100 Days

I can’t take credit for writing this, but I felt inclined to post it.  :-)

Presidential comparison quiz

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Tony Blair a set of inexpensive and useless (to Tony Blair’s UK video formatting) DVDs, when Tony Blair had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved? (Remember the bad press Bush got when he and the King of Saudi Arabia “held hands” as they walked together?)

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language”, would you have brushed it off as a minor slip? (Anyone remember the bad press Dan Quayle – another Republican - got when he reportedly wished he had studied Latin before going to Latin America? Forget the fact that he never said it – the press ran with the story…)

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had proposed, deliberately and with full knowledge, to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within the next 10 years, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had campaigned on a promised to cut out all earmarks, and then signed a spending bill, above and beyond his budget, containing more than 9287 “earmarks” and pork projects totaling nearly $13 billion, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?

Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry. He’s done all this in 10 weeks -- so you’ll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.

Quick Quote

I couldn’t not post this quote after I read it:

 

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.  The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.  When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.  You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
~~~~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

A little humor?

I don’t have time to write what I’d really like to write about which is finance stuff and the economy/Obama administration; particularly Geitner and job duties.  I’m refraining because I have a 30 page paper I’m writing for school (and a project/presentation).  OK.  So I’m just going to post some pictures I thought were funny and maybe they can help express my thoughts; especially the first one.  Enjoy.  Oh, and the 2nd one isn’t political, but politically correct.  :-)

 

 

(THIS IS THE GLOBAL WARMING PROTEST ABOVE)

 

What makes a person saved?

To be saved, in Biblical terminology, means to be saved from sin and death and hell, and to be saved unto righteousness and heaven and everlasting life. Salvation has past, present, and future aspects: we are saved from the penalty of past sin though Christ’s atoning death on the cross, from the power of sin through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives right now, and ultimately from the very presence of sin in Heaven.

This question was asked by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30, and was forthrightly and simply answered by the Apostle Paul when he said: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." (Acts 16:31) Jesus himself said: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Thus, personal faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the victorious Savior from sin and death is the means by which salvation is received. The substitutionary death of Christ for our sins is the basis on which God is justified in saving us through faith, and this is demonstrated and guaranteed in the victorious bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave.

But the natural man is proud and tends to resist the idea that there is nothing he can do to save himself and that he must trust in Christ to do it all. Accordingly, he has invented many substitutes for this simple way of salvation, and these substitutes have led multitudes down the road to eternal destruction. Biblical refutations of some of these false ideas are outlined below:

* One cannot be saved simply by believing and sincerely practicing any religion he chooses. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
* We are not saved by keeping God’s laws, for no one can keep them perfectly. 10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." (Galatians 3:10) As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10)
* No one can be saved by doing good works. “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5)
* Baptism is not the means of salvation. Paul said: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1st Cor. 1:17). The gospel, by definition, is the "good news" of Christ's atoning death and resurrection, and it is by believing the gospel, not by baptism, that men are saved. (1 Cor. 15:1-4) The thief on the cross was saved, but never baptized (Luke 23: 42,43)
* We are not saved by joining a church. There are multitudes of unsaved church members. To the members of the church in Laodicea, for example, Christ said: “16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:16)

There are numerous other false ideas about salvation that are prevalent, but all of them, like the above, consist in man’s doing something which he feels will help earn his salvation. Thus, they all contribute to the upbuilding of human pride and the downgrading of God’s marvelous gift in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

Federal Minimum Wage…

This post is referring to what Obama plans on doing with federal minimum wage.

Particularly pay attention to what Obama says, which is that he plans on raising minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011.  Currently, federal minimum wage is at $6.55.  

Here is a graph I drew up.  It shows the quantity of labor supplied and demanded, at a given price.  It is based on the basic laws of supply and demand.  First from the demand side.  Basically, as the price of something decreases, the quantity demanded increases.  As the price of something increases, the quantity demanded decreases.  And second, from the supply side.  As the price increases, the quantity supplied will increase.  As the price decreases, the quantity supplied decreases.  See the graph here:

Now, pay specific attention to the yellow/green triangles.  They represent what we call unemployment.  If the quantity of labor supplied met the quantity of labor demanded (or vice versa), this would mean there are just enough workers and just enough jobs available, producing equilibrium.  Currently, there is unemployment.  As the graph shows, raising minimum wage will also raise unemployment.

Think about this

I was thinking about all we hear from the media. I've read some informative articles on why we should be, apprehensive to say the least. Here are some of what I thought were good points:

• Politicians are usually more concerned about winning the next election than seeking economic truth, so don't take their word.

• When political leaders communicate with their people, the media analyzes what they write/say.

• How Americans view the world/US Gov./the economy is influenced by the media way too much.
  

• Reporters with little or no economics training are often asked to define/explain/settle debates they know little about.
  

• Gov. Spending does not pump $ into the economy; Gov. money must be first taxed or borrowed from it! (shifting existing income).
  

• The right tax cuts help the economy by creating incentives to work, save, and invest.
  

• Tax cuts don't increase the economy because they must be offset by equal reductions in investment/Gov. spending.
  

• Reducing marginal tax rates on businesses create more business investment and a more productive workforce which helps the economy.
  

• We shouldn't be looking for the best tax cuts-we should be looking for policies that will encourage the work, savings, and investment needed to grow the economy
  

A bit concerning...

Did you read this article? http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRxZox4GFoIweckPDP1oRhKBlHOwD94CCDU00

Um. Hmm. Why do we need a national police force? Obama wants to renew our diplomacy? What about our country? What about our economy/healthcare, etc...? Why does it appear he is more concerned about our relationships with other countries than the problems in our own? In my opinion, it's hard to say just what his agenda is this early in the game. I mean he hasn't even been inaugurated yet.

BUT, there's talk of a new holiday for him: http://special.cjonline.com/stories/110908/loc_353922770.shtml