Reminder #1: Former President Nicolas Sarkozy becomes one of the few French leaders to be defeated for a second term, by a big time Socialist none the less who has never held elected office; all because Sarkozy had the gall to suggest that France deal with its ridiculously bloated government & subsequent debt problems through austerity measures.  However, because something like three quarters of the population (The US is at 70%) are receiving government handouts, the French populous voted for the “don’t take away mine, take it from the rich guy!” ticket.  Now, ‘quelle surprise’, the uber-rich of France are looking to relocate across the Channel to their much more economically friendly neighbor, England.

Reminder #2:  The government of Greece, who is what France is becoming, couldn’t decide on what to do regarding its debt, so once more they will have their umteenth election to find more representatives to not deal with their problems (Deficit at 170% of GDP, 21% unemployment, & -4% GDP growth).   Meanwhile, unemployed bums, who continue to receive handouts from their government, have once again taken to the streets to protest even the thought that they should get a job and stop taking money from their government.

America, can you see the writing on the wall???

Our perpetual Candidate-in-Chief, who has now done more re-election fundraising events than all previous incumbent presidents since Richard Nixon - COMBINED (This is true.  Really!), is running on the ticket of “we can keep spending money we don’t have and taxing ourselves into prosperity” ticket.  Which countries does this remind you of???  Don’t tell me…  I know the answer…  Oh yeah, France & Greece!   How’s that plan working out for you?

So, what is the great Divider-in-Chief’s answer on how to deal with our economy’s looming problems… “My opinion about gay marriage is evolving…  Guess what?   I support it!”  Now, paragons of virtue like Ms. (Sorry, I will not say Mrs.) Yep-I’m-Gay, Ellen Degenerate and her Hollywood friends can open up their bank accounts to support the one president who understands their cause.  Meanwhile, Evangelicals NOW feel motivated to support his opponent.   All the while Rome is STILL burning folks!

To quote the only semi-intelligent quip ever uttered by the rambling James Carville, “It’s the economy stupid!”

I am reminded of the following simple but irrefutable facts I learned in Econ 101 class, which bear repeating:

Fact #1:  Do not spend more than you have

Every one of us knows that if we spend more than we have, it’s called debt.  Further we know, if our debt gets too big, we will become unable to pay, and that is called insolvency.  When that happens, banks cut up our credit cards and we are forced to deal with the problem.  Can anyone argue with a straight face and more than a fifth grade education, that this isn’t where France and Greece are, and where the US is going if we don’t take our debt problem seriously?  Unlike with our families, our nation will not have it’s credit card taken away (Can we wait for China to make the call?), unless we elect adults to national office to deal with this problem.

Fact #2: The economy is dynamic not static

We have been incecently taught by our media & government the belief that if someone gets richer, it means someone else got poorer.  Leading the charge is our Deceiver-in-Chief, promoting the idea being that the economy is one fixed pool of money, so naturally a rich person growing his wealth, lowers what is available from that pool:  If someone wins, naturally, someone else loses.  Not only is this wrong, it’s just plain stupid.  Were that the case, the world would have the same gross domestic product every year since the beginning of time.   The simple truth is that economies are either growing or dying.  They are never static.  That means, when someone gets rich, their money provides opportunities for others to get rich.  Just think Apple, or Bill Gates, or when a new employer opens up shop in a small town.  The point being, our goal as a nation should be to set up policies to enable as many people as possible to become rich.

Fact #3:  We cannot tax our way to prosperity

Ok name just one country where this has worked.  I know this is an over simplification.  But really people, can you not see the futility in the practice of raising taxes?  When you raise taxes enough on one class of people, those people will most certainly change their behavior, thus lowering the expected tax revenues collected by that government.  There are so many examples of this; it’s actually creepy that this point is still argued by the Left.   I offer one recent example:  In February, it was reported that UK tax revenues from the top 50 British tax payers were lower than last year, even though the country increased the tax rate.  They have admitted that the targeted well-off Britons were “maneuvering to avoid the new high rate.”  One word, Dah!

The facts are simple.  Unless the US gets its financial house in order, and cuts spending, increases incentives for businesses to grow, provides economic freedom, and lowers taxes; we will be bankrupt, just like France and Greece.  It is only a matter of time.  So, when casting your vote in November, please don’t vote for the “what’s in it for me” ticket.  Instead, vote for the candidate that knows it is STILL all about the economy.

The protestors shouldn’t be camped out on Wall Street; they should be camped out on the lawns of America’s Universities! After all, many of these same protestors are direct products of the dribble, which constitutes higher learning nowadays, from our universities. I offer as Exhibit A, the article How the Death Tax Hurts the Poor by Steven E. Landsburg. Although I would agree with the basic premise that “death taxes hurt the poor”, how he gets there is through some truly insane logic. Let me paraphrase, ‘because we have a death tax, rich people consume more (i.e. buy airplanes & mansions); because of this, they consume more resources (i.e. metal and wood used to build); therefore, there are less resources for industry to use to grow, which means less jobs, which therefore hurts the poor.’ Did you get that???

There is sooooo much to take issue with here, but my biggest beef is with the thinking, which is ubiquitous right now, that the economic pie is static and therefore if one class of society takes from that pie, there is therefore less for someone else. THIS thinking is so resolutely wrong; I’m surprised I even have to argue this point. Simply examine the economic data at some point far enough in the past to avoid common cyclical patterns (i.e. one to several generations) and compare to today (even with our depressed economy). Look at Gross Domestic Product, inflation adjusted Median Income, Money Supply, or any other metric and you will see an overall increase in the size of the pie!

In other words, when Scrooge McDuck (that’s the greedy rich person) buys an airplane or builds another mansion, it is true, he does use more resources. However, when more resources are used, our economy finds/digs/drills/builds more to supply all the other Scrooge McDucks out there. And if our economy does this more and more, it will need to hire more to supply all the Scrooges out there. That means more jobs, more income, and a more vibrant economy. Again, the pie grows. This is Econ 101!

It would be one thing if this person was just some talking head buffoon with a blog (he has one here too). No, this is professor of economics at the University of Rochester in New York. Worse yet, he holds as proof to his illogic, the research of other professors.

I offer Exhibit B, GOP-style wealth distribution erodes equal opportunity, by Eugene Robinson, also from today, positing that because the top 1% income has grown so much more from 1979 to 2007 than the bottom lowest 1/5th, that it was evidence of the “stealing from the poor to give to the rich.” Mr. Robinson, who uses the pie analogy too, can be excused from his economic ineptness, he’s not a professor, he’s just a product of the American Education System.

Yes, there is much conflict and disagreement in Washington DC. But I ask how can you have a healthy debate about tax and economic policy with people who don’t even understand the economy? I’m praying that the Paul Ryan’s of our country stand up and educate the masses about basic economics as they help many of the understandably confused what ails our economy.

I think today (Saturday) is perfect to announce my plan: Occupy University! Here’s the idea, a mass of people, will dress in similar colored shirts on the lawns of our universities. We will sit around and consume resources (beer & pizza being the most favored), even though this WILL mean less of those resources for others. And we will not leave, until the university teaches economics to all Americans… Or, until the tailgate is over and have to go in an watch the football game.

Skip for a moment the implied premise (later elucidated) here that macro evolution (i.e. evolution from one species to another) is occurring right under our noses (mine’s only 48 years old), even though we have been told by scientists that this process would have had to have taken many billions of years, assuming this was even possible. Of course compounding the problem, ever naïve media lumps macro & micro evolution together as if they were the same. They are not. One is proven: micro evolution. One is not: macro evolution.

The reason for my incredulity is that these estimates of years are always thrown out as factoid bearing as much weight as would the date we are going to hit the US debt ceiling. It’ like the reporter checked his day planner “a few billion years ago” and said, “Yep, that’s when “The Process” started.” We are schooled from this paradigm time and time again when bones or rocks have been excavated. In every case, reporters state unequivocally in terms of “thousands,” or “millions,” or even “billions” of years. Almost never is even a source quoted, such as “Joe Scientist stated”. To me it begs the question, “How do you know… Were you there?” Yet, without eye witness account or some other objective criteria to provide proof, these kinds of dates can only be estimated. At most, it’s current science’s best guess. But, make no mistake, even the scientific community does not know with the kind of precision reported.

Later in the article we’re told about ever-evolving, white-footed mice that arrived in “the New York City region after ice age glaciers retreated 12,000 years ago.” Ok fine. Since I had lunch that Tuesday in Los Angeles, 12,000 years ago I cannot verify this. So I want proof.

Google has rolled out a new credit card targeted to small businesses, to be used only for advertising on Google’s Adwords. Working with World Financial Capital Bank, the card will have a fixed interest of 8.99%.

This may sound like a great idea, but smallbiz owners should think this through before applying. Financing online advertising might be a bad idea. Online ad campaigns, like Google Adwords should be profitable and pay for themselves. If they are not profitable, you should not do them unless you have a large amount of capital committed to building your brand. But, in that case, you would not need to borrow on a credit card.

If your smallbiz has not advertised on Google or Facebook yet, look for one of the free signup deals floating around. Check with your web host. Most offer between $50 to $300 in free advertising to test their program. Sign up, use the free money to test your campaign, if it looks profitable, fund it.

Read the full articles by going to American Banker.

   “What do you think?  There was a man who had two sons.  He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.”

   “I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

   “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.  He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go.

   “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” 

   “The first,” they [the chief priests] answered.

   Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of rightousness, and you did not belive him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.  And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” Matthew 21:28-32 (The Parable of the Two Sons).

This is a simple parable that Jesus used to show “the chief preists and elders of the people”, who were so legalistic, that those who believe will enter the kingdom of God, even if they continue to sin.  Yet those who don’t believe, even if they follow the law (what the Father wanted), will not. 

In other words, it is not what you do; it is what you believe.  You cannot earn your way to heaven no matter how much you do on this earth.  Jesus comes to each of us asking us to simply believe in him.  Do you?

“Beware of false prophets…  By their fruit you will recognize them.” Mat 7:15 & 16

• May 17, 2011:  Harold Camping states the certainty of Judgement Day coming on May 21st, 2011 with great earth quakes around the world and all true believers being raptured to heaven with the dead in Christ,
  “God has given us so much proof of this…  It is absolutely going to happen… The bible guarantees it.”
• May 21st, 2011: No comment
• May 23st, 2011:  Harold Camping speaks to his mistaken prophecy that Judgment Day on May 21, 2011 was
  “to be understood spiritually, not physically….  The fact is, when we look at it spiritually, we find that he did come…  God again brought Judgment on the world” and although “We didn’t see any difference in the world,”  it happened and “It will continue right up until October 21, 2011 and at that time the whole world will be destroyed.”

“Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” 2 Pet 2:2

• The waste of money, which could have been used for so much more
• The ruin of many lives
• The sadness of many of Camping’s believers who were mislead
• The scorn of atheists who so rarely have a reason to say, “I told you so”

But, what makes me most angry is that so many will look at the Christian faith with disbelief because of this incorrect prediction.

To them, I say, the Bible is true, but that does not keep even well intentioned people to read into it what they want to believe and not what it says.  No where does the Bible offer codes and secrets that are yet un revealed.   It does not predict the date or time of the end of days.  In fact it is quite precise in saying the opposite.  Simply turn to Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

We are not meant to know when the End of Days will occur.  Instead, we are taught to rely on our Father in heavan.  This is what Harold Camping’s followers will hopefully learn from this experience.  I pray for this revelation.