred, with the collapse of the Greek government. While this blog is my second of five strictly observational blogs, I would like to explore what this may mean for us, as our dollar is often compared and exchanged with the Euro in trading. This situation is having direct effects on trading of commodities, such as oil, and therefore is important.
The public debt is equal to about 312 billion dollars in Greece, which is the equivalent of each citizen owing over 27 thousand dollars. This amounts to 126 percent of GDP. Now, this may not seem like much of a problem because their public held debt is relatively small compared to the trillions in the U.S., but the problem comes from the fact that the government has been hogtied to do anything as a member of the European Union. When Greece joined the union, members of the European Parliament sound the alarm that Greece is not in a good enough order financially to become a member. The economy in Greece was very strong at the time, however, as they were riding high on a wave of exceptional growth. Their economy prior to 2009 was the fastest growing in Europe. This growth was taken advantage of by the ruling socialist party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), who grew the government, inflated public benefits and pensions with shorter work days, and enjoyed healthy salaries on the wave of growth. As a result of the excessive growth, the PASOK party began to run deep debts, and keep the debt high throughout their period of beefy economic growth. But when the economy slowed down worldwide in late 2008, the economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, began to slow in tandem with gradually decreasing tourism. Once this happened, the government couldn't take in the revenue it needed to maintain the interest in it's debt, and a ticking financial timebomb was initiated that may have just started to blow up over the past week with the resignation of prominent leaders.
Greece could be working through this problem more effectively if it had greater financial freedom, at least that is what many voices are saying. The "Ron Paul of Europe," Nigel Farage, has been grilling this on the European Parliament for some time. Now he's actually making sense to many of his fellow members because the measures implemented by the rest of parliament are not working. Mr. Farage brazenly pointed out that Greece is still going to default, because even if the holders if Greece's debt give them a 50 percent break, the public debt will still be at 120 percent of GDP. That's still a MOUNTAIN that could easily keep growing as interest rates on debt will jump in 2014.
The entire financial and economic system in Greece is controlled like the rest of the members of the Eurozone. It is controlled through joint policy handed down by the European Parliament, The European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (of which the U.S. is heavily invested in). This control essentially hogties Greece and the rest of Europe, minimizing the options that the leadership of Greece actually has when dealing with it's own debt.
Big government in Greece started the mess, now an even bigger government is limiting it's options to fix it. The problem is, as a member of the Eurozone, everyone that participates in the Euro will have to carry the baggage of Greece, as the economic issues in Greece will and have been dragging down the value of the Euro and ultimately the entire European Economy. So many people are losing confidence in Greece to balance it's books and for the Parliament to make a wise decision that Iran is now providing most (and by some accounts all) oil to Greece because other oil providers have backed out. And now since Italy may soon join the ranks of Greece, this can only be expected to spread.
So now exactly what does this mean for us? As the Euro loses value, the dollar tends to be stronger, which drives our prices of commodities down as they are traded in dollars. The exchange rates fluctuate daily as one strengthens and the other weakens. Almost always this means cheaper gas at the pumps for us in America. If oil companies cease to do dealings with countries in Europe, then this could play in our favor as well, but only time will tell if it would be enough to have a significant effect on prices, as emerging economies have been notorious for gobbling up oil in growing amounts over the past several years.
The mess in Greece is a lesson that many leaders from around the world should look on and try to avoid at all costs. While Governments work substantially different than businesses, making contractual obligations that they can't fulfill to third party sources or other governments is never a good idea. I'm glad some leaders in the United States see this as well and want to reduce our debts before they explode on us.
Watching the mess in Europe unfold is stunning and should be for anyone who knows what a budget is, and keeps one. Over the past week, the first, and by many claims just the initial, implosion of the Eurozone occurred, with the collapse of the Greek government. While this blog is my second of five strictly observational blogs, I would like to explore what this may mean for us, as our dollar is often compared and exchanged with the Euro in trading. This situation is having direct effects on trading of commodities, such as oil, and therefore is important.
The public debt is equal to about 312 billion dollars in Greece, which is the equivalent of each citizen owing over 27 thousand dollars. This amounts to 126 percent of GDP. Now, this may not seem like much of a problem because their public held debt is relatively small compared to the trillions in the U.S., but the problem comes from the fact that the government has been hogtied to do anything as a member of the European Union. When Greece joined the union, members of the European Parliament sound the alarm that Greece is not in a good enough order financially to become a member. The economy in Greece was very strong at the time, however, as they were riding high on a wave of exceptional growth. Their economy prior to 2009 was the fastest growing in Europe. This growth was taken advantage of by the ruling socialist party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), who grew the government, inflated public benefits and pensions with shorter work days, and enjoyed healthy salaries on the wave of growth. As a result of the excessive growth, the PASOK party began to run deep debts, and keep the debt high throughout their period of beefy economic growth. But when the economy slowed down worldwide in late 2008, the economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, began to slow in tandem with gradually decreasing tourism. Once this happened, the government couldn't take in the revenue it needed to maintain the interest in it's debt, and a ticking financial timebomb was initiated that may have just started to blow up over the past week with the resignation of prominent leaders.
Greece could be working through this problem more effectively if it had greater financial freedom, at least that is what many voices are saying. The "Ron Paul of Europe," Nigel Farage, has been grilling this on the European Parliament for some time. Now he's actually making sense to many of his fellow members because the measures implemented by the rest of parliament are not working. Mr. Farage brazenly pointed out that Greece is still going to default, because even if the holders if Greece's debt give them a 50 percent break, the public debt will still be at 120 percent of GDP. That's still a MOUNTAIN that could easily keep growing as interest rates on debt will jump in 2014.
The entire financial and economic system in Greece is controlled like the rest of the members of the Eurozone. It is controlled through joint policy handed down by the European Parliament, The European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (of which the U.S. is heavily invested in). This control essentially hogties Greece and the rest of Europe, minimizing the options that the leadership of Greece actually has when dealing with it's own debt.
Big government in Greece started the mess, now an even bigger government is limiting it's options to fix it. The problem is, as a member of the Eurozone, everyone that participates in the Euro will have to carry the baggage of Greece, as the economic issues in Greece will and have been dragging down the value of the Euro and ultimately the entire European Economy. So many people are losing confidence in Greece to balance it's books and for the Parliament to make a wise decision that Iran is now providing most (and by some accounts all) oil to Greece because other oil providers have backed out. And now since Italy may soon join the ranks of Greece, this can only be expected to spread.
So now exactly what does this mean for us? As the Euro loses value, the dollar tends to be stronger, which drives our prices of commodities down as they are traded in dollars. The exchange rates fluctuate daily as one strengthens and the other weakens. Almost always this means cheaper gas at the pumps for us in America. If oil companies cease to do dealings with countries in Europe, then this could play in our favor as well, but only time will tell if it would be enough to have a significant effect on prices, as emerging economies have been notorious for gobbling up oil in growing amounts over the past several years.
The mess in Greece is a lesson that many leaders from around the world should look on and try to avoid at all costs. While Governments work substantially different than businesses, making contractual obligations that they can't fulfill to third party sources or other governments is never a good idea. I'm glad some leaders in the United States see this as well and want to reduce our debts before they explode on us.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Herman Cain harassment Train
"For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light." Jesus in Mark 4:22, New Living Translation.
Herman Cain is the latest and most mysterious success story out of the GOP presidential candidates. Starting with his Florida straw poll upset over Rick Perry and Mitt Romney on September 24, he launched to the top of the GOP candidates and has remained there. His 9-9-9 tax plan, despite it's need for work, has been a major attraction to many Conservative voters. Even a few Independents like myself have taken notice. But lately, an onslaught of media attention has occurred due to some accusations of sexual harassment made towards Mr. Cain.
Let's review the facts about the Cain harassment issue, in chronological order:
1. Conservative are throwing support behind Cain in droves.
2. Liberals don't consider Cain a threat.
3. The victims will probably remain silent (in fact, two out of three have to this point)
4. The events in question occurred over a decade ago.
Will Cain survive? only time will tell. Bill Clinton survived impeachment proceedings during his presidency in the 90's for events that occurred while in office, and he has survived to be a notable, albeit somewhat quiet voice in the media today. But the circumstances were different, so your guess is as good as mine.
Herman Cain is the latest and most mysterious success story out of the GOP presidential candidates. Starting with his Florida straw poll upset over Rick Perry and Mitt Romney on September 24, he launched to the top of the GOP candidates and has remained there. His 9-9-9 tax plan, despite it's need for work, has been a major attraction to many Conservative voters. Even a few Independents like myself have taken notice. But lately, an onslaught of media attention has occurred due to some accusations of sexual harassment made towards Mr. Cain.
Let's review the facts about the Cain harassment issue, in chronological order:
- Politico breaks the news that two female employees under Cain were sexually harassed in the 1990's. (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67194.html)
- Cain responds, claims that the reports are "baseless and totally false." (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67203.html)
- Cain, in an effort to maintain and save face, appears on multiple news and talk programs, on several networks early in the week.
- The Washington Post suggests Cain should be quiet on the issue, suggests he may be making matters worse by appearing on shows to defend himself after stating on Monday that there was "enough said" on the issue. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/why-herman-cain-needs-to-stop-talking--immediately/2011/11/01/gIQAJoW0dM_blog.html)
- Cain then blames Perry for the claims and the media for beefing them up.
- One of Cain's accusers speaks out through her lawyer, who claims that she doesn't want to revisit the matter. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/herman-cain-sexual-harassment-accuser_n_1073413.html)
- Despite the allegations, several polls have indicated Cain has maintained his momentum, and his flow of donations. (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/04/cain-tries-to-get-back-to-business-as-usual-amid-harassment-allegations/?test=latestnews)
1. Conservative are throwing support behind Cain in droves.
2. Liberals don't consider Cain a threat.
3. The victims will probably remain silent (in fact, two out of three have to this point)
4. The events in question occurred over a decade ago.
Will Cain survive? only time will tell. Bill Clinton survived impeachment proceedings during his presidency in the 90's for events that occurred while in office, and he has survived to be a notable, albeit somewhat quiet voice in the media today. But the circumstances were different, so your guess is as good as mine.
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