France recently raised the retirement age for public benefits from 60-62. Everyone is up in arms. France has had miserly job growth for years now in the private sector. Unemployment has mostly been in the 10% range.
Does anyone see that is where we are headed in the US? Government stimulating itself with wasteful spending and getting in the way of private sector growth.
Health Care reform has already had significant consequences and clearly the worst is yet to come. First it started with premiums on many health plans going up in the 16-20% range because of the downstream costs associated with many of the provisions of health care. Then there was the stupidity of the component of the reform where a minimum of 80% of premiums must be spent on health care coverage. In what market and industry does government dictate what margins must be made in a free market? The consequences of this was McDonalds threatening to drop their coverage on their “mini-med” plans. Our benevolent government responded with a waiver. There is already a lot of haggling over what constitutes “health care coverage”.
According to a report released by Senators Coburn and Barrasso, millions will face losing the plans they now enjoy “as employers either drop coverage or purchase more expensive, government-dictated health insurance.”
Every time government gets involved like this, there are unintended consequences. That is precisely what will happen and has happened with health care reform.
With all of the feel-good of the miner rescue, some have particularly noted that it is a wonderful testimonial of capitalism. The president of Chile solicited the best of innovation to get these miners rescued. Consider this:
Note no communistic countries represented. China had no representation. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they had no capability. Had this happened in Venezuela, we would have had a lot of dead miners.
Debsue and I attended today the 75th anniversary of Little Church in the Vale (LCITV). LCITV was the first church I attended as a member after I accepted Christ my senior year of college in 1981. LCITV was also special because Dean Brdlik was the pastor and his wife Jane introduced me to Debsue. We attended LCITV as a couple from 1985 to 1994.
When I first went there as a single male, I was the only one under 30 and I don’t think I ever ate a Sunday meal at home by myself for at least a year. They embraced me and made me feel so welcome. I was discipled by the mature men in the church such as Dean, but also Bill Banfield, Bill and Bob Bennett, and others. Dean was a much more detailed pastor back then and my first year there, we spent a whole year in Romans 1.
Bill and Bob Bennett have both passed away into the presence of the Lord, but Bill Banfield was there and while a little older and a little more frail, still led singing with the typical Banfield gusto. Mary Beth Bennett, Bill’s wife also passed away into the presence of the Lord just yesterday.
While it has been 16 years since we had last been at LCITV, it was so neat to see those that we were so close to. Our leaving LCITV in 1994 wasn’t the best of situations especially since I was then an elder at the time. However, time and the bond of Christ healed whatever wounds might have been there. We hugged as our hearts were knit together. As we age and our friends move on ahead of us into the presence of the King, I am so glad that we will all be reunited with Christ for all eterninty.
“I believed therefore I said, I am greatly afflicted.” And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.”
Psalm 116:10-11
All men are unreliable. Anyone who denies this is simply denying the truth. The Psalmist sees his own unreliability. There are multiple ways one can respond to this realization. One, they can deny it and not take responsibility. I just saw an Eminem interview where when questioned about his lyrics and his responsibility as a role model, he shifted responsibility for his conduct to parents. Second, they can just make excuses and say, “well that is just the way I am”. Third is to acknowledge responsibility, but shift the burden for change to the Lord. I fully subscribe to the overflow principle. I am so sold out to relationship with the living Lord because I have seen how that relationship first changes everything else (not that I live it completely out yet, but I realize the truth of it). I know that God is in the presence of changing things in my life that I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am powerless to change. If I had gritted my teeth and tried to change myself, it will not change. Verse 12 of this same Psalm says “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?” The key to reliability is relationship.
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and he delights in his way; when he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the one who holds his head. Psalm 37:23-24
I have never been bungee jumping in my life. Never had much desire to although I have been told the rush is something. Our daughter Meghan went bungee jumping over Lake Victoria when she did her overseas studies in Uganda. The premise of bungee jumping as you know is to free fall down relying on the fact that the rope is a) strong enough to snap you back before you hit the ground and b) shorter in length than the jumping distance. Both of those facts have to be in place. It is not an “or” condition. It seems to me you are putting a lot of trust in these conditions. Oh to be young.
God establishes our steps. He delights in them. He calls us out to obedience and shows us the way one little bit at a time. He never shows us too much of the future or it would freak us out. He shows us just enough to gain dependence and trust on him. When we are content, when we are self-reliant, we can expect a believer to be “snapped back” to where God wants us.
However, the believer is not hurled headlong into oblivion. That is what the psalm says. Just as we can’t go off our own way, when we fall (and note it is when because we all fall), we won’t go careening out of control. We have a God who holds our head, who keeps us in his sight. He gently disciplines us, nurtures us back to trust in him. Note the Lord holds our head because that would be the first thing to get smashed when we are hurled headlong in our bungee jumping of life. I have felt out of control many times in my life careening aimlessly only to have a loving God discipline me back to a relationship. So as I bungee jump through life, he is there to keep me from smashing my head into the ground below.
The California lawmakers is three months late in passing a budget (after giving six months to pass) which now again may result in I.O.U.’s. But don’t fret, they were busy.
In all this debate about whether the extend the Bush tax cuts past this year, I am hearing something over and over again that makes me cringe. It goes something like this. “How can it be fair that a person that makes a million dollars would make an extra $100,000 if we keep the tax cuts. How is that fair?” Maybe because the person that makes a million dollars earned that million dollars and it is his money to keep. This goes to the idea that it is the governments job to somehow reallocate income. It is also very ignorant of the fact that the man who keeps that money is a better steward of those funds in terms of economic impact than our government. How many entitlement programs are there that are well run? They are all fraught with bureaucracy. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, are all disasters.
When I was Vice President of Sales in a public company, the vast majority of our sales was in the final week of the quarter. This was because of the rush to get contracts into our fiscal quarter so we could report it in our quarterly results. Prospects knew exactly how to play the game. The longer they waited, the more discounts or other perks they could earn. There were many cases where we would practically give the sale to get it into the quarter. If we had waited just a few more days, we would have sold it at full price. The artificiality of the system destroyed the natural ebb and flow of buying and selling.
That is exactly what the artificial stimulus of the Obama administration did to the markets. Cash for Clunkers, Cash for Caulkers, Homebuyer Tax Credit, even extending unemployment tax benefits all completely mess up market timing. You get short term spikes that do very little to actually improve economic behavior. Look at the Homebuyer Tax Credit – do you really think that people actually bought a home because of this credit? It may have moved timing up, but simply used taxpayer money to mess up market timing. Every time government interferes with private sector in this way, it does little positive and can actually do a lot of harm.
This administration understands very little about how free enterprise actually works. Could it be because there is not a single representative from the private sector in the Cabinet? We have barely scratched the surface of what harm they can do without that experience.
Debsue and I have been blessed with three little, precious girls. They are not so little any more as they are 23, 22, and 19. We even have married off one of them. One of the memories I have is stooping down and looking them in the eye. There are memories of then raising them up to my level and giving them big hugs and kisses. If you are a father, you have that mental picture of your kids that never go away.
The Psalmist in Psalm 113:5-6 describes the Lord as the “one enthroned on high who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”. The Lord brings himself down to our level in so many ways. Jesus, Paul said did regard equality with God to be grasped but emptied himself taking on the form of a bond servant. Jesus embodied a servant by removing his outer garment and washing the disciples feet. The reason for the stooping is relationship with us. Sometimes stooping is done to condescend. This looks like “hey I’m a big shot, but I will bring myself down to your level”. The Lord Jesus actually became a slave, died a slaves death, experienced what we experienced to “stoop” to our level. This is hardly condescending. This is grace.
You may have heard of the Ig Nobel prize handed out by the Annals of Improbable Research. Here are some of the winners:
The theme this year was bacteria. There was the world premiere of "The Bacterial Opera," about bacteria that live on a woman's front tooth, and door prizes for all 1,200 attendees: bacteria (it was on the tickets).
This past week, I watched the Ken Burns follow-up series on baseball called the “10th Inning”. While the series covered things like the steroid scandal that cast a pall over the game, there is still so much beauty to the game of baseball. As most people who know me know, I love playing baseball. I re-started my baseball “career” at age 40 when Debsue sent me to Indians fantasy camp. I always pinch myself that I can play this little boys game now at age 50.
Baseball to people who have not really played it can be boring. It appears to be a two person game as you have a pitcher and a batter. However, you have so many unique attributes to baseball. For example:
This blog is dedicated to the Kent Mudhens, the team I play for that is the champions of the Masters division of the Roy Hobbs Adult Baseball League.
Check out Debsue’s blog of the championship game.
Rick Sanchez was recently canned from CNN for making “bigoted comments” about Jews not being an “oppressed minority”. It is with great interest that I read this because Rick Sanchez is a friend of our family and in particular my mother and my stepfather who is Peruvian. When they lived in New Jersey and Sanchez was on MSNBC, they became friends. I got to spend a day with Rick and his wife and his kids at my sisters getaway place. He is a good man-one that I doubt has any kind of vengeful attitude. He was simply making a point and rendering an opinion. We pride ourselves on free speech in this country, yet only when it comes to things that are politically correct. You can selectively bash people but only if it is Christians. Maybe CNN was worried about fallout – who knows.
I am confident Rick Sanchez will end up somewhere because he is a good reporter. But let’s let people say what is on their mind without constantly worrying about whether it offends someone.
I watched the movie this evening Up in the Air. The lead character in the movie played by George Clooney racks up 10 million frequent flyer miles and is gone over 330 nights a year going around firing people as part of an outsourcing firm. He is actually very happy with his life and he actually conducts seminars on living the “baggage free” life. However, he finally towards the end of the movie realizes the value of relationships but it is too late and the movie ends with him going back into his routine of living on the road.
Human beings were made for relationship. The first is a vertical relationship with the living God which is only made possible through Christ’s sacrifice. This relationship is one that is so intimate that he is our “Abba Father” or Daddy. The fact that the living God desires a relationship with us is just too great to get our arms around. But He does. The best way to know God is to memorize His word. I have made a commitment especially this year to memorize scripture daily. A goal is a verse a day. This is not legalism – I find that the more scripture I memorize, the more intimate the relationship. Scripture becomes applied and personalized. And since scripture is “God breathed”, God breathes new life into us.
When the relationship with God is real, it overflows into our relationships with each other. These relationships are also vital. I find when my relationship with God is right, my relationship with other human beings usually is right. And the opposite holds true as well. I call this living out of “overflow”. Jesus said that the he will become “rivers of living water flowing from his innermost being” (John 7:38). Did you ever have joy so unspeakable that you can’t explain it, even when circumstances are not so hot? So is a right relationship with the living God and with people. Note they can’t exist without each other. We can’t have a problem with others and expect our relationship with God to be right. We must make that right first. Jesus said go first and be reconciled with your brother.
Thank you Lord that you created us for relationship!
