Waiting

October 14, 2008 at 4:34 pm (Teaching)
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Half of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

Which means you are not alone.

This information is really quite radical. It means, really, that the expected plunge of New York Stock Exchange didn’t directly affect every single working American, because those who live from paycheck to paycheck rarely, if ever, actually save or invest money. Because they don’t have enough money to do so.  And the survey attests this to this, by reporting that one out of every four Americans never saves any money, and of the three-out-of-the-four who do save regularly, a third of them saves less than $100 per month.

So half of all Americans spend every week waiting for their next paycheck.

And that waiting becomes a prolonged and heavy game of frustration, and that frustration builds until a family may buckle beneath the pressure of their debts.  And those debts can be quite large.

The latest figure, published in August, states that the average American lives with $16,635 in credit card debt alone, and that excludes all other debt, such as automobile payments, mortgages, or medical bills. Between 1992 and 2001, the average credit card debt grew by more than fifty percent. Moreover, the average American with credit cards has access to almost a $20,000 line of credit from their cards alone. And almost a third of those in this type of debt have admitted that it is growing increasingly difficult to pay the balance on these debts.

And, to me, the most shocking bit of information is this: the total amount of credit card debt, owed by the sum of all Americans with credit card debt, is almost $1 trillion. To put a tangible item to this amount, $1 trillion is enough to buy two 73′ flat-screen HDTV’s for every household in America.

And it’s also equal to the amount costing the United States government to fight the war in Iraq.

So now, maybe we understand why half of us live from paycheck to paycheck. The debt we’ve accrued through our credit cards is taking up a rather large space in our budget.

Americans have forgotten the radical idea that we should live within our means. And because of our forgetfulness, our credit debt has enlarged what our budget should be.

So we’ve either found ourselves in a place where we need to earn more money, or do without some things we believe are now necessary. But don’t be fooled into believing more money will solve your financial crisis. The same survey quoted above also found that one out of five Americans who earn at least $100,000 per year also admit to living paycheck to paycheck.

And why is all of this important?

I am not a financial officer, so I have no financial advice. But I do know that the biblical narrative is full of stories and examples of stewardship, and making wise decisions concerning your income. Of the most prevalent is the example of giving ten percent of your gross income, or the tithe. The amount was mentioned often in the Hebrew scriptures. Later, in the writings of the New Testament, it was never required to give a percentage of income. If anything, though, it was implied that what is given should exceed ten percent, through numerous references of laying down your life, or the story of the feeble widow who had given a relatively small amount, but had actually given all she owned.

And, even in popular culture, giving, of all things, is still a prerequisite for leadership. We want to know if a leader believes in the very principles he or she espouses, and does so with their own financial means. It is much easier to believe in someone who cares for a commitment, and readily supports it. (You can find current charitable contributions by the current candidates here and here.)
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So again, I will not offer financial advice. But I will offer financial encouragement.

Give. Give more than you think you can. Sacrifice. Forgo a credit card necessity, and instead, give away money. And you may also find that your gift may make you happier than the items you’ve purchased on credit.

Giving is what we lay at the altar. It is the animal of the Hebrew sacrifices. It is what is most precious to us. And it is the purest act of faith and worship, for it is the surest way to test the existence of God, only to then to watch the return of what is the truest form of investment.

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Ironic

September 3, 2008 at 6:24 pm (Culture, Entertainment, Opinions, Thinking)
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I think we are learning, right now, how we really feel about women in power.

Through the nomination of a woman for the vice-presidency, I believed that I would bear witness to a keen cultural shift, a shift that would move our contemporary society to a more generous acceptance of a woman with great power.  As both a student and teacher of history, that is incredibly fascinating.

I also believed, last Friday, that there was great hope for girls.  As a director of a rather large student ministry, with a rather numerous group of girls, and having girls in my own family, I really believed that the world in which they are growing would give them respect and equal footing.  I thought times were changing.

But how wrong I was.

I still may be sitting on the front row of an historical moment for women.  But those who are first in great movements bear the greatest amount of stress, and Governor Palin is no exception.  All things aside, when looking at this moment in perspective, it makes a little more sense.  She placed herself on the altar of criticism, and she knew full well what was coming.  And she did it, anyway.  She did it, perhaps for several reasons, but also knowing that if this election resulted in victory, she would be the first, perhaps of many.

And, for better or worse, she is partnered in this journey with her daughter, who is soon to be a mother herself.  If anything, the current situation shows the real humanity of both mother and daughter, but by no means does it speak of vulnerability or senselessness.  This young mother-to-be is, in many ways, similar to the girl whose life intersected with Jesus, a girl who was discovered and brought to face a soon and sudden death because of her adultery, until those who would deliver the blows were confronted with their own selfish greed and morality.  And those very accusers have spawned their own ancestry.

All of that being said, then, these two ladies are in a unique situation to do things on behalf of women that need to be done. 

Because yesterday, Australia held it’s first-ever Stiletto Sprint, encouraging women to join in a race, wearing stiletto heels, also breaking a world record for the greatest amount of people to enter such a race.  There was a monetary prize, along with a golden pair of high heels.

Stiletto Sprint, Sydney, Australia

And I, for one, have seen, and been part, of meaningless games and activities, all in the name of good fun and fellowship.  But I also think that, in the context of Sarah Palin, the timing of this race in Australia seems a bit ironic.  We, in a modern society, should be lauding the accomplishments of a renaissance woman, for once, who can have a family, run a government, and gain tremendous respect throughout.  But, instead, we ask women to run a race wearing high heels. 

Maybe I am reading too much into this.  And maybe I’ll be proven to be a bit off-center.  But I am offended, not because of the Australian race, and not even because of the explicit criticism of Sarah Palin, but because we have not entirely come to expect, deserve, and appreciate more. 

And that is what is most disappointing.

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Scandal

July 28, 2008 at 4:29 pm (Culture)
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William R. King, Fifteenth Vice-President of the United States

William R. King, Fifteenth Vice-President of the United States

I am constantly reminded that this thing we call politics is nothing more than a game of sorts.

And we, in modern America, assume that everything we have in our collective political experience is new.  And for the first time in American politics, that is true, in a way, with an African-American in serious contention for the top job.  But even he’s not the first to run for the coveted office.  

And with that, just so you’ll know, there really is nothing new in presidential politics.

Such as:  the opposing candidate is older, and we have elected older presidents; a number of women have competed for the presidency; affairs; liasons.  And the list, obviously, could continue.

But the vice-presidency is something about which we know very little … except, of course, when the vice-president becomes president, either by death, or by election.  The other men who have held this position, though, become lost in the fabric of American history.  

I thought it was expedient enough, then, to give us some perspective on the craziness of the political game we celebrate every four years. 

Linda Rodriguez wrote an article about our scandalous vice-presidents.  She listed ten.  I’ll give you a couple of her picks, word for word:
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“Chester Arthur took office under the thickest cloud of suspicion. As a lieutenant in Senator Roscoe Conkling’s political machine, Arthur held one of the most lucrative positions in government—collector for the port of New York. For seven years, Arthur raked in approximately $40,000 annually (about $700,000 today), running a corrupt spoils system for thousands of payroll employees. With so much money and power, Arthur developed an affinity for fancy clothes and earned the nickname “the Gentleman Boss.” But his luck didn’t last. President Rutherford Hayes eventually stepped in and fired him from the post.

Even with the kickback scandal and claims that he’d been born in Canada (which should’ve disqualified him for the vice presidency), Arthur still managed to get elected on James Garfield’s 1880 ticket. After Garfield passed away 199 days into his presidency, Arthur didn’t hesitate to sign the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Much to the chagrin of Conkling, the Act revamped civil service by effectively killing the same patronage system that made Arthur very, very rich. In cleaning up civil service, Arthur also cleaned up his reputation, and he exited the White House a hero.”
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“Andrew Johnson took his 1865 vice-presidential oath drunk as a skunk … .  Having grown up dirt poor, Johnson felt the aristocracy in Washington had abused his kinfolk. Glassy-eyed and smelling of whiskey, he reminded Congress, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, and pretty much everyone within hearing distance that they owed their positions to “plebeians” such as himself, then kissed the Bible and staggered away.

Needless to say, his address was poorly received. The New York World opined, “To think that one frail life stands between this insolent, clownish creature and the presidency! May God bless and spare Abraham Lincoln!” Unfortunately, God didn’t. The South surrendered six days before Lincoln’s assassination, leaving Johnson to handle Reconstruction—a job he bungled so completely that Congress moved to impeach him. Johnson avoided being booted out of office by just one vote.”
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And for others, you can do a little digging yourself.  William R. King, and his preferences.  John Breckendridge and Aaron Burr, and their loyalties.  Andrew Johnson and his vice-presidential inauguration.

Scandal isn’t a new thing with Americans.  It just seems that it is nothing more than a formality.

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