Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wealth
I have five dollars in my pocket. You have an extra hibachi grill in a yard sale. I value the grill more than the five dollars. You value the five dollars more than your spare grill. There is an exchange. Both of us walk away thinking we got the better deal. Net value has increased in the exchange. Wealth has been created. Granted not great wealth, but take it up a notch.
I have $200,000 in the bank (I wish). You have a steady job and weary of paying rent. A loan is made, a lot is bought, a house is built, a mortgage is paid. Net value takes a jump. Wealth is created out of thin air, the breath it takes to make an agreement. This sort of thing goes on every day.
You have a million dollars in mutual funds bearing meager interest because the companies in the fund are not equally brilliant, nor their products uniformly desirable. I have an idea for a product that makes the smart phone obsolete. I exchange an interest in my idea for your million dollars. (Thank you.) A plant is built, people are hired, the product is sold, customers are clamoring to buy. Value is increasing geometrically on a broad scale. Great wealth is created.
This is how it works. This is the only way it works.
But, when taxes are exacted to pay for safety net programs, admirable though their aims, wealth is not created. Transfer is not exchange. Transfer systems work to reduce net value, and destroy wealth. Workers with skills are drawn to the safety net and production is lost. Investors with resources find their returns plundered and decline to engage in the marketplace (or worse, migrate to more favorable markets overseas). Unemployment insurance works to ensure unemployment. How does this come to be called a benefit?
The American economy is getting tired of foundering. As it makes gains in the coming weeks and months recovery will depend on whether our leaders step on the brake or the gas.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Giving It All Away (AB459)
It is the largest voter disenfranchisement in history, and did not come through
California's well worn initiative system. It was a direct action of the Legislature alone who did not count it wise to refer the matter directly to the citizens. It is important to name the 76 Californians who sold the rest of us out.
AB459 vote 7/14/2011
Assembly votes for the bill:
Alejo Allen Ammiano Atkins Beall
Block Blumenfield Bonilla Bradford Brownley
Buchanan Butler Charles Calderon Campos
Carter Cedillo Chesbro Davis Eng
Feuer Fong Fuentes Furutani Galgiani Gatto
Gordon Hagman Hall Hayashi Roger Hernández
Hill Huber Hueso Huffman Lara Bonnie
Lowenthal Ma Mendoza Monning Norby Pan Perea
John A. Pérez V. Manuel Pérez Portantino
Skinner Solorio Swanson Torres Wieckowski Williams Yamada
State Senate votes for the bill:
Alquist Calderon Corbett Correa De León
DeSaulnier Evans Hancock Hernandez Leno Lieu
Liu Lowenthal Negrete McLeod Padilla Pavley
Price Rubio Simitian Steinberg Vargas Wolk
Yee
Governor Brown signed the bill into law 8/8/2011
Those who voted against are to be commended, few though they be. There
were only 30 across both houses.
Sunday, December 04, 2011
What a come down!
Condescension, the coming down to our level. His scandalous act that some branches of the church could never embrace, breaking off rather than bending to the story as it is found. God became a man. As Paul the Apostle puts it, "He made himself nothing." (Php 2:7) In order to take our place it was required of Him to be put in our place.
No, that's wrong. He wasn't put here; He put himself here with us. God moved into our neighborhood. It was a journey He set out on and a destination He chose for himself. Passive voice has no place in the work of Christ. He was not sacrificed, but rather gave himself as a ransom for many. He was not put down, but the royal things He was He set aside, and He came down to be with us.
The other aspects of Christ's work we marvel at from one side. We accept his sacrifice on our behalf. We await our resurrection that will be some how like his. We will be caught up. He do the catching. Ours is the passive voice in so much of this.
Except in this-- we are invited to join him in coming down. Paul says in this same passage that our attitude should be like Christ. Condescension can have an awful tone when we use it among ourselves, but it is so fitting of Him who set down everything that made him God over us, and taking on something else to be found as God right next to us.
This season is Advent, and you are invited to move into the neighborhood.
Monday, August 29, 2011
CO2 as percent of total atmosphere
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Desiderata
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
it is still a beautiful world.

