Not spending but saving our way into economic stimulus

My thought is that if we had a culture of saving rather than spending, our economic system would be much the healthier. Buying what we cannot afford on credit got us into this mess, whether it be homes or cars or vacations or clothes. No matter how easy the government made borrowing, the reality remained that people were maxing out their finances on the dream that increasing equity in their homes would keep them safe. This is a very bad premise. If people had some sense of the kind of home they could really afford, they would have never borrowed 110 % of the value of their home. And now the government is telling us that the key to our country’s future is to give everyone enough money to start a cycle of spending all over again. What if people took the extra money and saved it or even used it to feed the poor or provide health care to the least. This would not fit into the government program. But it does fit into God’s program. You can pretty much bet that whatever Congress thinks is a good idea about anyuthing is about the opposite of the right thing. When we save and carefully buy we are doing the best thing for the economy. The rule of thumb is 10% to the Lord, 10% to savings, and 80% for living expenses. Congress can’t change that proportion by law, a wish, or program.

This reminds me of some people – you know who you are!!!

Another “Christian” Critique of Facebook – can’t they leave us alone?

There is always the “this is nice but this is not what the Bible means” crowd that wants to rain on the parade. Here is the lastest example. The problem is that it poses as serious thinking. The same thing has been said of cell phones, email, and maybe at one point even megaphones at football game (yelling can’t be good Christian communication) and the Guttenburg press which bastardized bookmaking and allowed a lot of stuff to be printed that wouldn’t be worth it if you had to hand copy each book. I can only wish these means were around when I was in college. I wouldn’t have lost touch with so many people who meant a lot to me but who I let slip through my fingers. Letters took too much time and phone calls were too expensive.  And now many of them are gone. People my age on Facebook are tying to find their old friends. People my sons’ age on Facebook think they maybe have too many people to keep up with. So who has a problem here?

An Entertaining Saboteur

Facebook promises to connect us to one another. Is that what you are doing right now?

Mark Galli | posted 2/05/2009 01:36PM

 

I don’t believe Facebook is intrinsically evil.

This is not a promising way to begin a column, but it must be said upfront so that readers don’t think I’m a Luddite. I am actually on Facebook and have a great many “friends.” And I actually visit my homepage a couple of times a week. Like many people, I’ve especially enjoyed connecting with friends I haven’t seen in decades.

Diagram of “I Would Do Anything for Love”