What Would You do with $700B? OR There's No Such Thing as Free Lunch

This is a pretty tough question. I mean I could spend maybe a billion dollars buying houses and cars and other stuff. With that I'd be pretty well set. After that I could easily give away billions and billions of dollrs to help people in need and people who are hungry and people who need wells dug so their communities can have safe drinking water and people who simply need $10 mosquito nets so they can sleep at night and not worry about getting Malaria. I could sponsor 182,291,666 kids through Compassion International for the next ten years. I can think of a lot of ways to spend a lot of money, but $700 billion? I just don't know that I could actually think of ways to spend that money wisely without buying golden toilet seats and making square circles. 

Apparently, Congress couldn't figure out how to do it either. That's why what was once a $700B plan morphed into a $810B plan before it went through the Senate and back to the House. What's with the extra $110B you ask? Good question. Well its what some have called "sweeteners." They are called sweeteners, because they do just that, they sweeten the bill up. So, the bill now includes $100 million for NASCAR. Seriously? I mean, I like NASCAR, but what is money for NASCAR doing in an economic bailout/recovery plan? Want to know what else was in the additions? $2 million for wooden arrows for children. Again, are you serious? A few other additions, or earmarks as they're known in Washington:

• $10 million in benefits for employers to offer employees who commute to work via bicycle
• Allowance for production companies to deduct the cost of producing their films from their taxes. This measure will cost taxpayers $478 million over the next 10 years.
• Tax break on rum from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. This tax break for them will cost the taxpayers $192 million.
• Extension of a measure that helps wool fabric makers and clothing manufacturers. This will cost taxpayers $148 million.

Call me crazy, but I fail to see just how these additions have anything to do with the current economic crisis. What got us into the situation that we're in now is the push by the federal government in the 1990's to make homeownership a real possibility for everyone. That meant loaning more money to people than they could afford. While I would love for everyone to be a homeowner, the fact of the matter is that not every can own a home. Some people simply can't afford it and some people can afford to own small homes, but not large homes. That's okay. I feel comfortable saying this because at this point in time I don't own a home. We were approved by a bank for a home loan that was more than we could afford, but we didn't take it. Hear that? Just because you're approved for a certain amount of money doesn't mean you have to take it all, especially if you know you can't afford the monthly payments, or what the monthly payments will be once the balloon inflates.

Implications for the Presidential Race

Remember those two guys who are running for president? Barack Obama and John McCain. Well, both of them have been saying that they are going to lower taxes. Obama has been saying that his plan would lower taxes for 95% of Americans (in actuality his plan will only lower taxes for about 80% of American households) and McCain says that he's going to lower taxes too. John McCain has been vehement about saying that he doesn't vote for earmarks and accusing Barack Obama of voting for millions of dollars in earmarks. Well, I think the playing field is pretty level now. Both Obama and McCain voted for this economic bailout plan, earmarks and all. Do either of them truly have what's best for the American people in their sights? I really wonder. 

Other Reservations

I know I seem to be being pretty hard on this economic bailout plan. Maybe you're wondering, "Thomas, would you be happier if the bill took out all the nonsense and simply helped the people in trouble?" Truthfully, no. I certainly think it's fine to help people in trouble, but have we forgotten that we live in a capitalist country? Well, we used to anyway. We are moving closer and closer to socialism. Before you hear me knocking socialism, I am not. I am actually a big fan of socialism, just not in this country. We are not and can never truly be a socialist country. If you want socialism, move to Sweden. It truly is wonderful there; I know. 

However, what the American people have to remember while basking in the glory of socialism is that socialism costs money. It is plain and simple. We cannot have universal healthcare without increasing taxes. We cannot make everyone a homeone without increasing taxes. We cannot make everyone even remotely close to equal without increasing taxes. So, before you start thinking how necessary this bailout plan was and how great universal healthcare would be (no matter who's proposing it), take a step back and think about it. My dad always says, "Son, nothing in life is free." You know the truth of this as well as I do. Just because money didn't come out of my pocket doesn't mean money didn't come out of anyone's pocket or that it won't come out of my pocket later. 

One last reservation I have. The bailout plan essentially gives Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson all the money to do with as he sees fit. The language throughout the bill says that the money should be used "at the Secretary's discretion" multiple times. Are we really okay with giving one person that much money, that much control over what happens with $810B in taxpayer dollars? I'm not. 

This issue isn't a Republican or Democrat issue; this is an American issue. At the heart of this is the question of what our American ideals are. Are we capitalist or are we socialist? Are we okay with Congress continuing to build Bridges to Nowhere or do we want them to finally singularly address the issue on the table without adding in money for everyone else and their grandmother except the average American citizen?

Remember, there's no such thing as free lunch.

The World in Which We Live...

For those who do not know, today is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s death. Most of us are familiar with the work of MLK and, hopefully, we respect his work. He was indeed the type of man that we need more of in our world. He had his shortcomings as we all do, but he spoke with wisdom words that must be heard. I have been reading his speech, “Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence” and came across something quite profound. Part of his speech is pasted below:

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?" "Why are you joining the voices of dissent?" "Peace and civil rights don't mix," they say. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people," they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

The last line struck me hard and I began to think. Do I truly know the world that I live in? Do those around me truly know the world that we live in? True, times are different from what they were in 1967 when MLK gave this speech, but much is the same. Do I know how much injustice is in my world? Do I know how many children die of starvation each week? Do I know that 84% of the world lives on less than $10,066 a year? Do I know that more than 1 billion people live on less than U.S. $1 a day? Do I know that there are 781 million illiterate adults worldwide and that 64% of them are women? Do I know that more than 6 million children die from malnutrition yearly? Do I know that there is genocide going on in Darfur? Do I know who is working against these evils? Do I know the good work that the United Nations is doing? Do I know how much inequality still exists not only in our world, but in our churches and our homes? Do I truly know the world in which I live? Do you know the world in which you live?

I am not saying that we should all go out and protest the current war because that’s what MLK did. I am simply saying that we need to get to know the world we live in. Our world is in desperate need of redemption. True, we need redemption in the form of salvation, but we need so much more than that as well. We need to care for all of creation the way that God does. The world has a deep need and we have the resources necessary to not only alleviate, but to erase the need and the pain and yet we do nothing about it. On this anniversary on MLK’s death let us remember him for sure, but let us also reflect. Let us see our world for what it really is. The facts are gloomy and can be disheartening, but we can offer hope.

Here are some sites that you should check out:

• ONE
• Compassion
• Kiva
• JesusGreaterThan
• UN Millennium Development Goals

Note: Statistics taken from Compassion.

Shaun Groves FOR FREE

We've just booked Shaun Groves at our church for April 6th and we got him for free. Now, I know the question in your head right now is how did they get Shaun Groves for free? Isn't he a huge soft-rock phenom? Well, he is that, but he is also a genuine guy who loves children and believes in changing their lives for the better. So, he will do full singing shows or speaking gigs for free if he can talk about Compassion International for a few minutes. Check out this post on his blog for some details and see his "kickin' poster" below.






If you want information about Shaun Groves being at our church on April 6th and would like to attend post a comment with your e-mail address and I'll get more specific information to you.

P.S. My Church is in Shelby, NC. Here is a map.

Meet Prossy

I have blogged about Compassion on here before and even introduced you to Francisco da Silva Neto, the child that I sponsor. I often read Shaun Groves' Blog and he does great work for Compassion. He just returned from a trip with Compassion to Uganda. While he was there he received a question from a reader of his blog about whether Compassion is really working. This video is about Prossy, who was herself sponsored through Compassion and is an example of how Compassion is working to break the cycle of poverty.

So, in case you're wondering what to do with the extra $32/month you have laying around, here's an idea: change the life of a child.

Changing the world...

A friend of mine just recently left me a message saying that he loved my new blog and that it felt like we were sitting in my room changing the world again.

The truth: we never changed the world.

We talked a lot about the world, but we never changed it. Does that stop us? No. We see need for change in our world and we desire so badly for it to happen. The change is not just needed in religious areas (though there is great change possible there), but also in the political realm and the scientific realm and the music realm and the food realm and the publishing realm and the entertainment realm and the realm of people's desire and the lack of reading realm and the healthcare realm and the worldwide poverty realm and the familial relationships realm and the holiday realm and so many other realms.

The truth is that we lived a completely screwed up world, but this does not stop us. We do not allow ourselves to get depressed and pessimistic about the situation of our world. Rather, we imagine. That's right, we imagine. You may be asking how imagining can do anything to change the world. And you'd be right to ask. But I'd also have to say that if you are asking that question you have not imagined often enough or hard enough or deep enough. We imagine, just like John Lennon. We imagine a world that is better than the one we currently live in and we imagine what it would take to see that world come to fruition and then we work with every ounce of our being and our soul to be that change to this world. We help raise awareness for issues like the genocide in Darfur and the utter poverty in our own country and the amazing omnipresence of hypocrisy within the religion that we claim as our own (Christianity).

I echo John Lennon when he said, "You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one." I have been told countless times in my life: "Thomas, one person can't change the world." I reply that yes, one person can. How many times have we seen it. Jesus pretty drastically changed the world (and I don't say this in a super-spiritual-look-at-me-the-good-Christian way, but in an honest way that any student of history, especially religious history, as I am, must admit) and Ghandi wasn't too shabby either. Should we mention the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Tim Berners-Lee (step over Al Gore, he actually did create the Internet) or Mikhail Gorbachev or Frances Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin (the three who discovered DNA). And just so you know that I recognize the other side of the coin. Let's talk about what Adlof Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini and Osama bin Laden. I hope you get my point. We have the ability to do so much more than we tell ourselves that we can.

I am trying to change the world by changing myself and being the change that I want to see. You can do the same.

P.S. If you are looking for maybe an organization or two to get involved with there are two that I would suggest you start with, as they are doing what I'm talking about in the area of poverty and equality. They are making things happen and truly changing lives. The two organizations are Compassion and Kiva.

Francisco da Silva Neto

Say hello to Francisco. Francisco lives in Brazil with his father and mother.

I sponsor Francisco through Compassion. I was writing him a letter tonight and thought to let you meet him and to consider sponsoring a child yourself. It only costs $32 a month and my wife and I each sponsor a child. Compassion is a fantastic organization and currently helps more than 900,000 children in 24 countries. Please consider it. Besides, how big of a deal is $32 a month to you? I can promise you that my wife and I are strapped financially as we have been married for 6 months, are both graduate students and both work part time at out church. We don't have a ton of money, but we do realize that we can use the money we do have for good, to help those who have far less than we do.

For more information you can visit Compassion's Website or click on the banner on the right side of the page.