You don’t think you’re interested in statistics, but you are. Watch this. As it turns out, the whole world is getting richer and living longer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded
(HT: Doug Wilson)
Economics
Coercion Capacity and the Libido Dominandi
Doug Wilson again:
One of the characteristics of lust is that it hates to be constrained. This applies as much to political lusts as to sexual desire…
Those who are in favor of smaller government are, when this is translated, in favor of a smaller capacity for coercion. Those who are in favor of bigger government are in favor of increased opportunities for coercion.
The libido dominandi [lust for power] is therefore characteristic of those who want more access to coercive policies, and it is not characteristic of those who don’t want that.
Processing… I hadn’t thought of government size as a measure of coercion capacity before…
Review: Eric S. Wyatt – “Facing The Coming Storm”
Something has gone very wrong in America and in Eric S. Wyatt’s opinion manufactured fear, corruption, and excessive partisanship are to blame. “Facing the Coming Storm” is one citizen’s impassioned plea for a return to the fundamentals of the American experiment. Power, he says, needs to be removed from the hands of a class of political elites and returned to the hands of the American people.
In “real” America, it seems, politicians are considerably less virtuous and self-sacrificing than you might believe based on an average episode of The West Wing. In real life, too many politicians are like Barney Frank, who “cares not a wit about the public good, as long as he can scare up enough votes for reelection.”
Apathy and fear are the enemies here. The author’s passion is one that we assume he hopes will become the norm in American society. If anything good can come of this current crisis and political climate, at least apathy seems to be waning. But an uninformed involvement is no less destructive. “It is my desire,” Wyatt writes in the introduction, “to ignite a passion for further consideration in my friends, family, and anyone else who stumbles across these words.”
Wyatt’s writing is strong enough to get the point across without the moments of sarcastic cynicism but this cynicism is not without merit considering the many clear recent examples of the type of problems he examines.
And as an author, he passes where others fail by being equally critical of both the left and the right. The book is not an Anne Coulter-style screed against anyone who is a Democrat. Neither party is spared it rightful blame here for the state of the current ideological war in today’s American society.
He sees flaws in the current administration’s handling of the financial crisis, yes, but he wisely balances that by pointing out the many mishandlings by the previous administration as well. It is the political system itself, as well as the individual parties that have lost their way and caused the crisis we are facing today.
Government is most effective, he says, when it does less. Quoting Mark Skousen, he makes the point that, “Government should only do those things that private citizens can’t do for themselves.”
Whether or not you live in the same country the author does, “Facing the Coming Storm” is worth your time. Non-American citizens will gain a better understanding of the American political system and everyone will benefit from the chapters on protecting yourself from the financial disasters running rampant in today’s crisis.
Purchase at Amazon.com
Consumption vs. Consumerism
Michael Kruse:
True pursuit of justice requires consumption. We must consume a variety of ideas and experiences that are in the marketplace of ideas as we collectively seek God’s wisdom. We have to be vigilant in finding our identity in God and not in our systems of understanding. Regrettably, much of what represents itself as prophetic advocacy is not a healthy consumption of knowledge and wisdom but merely advocacy consumerism.
Read the whole thing here.
Marketing the Church?
Michael Kruse put up a very good post here a few days ago.
Some highlights:
“First, if you are in the marketplace, regardless of how intentional you are about it, you are engaged in marketing… If you are opposed to marketing, then you are opposed to all economic transactions.”
“Second, most advertising does not persuade people to buy something they would not otherwise buy (though clearly some advertising does). Most advertising is about persuading customers to buy from a particular advertiser versus another supplier.”
And this closing:
When we’re talking about competing in the marketplace of ideas and community, there is no escape from marketing. Jesus and New Testament writers were very intent on recasting their “customers” perceptions of their own needs, on presenting themselves in specific ways, on “closing the deal” of bringing people into the new creation community, and on persuading others to do what is in their own best self-interest; namely to serve others in community, in service to God.
We no longer need to fill our identity through consumption when our identity is filled in Christ and his community of disciples.
Read the full post here.
Live Blogging the (Canadian) Debate
I hadn’t planned on doing this… in fact, I’ve never live-blogged anything before. And also, I kind of forgot the debate was going to be on so I didn’t prepare at all, but I found myself at the computer, watching TV and figured “Why not?”.
So I live micro-blogged via Twitter. Here’s the transcript, including a few comments I received along the way:
Dion on the attack…. ooooooooo, it’s like being hit by a little girl.via Twitter -
Kim C. -Oh – so fast and swift and taken down unexpectantly? LOL
I like Layton… too bad he wants a socialist dictatorship.viaTwitter -
Go Harper… he’s mentoring them.via Twitter -
Oh here we go… May is talking with about “rich people” – defined as “people with investments”. Woohoo – I guess I’m rich, I have an RRSP.via Twitter -
AnneMarie Krahn – If you’re rich why don’t I know about it?
Layton attacks Dion. Not nice Jack… shouldn’t pick on little girls.via Twitter -
Duceppe just asked about “reimborasabull” for “da turd time” – must be important.via Twitter -
Patrick F:
“Duceppe is doing it for the terd time”
Those jobs ARE going elsewhere Jack… but we’ve gained 100,000 new jobs… where’s the problem?via Twitter -
Marc M at 9:30pm October 2 -
We really need to abandon our senses and fully embrace Euro-liberalism. Pot, abortions, teen sex, gay sex, porn, gambling, draining taxes from hard-working citizens to fund nanny-state government schemes, violence and depravity in media, persecuting Christians, global-warming-Chicken-Little…all things that traditionally make the… the world a better place. Get a lobotomy, vote liberal like a good Canucklehead.
Dion: “Where… am I?”.via Twitter -
Duceppe, you’re not a party.. you’re a killjoy.via Twitter -
Harper sounds sane… but that haircut has to go.via Twitter -
May – Sweden, Germany, the Green Party, sounds like she lives on the wrong continent.via Twitter -
Quick poll for those listening: Who will the new Liberal leader be after the election? Rae or Iggy?via Twitter -
May spoke and didn’t mention Sweden or Germany… progress.via Twitter -
Switch Dion and May… they’re heading the wrong parties.viaTwitter -
Layton is playing “Weekend at Bernie’s” with the corpse of Tommy Douglas. Psssst, Jack, we know…via Twitter -
Stephane “Afterthought” Dion – they wait for him to finish, and then move on.via Twitter -
May agrees with Harper about Jack using the private clinic.viaTwitter -
Deceppe def’n: The number of people in a country is that country’s “bobalashun”.via Twitter -
May, the “Creative Class”… mmmmmmm, elitism anyone?viaTwitter -
Layton: “The arts is important to I.”.via Twitter -
AnneMarie Krahn
I think that education should be important to him…specifically the grammar part.
Dion: “Its not the job of politicians to decide who will be helped by the government.” What? Really?via Twitter -
May: “mean-spirited cuts to artists.” When it involves artists, there are no other kind.via Twitter -
How can you accuse someone of making decisions based on their ideology? Is there any other way?via Twitter -
I may have to add a Green lawn sign beside my Conservative one. Is that allowed?via Twitter -
Dion – Gotta get tough on the causes of crime: poverty, addiction, and mental illness.via Twitter -
Another cause of violence: competent leaders waiting in the wings watching current leader flush party down toilet.via Twitter -
May: literacy = no crime. Tell that to the white-collar criminals.via Twitter -
Layton is too patronizing sometimes… a little cheezy.via Twitter -
Layton: $400 per child per year will help families “get the right start in life.” That’s some frugal people.via Twitter -
Pete O
we get more than that right now with the conservatives
Harper is explaining the following to Dion: “Politics for Dummies”.via Twitter -
Duceppe shouldn’t be allowed to speak on any issues that don’t involve Quebec.via Twitter -
I repeat: Steve Pakin is very good.via Twitter -
Layton wants Harper to guarantee that no one will lose their house or job. Can YOU promise that, Jack?via Twitter -
May on politics: spoken like someone who’s never been in power. Great aspirations but significantly more complicated than that.via Twitter -
I like May… it was the right decision to have her on… performing much better than Dion, Layton, and that guy who wants to leave the country …via Twitter -
Dion is so easily pushed around.. they’re toying with him.viaTwitter -
Good debate… I make a lot of fun of Dion but a person of his many weaknesses should not be the leader of a national party.via Twitter-
CBC television just spent time analyzing Twitter updates during the debate. Interesting.via Twitter -
Follow me on Twitter.
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Jesus vs. Stuff
STORY
As he traveled, Jesus taught the crowds that gathered around him.
When the story of the Rich Young Ruler is told in Matthew the young man runs up to Jesus just as he is setting out on his journey. He’s waited until the last minute, possibly hoping the crowd has pretty much gone on their way and nobody will see him talking to Jesus. This is his moment; he’s been walking around the edges of the crowd while Jesus spoke. He hears something in Jesus message and feels that he’s missing something.
The scripture says that he was not just rich, but extremely rich. The Jews equated riches with divine favor. So unlike the story of Zacchaeus the people probably would have thought it proper for Jesus to consort with this type of man. Here was someone whom everyone respected, who Jesus could probably gain some advantage from.
Alfred Plummer guesses that, “This rich man had no doubt previously consulted the official teachers on the question he put to Jesus, and had evidently not been satisfied with their answers.”
As he kneels before Jesus he asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Now commentators are split on whether or not this young man was sincerely seeking an answer or only hoping to get a cheap spiritual product from Jesus.
Gundry says, “He seemed to think he could gain eternal life by a single heroic act.” In other words he was hoping for a quick-fix answer, something that could be accomplished in a moment, or at most a 30-day period of intense effort, like one of those “30 lbs in 30 days” programs you see advertised on telephone poles in high traffic areas.
Perhaps he expected, or even hoped that Jesus would give him a difficult task that his great wealth would enable him to accomplish. This would have been the “win-win” scenario that he was looking for. Finally, he thought, an opportunity to use my wealth for “good”!
JESUS LOVED HIM
One detail that is mentioned in the story in the book of Mark is that before Jesus answered him he felt love for him. So another commentator believed the seeker was sincere, otherwise his false pretence would have aroused disgust in Jesus rather than sympathetic love (for his sincerity).
This implies a searching love… like a pause you leave between when someone asks you a tough question and when you answer with something you’re quite sure they won’t want to hear
Jesus might have thought as he looked at him “I love you, but I know you’re not going to like this answer.”
“ONE THING”
Jesus answers, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And then the young man replies that he has kept all of these commandments all his life.
No one is good except God alone – why does Jesus say that? Is the young man hiding the fact that he already believes that Jesus is God and hoping that Jesus won’t ask of him exactly what he’s about to ask?
Luke 18:22a “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack…”
“You only lack one thing…” The young man’s eyes open wide with anticipation, “Wow – I thought it would be a bunch of stuff… but only ONE thing?! I’m sure I can do that Woo, I heard that you could read minds and stuff and I thought you were going to give me this list of stuff that I had to make right. Whew, only one thing eh? So, what is it?”
Luke 18:22b Jesus says “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
What is Jesus telling him to do? This challenge is meant to reveal the thing that the young man’s heart is attached to. “You have everything,” Jesus tells him, “Except one thing… Unfortunately, getting the one thing you lack will cost you everything else you have.”
JD Hastings: “Human nature is like a boat upon the seas, it will stay only where it is fastened.” Where you drop your anchor, that’s where you’ll stay. The young man needed to detach himself from the anchor of excessive wealth. I like the way another author puts it: “When he opens his hand to grab hold of Jesus, his earthly riches will fall out of his clutches and land on the poor.” (Abraham Piper)
Sadly, we read in Luke 18:23 that, “when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”
WHO IS RICH?
The World Bank estimates in their most recent study that “1.4 billion people, or one quarter of the population of the developing world, lived below our international line of $1.25 a day in 2005.” This is the total financial resource for an entire day to buy food, pay for shelter, and live off of.
Still looking at other people as rich? I calculated how much I live on per day, it was more than $1.25. It was closer to 100 times that much.
CAMEL – NEEDLE
Next Jesus turns to those left after the young man went away and says, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Is he exaggerating a bit or is there a point to this? He does say that with God such things are possible, but I think his point is well made that being rich will hinder your chances of being his disciple.
Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” Remember, the Jews at that time thought that if you were rich it meant that you were already favored by God… so if this guy couldn’t be saved, who could?
REWARDS
At this point Peter (always one to step forward and open his mouth) says, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
In Matthew and Mark Jesus actually says that the rewards for the sacrifices in this life will be a hundredfold.
The rich young man was not willing to invest in the idea that Jesus was proposing like he was in all those other proposals that we presume had made him so rich. Investment thinking: “I have to get more out than I put in.” In this case, he chose the riches he could touch and see in this life over the riches Jesus promised him in the next life. The difference was faith.
Jesus says if you make money and stuff your goal in life there is almost no chance that you’ll end up a disciple of his. Nowhere does Jesus say it is a sin to be wealthy, but he does say that if you do become wealthy it becomes very difficult to be one of his followers.
Good to Great (Author: Jim Collins)
The Search for Meaning (P208)
Collins writes about “the search for meaning, or more precisely, the search for meaningful work,” and tells the story of someone who went to school for economics and had great job prospects but chose something else because “she just didn’t care enough about those endeavors to want to make them great.” This is the same situation I find myself in, and one of the reasons I’m exiting my current job. Making great product is a goal, but it’s not one that I get genuinely excited about. I may have at one time, but for numerous reasons I don’t anymore. We won’t get into the laundry here…
He goes on to recommend getting involved in “something that you care so much about that you want to make it the greatest it can possibly be, not because of what you will get, but just because it can be done.” I wonder how many people can say with great honesty that that’s why they’re working where they are. “We should only do those things that we can get passionate about,” he says on P109.
“Level 5″ Leaders
These are found, says Collins, in situations where they are “doing something they really care about, about which they have great passion.” In the pull-quote on the same page it says
Well, I’m asking: how many people are engaged in work that makes them feel “compelled to try to create greatness”? Maybe more people than I think.
This book, as I see it, may be useful to higher level executives who possess the ability to tinker with organizational structures. Too often though, the mid-level manager and the shop floor employee are at the mercy of this tinkering – or, on occasion, are restricted by nepotism.
If you are a business owner or someone in the higher levels of authority where you work, I recommend this book. Read it, do what it says, and I’m sure you’ll find some success. Click here to view it on Amazon.com.