Papa Government Will Take Care Of Everything

I don't know how many of you watched Bush's Presidential Address given last night, but it's pretty big. I'd recommend taking a look at it below.




I only caught the last few minutes of this address last night, so after it was over I called my grandfather, who is pretty up on this stuff. He definitely gave me some good insight and things to think about.

Here's a basic history of how we got here, as I understand it...

In the past the real estate companies and banks would require a sizable down payment when someone was buying a house, condo, mansion, shack in the woods, etc. Typically they had to put down around 20-25% of the total cost to buy. So if you're buying a $100,000 house, you would be required to give a down payment of $20-25 thousand, and the bank would loan you the rest.

Now what that did was allow the bank/lender to come out on top whether you could pay or not. If you are able to make all of your payments, then they are paid back all their money plus the interest included in the loan. If you are not able to pay and go into default, they can seize your house and sell it for its value. In that case they will have whatever money you have already paid them, and the value of your house, which as a general rule would increase in worth (appreciate in value) as time and inflation went on.

Things were going so well that companies got a little ahead of themselves. Reel estate was going well and people were buying houses, credit was becoming more and more popular, so they increased the credit you can get on a house. Where you used to give about 20% upfront, now they would give you a 100% loan... but wait, more. They wouldn't just give you 100% of what you needed for your house, but they'd give a 125% loan, which the purchaser could use to buy furniture, peanut butter, kittens, and whatnot. And this is the real problem.

With the banks and lenders giving so much money, like the white trash hick that gets approved for his first credit card, people felt like they had free money. They didn't even need to have anything saved up to buy a house. When a bank gives a crazy good loan like that, you can expect some crazy hard interest. Plus you have all these people who aren't financially intelligent celebrating in their free money and not looking down the road. After the first 6 months their loan payments tended to get much higher, to the point where often times people could not afford them. They would default on their payments and their house would be seized.

When the lenders seized the house, they would need to get 125% of the initial worth of it (or something around there depending) in order to break even. And that would be possible under the normal way of real estate, where it increases in value over time. But due to so many people buying houses, the supply went way up... lots of houses being built. But people who were initially excited started to not have the finances to afford them, or realize they wouldn't be able to make the payments. With a high supply and a small demand, the value goes down. Houses started losing value or staying the same with time, instead of gaining value. All of this left banks and lenders in a tough place where they couldn't get their money back because of the housing market.

This is a big reason you have heard recently about banks shutting down and all this stuff about real estate lenders. And when the banks don't have money, credit doesn't work. Credit depends on your bank/lender being able to pay your bill until you can pay them back, when the bank can't pay the bill, you can't have credit. If you can't have credit, people will stop buying things; if people don't buy things, others will lose jobs; if people lose their jobs they can buy even less; if no body is buying much of anything or working then we're in a bad bad place.

What the government has done, is decide to put $700 Billion into buying these properties that are mortgaged, but nobody is buying, so the bank can make back their money. If they didn't do this, the real estate market would crash, builders wouldn't build, electricians wouldn't install electric in houses, plumbers would plumb, realtors wouldn't sell houses, and millions of people would be out of work, which would cause basically the same chain reaction seen above.

The businesses that decided to up the credit so high are at fault here. It isn't the governments responsibility to act, as the president said, in a free-enterprise economy. But it's either give up some of what we believe in or face The Great Depression again. So the government is purchasing these mortgages, and in a sense acting as the lender, the one responsible for the financial essence of the property. They are hoping that as the economy picks up, and the housing market picks up, they will be able to get paid back (same as anyone who gives a loan) as the properties are sold, and will be able to get more return as the properties will be worth more than what they are buying them for. There's a good chance it'll work, but not 100%.

The government is taking some serious looks at socialistic control tactics to keep businesses from causing such a threat to American economics. The fact that the decisions of so few companies could impact the entire country in such a dire way blows my mind. It's also why I personally am not a fan of big business in most cases. The government is also going to potentially limit executive income in these businesses, to try to eliminate "bad" business decisions that will put the company in jeopardy, but reward the executives running it. Even in the situation we're in now, the executives could make a lot of money at the expense of others, by receiving/buying more stock once it goes down, and sitting on it until it goes up again, or a type of corporate bail-out getting paid tons in the collapse of the business.

So what is better... the integrity of the democratic system... or compromising ideals instead of compromising the American standard of living?

I am somewhat torn. I do not pledge my allegiance to the democratic system. I think it's worked fine, but that it will at some point fail or be replaced with something better. It's inherent greed will be our destruction (as it is about to destroy us already). The government is building safe-guards against such free-enterprise greed by stripping away some of our democracy. It seems all systems fail at a certain point, and new ones will emerge as we learn. Everyone is afraid of communism, mostly because they don't quite understand it... but here we have our own political officials, under a republican president, taking a big step toward communism, as our only foreseeable way of solving our crisis. It's just interesting.

See, this is why I don't have a credit card!


So some questions for discussion...

- Which is more important, the integrity of our government structure or the integrity of our financial means?

- What would you do if things aren't resolved in the next few days and everything crashes.

- Is this the beginning of more mixing of democracy with other systems? If so, how long will we continue to call it democracy? If not, how will democracy deal these emerging issues?

I'm Too Sexy For... My God?

I know the picture is an oldie, but it certainly is a goodie. I do have to say that I think my Photoshop ability has gotten slightly better since this "try." And let's face it, if anyone's too sexy for God, it's Fabio (which is the owner of the hair... the face and body are mine!).

Appearance is something I have been greatly considering in regard to my walk with God over the last year or two. What would God have me to look like? Does God mind if I artificially enhance my appearance? Does he mind if I naturally enhance my appearance? Are there definite lines between taking care of yourself and overdoing it? How would God make himself appear if he were me?

This may seem like a topic of unimportance, at least compared to other topics... and maybe to an extent it is, but I can't help but feel that the way we are concerned about our appearance reflects a deeper issues (and perhaps perpetuates issues too).

The world creates standards and then demands we live up to them. Body type, hair cut, makeup, fashion, you can't wear white after Labor Day, that's tacky, does this make me look fat?, Accutane, bikini's, saggin', tanning, bling, muscles, tight stomachs, just the right amount of facial hair, conditioner, gel, highlights, shave, wax, pierce, tattoo, chemical peel, botox, give up!

This list does one of two things for probably 95% of anyone who will read this. It will either convict you, making you realize how many of these you fall trap to... or it will send you into a place of self denial and convinced righteousness. There are a few of you who are right on track and don't have a problem with this... however you, I see you out there, just staring at the screen like a bear staring at a chimmy changa, yes you... that line didn't refer to you, so get off your high horse and keep reading.

Are all the things on the list sinful? Not necessarily. Are some? I'd have to say most of the time a couple of them have few circumstances where they would be justifiable! Like let me ask, when is the appropriate time to wear a bikini? Especially at a public place or in front of guys(it's never appropriate if you're a guy Deut. 22:5)? Maybe if you're married and trying to get romantic with your stud-muffin, or catching some rays in private, but beyond that I see very few places where it's justified. If you think I'm being ridiculous, think about what Jesus would say about that.

The truth is, the things on the list are pride-enhancers. I know many of my posts here turn into an issue of the pride. Pride caused Satan to rebel. Pride comes before the fall. I'm just trying to save you from a nasty trip. Why must I check out my hair everytime I pass a reflection? Seriously, why can't I wear white after labor day (cause I just bought a sweet pair of white overalls)? How does bling bring about the kingdom of heaven? You know we have been brainwashed when we're injecting poison into our face to get rid of wrinkles.

It's the pride of wanting to be IT. To be the one that no one can criticize, that everyone wants to be. We want to be desirable, to be the the prince getting the fair princess, or the beautiful princess recued by the handsome prince. We are bombarded with fairy tales in everything from nursery rhymes to tabloids. Fiction. Standards we are supposed to strive for, so we can live the fairy tale life of Sleeping Beauty, Brad Pitt, Hercules, or J-Lo.

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

- 1 Timothy 2:9-10

I was originally going to write a slightly different post and name it "Cleavage For Christ," and talk about how people often tend to dress like they're trying to pick up a mate, rather than humble themselves before the Ulmighty God. If you are professing to worship God in church, think about if what you are wearing shows worship of God or worship of self (I'm guilty). Then take it a step further and realize church is not a building or a designated time during the week. Understand you are constantly before God, and you are constantly a witness, an ambassador to His name.

Again...

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

- 1 Peter 3:3-5

We are all going to experience the temptation of pride, and trying to prove oneself in ways other than a heart for God, a gentle spirit. There's an almost Darwinistic summoning of desire, living out the survival of the fittest in sociological trends. We must compete in this game of fashion, stature, and fame, or we will be consumed by it. At least that's the threat presented.

But to put some flesh on the subject I will... subject myself to the magnifying glass of critique. I am not outwardly a guy of overwhelming self-confidence. But inwardly I have a desire to be the stuff. I desire the achievement of attractiveness so great, that all those women who have rejected me in the past will whimper in sorrow over the hunk of man they passed on. Things like this are what sometimes motivate me when I'm working out. Sad isn't it? Yes, very. And even if it's not that, there is always an underlying desire to work out, or shave my facial hair in a cool way, or wear a name brand shirt tonight, so I can be attractive to a girl, and win her over with my looks, or just be impressive to onlookers. I aim to be competitive enough to beat out all the other guys in the room in the never-ending competition of "Most sexy guy here." Don't get me wrong, I don't usually think this stuff out in my head like I'm presenting it here; but, I am aware that these are the underlying motives in my mind. Plus the winner often gets "Most sexy girl here" as his prize.

Now I'm faced with an issue. How do I become a man who is not so overly conceited and self-absorbed with the dream of winning the Mr. Sexy pageant in every room I step into (despite that I probably wouldn't win anyway). Do I search out what causes the problem of feeling like the stuff? I know that geling my hair can do that a little. Working out can. Wearing tighter shirts can. And so on and so on. If I love Christ and want to humble myself before him. If I love my fellow brothers and sisters and don't want to be a stumbling block for them, whether it causes lust, superficiality, or a Darwinian sense of competition, and worth based on attractiveness or other superficial things.

I'm still working much of this out in my mind and heart. I do know that those who came before us, even 50-100 years ago, would consider even our more modest attire (especially for women) to be scandelous. We need to look beyond what is socially accepted and think pragmatically, what is harmful and beneficial. I am feeling like I need to start dressing differently. Not like a slob, but maybe in a way that doesn't allow me to so easily "show off." Perhaps girls should start shopping differently. Buying a size larger in their clothes. Perhaps they should make a market for sales of women's shorts that cover more than the upper half of their butt cheeks. Instead of wearing a push up bra to pretend they have something they don't, wear a shirt that keeps a guy guessing anyway. Guys can pass on the bling and support a starving child in China. Girls can ease up on the makeup, and hypnotize a guy with your gentle hearts, instead of your customized facial accents (does that one even make sense?). Instead of being thugs, guys, why don't you show you're really a middle class white kid who cares about the people around him, and not a hardened gangsta' from the hood.

Bottom line, we need to start this by changing our appearance, and not judging others based on theirs.

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

- James 2:2-4

There's much more to say, but I feel like this is long, and I'm tired. Like I said I'm still working through this one, but certainly feel like we are off track, misguided, and dillusional as Christians in the area of modesty.

This is a good topic to discuss through comments, please do.