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Friday, October 3
bailout
I'm about as fond of cleaning up other people's messes as the rest of you are, apparently. The idea of using my money to pay other people's mortgages or to save some fat cat on Wall Street turns my stomach.
As a Christian, however, my entire theology hinges on two facts: we're all screwed because of one person's mistake, and we're all saved because of another Person's grace. We fall and we rise based on scenarios in which we took no part, and paid no price.
To keep my anger on the righteous side of the fence, I'll need a better argument than letting people get what they deserve.
As a Christian, however, my entire theology hinges on two facts: we're all screwed because of one person's mistake, and we're all saved because of another Person's grace. We fall and we rise based on scenarios in which we took no part, and paid no price.
To keep my anger on the righteous side of the fence, I'll need a better argument than letting people get what they deserve.
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ouch.
I agree and mirror your feelings on this, however we're ALL screwed if something isn't done.
Yes, certain people made terrible choices, but we are ALL going to pay the price: $700B or (likely much more) in a collapsed U.S. economy. Hopefully, the "bailout package" will keep us all afloat, by a financial "propping up" in the right places. It's not the folks that defaulted on mortgages or fat cats on wall street that are being rescued. It's our own butts we're looking to save (economically speaking, of course).
Yes, certain people made terrible choices, but we are ALL going to pay the price: $700B or (likely much more) in a collapsed U.S. economy. Hopefully, the "bailout package" will keep us all afloat, by a financial "propping up" in the right places. It's not the folks that defaulted on mortgages or fat cats on wall street that are being rescued. It's our own butts we're looking to save (economically speaking, of course).
I'm not arguing for or against the bailout. I'm arguing against the Christians who are arguing against the bailout, to tell them to find a better argument if they want to keep on arguing. :)
Galatians 6:7 tells us that “God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” A similar expression is “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
We got here, in part, because people think that there is such a thing as a “free lunch.” Back in the 1990’s, the feds coerced lenders into relaxing lending standards in an attempt to achieve the noble goal of increasing home ownership. Problem was, that people who didn’t qualify for mortgages, didn’t qualify for a reason—they couldn’t afford them. The mortgages became worthless paper and long story short—here we are.
Now the feds think that they can fix this whole mess by waving a magic wand. They’re trying to reap something (sustainable prosperity) other than what they sowed (get-rich-quick schemes). Never mind that our country runs a deficit every year, so where are we going to come up with $700B? We’re going to borrow/print that money in an effort to reap something we did not sow. I could write so much about the inflationary effects of creating money out of thin air, but it always comes back to reaping what you sowed, and free lunches. We’re trying to mock God, and it will not work. It never does!
Sorry to hijack your blog with economic discussion. I just wanted to make the point that there are lots of good reasons to object to this so-called bailout that do not revolve around people getting what they deserve. (And I haven’t even mentioned all the pork that our congress-critters stuffed into that thing—Arrrgghhh!!!) Now, do you want to talk about government-run health care ;-) (Hint: there’s no free lunch there either)
We got here, in part, because people think that there is such a thing as a “free lunch.” Back in the 1990’s, the feds coerced lenders into relaxing lending standards in an attempt to achieve the noble goal of increasing home ownership. Problem was, that people who didn’t qualify for mortgages, didn’t qualify for a reason—they couldn’t afford them. The mortgages became worthless paper and long story short—here we are.
Now the feds think that they can fix this whole mess by waving a magic wand. They’re trying to reap something (sustainable prosperity) other than what they sowed (get-rich-quick schemes). Never mind that our country runs a deficit every year, so where are we going to come up with $700B? We’re going to borrow/print that money in an effort to reap something we did not sow. I could write so much about the inflationary effects of creating money out of thin air, but it always comes back to reaping what you sowed, and free lunches. We’re trying to mock God, and it will not work. It never does!
Sorry to hijack your blog with economic discussion. I just wanted to make the point that there are lots of good reasons to object to this so-called bailout that do not revolve around people getting what they deserve. (And I haven’t even mentioned all the pork that our congress-critters stuffed into that thing—Arrrgghhh!!!) Now, do you want to talk about government-run health care ;-) (Hint: there’s no free lunch there either)