Teacher Does Socialist Experiment on His Class

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked; that no one would be
poor, and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

All grades would be averaged, and everyone would receive the same grade; so no one would fail, and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged, and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset, and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less, and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame, and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings, and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Can it be any simpler than that?

How to Protect Your Money

I think it’s safe to assume that no one has extra money they just want to throw away. Therefore, it’s important that we do whatever we can to protect the money we work hard for.

One simple way to protect your money is to let your senators and representatives know that you do not want tax increases. That isn’t a statement from any particular party. It’s coming from a citizen who is concerned with the scary precedent that is being set.

Right now it sounds harmless . . . hey, just take it from the rich guy. He won’t miss it. However, that starts us down a very slippery slope. What is going to prevent those same people you elected from starting to lower the baseline? What will prevent those elected officials from slipping in a new bill that raises your taxes to 50% of your income? It sounded ok when the guy down the street had to pay that much but now it doesn’t sound like such a great idea when it affects your bank account does it?

Don’t be misguided by the news reports and Obama’s marketing campaign about “change.” Use your own common sense to review the facts and make an informed decision. Don’t let the government spend YOUR money under the guise of a major economic crisis. That is just a slick way of slipping in a whole bunch of new payouts without anyone looking. These elected officials are supposed to vote on your behalf. If yours are not, make your voice heard. Start calling and writing letters letting them know you didn’t vote them into office to act like this. You are paying their salary and they report to you. Don’t let them trick you into thinking they know best. You know how best to spend your money. Don’t hand it over to someone else to spend for you. If you don’t stand up for the right to keep your hard earned money, who else will?

Do You Have a Billionaire Mindset?

I bought a book last year that explained how billionaires think and why that is a key factor in their success. It all starts with something as simple as our thoughts. Interesting eh? I really agree with that.

For example, our poverty mentality says that we need to wash our own car because we want to save the $10 it would cost to pay someone else to do it. However, a billionaire sees his time as his most precious commodity and does the reverse. He pays someone $10 to wash the car and spends that hour doing something that will end up making money him a lot more than $10 in the long run. It may be reading a book on finances or listening to an entrepreneur teach about how he started a business. He sees that $10 as an investment into his future. He believes that his time is worth more than $10 an hour and therefore makes decisions with that in mind. It is the complete opposite of what our instinct tells us to do but the proof is in the pudding. The fact is that they are the billionaires so they must know what they are doing!

What Is Your Money Mgt Style?

Do you live on a strict budget or do you buy what you need and see how it comes out at the end of the month? What are your reasons for your money management style?

To Budget or Not To Budget?

As a Christian, I see a practical and spiritual side to having a personal budget.

First, God told us in Proverbs that wisdom is the principle thing and we are to seek it. I would think that having a plan (i.e. budget) for our finances would be a wise thing to do.

Second, God told us to owe no man anything but to love him therefore debt is not in God’s plan for us. If that’s the case, then we need to learn how to manage our money in a way so that we don’t get into debt situations.

Third, I think the debt situation that some people are in is because of poor money management and poor planning. This is the practical side of a budget. A budget is a way to plan where your money is going to go before you actually spend it. Once the money is spent it is difficult to get it back. You are stuck with the results. But, if you plan how you are going to spend your money ahead of time (with the discipline and dedication to only buy what you have cash to pay for) this will help to prevent overspending which leads to debt.

Fourth, a budget is a great reality check for those who aren’t good with finances. Keeping track of finances doesn’t come natural for everyone but that isn’t an excuse to not properly manage your money. When you actually lay out all of your bills on the table and you total that up, you get a good picture as to where your money is going. Once you have that information, you can now start making the difficult decisions about where to cut back or how to more wisely spend.

Fifth is the spiritual aspect. God said He would supply all of our needs and that we would be lacking for no good thing IF we honor Him, seek Him, obey Him, and put Him first in EVERY area of our life. God has a million ways to make you a millionaire in a day however many of us haven’t proven ourselves faithful stewards in the little therefore we can’t expect much.

As you grow in your faith and your obedience to Him, you will start to see God’s blessing manifest in your life. You won’t need a budget as much anymore because you live by faith and you live according to God’s system of sowing and reaping. Please note that this doesn’t give you a license to buy what you can’t afford. But what it says is that you aren’t limited by what you currently see.

If God wants you to have a new car, you keep believing and standing in faith and God will give you the money so you can go buy it. (Or He may have someone give you a car for free!) The important point to note is that I didn’t say you should go buy the car and then believe God will provide the money some day. You should only do that in the rare situation where God specifically tells you to buy before you have cash in hand. Because again, God said that we are to owe no man anything but to love him and if we were to buy without the money that would be incurring debt. God cannot go against His Word so if He said do not go into debt then He won’t ask you to do something that will put you into debt.

Well, this may be an odd place to end but I think I will call it quits for tonight. Have a great evening!

The American Dream Is Not . . .

Contrary to popular belief, the American dream of wealth, homes, and tangible goods is not handed out for free. The American dream is earned by hard work, integrity and honesty.

Have you noticed that everyone seems to misunderstand the “entitlement” part? We are entitled to the PURSUIT of happiness. That means we are to be allowed to pursue, chase after, or work towards it. It doesn’t mean it is handed out. We are entitled to work hard, demonstrate good character, act ethically and morally, and be a blessing to others. These actions and attitudes, along with a relationship with Jesus, are what produce true happiness in the end.

We’ve seen people try to obtain wealth unethically, immorally, and without character and integrity. As we all now know, this may work temporarily but will eventually end in ruin. Unfortunately, many good people were taken down by those who were trying to take shortcuts to the American dream. It has been a painful time for many people but I hope it has brought an awakening to the corruption in our country. Jesus is coming back soon and He is coming to take the righteous (those in right standing with the Father) back home. This country needs to repent of its evil, immoral and irresponsible actions and make a turn towards the things of God. We need to pray that God will have mercy on our country and that He will hold back judgement on the nations. This may be the last chance to turn back to God before judgement comes. In spite of the tragedies around us, God still has great things in store for us. Stay close to Him and find the wonderful life He has planned for you!

The Word Predicted This Would Happen

Did you know that the Bible predicted what we are seeing right now? I was reading Timothy tonight and was blown away by how it described the people in our world. This is from the NKJV but I strongly recommend that you go to Biblegateway.com and read the Amplified and Message translations as well.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

The good news is that we have the Bible to teach us, lead us, guide us and correct us. It is the manual that tells us how to live the good life that God planned for us!

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Root Problem With Stimulus Bills

I think one of the root problems with these stimulus bills is that it doesn’t fix the underlying problems that got us here. Greed. Mismanagement of personal finances. Irresponsibility. Lack of accountability. People’s belief that they are entitled to things.

If people’s attitudes and belief systems don’t change, we are going to be back in the same predicament when the money runs out. People who were irresponsible, overspent, and abused credit, are probably going to blow any tax credits or other kickbacks on more irresponsible spending.

I especially hate the idea that some people are going to get yearly rewards for paying their mortgage on time. The reward should be that you get to keep your house. As an adult you should be paying your bills on time without a reward. That’s called being responsible. This type of “stimulus” is only encouraging those who are working the system instead of getting out there and working to make a living. In addition, those who need this “reward” to pay on time, will probably just short pay other bills to get this extra bonus the government is handing out.

Don’t get me wrong. My heart goes out to the responsible people who lost a job or ran into medical issues that caused their bad financial situation. Those people should be helped by family, friends, local churches and ministries, etc. But, a massive stimulus program like these seem to reward the vast majority of people not in this category who carelessly throw their money around and think that because they breath air in our country it gives them a right to certain things. Even if they can’t afford it.

The stimulus should be rewarding personal responsibility. This would then encourage others to become responsible so that they too could get the reward. It just seems like these stimulus bills are backwards.

Luxuries vs Necessities

It’s unfortunate that we sometimes only think about our finances during these tough economic times. When we are getting by, we don’t think much about buying a Starbuck’s coffee each morning, eating out at lunch, buying brand new state of the art cell phones, big screen HDTV’s, high speed internet access . . . the list goes on and on.  However, now that things are tough, I think (or at least hope) many people are starting to evaluate what’s really a necessity and what is a luxury that they can’t afford.

 

In our culture, immediate gratification and entitlement to the American dream seem to take center stage.  Living too close to the edge, paying massive interest on credit cards and gambling with flexible rate mortgages are dangerous games to play. Unfortunately, these issues have gotten many into their current predicament. First, we need to change our mindset and set some rules for ourselves and family.

1. We only buy what we can pay cash for. 

2. All credit card expenses are paid off each month.

3. I am going to re-evaluate what’s truly a necessity (food, water, shelter, clothing) verses a luxury item (cell phones, brand new cars, big screen tvs, recreational vehicles, etc).

4. I am the only one that is responsible for my life and the only one who can change my life.

 

If you don’t truly believe and follow those ideals, I think it’s safe to say you are always going to be in debt and probably expect someone else to come to your rescue. I’m not saying that getting help from others is bad. Absolutely not. Everyone runs into hard times now and then. However, I’m troubled by those who think the government is supposed to take care of them while they sit at home and do nothing. Or, those who thought they were entitled to a home but couldn’t afford it and now want my hard earned tax dollars to bail them out of their bad decisions.

 

So back to my original point. Has this tough economic time caused you to re-evaluate what you consider to be a necessity and a luxury? What have you done to cut back?

How to Make Your Way Prosperous

During these tough economic times, everyone is asking how do I make wise decisions and become prosperous. The answer is found in Joshua 1:8.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.”

Can it really be that simple? Absolutely!

When you begin to immerse yourself in God’s ways, you begin to think and act like God. He will tell you where to invest (or not invest). He will give you favor, promotion and increase. When we live by God’s Kingdom principles, we will see God’s results in our life. Isn’t that exciting?