Glenn Beck, the Mormons, Christians, and politics

Good points!

I wouldn't want Beck to be an elder in our church but I think I can agree with many of his political views and admire his tenacity to pursue them in the face of much criticism.

I do think we must beware not to join hands with non-believers in areas that directly imply a common belief when there's not one and that's the danger of interfaith coalitions with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. as well as some of the cults of so-called Christian faiths.

I'm a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - first and foremost, a conservative second when it represents the concepts I think it should, and a Republican third when they act like conservatives!

 

OK lets reason this out together because I'm no liberal or believer in Socialism. If what I am hearing from some very reputable economic sources I meet with in the Wall Street area, they indicate we have from 6 months to a year before registered unemployment is up to 20%. As you know the present POTUS & his administration will do nothing to ward off the predatory bankers & also Barry is fearful of upsetting China so they will just end up killing any free trade so we will really be bleed jobs. When these people fall off unemployment where do they go? I would suggest to Welfare, SS, Food Stamps, Freebies at your Hospitals & Medical Centers....all welfare handouts the the American Tax payer will pick up (far more than an unemployment check). Brother, how will you & the American Taxpayer dig themselves out of that much deeper hole? If you can tell me your economic plan, then I am all ears.

 

Don't worry. The Republican Baptist small business owners and craftsmen, the real Christians, will be doing OK Because God is on their side. It is the left wing Catholics and worse who will be on the bread lines.

 

The only way we will dig ourselves out of government debt is by increasing the exchange of goods and services in the private sector in order to generate enough income to pay taxes to fund the continued growth or government and to pay off the debts they've already incurred. Does that seem likely with today's thinking that all solutions come from the government? Government is increasingly in the way! To increase the exchange of goods and services we have to make it profitable for people with the resources to make the investments that are required. All those "rich people" that are so vilified are needed to create the real jobs needed by workers. They need workers to make more money and, in turn, the workers get to make money and, in keeping with everyone's dream, some of them will rise up with good ideas, hard work, and convincing arguments to build new businesses. That's the only thing that fuels a solid economy. The rest is just slight of hand - moving wealth around to appease whomever squawks the loudest.

 

And so your suggesting that American labor take the same rate of pay as the Chinese & the other Asian block countries? Please say no to that & clarify more.

 

American labor and American business have to agree on what the pay is depending on the supply of labor and the demand of business. Individual workers have to compete for the jobs based on the skills they own. Individual businesses have to compete for the workers to fill the jobs that the businesses own. We all have to compete with foreign labor and business. No doubt that's a challenge because there are people around the world willing to work for a lot less - they have a lot less - and willing to do things with less care for the workers, environment, etc. - they have different priorities. But, we have no choice except to compete - like it or not! We just need to get busy doing productive things instead of expecting the government to feed us at our current standard and protect us from world wide competition. Our government needs to consider dropping corporate taxes to increase the incentive for businesses to plant themselves firmly in America. Those taxes just get passed on the consumers anyway and with handling fees. Our government needs to consider a better balance between rules and regulations and risks and productivity. We have entirely too much of our work force engaged in compliance with government rules and regulations that don't add that much value. We're choking on about 100,000 pages per year of stuff published in the Federal Register.

 

OK....let me bottom line this ......Chinese labor receives 30 Cents per hour & average 35 hour shifts in factories & sweat shops.

 

There are a lot of Chinese - and others - who don't have the standard of living yet that we do and they're willing to work for a lot less and do a lot more for it than we are. As their standard of living increases so will their demands for higher wages and better working conditions. There will be increased demand within China for more goods and services and that will have an impact on both the supply and demand side of labor. Remember the edge that Japan had for so long and how that has narrowed in recent times? It will work out in the long term.

On our end, we're going to be effected by this so long as there is trade between nations and there always will be. What should we do? Restrict trade? Put the Chinese workers out of work? Make Chinese businesses pay their workers more? We cannot or should not! We have to figure out how we can compete by designing, making, marketing, and selling goods and services people want and are willing to pay us to make. We have to make it easier for investors and businesses to start and grow in America. We've got to let people keep more of their wages for their own purposes. If not, then, we may just have to accept less because the competition isn't going to go away. We do need to make sure our trade agreements are fair but, aside from that, there's not much we should expect our government to do.

The government cannot manufacturer jobs or create any real wealth. That's what makes the "stimulus" programs such a joke! They're mostly about more government jobs or government ownership - and control - of private industry. Didn't we observe anything about the Communist countries and their gross failures with such things? Anything government does has to be paid for with taxes and that's always going to be a drain on the proceeds of labor. Anything it does is always tainted with politics and agendas other than the main goal. We can kid ourselves all we want but that's the way it is.

 

Look at it like this: Every time the Democrats "do good by the average American" and raise the minimum wage, they automatically drive an increase in product costs. End result? American worker gets paid more then he/she was two years ago, but the products they buy to provide a basic lifestyle have also increased.

It's a zero-sum game...except for the fact that more overall wealth is required to support the entire population, in an economy that really isn't generating any more wealth.

Of course, I'm no economist....

 

Does it really increase costs? Not that many people make minimum wage. I don't have a problem with a minimum wage, but I'm also not a big fan of using increases to score political points. I've held three jobs, two private sector and one public sector, which have all paid above minimum wage.

 

Of course it does! No one sells hamburgers very long without making a profit. If labor costs go up then so does the price of the burgers or, if not, down goes the quality or quantity of the food. It also means that some jobs just don't get created because the payroll costs would be too high for the value of work done. Government meddling never does much good!

 

Yes I know...."Work Makes Freedom" ....now where have I heard that before? Hmmmm

 

Reagonnomics!!:thumbs:
Dragoon------uummmmmm----is your last name spelled R-E-A-G-O-N???

 

Yea he is dead too

 

The major economic theories out there both agree that the way to recovery in a bad economy is to boost aggregate demand. One theory believes this is done through more government and deficit spending and the other believes spending must be done through the encouragement of savings. Unfortunately, both Bush and Obama fall in the first camp, I fall in the latter for a few reasons.

1. Deficit spending only increases mal-investment which will cause another bust.
2. Debt is not a good thing from a Biblical perspective.
3. Government does not grow the economy or the GDP, businesses grow the GDP.
4. Government spending ignores real human action and motivation.

I do not fear the bust like we have seen. While it hurts people, it is actually good because we have so over invested in certain areas creating a huge mal-investment which needed correcting. The problem is that we are replacing one mal-investment that resulted in our modern problems with another one.

My opinion is that we should be encouraging savings to discourage mal-investment so we can let the economy soar. Mal-investment will give an appearance of a recovery but will ultimately result in another bust.

 

And that is true.

I am a Baptist Republican Small Business Owner (sorry, for those who think this is foul language...not trying to offend), and taxes eat me alive.

Am I okay, because God is taking care of me?

You got that right!

But, I struggle, as is the case for nearly every business owner, especially when they just begin their companies.

I have been at it for seven years now, and I can tell you, governmental interference has done more to hurt my trade, and...those in the country who are already monetarily disadvantaged.

How so?

Glad you asked.

My business is Heating and Air Conditioning, and in the seven years I have been in business, the cost of residential Heating and Air has nearly doubled.

Why? Because of regulation due to "global warming."

Stricter requirements mean higher "R' values, higher S.E.E.R. ratings, higher taxes.

Its funny how much harm is done to the people of our country, in order to save the world.

I go into every neighborhood imaginable, and those in the poorer neighborhoods are at a point where they just cannot afford to properly address their HVAC needs.

Which results in using unlicensed, uninsured "workers," who, often enough, get a deposit, do a little work, and then guess what?

Can't get in touch with them (their voice mail is full, so it cannot be verified that your call got through), and they need to contact someone else.

Want to stimulate the economy?

Then bring on the tax breaks for small business.

For big business as well.

Then maybe I could afford to put on people, and create jobs.

As it is right now, I have to struggle to pay my own taxes, and cannot afford to pay on someone elses.

The economy has been bad lately, and has picked up a little, at least in my area, but until the cost of operation gets a breather...operation is going to be sluggish.

God bless.

 

Does anyone think that union wages do NOT set the standard of comparison in any community?

 

By the way, you all understand that Mormonism is basically a fertility cult? Every good Mormon male earns his own planet stocked with willing females to populate the planet.

 

Where do you sign up?

 

Regarding Glen Beck & that crying shtick...take a look. :wavey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t--31c1d72s