The Immorality of Debt

On the day after Congress rejected a bailout for the automakers, I am wondering how the next few years will play out in North America. I'm glad they said "no"; we are all taking our medicine now. Let 'em fail... but millions and millions will be out of work soon.

So, I'm convinced now that things will get very bad for many people. The reason? Because we have all been misled about the morality of money.

• Banks and hedge funds playing the "leverage game", finding new ways to keep up the facade while selling marginal loans to other companies and countries, are immoral.
• Banking giants who charge high interest rates to high risk customers are doing something that is immoral.
• Mortgage lenders who promised money to people who could not pay when the rates adjusted were immoral.
• Families who spend more money on credit card debt than widows, orphans, and even their own children, are immoral (My own included).
  
• Companies that worked their people into the ground for minimum wage while they paid their executives outrageous salaries are immoral
• Churches that went into massive debt to purchase large buildings and fancy sound systems instead of caring for more poor and needy... are the most immoral. They had a book that warned them. They should have known better.

The Atheist Sign Mystery in Olympia

There are just so many things wrong with this entire story. Olympia, Washington has a Christmas display that includes not only a Nativity scene... but now a large sign promoting Atheism. Well, actually the sign is now missing because some radical, fundamentalist, anti-atheism strongman probably stole it! It weighed 50lbs so the church lady did not do it.

Here is a short list of problems to consider:

1. Shouldn't the real Christians in Washington State help the Atheists find the sign or setup a new one? I mean, that is what Jesus would do, right? Honestly now.. I'm not kidding. Can you really imagine Jesus sneaking up the Capitol lawn at 3am to steal a sign that ruins His image? Ridiculous. But I could see him walking with the atheists, talking with the atheists, until they find the sign. But by then they would'nt want to put up the sign anymore.
2. Atheism, by definition, is the absence of religion. So they really cannot claim things like equal access, equal time, or freedom of religion. If I were an atheist, this little stunt would make no sense to me.
   
3. Who really cares about a stupid sign that promotes an anti-god world view? According to the story, 7% of Washingtonians believe there is no God. Since when did anyone in the US care about what 7% of the people thought?
4. What if the radio station was somehow in on this? As a longtime marketer, I can't think of a better ratings boost than "Hey, what do ya know... someone just dropped that Atheism sign off at our front door... weird!" Yeah right!'
5. Are the state police really going to investigate this? I'd bet money that if you got your car broken into in Olympia, they wouldn't have the police resources to take fingerprints and find the bad guy. They just tell you to call your insurance agent. Why can't they say the same thing to the Atheists?
   

That's it for now. Enjoy the story.

The Path of Less Anxiety

I can't help but believe that something's wrong with our national mood and anxiety over job losses and the economic crisis in the US. When I see and read the news about people being killed in Nigeria for their faith, women and children dying of cholera in Zimbabwe, and the tidal wave of Aids orphans in Africa, I am perplexed about which way to move.

Frankly, I'm not sure what to do. For the sake of my spirit, my heart, it really is easier to just worry about local stores and businesses closing down. And God forbid, but our unemployment rate could hit 10%.

Instead of being concerned about entire villages being burned to the ground, instead of worrying about how child soldiers are recruited and brutalized and taught to brutalize... it's so much easier to fret about a foreclosure, a bankruptcy, or having to move in with our parents someday because a job was outsourced.

To add a final punch, see this brief quote on Hamilton's poetic site.