We all have our areas of weakness which normally get us off track or "coveting" after things we don't yet have, and for me this has been mostly high tech things and art supplies for most of my life. When I was 14 I saved up all of my pennies (and dollars, and so forth) until I could buy my own Commadore 64 personal computer, which my parents of course thought was ridiculous, but I just had to have it. Since that time, I have had to have a selection of other cool toys...the stereo...the huge record collection (just saying that no doubt reveals I am pushing 40)...being one of the first people to study Computer graphics at our college of art and design (learning, as I have said before, things my 9 year old daughter Isobel now does as a matter of course...my degree is a teensy bit out of date)...I also have a problem with planners. I have a plethora of planner books, and I have always diligently kept a journal and planner, and have been on the prowl for the ultimate planner that would make me organized (since, by nature, I'm just not at all there in this area of orderliness).
From time to time, in an effort to break the chains that bind me (namely, my covetousness problem relating to high tech gadgetry and office supplies), I have done tech fasts. I also live a fairly old fashioned lifestyle by choice: I'm a stay at home mom, I have a big garden, I can my own food, I am paranoid of cooking with a microwave, I own a whirly pop (and use it!), I make my bread by hand, and sew quite a bit, among other things. I'm also, while living in a rural homestead, a freelance web and graphic designer (often working on my laptop, with my canning apron on, standing up in my kitchen, surrounded by bushels of tomatoes to peel, if you can only picture it).
Because God, in His providence, allowed me graciously to be born for such a time as this, my view has been to use that which is available to me in this decade for His glory, rather than, as some, to long for the Little House on the Prairie days. Although living a slower life would be a blessing, starting my chicken dinner with catching a chicken, killing, and plucking it would not be. There are some modern conveniences I would rather not do without...but the key is using these modern conveniences to be better able to give God glory in whatever God has called us to...whether as a keeper at home, mother of many, student, or what have you.
As I was thinking and praying, and studying the Word recently, I came across a familiar passage...one that actually influenced me greatly when I was a new Christian. That verse is this: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." (1 Corinthians 6:12) The problem is not technology. Technology is a tool that can be super helpful in enabling us as we serve the Lord in any way He call us. The trick is to remember who is the master and who is the servant here. Tech makes a great servant but a lousy master.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian Friends
...as well as to those who celebrate Thanksgiving in other lands.
My blog post today is on just that topic...but it isn't found here...it's at TEACH Magazine's Publisher's Blog...right here!
My blog post today is on just that topic...but it isn't found here...it's at TEACH Magazine's Publisher's Blog...right here!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Confused? Maybe this will help...or make it worse ;)
Maybe this doesn't really fall under the category of things that are specifically for moms, but I have had a few readers of my book, Thriving on One Income ask me what this whole banking situation was about, and later on an egroup this was discussed. Using the questions I have been asked, I am going to try to explain this in such a way that hopefully you will have a better understanding.
The thing is (1) I am not an accountant or stock broker...but I do like to read up on this stuff and invest the Lord's money as wisely as possible. (2) everyone involved seems to be giving a different story and pointing the finger all around, so some may contradict what I write here...no problem, I'm not claiming to be an insider with vast knowledge on this topic. (3) this situation is occurring in an election year and thus many of the "facts" are tainted with political mud slinging and blame shifting.
I have tried to cite my sources as much as is possible for further reading.
Ultimately though, keep in mind, God is bigger than all of this scary stuff. He is in control. He owns the cattle on the thousand hills (and doesn't need AIG to insure it! LOL). God can take care of us, and meet our needs, and may even use this awful situation to bring some badly needed revival to our lands. Our God is a recession-proof God. God is faithful.
Julie wrote,
Julie, I don't understand all of it to the most minute detail but I have kept up with this and understand most of it. Friends and I had a huge discussion on this just this weekend, and I feel I have a pretty good understanding now...In a very, very basic nutshell here is what happened.
In the 1990s, the government put pressure on Fannie Mae (A government backed mortgage enterprise that makes and guarantees mortgages via our tax dollars--Freddie Mac is the other government enterprise which is similar) to make home ownership for everyone...by lowering the standards and "not discriminating". These loans are "sub prime" because the people who took out the loans (1) didn't have good credit (2) didn't have reliable employment or good income and (3) the home usually was mortgaged to 100% or 120%...on the faulty gamble that home values would always go up (not when you are giving poor people with a track record of poor money management skills mortgages!!!! Now everyone's savings and home values are in the toilet..but more on that later.). There has always been "sub prime" (high risk) loans but this was ramped up to a new level with the influx of new home buyers with bad money management skills.
This created a sort of bubble...an insulated cocoon in which home values have gone up at insane rates because pretty much anyone qualified for a mortgage of some sort (even if it was at 14% ARM--meaning the rate would go up when the fed raised interest rates). More home buyers, meant more competition when buying a home, which meant the prices went up.
In the later Clinton years and in the Bush years, various policies and different circumstances caused the manufacturing sector (people who work in factories) to start to falter...and a few people started to default on their mortgages, and fewer people were buying new cars...causing the factories to lay people off, causing more home mortgage defaults...and this huge cycle was put in motion in which people couldn't pay their bills if they were maxed out, or were paying late, and after a while they couldn't even sell their home to move due to job changes because the value of the home had dropped so dramatically (this happened to us, in fact, in 2005 when my husband was laid off, got a job out of state, but our house wouldn't move, and appraised for quite a bit lower even after we made improvements). Some incomes stagnated and others went down, which meant foreclosures, bad credit, etc.
Sure, they claim more jobs were created, and that the workers just needed new training, but let's face it: a daddy working 50+ hours per week in a skilled trades job trying to support his family with no other job skills is hooped if his job is outsourced, because he can't take time off from working and supporting his family to take some class and learn a new skill, even if that class is "free". Not everyone is flexible in their career choices. Single moms, breadwinners, etc....it's not like you can just stop paying your bills while learning a new skill only to have to start over again at entry level wages.
A house's appraised value (what a mortgage underwriter feels it is worth) is based on a number of things including the value of "comparables" (similar houses that have sold in the area recently). This caused many problems....for example, when my husband lost his job in Michigan and was working in Ohio, we couldn't sell our house because all of our comparables that had sold recently were foreclosures that sold for 1/3rd of what we owed on our mortgage! Nice, huh? So, we couldn't sell our house because (1) no one would pay full price for ours when there was a few foreclosed bargains up the road and (2) the house would not likely appraise high enough for a mortgage even though we had done some improvements to it. So we were stuck, not that I wanted to move to Ohio (I didn't). So, for someone who, say, couldn't get another job in that area, that caused HUGE problems...and more foreclosures. We have foreclosed houses all around us right now. It's bargain shopping time in Michigan...if you can find a job.
Why did banks do it? They could justify higher than normal interest for one, and they could also count on people who get sub prime mortgages not being smart enough to read the fine print, or understand what an Adjustable rate mortgage was, or understand that it is NOT a good thing to have your house mortgaged to 120% it's appraised value (the best is to only mortgage 80%...putting a 20% down payment down). This whole Fannie Mae thing "generously" allowed people to buy houses without downpayments, and sometimes borrowing on equity that they gambled would be in the house in a few years. Ie, say a house is worth $100,000. Because values were climbing at a certain rate, the bank allowed people to borrow $120,000 for a mortgage (keeping the $20,000 for moving costs, home repairs, or whatever), and so now they owed $120K on a $100K house...with the assumption that the house would climb in value, and be worth way more than that in the future. This was true...for awhile...but isn't anymore.
Add to this the fact that even my not-quite-16-year-old daughter gets credit card pre approvals, and most Americans are in debt up to their eyeballs...we have done what the banks did, but on a smaller scale...spread ourselves too thin financially. This also contributed to the present situation.
Through all of this AIG, an insurance company, was insuring these loans for the banks, and making a killing...but they were also creatively balancing their checkbooks, and didn't actually have enough money to make good on the promises they were making in their insurance policies. They were promising bankers that they would pay for a loan where the person defaulted...and 10 years ago that was a safe bet, because few defaulted, home values consistently went up, and they were making lots of money. But, it was a house of cards. AIG didn't have enough money to pay the banks if too many people defaulted....and too many people did default.
Now these banks are crying poverty and those of us who pay our bills on time are getting rewarded by having to pay this bill.
Picture two columns on a spread sheet. One has a plus over it and one has a minus. The minus is money the bank has to pay (to keep the place open, to pay dividends on investments and deposits, etc.), and the plus is money that is coming into a bank (people paying the bank interest for loans it is giving out, for example). The bank is not going to make money by just charitably holding onto other people's money for nothing, and in fact if often owes people who have deposits, due to interest dividends they receive (for example, I have some money in a CD right now that is earning 5.05% interest...that is money that costs the bank something...so it needs to earn money somehow to pay me when it comes time to get my dividend come November). The money has to be put to work for them while they are holding onto it. Loaning it all out to Joe Blow who is already maxed out on his credit cards is RISKY, but the higher the risk, the higher the potential return (profit)...though the higher the potential loss too. Instead it looks for ways to invest that money so that it can make some money for itself while it holds onto it for you. The problem is those risky loans make way more money in interest, because you can charge more interest to someone who is higher risk...though if you do that too much, and too many default...you are in serious trouble. Thankfully those kind folks at AIG insure these risky loans so that the banks don't have to worry .... er, until the day AIG files bankruptcy! Whoops.
Imagine a bank is buying up a bunch of mortgages made to people who shouldn't have been given them in the first place ("subprime"), and earning all of that interest, but just in case, he needs to insure this investment, against people defaulting on them, so he goes to an AIG guy, and buys some insurance for this investment. If all of this sound surreal, it's because it is completely whacked. Without a fancy Ivy League degree in finance, I am pretty sure that normal people like us will never understand why banks thought investing huge percentages of their money into very risky loans was a good thing, or why no one bothered to ask if AIG could really back all of these loans.
On our ficticious 120,000 mortgage, the banker is paying some percentage rate based on the likihood of the mortgage holder defaulting (let's say, 2%) to insure the loan and thus the AIG guy gets $2400 a year with a promise that if the person who was given a loan without being able to manage their money defaults on the loan, then AIG promises to pay the bank whatever this person still owes on the loan. The big problem was that AIG made this promise way more than it could actually BACK the promise. It simply didn't have enough money to back all of these risky loans and no one really noticed (or they noticed, but didn't care).
Here is the problem. In a secured loan, you have to put down collateral. That means, you insure it with something real. you don't just get a $120,000 loan with a handshake and a smile. The problem is that these transactions were "unregulated" and AIG didn't have to prove to anyone that it had enough money to back up these presumptous promises it was making. It was promising to pay these banks all of this money for all of these loans if these people defaulted...counting on them not defaulting, of course...but it was allowed to write up these contracts and make these promises to the banks without proving to anyone that it could back up the promises (with capital...namely what it owned...what it was worth...the money it personally had in the bank)
Now the Fed is reaching into our wallets now to pay for their day to day operations (supposedly...I wouldn't be surprised if someone is also lining their pockets with some of this green too)...because they are having to be far more cautious and conservative with investing money, and so less is coming in...and they have to pay those who have deposited money....like me with my CD that is coming due in November. Essentially, the banks are not earning enough money on a day to day basis anymore (because they can't invest) and so now their cost of operations, in addition to what they owe depositors, is coming out of the pockets of we the people. Don't you love how the CEO of AIG gets a 15 Million Dollar Severance package after running the company into the ground and WE get the bill?.
I'm glad God is in control, and that even in this situation, He can work, frustrating as it is for the rest of us.
The thing is (1) I am not an accountant or stock broker...but I do like to read up on this stuff and invest the Lord's money as wisely as possible. (2) everyone involved seems to be giving a different story and pointing the finger all around, so some may contradict what I write here...no problem, I'm not claiming to be an insider with vast knowledge on this topic. (3) this situation is occurring in an election year and thus many of the "facts" are tainted with political mud slinging and blame shifting.
I have tried to cite my sources as much as is possible for further reading.
Ultimately though, keep in mind, God is bigger than all of this scary stuff. He is in control. He owns the cattle on the thousand hills (and doesn't need AIG to insure it! LOL). God can take care of us, and meet our needs, and may even use this awful situation to bring some badly needed revival to our lands. Our God is a recession-proof God. God is faithful.
Julie wrote,
THIS MAKES ME FEEL SO DUMB. I SO WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN THIS FINANCIAL CRISIS (AND TEACH IT TO MY KIDS).
Julie, I don't understand all of it to the most minute detail but I have kept up with this and understand most of it. Friends and I had a huge discussion on this just this weekend, and I feel I have a pretty good understanding now...In a very, very basic nutshell here is what happened.
In the 1990s, the government put pressure on Fannie Mae (A government backed mortgage enterprise that makes and guarantees mortgages via our tax dollars--Freddie Mac is the other government enterprise which is similar) to make home ownership for everyone...by lowering the standards and "not discriminating". These loans are "sub prime" because the people who took out the loans (1) didn't have good credit (2) didn't have reliable employment or good income and (3) the home usually was mortgaged to 100% or 120%...on the faulty gamble that home values would always go up (not when you are giving poor people with a track record of poor money management skills mortgages!!!! Now everyone's savings and home values are in the toilet..but more on that later.). There has always been "sub prime" (high risk) loans but this was ramped up to a new level with the influx of new home buyers with bad money management skills.
This created a sort of bubble...an insulated cocoon in which home values have gone up at insane rates because pretty much anyone qualified for a mortgage of some sort (even if it was at 14% ARM--meaning the rate would go up when the fed raised interest rates). More home buyers, meant more competition when buying a home, which meant the prices went up.
In the later Clinton years and in the Bush years, various policies and different circumstances caused the manufacturing sector (people who work in factories) to start to falter...and a few people started to default on their mortgages, and fewer people were buying new cars...causing the factories to lay people off, causing more home mortgage defaults...and this huge cycle was put in motion in which people couldn't pay their bills if they were maxed out, or were paying late, and after a while they couldn't even sell their home to move due to job changes because the value of the home had dropped so dramatically (this happened to us, in fact, in 2005 when my husband was laid off, got a job out of state, but our house wouldn't move, and appraised for quite a bit lower even after we made improvements). Some incomes stagnated and others went down, which meant foreclosures, bad credit, etc.
Sure, they claim more jobs were created, and that the workers just needed new training, but let's face it: a daddy working 50+ hours per week in a skilled trades job trying to support his family with no other job skills is hooped if his job is outsourced, because he can't take time off from working and supporting his family to take some class and learn a new skill, even if that class is "free". Not everyone is flexible in their career choices. Single moms, breadwinners, etc....it's not like you can just stop paying your bills while learning a new skill only to have to start over again at entry level wages.
A house's appraised value (what a mortgage underwriter feels it is worth) is based on a number of things including the value of "comparables" (similar houses that have sold in the area recently). This caused many problems....for example, when my husband lost his job in Michigan and was working in Ohio, we couldn't sell our house because all of our comparables that had sold recently were foreclosures that sold for 1/3rd of what we owed on our mortgage! Nice, huh? So, we couldn't sell our house because (1) no one would pay full price for ours when there was a few foreclosed bargains up the road and (2) the house would not likely appraise high enough for a mortgage even though we had done some improvements to it. So we were stuck, not that I wanted to move to Ohio (I didn't). So, for someone who, say, couldn't get another job in that area, that caused HUGE problems...and more foreclosures. We have foreclosed houses all around us right now. It's bargain shopping time in Michigan...if you can find a job.
Why did banks do it? They could justify higher than normal interest for one, and they could also count on people who get sub prime mortgages not being smart enough to read the fine print, or understand what an Adjustable rate mortgage was, or understand that it is NOT a good thing to have your house mortgaged to 120% it's appraised value (the best is to only mortgage 80%...putting a 20% down payment down). This whole Fannie Mae thing "generously" allowed people to buy houses without downpayments, and sometimes borrowing on equity that they gambled would be in the house in a few years. Ie, say a house is worth $100,000. Because values were climbing at a certain rate, the bank allowed people to borrow $120,000 for a mortgage (keeping the $20,000 for moving costs, home repairs, or whatever), and so now they owed $120K on a $100K house...with the assumption that the house would climb in value, and be worth way more than that in the future. This was true...for awhile...but isn't anymore.
Add to this the fact that even my not-quite-16-year-old daughter gets credit card pre approvals, and most Americans are in debt up to their eyeballs...we have done what the banks did, but on a smaller scale...spread ourselves too thin financially. This also contributed to the present situation.
Through all of this AIG, an insurance company, was insuring these loans for the banks, and making a killing...but they were also creatively balancing their checkbooks, and didn't actually have enough money to make good on the promises they were making in their insurance policies. They were promising bankers that they would pay for a loan where the person defaulted...and 10 years ago that was a safe bet, because few defaulted, home values consistently went up, and they were making lots of money. But, it was a house of cards. AIG didn't have enough money to pay the banks if too many people defaulted....and too many people did default.
Now these banks are crying poverty and those of us who pay our bills on time are getting rewarded by having to pay this bill.
Picture two columns on a spread sheet. One has a plus over it and one has a minus. The minus is money the bank has to pay (to keep the place open, to pay dividends on investments and deposits, etc.), and the plus is money that is coming into a bank (people paying the bank interest for loans it is giving out, for example). The bank is not going to make money by just charitably holding onto other people's money for nothing, and in fact if often owes people who have deposits, due to interest dividends they receive (for example, I have some money in a CD right now that is earning 5.05% interest...that is money that costs the bank something...so it needs to earn money somehow to pay me when it comes time to get my dividend come November). The money has to be put to work for them while they are holding onto it. Loaning it all out to Joe Blow who is already maxed out on his credit cards is RISKY, but the higher the risk, the higher the potential return (profit)...though the higher the potential loss too. Instead it looks for ways to invest that money so that it can make some money for itself while it holds onto it for you. The problem is those risky loans make way more money in interest, because you can charge more interest to someone who is higher risk...though if you do that too much, and too many default...you are in serious trouble. Thankfully those kind folks at AIG insure these risky loans so that the banks don't have to worry .... er, until the day AIG files bankruptcy! Whoops.
Imagine a bank is buying up a bunch of mortgages made to people who shouldn't have been given them in the first place ("subprime"), and earning all of that interest, but just in case, he needs to insure this investment, against people defaulting on them, so he goes to an AIG guy, and buys some insurance for this investment. If all of this sound surreal, it's because it is completely whacked. Without a fancy Ivy League degree in finance, I am pretty sure that normal people like us will never understand why banks thought investing huge percentages of their money into very risky loans was a good thing, or why no one bothered to ask if AIG could really back all of these loans.
On our ficticious 120,000 mortgage, the banker is paying some percentage rate based on the likihood of the mortgage holder defaulting (let's say, 2%) to insure the loan and thus the AIG guy gets $2400 a year with a promise that if the person who was given a loan without being able to manage their money defaults on the loan, then AIG promises to pay the bank whatever this person still owes on the loan. The big problem was that AIG made this promise way more than it could actually BACK the promise. It simply didn't have enough money to back all of these risky loans and no one really noticed (or they noticed, but didn't care).
Here is the problem. In a secured loan, you have to put down collateral. That means, you insure it with something real. you don't just get a $120,000 loan with a handshake and a smile. The problem is that these transactions were "unregulated" and AIG didn't have to prove to anyone that it had enough money to back up these presumptous promises it was making. It was promising to pay these banks all of this money for all of these loans if these people defaulted...counting on them not defaulting, of course...but it was allowed to write up these contracts and make these promises to the banks without proving to anyone that it could back up the promises (with capital...namely what it owned...what it was worth...the money it personally had in the bank)
Now the Fed is reaching into our wallets now to pay for their day to day operations (supposedly...I wouldn't be surprised if someone is also lining their pockets with some of this green too)...because they are having to be far more cautious and conservative with investing money, and so less is coming in...and they have to pay those who have deposited money....like me with my CD that is coming due in November. Essentially, the banks are not earning enough money on a day to day basis anymore (because they can't invest) and so now their cost of operations, in addition to what they owe depositors, is coming out of the pockets of we the people. Don't you love how the CEO of AIG gets a 15 Million Dollar Severance package after running the company into the ground and WE get the bill?.
I'm glad God is in control, and that even in this situation, He can work, frustrating as it is for the rest of us.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Walking Away?
Just when you thought you had heard it all, well...you haven't. I haven't.
First we had the safe haven laws. These laws, basically, were created under the assumption that some scared teenager could drop off a newborn at a "Safe place" like a hospital, police station, etc. with no questions asked and no consequences, instead of dumping the baby in the garbage as has happened in the past. Nebraska, however, worded it wrong, referring not to a baby but to a "child", and not defining child.
Some sorry excuse for a human being dropped off her 14 year old daughter. Elsewhere I have read of people dropping off other children of different ages, including apparently many pre-teen and teenagers. One "father" (let's use that term loosely) dropped off 9 children. Say What?
As I read that, here I was in my dining room...with my five children all working more or less quietly on different projects at our table....children that include a 15 year old and a 13 year old...and I felt so sick inside of this. I know many people have joked (I think they were joking) with me about "just wait till they are all teenagers" but honestly, some things seem to just get better with age...like parenting. I like my kids. I enjoy being a mom to teenagers. I know, what a shocker. Way more fun than breastfeeding, not sleeping, and changing diapers.
What makes some "parent" drop off their kid (or 9 kids)? Here are the reasons cited:
1. "They were tired of their parenting role"
2. "child behavioral problems"
Maybe parenting for some of these folks is kinda like getting a puppy...they're cute while they're little, huh? ....As if it wasn't bad enough that people drop off once-cute puppies off to shelters when they get to be out of control dogs that they had failed to train, or cats that they didn't spay that are now breeding like tribbles, now they are allowing people to do this with HUMAN BEINGS?
I guess I can't fathom it, "I can't control my brat, so here you go. Take them off my hands, please. I'm tired of being a parent."
...and nothing happens to them.
They walk away from scarred-for-life children and teens with no consequences. I've always found it appalling that we don't have a "mandatory sterilization with your third abortion" law for those repeat customers down at planned parenthood, or a "dump your baby, lose an ovary" law for people who put newborns in garbage cans (or leave them at safe havens for that matter)....but I can't even come up with a suitable punishment for the emotional damage these people have done to their children.
Remember to pray for these poor young people who have faced the ultimate rejection: being walked out on by their own parents.
First we had the safe haven laws. These laws, basically, were created under the assumption that some scared teenager could drop off a newborn at a "Safe place" like a hospital, police station, etc. with no questions asked and no consequences, instead of dumping the baby in the garbage as has happened in the past. Nebraska, however, worded it wrong, referring not to a baby but to a "child", and not defining child.
Some sorry excuse for a human being dropped off her 14 year old daughter. Elsewhere I have read of people dropping off other children of different ages, including apparently many pre-teen and teenagers. One "father" (let's use that term loosely) dropped off 9 children. Say What?
As I read that, here I was in my dining room...with my five children all working more or less quietly on different projects at our table....children that include a 15 year old and a 13 year old...and I felt so sick inside of this. I know many people have joked (I think they were joking) with me about "just wait till they are all teenagers" but honestly, some things seem to just get better with age...like parenting. I like my kids. I enjoy being a mom to teenagers. I know, what a shocker. Way more fun than breastfeeding, not sleeping, and changing diapers.
What makes some "parent" drop off their kid (or 9 kids)? Here are the reasons cited:
1. "They were tired of their parenting role"
2. "child behavioral problems"
Maybe parenting for some of these folks is kinda like getting a puppy...they're cute while they're little, huh? ....As if it wasn't bad enough that people drop off once-cute puppies off to shelters when they get to be out of control dogs that they had failed to train, or cats that they didn't spay that are now breeding like tribbles, now they are allowing people to do this with HUMAN BEINGS?
I guess I can't fathom it, "I can't control my brat, so here you go. Take them off my hands, please. I'm tired of being a parent."
...and nothing happens to them.
They walk away from scarred-for-life children and teens with no consequences. I've always found it appalling that we don't have a "mandatory sterilization with your third abortion" law for those repeat customers down at planned parenthood, or a "dump your baby, lose an ovary" law for people who put newborns in garbage cans (or leave them at safe havens for that matter)....but I can't even come up with a suitable punishment for the emotional damage these people have done to their children.
Remember to pray for these poor young people who have faced the ultimate rejection: being walked out on by their own parents.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Joyful Momma at TEACH Magazine Today
It's Monday and I'm blogging over at TEACH again today. You can read by post at Lorrie's Blog.
Also, TEACH Magazine and Joyful Momma Publishing are BOTH now on Facebook! You can go to each page, you can join our blog networks, and who knows what else.
Also, TEACH Magazine and Joyful Momma Publishing are BOTH now on Facebook! You can go to each page, you can join our blog networks, and who knows what else.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Mountains and Valleys
I enjoy reading, among other things, Oswald Chambers book "My Utmost for His Highest" each day. Great little devotional book. Sometimes it makes me smile that how a book, written a century ago, seems to have things in it on just the right day relating to what I am going through on that day, or maybe a word in season to share with and encourage a friend who is going through a situation addressed. Strange how that happens.
Yesterday's entry (which I read this am LOL) was especially good. I hate it when you get to the mountain spiritually, only to come down and hit a very low spot. I've been trying to cheer a girlfriend going through just such a season...hanging out in the valley after having an amazing mountain top experience. Oh, bother. But listen to Mr. Chambers:
We don't go to the mountain to live up there...but to retank for life in the valleys.
Yesterday's entry (which I read this am LOL) was especially good. I hate it when you get to the mountain spiritually, only to come down and hit a very low spot. I've been trying to cheer a girlfriend going through just such a season...hanging out in the valley after having an amazing mountain top experience. Oh, bother. But listen to Mr. Chambers:
The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley; but it is in the valley that we live for the glory of God.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 2
We don't go to the mountain to live up there...but to retank for life in the valleys.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Have You Text-Messaged Your Hubby Today? (A Midweek Marriage Moment)
So, have you sent your hubby a text message lately? Using a cell phone at work is not always possible or easy for a guy because bosses tend to frown on employees taking personal phone calls and that sort of thing...but it's super easy to send a text message just to say you're thinking of him or to tell him how thankful you are for him? It can be nice and quick, and he can look at it over and over again during his stressful day.
Not sure how to send a text? Using your cell phone, go to the address book. Select his cell phone number. Hit the option button that lets you choose what to do with the number (this is usually located next to the call button on most phones...but you may need to play around to figure out how to use yours). This is usually called a "Text Message" or an SMS Message (if you are a blackberry user like me). type a brief message using your thumbs on the keypad, and then hit send. Texting usually costs a few cents per text message (or is free if you have a texting plan with your cell phone service). Added bonus: it doesn't require you to have great service or all of your bars to send a text. At my house, out in the boonies, we don't get cell phone service good enough to have a phone conversation, but I can text quite easily.
You may also send a text via your computer by typing in the email address for the cell phone if that comes with your plan (usually the email addy is the cell phone number @ your server provider). Again, check out the user manual.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Drawing Class Lesson One: The Castle
I am not only teaching that watercolor class, but also a drawing class for 9-15 year olds this year in our Homeschooling Co-op. This has been really fun and challenging for me. Our first project, by popular demand, was drawing a castle with landscape. Below are each of the steps in this drawing, with some notes. I took a poll to find out what we would be drawing for content this year, and everyone wanted landscapes, buildings, castles, trains/planes, and dinosaurs (I just bought a cool rubber Triceratops at Walmart the other day that we'll be drawing....:))
Always scroll down to look at the finished drawing if at any point you are confused about where I'm going with one of these steps. It may help to clear things up for you.
The castle this is based on is a photograph I have of a castle on a river with some scenic mountains in the background. Looking at the photograph, I made a simpler rendering of the scene, and broke it down to these steps:
1. Draw a horizon line, and two other shorter lines as shown
The top two smaller lines will be used for the roof of the main part of the castle, as we will see in later steps. Draw lightly so that you will be able to erase these guidelines later! Do NOT draw too large...you need room for the rest of the castle and scenery.
2. Complete the main part of the building, by drawing the roof with two diagnonal lines, and then create the building as if you are making a box.
3. Next, we're going to add another building towards the back of the castle's main building. This building is drawn the same way. The front part of the roof leans in a little bit, so it is not a straight triangle. The building seems to sit on an angle. It will look better as we add more details.
4. As you can see here, I elongated the sides of the buildings to make them go beyond the horizon line, and I have added the first tower to the castle. I started by making an upside-down curved line and then a second line just below that one, somewhat smaller. Directly above those, about 2 inches up, and in the very center, I made a dot, and I drew diagonal lines connecting the end of the longer curved line and the dot on each side, forming the top cone shaped roof. I connected the two curved lines on the side, and then added the sides to the cylinder shaped tower. The bottom is also curved, below the horizon line.
5.Now we're starting on another tower. This is a great way to also draw a chimney.
Begin by making a point on the roof of the main building about an inch away from the end. On either side, make straight lines, one ending at the roof and the other extending beyond the roof line. Connected the point with the end of the line that went beyond the end of the roofline to start your tower.
6. Now, connect those two vertical lines with a diagonal line, forming the one side of the tower. Draw a third vertical line, just as long as the middle one, to the right of the middle line, and connect that one at the top and the bottom too, forming the front of the tower.
7. The next step is the roof for the tower. This roof is a pyramid shape. We'll start by making a dot above the tower. All of the points of the roof are going to converge on this Apex (look, you're learning geometry terms too! An apex is the point where the sides of a pyramid converge, at the top). We are going to draw the lines from the point to the edges of the tower, hanging over slightly to make it look interesting. Look at real buildings. Roofs rarely are flush with the sides of the buildings.
8.Let's start adding a little bit of detail to the buildings, just under the roofs. This makes it look more interesting, and is in keeping with the style of the building we are drawing.
We're also adding a new building to the side of the tower, starting first with three lines...the top of the roof, the bottom of the roof, and the bottom of the structure, which will be partway onto the roof of the main building, then we connect those lines to form a building as we did the others.
9. We're going to add another building coming off of the front of the main building. We will start, again, with two parallel lines for the roof, and one for the bottom of the structure. The bottom one will go below the bottom of the other building, so as to make it appear to be in front. sketching in the sides of the building, and diagonals to connect the front line to the front of the main building will add depth.
10.Let's put another tower in front of the main building, right next to that new structure we drew. We are going to draw it just like the other tower, starting with two upside-curves, one smaller than the other, then making a point directly above, and connecting that point with the two diagonals to the ends of the larger curve. Draw in the sides of the building, then a curve at the bottom.
11. Next, I've lightly sketched in some guidelines to allow me to better place windows and other details on the sides of the buildings. Notice how the curved towers have curved guidelines, and the lines on each of the other buildings are parallel to the roof lines, not just straight across. Make these light, as we will erase them (mine are only darker so that the scanner could pick them up.
12. Draw in your choice of windows, using the guidelines to help you. You can make them as fancy or plain as you want. On a curved building the windows will have a similar curve.
13.Let's ink in some details. I am using a Sharpie Ultra Fine marker. I use sharpies because they are waterproof, and I usually watercolor my pen and ink drawings.
When you draw in the bricks and shingles, you don't draw each individual. Less is more. There will be darker lines on the shady side of the building (opposite the sunlight), and less on the part that is facing the sun. Broken lines look more realistic than a solid line. For the shingles, I drew the horizontal lines, and then add dashes across them randomly. Look carefully. It is not perfect.
The most important thing is to make the shingles go in the right direction for how the roof is going. On the cone shaped roof, the shingles go around. For the pyramid shaped roof, they go in different directions depending on the side. This helps to show the viewer the shape of the roof.
14. I've added some landscaping details now.
In the background, as in the original photograph, I added some mountains, and I also drew in the shore, as the castle sits on an uneven shoreline. I drew in some rocks, and I squiggled in some bushes and plant growth. This is easily done by making small squiggles, randomly, over the area.
The shoreline is obviously not perfectly straight. A good rule of thumb is that anything man-made usually has straight lines, exact circles, etc. (such as the sides of a castle), but anything God made is often unique. There are no perfectly straight lines in nature. I used the horizon line we original drew in to gauge where to put my shoreline, and the "back" part of the river rests on it, however it does come forward, and come close to our castle, before running off the page in the front, into the foreground.
15. Finally, I added shading with some Prismacolor Gray-scale Markers. I love these. Again, they are waterproof, enabling me to go back in and add color with water color pencils or regular watercolors. They don't fade, either.
I explain more about using Prismacolor Gray Markers in my cartooning book. Start with a lighter gray (10% to 30% gray), and mark off the shaded areas, and gradulally use darker gray markers, to darken up the other shadows. To shade, think of where light would naturally hit a building, and shade the side without direct sunlight, as well as under the roofs, on the crevices of the rocks, etc.
Always scroll down to look at the finished drawing if at any point you are confused about where I'm going with one of these steps. It may help to clear things up for you.
The castle this is based on is a photograph I have of a castle on a river with some scenic mountains in the background. Looking at the photograph, I made a simpler rendering of the scene, and broke it down to these steps:
1. Draw a horizon line, and two other shorter lines as shown
The top two smaller lines will be used for the roof of the main part of the castle, as we will see in later steps. Draw lightly so that you will be able to erase these guidelines later! Do NOT draw too large...you need room for the rest of the castle and scenery.
2. Complete the main part of the building, by drawing the roof with two diagnonal lines, and then create the building as if you are making a box.
3. Next, we're going to add another building towards the back of the castle's main building. This building is drawn the same way. The front part of the roof leans in a little bit, so it is not a straight triangle. The building seems to sit on an angle. It will look better as we add more details.
4. As you can see here, I elongated the sides of the buildings to make them go beyond the horizon line, and I have added the first tower to the castle. I started by making an upside-down curved line and then a second line just below that one, somewhat smaller. Directly above those, about 2 inches up, and in the very center, I made a dot, and I drew diagonal lines connecting the end of the longer curved line and the dot on each side, forming the top cone shaped roof. I connected the two curved lines on the side, and then added the sides to the cylinder shaped tower. The bottom is also curved, below the horizon line.
5.Now we're starting on another tower. This is a great way to also draw a chimney.
Begin by making a point on the roof of the main building about an inch away from the end. On either side, make straight lines, one ending at the roof and the other extending beyond the roof line. Connected the point with the end of the line that went beyond the end of the roofline to start your tower.
6. Now, connect those two vertical lines with a diagonal line, forming the one side of the tower. Draw a third vertical line, just as long as the middle one, to the right of the middle line, and connect that one at the top and the bottom too, forming the front of the tower.
7. The next step is the roof for the tower. This roof is a pyramid shape. We'll start by making a dot above the tower. All of the points of the roof are going to converge on this Apex (look, you're learning geometry terms too! An apex is the point where the sides of a pyramid converge, at the top). We are going to draw the lines from the point to the edges of the tower, hanging over slightly to make it look interesting. Look at real buildings. Roofs rarely are flush with the sides of the buildings.
8.Let's start adding a little bit of detail to the buildings, just under the roofs. This makes it look more interesting, and is in keeping with the style of the building we are drawing.
We're also adding a new building to the side of the tower, starting first with three lines...the top of the roof, the bottom of the roof, and the bottom of the structure, which will be partway onto the roof of the main building, then we connect those lines to form a building as we did the others.
9. We're going to add another building coming off of the front of the main building. We will start, again, with two parallel lines for the roof, and one for the bottom of the structure. The bottom one will go below the bottom of the other building, so as to make it appear to be in front. sketching in the sides of the building, and diagonals to connect the front line to the front of the main building will add depth.
10.Let's put another tower in front of the main building, right next to that new structure we drew. We are going to draw it just like the other tower, starting with two upside-curves, one smaller than the other, then making a point directly above, and connecting that point with the two diagonals to the ends of the larger curve. Draw in the sides of the building, then a curve at the bottom.
11. Next, I've lightly sketched in some guidelines to allow me to better place windows and other details on the sides of the buildings. Notice how the curved towers have curved guidelines, and the lines on each of the other buildings are parallel to the roof lines, not just straight across. Make these light, as we will erase them (mine are only darker so that the scanner could pick them up.
12. Draw in your choice of windows, using the guidelines to help you. You can make them as fancy or plain as you want. On a curved building the windows will have a similar curve.
13.Let's ink in some details. I am using a Sharpie Ultra Fine marker. I use sharpies because they are waterproof, and I usually watercolor my pen and ink drawings.
When you draw in the bricks and shingles, you don't draw each individual. Less is more. There will be darker lines on the shady side of the building (opposite the sunlight), and less on the part that is facing the sun. Broken lines look more realistic than a solid line. For the shingles, I drew the horizontal lines, and then add dashes across them randomly. Look carefully. It is not perfect.
The most important thing is to make the shingles go in the right direction for how the roof is going. On the cone shaped roof, the shingles go around. For the pyramid shaped roof, they go in different directions depending on the side. This helps to show the viewer the shape of the roof.
14. I've added some landscaping details now.
In the background, as in the original photograph, I added some mountains, and I also drew in the shore, as the castle sits on an uneven shoreline. I drew in some rocks, and I squiggled in some bushes and plant growth. This is easily done by making small squiggles, randomly, over the area.
The shoreline is obviously not perfectly straight. A good rule of thumb is that anything man-made usually has straight lines, exact circles, etc. (such as the sides of a castle), but anything God made is often unique. There are no perfectly straight lines in nature. I used the horizon line we original drew in to gauge where to put my shoreline, and the "back" part of the river rests on it, however it does come forward, and come close to our castle, before running off the page in the front, into the foreground.
15. Finally, I added shading with some Prismacolor Gray-scale Markers. I love these. Again, they are waterproof, enabling me to go back in and add color with water color pencils or regular watercolors. They don't fade, either.
I explain more about using Prismacolor Gray Markers in my cartooning book. Start with a lighter gray (10% to 30% gray), and mark off the shaded areas, and gradulally use darker gray markers, to darken up the other shadows. To shade, think of where light would naturally hit a building, and shade the side without direct sunlight, as well as under the roofs, on the crevices of the rocks, etc.
Joyful Momma Blogging at TEACH Today
Kimberly Eddy is blogging at TEACH Magazine.com today, on the topic of the choices we make. To learn more, click here.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Watercoloring with Youngins: Project Two
As I said in post one on this theme, I am teaching a watercolor class to the 6-9 year olds in my homeschooling co-op this year, and we are focusing on some simple techniques to make watercolors more enjoyable and less frustrating. Let's face it: most kids love to paint with watercolors but most also struggle with the results.
For you, as a mom, I recommend getting Bobbi Dubbins' DVD from my bookstore. This DVD is not geared towards children, but it is full of such basic and helpful information, helping your child learn watercolors will be much simpler.
Our materials are the same as for the first project, with us starting off with watercolor paper taped onto a drawing board, table top, or piece of foam board with masking tape. The set up includes some paper towel for cleaning our brushes between colors, two cups of clean water, and a water color palate. We also have some ok-quality brushes (not the cheap ones that come with the water color sets). To save money, I bought a set of water color tubes, and I filled the palates that way...in the long run it saves money, and the color quality is better.
Project Two was designed to show the students that if you pre-wet your paper only in certain areas or in certain shapes, the colors will fill that area, and stay within the boundaries.
To start, I took a clean brush, with clean water, and painted a simple shape on the paper (in this case, a heart).
Because the point of this is to show them how the colors all will run together yet stay in the boundaries, I dabbed on a selection of colors into the heart, painting them gently, but mostly letting the wet paper inside of the heart shape pull the color around to fill the heart up.
If you need to, gently (emphasis on GENTLY) tilt the board to let the water colors run in empty areas within your shape.
If you are too overloaded in an area, you can gently (there's that word again) take a corner of paper toweling and absorb some of it, and again let it blend in that area. Water color paper is super hearty, and allows you to make these corrections, but most other paper will not.
Next, we paint on a border of some sort, first in plain water, and then adding colors, and letting them blend.
I also traced around my heart with water, leaving a very slight empty area, which keeps the colors from blending together. When you are painting and you don't want two objects to smear together into one, don't connect them. Leave a very thin area of plain paper between the two, until they are both dry (you can go back in later and fix them...we'll learn about that another time).
For you, as a mom, I recommend getting Bobbi Dubbins' DVD from my bookstore. This DVD is not geared towards children, but it is full of such basic and helpful information, helping your child learn watercolors will be much simpler.
Our materials are the same as for the first project, with us starting off with watercolor paper taped onto a drawing board, table top, or piece of foam board with masking tape. The set up includes some paper towel for cleaning our brushes between colors, two cups of clean water, and a water color palate. We also have some ok-quality brushes (not the cheap ones that come with the water color sets). To save money, I bought a set of water color tubes, and I filled the palates that way...in the long run it saves money, and the color quality is better.
Project Two was designed to show the students that if you pre-wet your paper only in certain areas or in certain shapes, the colors will fill that area, and stay within the boundaries.
To start, I took a clean brush, with clean water, and painted a simple shape on the paper (in this case, a heart).
Because the point of this is to show them how the colors all will run together yet stay in the boundaries, I dabbed on a selection of colors into the heart, painting them gently, but mostly letting the wet paper inside of the heart shape pull the color around to fill the heart up.
If you need to, gently (emphasis on GENTLY) tilt the board to let the water colors run in empty areas within your shape.
If you are too overloaded in an area, you can gently (there's that word again) take a corner of paper toweling and absorb some of it, and again let it blend in that area. Water color paper is super hearty, and allows you to make these corrections, but most other paper will not.
Next, we paint on a border of some sort, first in plain water, and then adding colors, and letting them blend.
I also traced around my heart with water, leaving a very slight empty area, which keeps the colors from blending together. When you are painting and you don't want two objects to smear together into one, don't connect them. Leave a very thin area of plain paper between the two, until they are both dry (you can go back in later and fix them...we'll learn about that another time).
Friday, September 26, 2008
Watercoloring with Youngin's: Project One
This year for our homeschooling co-op I am teaching a drawing class and a watercolor class. The water color class is for ages 6-9. For a great beginning video (designed with adults in mind but nevertheless useful for older children), check out Bobbi Dubbins' Watercolor DVD in my bookstore.
Watercolor is a medium that most children enjoy working with but which is sadly frustrating to work with unless you learn some basic techniques. In my class I am trying to teach those useful techniques in a way that is both interesting and do-able for the 6-9 crowd.
The first week, we did this project to learn about the colors of the rainbow, and how watercolors blend together.
You will need:
With this project, we started by wetting the taped down paper with water using a large brush.
Next, in the order of the rainbow, we painted each color, letting it run into the other color on the wet paper. If the paper is wet ahead of time, everything should run together. If it's hot and dry you may need more water, but experience shows me that 6-9 year olds always seem to have a problem in the other direction ;) Not to worry. Watercolor paper is very hearty.
The order of the rainbow is this: Red, Orange,Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and back to Red (an easy way to remember it is: ROY-G-BIV). As I taught, I explained that red and yellow make orange, and that is why orange is in the middle, as well as yellow and blue make green, blue and violet make indigo, and indigo and red make violet. So, we also learned super simple color theory.
We covered the whole paper with the rainbow colors, and then left them to dry. Once they were mostly dry, my assistant and I carefully took the tape off (it did stick more to the foam board than to the masonite drawing boards), leaving a neat border around the edges. In 2 hours, it was nearly completely dry (the teacher's painting was dry in 30 minutes, but as I said, 6-9 year olds love water).
Watercolor is a medium that most children enjoy working with but which is sadly frustrating to work with unless you learn some basic techniques. In my class I am trying to teach those useful techniques in a way that is both interesting and do-able for the 6-9 crowd.
The first week, we did this project to learn about the colors of the rainbow, and how watercolors blend together.
First, the set up
You will need:
- Make sure you have WATERCOLOR paper (it doesn't have to be "the best" but it can't be regular photo copy paper or sketch paper...learning watercolors requires watercolor paper to be far less frustrating.
- Paper Towel
- Boards to tape the water color paper down onto. I have masonite drawing boards, but since I have so many students this year, I have taped them down to foam board cut to size too. This keeps the paper from buckling, and it also makes it easier to move the painting around without damaging the wet paper, and it makes a cool board.
- Masking tape
- Water colors (we used the variety in a tube...a little dab will do ya...with cheap palates).
- Brushes (I used some less expensive but still better-than-what-comes-in-children's -paint-kits plastic brushes). These ones have wooden handles and were in a set at Hobby Lobby.
- Two cups of clean water
- Old Tshirts to wear over clothes
First, the technique for not ruining your colors. I stressed this with the kids...don't mix your colors together in the palate itself, but when you want to go from one color to another, wipe your brush off on the paper towel, then dip in the water, then wipe again, then dip in the water and THEN touch the new color. We still had some messes but it wasn't as bad. If you are watercoloring with children, you will want to stress this one over and over again.
With this project, we started by wetting the taped down paper with water using a large brush.
Next, in the order of the rainbow, we painted each color, letting it run into the other color on the wet paper. If the paper is wet ahead of time, everything should run together. If it's hot and dry you may need more water, but experience shows me that 6-9 year olds always seem to have a problem in the other direction ;) Not to worry. Watercolor paper is very hearty.
The order of the rainbow is this: Red, Orange,Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and back to Red (an easy way to remember it is: ROY-G-BIV). As I taught, I explained that red and yellow make orange, and that is why orange is in the middle, as well as yellow and blue make green, blue and violet make indigo, and indigo and red make violet. So, we also learned super simple color theory.
We covered the whole paper with the rainbow colors, and then left them to dry. Once they were mostly dry, my assistant and I carefully took the tape off (it did stick more to the foam board than to the masonite drawing boards), leaving a neat border around the edges. In 2 hours, it was nearly completely dry (the teacher's painting was dry in 30 minutes, but as I said, 6-9 year olds love water).
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Everyman's guide to the current financial crisis
I came across this blog that had a great post about our current financial crisis...both humorous and honest. Check it out here!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A Great Idea
Someone just sent me this via email and I think it is a pretty good idea....can you imagine? Note: His math is off...see my note in the text.
~~~~~~~~~~
I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. [joyful momma's note...he has too many zeros in this...it actually would be $4,250.00 each person...though that would still be nice)
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.”
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Given the fact that the CEOs of these FAILURE COMPANIES are not going to cut back on their lifestyles to help with this crisis, I think we the people would do a better job with it
~~~~~~~~~~
I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. [joyful momma's note...he has too many zeros in this...it actually would be $4,250.00 each person...though that would still be nice)
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.”
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Given the fact that the CEOs of these FAILURE COMPANIES are not going to cut back on their lifestyles to help with this crisis, I think we the people would do a better job with it
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Warning Labels
Warning labels have always amused me, mostly because the warnings are usually either painfully obvious or bizarre.
For example, on my phone's MP3 player, when I turn it on, I get a warning that says this "You are about to listen to music at a higher-than-recommended volume. Doing so may result to hearing damage. Please turn your volume down for your own safety.By pressing continue you acknowledge the danger and wish to proceed anyway"
It should actually read:
"having listened to too much loud music in my younger years, and having gone to too many wild rock concerts in my b.c. days, by pressing "continue" I acknowledge that I now need to listen to my mp3 player at a higher than recommended volume in order to even hear that it is on".
For example, on my phone's MP3 player, when I turn it on, I get a warning that says this "You are about to listen to music at a higher-than-recommended volume. Doing so may result to hearing damage. Please turn your volume down for your own safety.By pressing continue you acknowledge the danger and wish to proceed anyway"
It should actually read:
"having listened to too much loud music in my younger years, and having gone to too many wild rock concerts in my b.c. days, by pressing "continue" I acknowledge that I now need to listen to my mp3 player at a higher than recommended volume in order to even hear that it is on".
Review: Joyful Momma's Guide to Cartooning
Joyful Momma's Guide to Cartooning is available from the Joyful Momma Bookstore.
Review by Penny Raine:
When I heard that Kimberly had a new book available I was so excited. But at the same time I wanted to run the other way. However when she sent me one, I thought, "there is no avoiding it now." Why was I hesitant? Because Kimberly's books are always so great they get your creative mind so involved you can think of nothing else. When my husband read her "Quiet Times In Loud Households", he wouldn't even put it down for mealtime! So when I heard about Cartoon Creations I knew it would be way too much fun and I just did not have time for something new and fun. As usual Jesus had another idea. As I began to read her book I began to think of ways to incorporate it into our homeschooling. Learning is only absorbed when you see a reason for it, so I like to give my children several ways of using what they learn. With Cartoon Creations I can now add cartooning to our list of exciting ways of showing what they have learned. It fits right in with illustrated stories and lapbooking and is lots more fun than writing a boring report. Cartoons even add to their letter writing abilities. I have always tried to combine drawing with writing and this fits great.
In true Kimberly fashion, she doesn't miss a beat, and includes every detail I could possibly think of. She even includes "10 Principals for Christian Cartoonists". Her techniques are very simple and yet show details. She even gives you ideas on how to share or publish your cartoons. I just have one thing to say, "Thanks Kimberly, you have done it again!"
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com
Review by Penny Raine:
When I heard that Kimberly had a new book available I was so excited. But at the same time I wanted to run the other way. However when she sent me one, I thought, "there is no avoiding it now." Why was I hesitant? Because Kimberly's books are always so great they get your creative mind so involved you can think of nothing else. When my husband read her "Quiet Times In Loud Households", he wouldn't even put it down for mealtime! So when I heard about Cartoon Creations I knew it would be way too much fun and I just did not have time for something new and fun. As usual Jesus had another idea. As I began to read her book I began to think of ways to incorporate it into our homeschooling. Learning is only absorbed when you see a reason for it, so I like to give my children several ways of using what they learn. With Cartoon Creations I can now add cartooning to our list of exciting ways of showing what they have learned. It fits right in with illustrated stories and lapbooking and is lots more fun than writing a boring report. Cartoons even add to their letter writing abilities. I have always tried to combine drawing with writing and this fits great.
In true Kimberly fashion, she doesn't miss a beat, and includes every detail I could possibly think of. She even includes "10 Principals for Christian Cartoonists". Her techniques are very simple and yet show details. She even gives you ideas on how to share or publish your cartoons. I just have one thing to say, "Thanks Kimberly, you have done it again!"
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com
Monday, September 22, 2008
Secure in God's Love Part Two
This is a continuation of a post from Sunday on Eternal Security. Read Part one first here.
The thing is, it goes back to, are we saved by grace but kept saved by works? Paul addressed this in his letter to the Galatians...about them starting off in faith but trying to finish the race by works...Paul called this "foolish" (Gal. 3:1).
Even the passage in Galatians which you reference, in context, is about Paul telling the Galatians that they had fallen from grace by trying to mix salvation by grace and by works. Essentially, if it is a free gift you don't have to do anything to earn it and you don't need to do anything to keep it. When I give someone a gift for Christmas or their birthday, I don't take it away the second they don't live up to my standards..it wouldn't be a free gift but a debt they continually owe me.
As for the verse in Revelation 21 (and many passages like it), we have to go back to who we are in Christ. I may occasionally screw up and commit the sin of being fearful (one of the sins listed on the list as deserving the Lake of Fire), but that doesn't mean I am one of the fearful...I am a Child of God. When God looks at me, He doesn't see my sin; He sees Christ's Righteousness. My own righteousness is as filthy rags...Christ's is perfect in every way and covers up my failures.
Jesus teaches us that no one can take His sheep out of His hand (John 10:28-29). We can't even pluck ourselves out of His hand if we wanted to, because we are not stronger than God.
With your children, do they obey better, cheerfully, and with sweet spirits when they are scared to death of losing your love and approval (and thus trying to appease your anger) or is life generally more pleasant, the children more obedient, when they are secure in your love, knowing you will always love them, and respecting you so much that they don't want to disappoint you? I don't know about in your house, but in my house, when everyone is tip-toeing around me because I am in a foul mood, they may be doing the right things but they are not doing them with the right heart...and a few of the kids just give up trying to even d the right things if I am being excessively critical. However, if they know the house rules so to speak and are feeling secure in my love, and we have cultivated a pleasant atmosphere in our home...then they are obeying with cheerful hearts to please me, not obeying out of fear.
A truly saved person is not going to want to dive back into the miry clay. God saved them. They are thankful to have their feet set upon a rock (Psalm 40:1-3). When someone is a new Christian (especially a new Christian saved as an adult with sinful habits ingrained), God starts to work in their lives, changing them from the inside out. He promises to complete this work in us (Phil. 1:6, Gal. 5:22-23). Now, initially, some of those works of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 5 are going to be a bigger issue in their lives than in a more seasoned saint...but as a new Christian grows, the fruit of the Spirit will also develop more and more. The fruit of the Spirit is something God does in us as we seek after Him, not a to-do list to keep us saved.
In my own life, when I was working to keep my salvation, I was not living a joyful Christian life but a fearful one...always wondering about my salvation at any given moment. It's much more freeing to serve God knowing I can't add one jot or tittle to my salvation...it's settled. Now I am just serving Him out of gratitude for what He did for me, rather than to pay some unpayable debt.
I seriously believe this fear of losing our salvation can paralyze many Christians to the point of inefectiveness in their Christian walk, and rob them of the joy that ought to be theirs. And how prideful to think we could do anything at all to keep ourselves saved or to earn God's continued favor!
Stay tuned for more...Lord willing...
There's alot of verses that talk seem to say you can lose your salvation, such as Paul warning the Galatians not to fall from grace [the verse is found in Gal. 5:4--kim's note] or verses like Rev. 21:7-8 talking about who will be in the lake of fire.
The thing is, it goes back to, are we saved by grace but kept saved by works? Paul addressed this in his letter to the Galatians...about them starting off in faith but trying to finish the race by works...Paul called this "foolish" (Gal. 3:1).
Even the passage in Galatians which you reference, in context, is about Paul telling the Galatians that they had fallen from grace by trying to mix salvation by grace and by works. Essentially, if it is a free gift you don't have to do anything to earn it and you don't need to do anything to keep it. When I give someone a gift for Christmas or their birthday, I don't take it away the second they don't live up to my standards..it wouldn't be a free gift but a debt they continually owe me.
As for the verse in Revelation 21 (and many passages like it), we have to go back to who we are in Christ. I may occasionally screw up and commit the sin of being fearful (one of the sins listed on the list as deserving the Lake of Fire), but that doesn't mean I am one of the fearful...I am a Child of God. When God looks at me, He doesn't see my sin; He sees Christ's Righteousness. My own righteousness is as filthy rags...Christ's is perfect in every way and covers up my failures.
Jesus teaches us that no one can take His sheep out of His hand (John 10:28-29). We can't even pluck ourselves out of His hand if we wanted to, because we are not stronger than God.
...If we can't lose our salvation, what keeps someone living for God? it's absurd to think that someone who is claiming to be a Christian yet living a sinful, worldly life is going to go to heaven.
With your children, do they obey better, cheerfully, and with sweet spirits when they are scared to death of losing your love and approval (and thus trying to appease your anger) or is life generally more pleasant, the children more obedient, when they are secure in your love, knowing you will always love them, and respecting you so much that they don't want to disappoint you? I don't know about in your house, but in my house, when everyone is tip-toeing around me because I am in a foul mood, they may be doing the right things but they are not doing them with the right heart...and a few of the kids just give up trying to even d the right things if I am being excessively critical. However, if they know the house rules so to speak and are feeling secure in my love, and we have cultivated a pleasant atmosphere in our home...then they are obeying with cheerful hearts to please me, not obeying out of fear.
A truly saved person is not going to want to dive back into the miry clay. God saved them. They are thankful to have their feet set upon a rock (Psalm 40:1-3). When someone is a new Christian (especially a new Christian saved as an adult with sinful habits ingrained), God starts to work in their lives, changing them from the inside out. He promises to complete this work in us (Phil. 1:6, Gal. 5:22-23). Now, initially, some of those works of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 5 are going to be a bigger issue in their lives than in a more seasoned saint...but as a new Christian grows, the fruit of the Spirit will also develop more and more. The fruit of the Spirit is something God does in us as we seek after Him, not a to-do list to keep us saved.
In my own life, when I was working to keep my salvation, I was not living a joyful Christian life but a fearful one...always wondering about my salvation at any given moment. It's much more freeing to serve God knowing I can't add one jot or tittle to my salvation...it's settled. Now I am just serving Him out of gratitude for what He did for me, rather than to pay some unpayable debt.
I seriously believe this fear of losing our salvation can paralyze many Christians to the point of inefectiveness in their Christian walk, and rob them of the joy that ought to be theirs. And how prideful to think we could do anything at all to keep ourselves saved or to earn God's continued favor!
Stay tuned for more...Lord willing...
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Pass the Honey--Kimberly Eddy Blogs at TEACH Today
It's Monday, and that means I'm blogging at TEACH Magazine today! The topic du Jour is the words we speak....are we driving in daggers or passing the honey? Read on.
Secure in God's Love, part one
This email was sent to me a few weeks ago, and after receiving a similar question, I decided to post it, and my condensed reply. I was hesitant to do so because I want to focus my blog on things to encourage moms, but as my darling husband pointed out, this is something that may be a huge encouragement. As this was an ongoing email discussion, and because I have way too much to say on the topic, this is going to cover several days worth of posts...starting with this, the first one. So, here goes:
Hey, there! Thanks for the question. I have only come to this conviction about 8 years ago now. Prior to this, from nearly the moment I got saved 18 years ago, I had sadly believed that a Christian could actually lose their salvation. I have since come to believe that this belief in "eternal insecurity" is at the root of most false doctrines and has caused much harm.
Essentially, when you believe that a believer can lose their salvation, you are believing that while we may be saved by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-10), we are kept saved by our own good works. That is not consistent with the teaching of the whole counsel of Scripture.
This starts you on a vicious cycle, where you promise God to do better, then you work really really hard in your own power (or maybe even in God's power), but when you eventually fail again (as those of us with sin natures are prone to do), you walk away feeling ashamed, unworthy, unloved of God, those verses about people who do "such things" having their part in the lake of fire, and it takes you some time to even come back to the point of speaking with God again. As you walk through your Christian life, you live in fear of a God who walks tall and carries a big stick, ready to whack you over the head for every failure. Yours is an abusive father who disowns you then readopts you for ever infraction (or maybe just the "big infractions"). Paul himself discussed this issue, at length, in Romans 7. Actually, to get the "big picture" start reading in Romans 6 and continue on to Romans 8...as Paul leads us through being dead to sin, dealing with sin in our lives, and then walking in the Spirit.
Some of this may be upbringing, and offers a serious reason for self-examination for me as a momma--showing my children unconditional love while still chastening for wrong behavior. Loving on them unconditionally. Not rejecting them as a person or rejecting them from being my child when they do something stupid, wrong, sinful, etc. I heard in the store a few months ago some mom tell her daughter that if her daughter was going to do that then she didn't love her anymore. I wanted to slap the mom (I didn't. LOL). Some kids are more sensitive to this than others...sometimes you may not mean for it to be taken that way, but it is. I grew up thinking I wasn't loved even when I was told "I love you"...the thing was I didn't feel accepted...and for a long time in my Christian walk, I was trying out different things to make me feel more accepted by God (leading to legalism, false doctrines, participation in "christianized" cults, etc.) So, for some, depending on how you were raised, it may be hard to feel and experience the unconditional love of God, and we work to earn our heavenly father's approval, yet always feeling rejected when we don't meet some perceived criteria.
We, better than anyone else, know the sinfulness and wickedness in our hearts, and how very unworthy we at times may feel of this thing that Christ has done for us--taking our sin (past present and future) upon Him at the Cross. And so the part of us that wants equity, and wants justice screams out about how UNFAIR this arrangement is...we feel like we need to do something more...saved by grace through faith is just too easy.
Maybe, too, this is more true if, saved as an adult or in your later teen years, you now bear in your body and soul the bitter fruits of your life before Christ. I know I do. :( I have health issues that can be traced back to the excesses of the life of a pre-Christian on a secular college campus. As these health issues (and related emotional/spiritual issues) occasionally rear their ugly heads in my life 18 years later, I am reminded again, afresh, of what manner of life Christ saved me from. There have been times when I would feel so unworthy of His love, and feel the need to compensate for that feeling by working harder, or beating myself up even more for what could be considered a small mistake (compared to past sins, anyway)...but when you come to really understand Christ's love, and His grace, you realize that His love is unconditional, and when we are motivated by His unconditional love for us, vs. our guilty feelings of unworthiness, we tend to be better Christians, and we are even able to make peace with ourselves.
When I walk in God's love, I tell others about Jesus because I want them to know His love too. There have been times when I was telling others about Jesus because I read in the Bible that if we don't bear much fruit we are none of His, and I wanted to be His, so I went out and tried to "appease the angry god" so to speak by telling others...then feeling like a failure when this effort proved ineffective. I could use a similar analogy for every area of the Christian life.
When I have talked to others about Christ through personal evangelism, there is a huge (HUGE!!!) segment of the population who "tried Christianity" but it didn't "work for them" or they "couldn't live that life" or whatever other one of a thousand variations they may use. Press further, dig deeper, they couldn't take the cycle of guilt, repentance, work hard till you drop and screw up again, then guilt again...and on and on it goes. That's not salvation by grace. That's getting in the door by Christ's blood but some how thinking we keep ourselves in the kingdom in our own abilities to adhere to Christian principles or stick with a Christian lifestyle.
How many prodigals are that way because they came to the realization that they "couldn't live this life" but instead of falling on God's grace, they instead turned from the One who could help them, thinking He rejects them when they fail?
But, what about those verses that talk about people going to hell as a result of this sin or that one, you may ask? More on that in the next post. :-)
Hi! I recently discovered your web pages. I have enjoyed your articles and resources, but I had a question. From reading your statement of faith, I am going to guess that you don't believe a Christian can lose their salvation. I was wondering why you believe this. Thanks.
Hey, there! Thanks for the question. I have only come to this conviction about 8 years ago now. Prior to this, from nearly the moment I got saved 18 years ago, I had sadly believed that a Christian could actually lose their salvation. I have since come to believe that this belief in "eternal insecurity" is at the root of most false doctrines and has caused much harm.
Essentially, when you believe that a believer can lose their salvation, you are believing that while we may be saved by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-10), we are kept saved by our own good works. That is not consistent with the teaching of the whole counsel of Scripture.
This starts you on a vicious cycle, where you promise God to do better, then you work really really hard in your own power (or maybe even in God's power), but when you eventually fail again (as those of us with sin natures are prone to do), you walk away feeling ashamed, unworthy, unloved of God, those verses about people who do "such things" having their part in the lake of fire, and it takes you some time to even come back to the point of speaking with God again. As you walk through your Christian life, you live in fear of a God who walks tall and carries a big stick, ready to whack you over the head for every failure. Yours is an abusive father who disowns you then readopts you for ever infraction (or maybe just the "big infractions"). Paul himself discussed this issue, at length, in Romans 7. Actually, to get the "big picture" start reading in Romans 6 and continue on to Romans 8...as Paul leads us through being dead to sin, dealing with sin in our lives, and then walking in the Spirit.
Some of this may be upbringing, and offers a serious reason for self-examination for me as a momma--showing my children unconditional love while still chastening for wrong behavior. Loving on them unconditionally. Not rejecting them as a person or rejecting them from being my child when they do something stupid, wrong, sinful, etc. I heard in the store a few months ago some mom tell her daughter that if her daughter was going to do that then she didn't love her anymore. I wanted to slap the mom (I didn't. LOL). Some kids are more sensitive to this than others...sometimes you may not mean for it to be taken that way, but it is. I grew up thinking I wasn't loved even when I was told "I love you"...the thing was I didn't feel accepted...and for a long time in my Christian walk, I was trying out different things to make me feel more accepted by God (leading to legalism, false doctrines, participation in "christianized" cults, etc.) So, for some, depending on how you were raised, it may be hard to feel and experience the unconditional love of God, and we work to earn our heavenly father's approval, yet always feeling rejected when we don't meet some perceived criteria.
We, better than anyone else, know the sinfulness and wickedness in our hearts, and how very unworthy we at times may feel of this thing that Christ has done for us--taking our sin (past present and future) upon Him at the Cross. And so the part of us that wants equity, and wants justice screams out about how UNFAIR this arrangement is...we feel like we need to do something more...saved by grace through faith is just too easy.
Maybe, too, this is more true if, saved as an adult or in your later teen years, you now bear in your body and soul the bitter fruits of your life before Christ. I know I do. :( I have health issues that can be traced back to the excesses of the life of a pre-Christian on a secular college campus. As these health issues (and related emotional/spiritual issues) occasionally rear their ugly heads in my life 18 years later, I am reminded again, afresh, of what manner of life Christ saved me from. There have been times when I would feel so unworthy of His love, and feel the need to compensate for that feeling by working harder, or beating myself up even more for what could be considered a small mistake (compared to past sins, anyway)...but when you come to really understand Christ's love, and His grace, you realize that His love is unconditional, and when we are motivated by His unconditional love for us, vs. our guilty feelings of unworthiness, we tend to be better Christians, and we are even able to make peace with ourselves.
When I walk in God's love, I tell others about Jesus because I want them to know His love too. There have been times when I was telling others about Jesus because I read in the Bible that if we don't bear much fruit we are none of His, and I wanted to be His, so I went out and tried to "appease the angry god" so to speak by telling others...then feeling like a failure when this effort proved ineffective. I could use a similar analogy for every area of the Christian life.
When I have talked to others about Christ through personal evangelism, there is a huge (HUGE!!!) segment of the population who "tried Christianity" but it didn't "work for them" or they "couldn't live that life" or whatever other one of a thousand variations they may use. Press further, dig deeper, they couldn't take the cycle of guilt, repentance, work hard till you drop and screw up again, then guilt again...and on and on it goes. That's not salvation by grace. That's getting in the door by Christ's blood but some how thinking we keep ourselves in the kingdom in our own abilities to adhere to Christian principles or stick with a Christian lifestyle.
How many prodigals are that way because they came to the realization that they "couldn't live this life" but instead of falling on God's grace, they instead turned from the One who could help them, thinking He rejects them when they fail?
But, what about those verses that talk about people going to hell as a result of this sin or that one, you may ask? More on that in the next post. :-)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Paying the Stupid Tax
The Washington Times had an interesting article about the government bailouts now occurring. Part of me wants to do a smug, "Told you so!" and part of me is grieved, and all of me wants to throw up reading about how we the people are going to pay out into the billions to save people who are reaping what they have sown...and the problem here is two fold: I loathe paying taxes to idiots for stupid things, a la an enabling parent bailing out an adult child from the consequences of their unwise behavior...and I loathe the fact that we could be in for another great depression if we simply do nothing because the problem wasn't corrected sooner.
I don't pretend to be an economic analysist. LOL Hardly. Just a mommy with common sense who has been living in the trenches.
As I see it: in the mid to late 1990s, every Tom, Dick, and Sally that wanted a mortgage got one. When we were buying our house, and we found out I had a black mark on my credit report because my dad used my credit without me knowing about it, the lender agent who was still in college said, "Don't sweat it kids, everyone gets a mortgage!" (SCARY!~). I remember thinking that was not really a good thing, you know? I'm sure that some people didn't get a mortgage...but the point was that you had to have really screwed up in order to not get one, and if you didn't qualify for a "good" mortgage you could qualify for a sub prime loan shark style mortgage.
Problem number two started around ten years ago when through various policies and whatnot that I, again, don't pretend to be well educated about these policies. I only know that it suddenly became easier and cheaper to outsource skilled labor jobs overseas. The problem is, many of these sub prime and even normal mortgages were being given to your typical household with dad or mom or both working as skilled labor, especially here in Michigan. We're talking about people who went from making $30 or more per hour down to making what they made when they were starting within a matter of a year. Happened to us; happened to many that we know. (I discuss this more in my book, Thriving on One Income...available here) You won't see any "Hurray for NAFTA" bumperstickers on my car.
The government's response to this was new job training, but the problem there was how do you support a family while getting new job training? Give me a break, guys. Thankfully for me I am married to one very industrious guy who, when the bottom fell out of our income, got creative and was able to do some side consulting to supplement his normal dwindling paycheck. I also serve a very big God who is able to provide in unconventional ways, and we have seen His power in this area, in a mighty way. It makes me want to shout GLORY!
Still, when I think about it, I think of people who (1) don't have God (2) don't have any common sense or creativity to go out there and pound the pavement (3) don't have any frugality skills in them whatsoever.
Suddenly, the Bush administration realized that the sub prime mortgage situation was probably going to end badly, and so they tried to reform how people are given mortgages. According to a pundit I heard on the radio this AM, this proposal was blocked in congress and senate because it was "discriminatory". Remember, we need to be fair about these things. If a worker who works hard and earns $90K gets a mortgage, you are being mean if someone earning $20K can't get their mortgage too.
To be honest, as I see it, I think that these practices are MORE discriminatory. They take advantage of the poor. Someone who is making more usually also has a better handle on money, how money works, economics in general, and so on. They maybe are better educated, they can look over that fine print and recognize problems. They are not going to be shouting glory over a $100,000 mortgage at 14%, thrilled that at least they got a mortgage, kwim? Aaron, the guy who did our mortgage, told us that he had just that morning got someone a 14% ARM Mortgage. Can you imagine? I wouldn't sleep at night if that were me.
So when the person making $20K gets their 14% ARM Mortgage, and their adjustable rate adjusts it self on up to 18% or something like that...and their income is either stagnate or goes down...come on, you don't need me to complete that thought do you? DUH. It defaults, and they likely can't even get into an apartment (some apartments have higher standards than lenders do).
No big deal, right? I mean, I'm not the one losing my house, right? I'm not the one in debt to my eyeballs and taking out foolish loans, right?
Ah, but the even more foolish banks, lending money to the $20K household at 14% adjustable are now suddenly not getting paid as the noose tightens. A few of the big boys have filed bankruptcy (I'm pretty sure that word, in this case, doesn't mean what it used to. I for one would love to see the CEO of some of these institutions on the front page of the wall street journal in a barrel like one used to see in the cartoons....but I am pretty sure they are bemoaning their plight on one of their yachts sipping momomsa). This is sadly a similar scenario that we had in 1929, when the Great Depression occurred...and this is what we are trying to prevent now that the banks are starting to topple.
So, we the people are going to dutifully pay out more money to help those who elected to not use any common sense when lending or borrowing. Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
I don't pretend to be an economic analysist. LOL Hardly. Just a mommy with common sense who has been living in the trenches.
As I see it: in the mid to late 1990s, every Tom, Dick, and Sally that wanted a mortgage got one. When we were buying our house, and we found out I had a black mark on my credit report because my dad used my credit without me knowing about it, the lender agent who was still in college said, "Don't sweat it kids, everyone gets a mortgage!" (SCARY!~). I remember thinking that was not really a good thing, you know? I'm sure that some people didn't get a mortgage...but the point was that you had to have really screwed up in order to not get one, and if you didn't qualify for a "good" mortgage you could qualify for a sub prime loan shark style mortgage.
Problem number two started around ten years ago when through various policies and whatnot that I, again, don't pretend to be well educated about these policies. I only know that it suddenly became easier and cheaper to outsource skilled labor jobs overseas. The problem is, many of these sub prime and even normal mortgages were being given to your typical household with dad or mom or both working as skilled labor, especially here in Michigan. We're talking about people who went from making $30 or more per hour down to making what they made when they were starting within a matter of a year. Happened to us; happened to many that we know. (I discuss this more in my book, Thriving on One Income...available here) You won't see any "Hurray for NAFTA" bumperstickers on my car.
The government's response to this was new job training, but the problem there was how do you support a family while getting new job training? Give me a break, guys. Thankfully for me I am married to one very industrious guy who, when the bottom fell out of our income, got creative and was able to do some side consulting to supplement his normal dwindling paycheck. I also serve a very big God who is able to provide in unconventional ways, and we have seen His power in this area, in a mighty way. It makes me want to shout GLORY!
Still, when I think about it, I think of people who (1) don't have God (2) don't have any common sense or creativity to go out there and pound the pavement (3) don't have any frugality skills in them whatsoever.
Suddenly, the Bush administration realized that the sub prime mortgage situation was probably going to end badly, and so they tried to reform how people are given mortgages. According to a pundit I heard on the radio this AM, this proposal was blocked in congress and senate because it was "discriminatory". Remember, we need to be fair about these things. If a worker who works hard and earns $90K gets a mortgage, you are being mean if someone earning $20K can't get their mortgage too.
To be honest, as I see it, I think that these practices are MORE discriminatory. They take advantage of the poor. Someone who is making more usually also has a better handle on money, how money works, economics in general, and so on. They maybe are better educated, they can look over that fine print and recognize problems. They are not going to be shouting glory over a $100,000 mortgage at 14%, thrilled that at least they got a mortgage, kwim? Aaron, the guy who did our mortgage, told us that he had just that morning got someone a 14% ARM Mortgage. Can you imagine? I wouldn't sleep at night if that were me.
So when the person making $20K gets their 14% ARM Mortgage, and their adjustable rate adjusts it self on up to 18% or something like that...and their income is either stagnate or goes down...come on, you don't need me to complete that thought do you? DUH. It defaults, and they likely can't even get into an apartment (some apartments have higher standards than lenders do).
No big deal, right? I mean, I'm not the one losing my house, right? I'm not the one in debt to my eyeballs and taking out foolish loans, right?
Ah, but the even more foolish banks, lending money to the $20K household at 14% adjustable are now suddenly not getting paid as the noose tightens. A few of the big boys have filed bankruptcy (I'm pretty sure that word, in this case, doesn't mean what it used to. I for one would love to see the CEO of some of these institutions on the front page of the wall street journal in a barrel like one used to see in the cartoons....but I am pretty sure they are bemoaning their plight on one of their yachts sipping momomsa). This is sadly a similar scenario that we had in 1929, when the Great Depression occurred...and this is what we are trying to prevent now that the banks are starting to topple.
So, we the people are going to dutifully pay out more money to help those who elected to not use any common sense when lending or borrowing. Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Friday, September 19, 2008
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