“President Bush put in tax rate cuts. This boosted the economy and tax revenue is up. So it wasn’t a “tax cut”, because tax revenue increased. It was a tax rate cut and it worked perfectly.” (http://www.federalbudget.com) So just increasing taxes doesn’t necessarily help—in fact it could actually hurt. Cutting spending is the only solution.
Economics: So What’s the Problem For Me?
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Federal Reserve called a special meeting in order to cut the interest rate by three-quarters of a percent. (I won’t explain here, but the Fed’s interest rate is the primary controllable variable which has a significant impact on the economy.) While that may well not mean much to
The Problem of National Debt
If money were no issue, while these numbers on defense spending might seem amazing, we might also just shrug and say no big deal. But this all has to be paid somehow, and has to be paid by us eventually. The problem is, I believe, that government spending and borrowing are a mystery to most
Extraordinary Defense Spending
I am troubled and seriously concerned by a news story I heard this morning on NPR. This isn’t exactly a surprise, because it’s no real secret that things have been getting out of control. Nonetheless the actual figures are staggering. While the story was about defense spending, the real issue is runaway government spending, and
Church Burnout
During this past year I felt like I sort of got burned out with church. It’s kind of strange, because I’ve gone to church regularly my entire life. At first I was concerned, wondering if this indicated a spiritual problem within me or if I was still a Christian. While I don’t have all of
What is the Core of Christianity? What is the “Good News”?
Talking to a friend the other night, it occurred to me that there are basically two big questions that I’ve wrestled with for years in regards to Christianity. One is, “What is the core of Christianity?” or “What are the essential elements without which you don’t have Christianity?” The second question is, “What is the
Experience as Proof?
I heard a guy speak recently. He asked people to describe the Christian life. Somewhat to my surprise, people used words such as struggle, tough, and battle. I thought these adjectives were going in the right direction. I think about stories considered Christian classics, such as Pilgrims Progress and Hind’s Feet on High Places, also
What is Christianity Really?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Christianity and things that bug me. I hesitate somewhat to expound here, because I’m not sure I’m correct in all of my thinking. Take it into consideration that this is my working through my thoughts. There was a social science professor speaking the other day in one of
The Key to Life
A few days ago I was thinking and believe that I figured out the key to life. It’s thought. Life is basically an infinite number of events perpetually happening. In order to try and explain, I’m going to diverge for a moment. I came to this thought by thinking about “reality” TV. What is called
Three Books Summarized
I recently read three books which were interesting. The first was, The Control Revolution: How the Internet is Putting Individuals in Charge and Changing the World We Know by Andrew L. Shapiro. It looks at some of the things which the internet allows people to do, and some of the ways it has been used.