More Economic News . . .

We purchased gasoline yesterday. I can remember in my lifetime when gasoline was not even figured into the household family budget. Seriously, gasoline was an incidental. I should sit down and crunch some numbers as to how it compares with the income and costs of the 60's and 70's, but regardless of that comparative information, there are some things that simply need to be factored in. In the early 70's gasoline became part of the necessary expenditures that needed to be figured into the budget. That was also about the time most family households became two income. So now we fast forward 35 to 40 years and realize, nearly all family households have two incomes, but it's not enough to maintain the mortgage. As for buying a car for cash, for the most part, forget about it. So, it takes two incomes just to keep a roof over a family's head and maintain reliable transportation so both parties can get to work to make the money to pay for the house and cars. Now, we have mandatory insurance laws which will be taking more out of the pocket of the employees, groceries are skyrocketing, and now gasoline is nearing $4.00 a gallon. Yet, according to the headlines, the economy is improving and consumer confidence is up. Doesn't it make you wonder where the stats come from? I guess this is based on the information that Wall Street is up, Exxon is showing record profits, and there is no rioting in the streets. People just go ahead and move out of their homes when the foreclosure is official and they realize one morning their vehicle has been repossessed. Rather than an improved economy, I'd say we are simply accepting our lot in life.
Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. Torah of Holy Scripture

My Aha Moment!

I think we are all well aware of our light coming on, when we suddenly see something new in something we've been looking at all along. Well, last night, I had one of those moments while watching "the Ten Commandments." I'm not a big fan of watching the screen, but every year, I watch this movie, and do my best to stay awake for four hours and pay attention. The movie is not boring by any means. It's colorful, it's truly full of Scripture, and it's exceedingly meaningful, I'm just not good at watching movies. Yet I digress . . . Last night as I watched the dramatization portion of the movie, which although is not found in Exodus, per se, much of the conversation consisted of Scripture, found mostly in the New Testament. What I realized last night was the fact that indeed Moses had access to the throne of Egypt, from within. Although he was born to Hebrew slaves, he was raised the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Most of us know the account of Pharaoh's horrendous edict to kill all the baby boys, so Moses' mother placed him in a basket and it floated down the Nile on the day of the Princess's bath. She opened the basket and claimed the baby, and raised him as her own. Now, the point I saw here, was Moses was already in the palace. He could have been politically correct or lobbied or whatever our terms would be now, to change things from within and by his earthly governmental power, but that's not at all how the account reads. So, as I saw that, I fast forwarded to our current messes, because last year I realized Yul Brenner, in his role, reminded me of President Obama. I mean same expressions, everything! As I considered my observation, I realized, whether we have religious lobby organizations, or so called conservative Christians in office, it's not going to change the direction of the country. There is no Scriptural account in which to base this religious tradition that has developed in Washington DC. I realize some will use the example of Esther to say G-d changed the politics and the outcome. Again, G-d saved His people, but the Medo-Persian empire was not changed, nor was it preserved. Egypt was not changed by a religious leader from within. The Medo-Persian Empire did not destroy the Jews, but did itself fall to another empire. As this next election cycle rolls around, I can now clearly see. I am not suggesting an Exodus, but just making the observation that the religious attempts to challenge and bring change from within are not found in Scripture.
. . . unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water . . . Now Moses . . . came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb . . . G-d called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses . . . Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

New Book

And I'm going high-tech. I cannot believe I'm actually working on HTML and PDF, with the direction of heading for Kindle. Oh, I'm doing the very basic simple stuff, but it is happening. According to what I've read, the tutorial videos I've watched, and the agreement I made, my book should be available within 24 hours after I get it uploaded to Amazon. I still like paper books, though and we will be publishing those as well. This book has been awhile in the mulling . . . so it feels good to have it in print and will feel even better when it's available electronically. Considering the way things are going, it might just be time to ask the question: "Can We All Be Wrong?"
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but . . . a Proverb

Let's Talk Priorities

So, our elected officials and representatives can't get along well enough to balance the budget and the White House says the troops will pay for this derision with their paychecks. That's right, if the House and Senate cannot come to some sort of deficit agreement, President Obama says the troops involved in 3 wars will not receive their paychecks. First, let me say this. President Obama campaigned on the "promise or pretense" we were getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan, which so far he has not delivered, but of course that's not his fault, nothing ever is . . . and now we're in Libya. From everything I've seen in the past couple of years, this administration isn't much different from the last, except the money is now going to Health Insurance along with Big Oil. The Middle Class was immediately termed the working class by this President and to restore the job market, McDonald's is hiring 50,000 people. I just love the way things are being fixed, don't you? I went to town yesterday and noticed gasoline seems to be going up about a dime a week as of late and all the fresh veggies Michelle O. wants everyone to eat, well they've doubled in price since her proclamation. I told someone yesterday, when I saw that avocados were $1.78 a piece, TPTB better watch what they price, or the farm labor will end up going back to their own country. Now back to the people that are supposedly trying to fix the budget. And I say supposedly because the sock puppet theatre is getting pretty dramatic. It's about time for the Prez to get all pensive, Boehner to start crying and Nancy to start "melting" and Harry to have some sort of spell or tizzy. I don't know that I could fix this problem permanently, but I can certainly tell you why these people cannot come up with a budget, and I could move this drama right along. President Obama summed it up well in his announcement to run again for President. He plans to raise $1,000,000,000 [1 Billion] to get a job that will only pay $1,600,000 [1.6 million] over the next four years. Campaigns cost more to run than the elected person can earn in the term, that's both sides of the aisle and the "wingy fringe." Therefore, all of these elected officials have no concept of what it is to have a bottom line. Considering their concept of spending, they have no business messing with anyone's budget! Now, long before the people that are serving the country in three wars get no paycheck and long before the ticket ladies at the museums get laid off, and before the workers of the all the various concession stands and restaurants shutter over the lack of tourists, let's simply make sure the politicians who are so concerned about "we the people" give up their paychecks first. What do they really need a pay check for anyway? We know the White House is the highest level of government housing available and we also know who pays for Air Force 1. The roles have been openly reversed. This administration has taken "transparency" to a new level and it's really more like "in your face." Our so called public servants from both sides of the aisle are positioning themselves to be this nation's plutocrats. Politicians are now American aristocrats! I'm having a real problem with the idea that our own military would be treated as has been suggested by the leader of the Free World, and I'm having a real problem with over 500 representatives that don't seem to care how their silliness impacts our fragile economy. We've already accepted they aren't really going to fix anything, but do they have to make things worse?
Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: Torah of Holy Scripture

Ncotine Gum

I'm thinking I might be heading in an interesting direction here at CoP. Since our current President seems to just be heading the same direction as his predecessors after all the "hope and change" talk, I just don't find that much to discuss. I can't see that he's less war-mongering than George W. Bush. I can't see that he's any more fiscally for the Middle Class than Reagan was. And from what I can tell, he's as good at juggling statistics as any politician, so I find him the exact opposite of "hope and change." What is that "despair and repeat?" Anyway, something occurred to me this morning after hearing more places that are going "smoke free." The first thing that occurred to me is that I'm glad I quit nearly 20 years ago. I just don't think I'd do well having nic-fits in a virtually smoke free society. The next thought was, I'd just have to be a nicotine gum chewer. So far, as I can tell, gum chewing is still legal, although the way some folks do it, there should be a fine or permit involved! Then it hit me. Tobacco has been a controlled crop for a number of years. You know, a special 3 letter government agency keeps tabs on it, only too many people were either getting sick, or so they say, costing the insurance and pharmaceutical companies out of their profit, so . . . Cracking down on smoking in public is yet another way to control the tobacco farming industry, thus farmers losing yet another crop, but Big Pharm actually makes money making and selling chemically produced nicotine gum. So now, we have smokers that are chewers, but the old fashioned "chaw" and spit isn't so socially acceptable, especially for women, so again, there's the socially acceptable gum. It won't be long, til the big pharmaceutical companies have it all to themselves. By the time all of our vices and addictions can e chemically manufactured, they'll own us all! And we'll be happy to pay to pay for the "fix" that is legal.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. Torah of Holy Scripture