the ekonomik krisis.

here are my thoughts on the economic crisis - and i am indeed qualified to write this blog because:

A.) i got an A (!) in economics in high school
B.) i read the book freakonomics three years ago

therefore, i am an expert. [HA.] let's just forget that i got a C+ in basic econ in college..
___________________________________________________

i just spent the last week in washington DC..and fortunately the hussle & bussle (sp?) was settled for the christmas season. let's go over a quick recap of what is going on in our economy:

..home foreclosures..jobs lost..corruption everywhere..consumer spending all-time low..unemployment darn near an all-time high..etc.

[can anyone else hear that song that was really popular after 9/11 ringing in their head? ..i'm proud to be an american..because at least i know i'm free..]

this whole issue comes down to one thing: self-interest. we are fallen human beings who by [nature] put ourselves first. that is who we are, and that is what we were born with. let me explain this with an example:

when i was in high school my dad put me in charge of a 'walk'ntaco' booth in front of his office for the arts and crafts fair [a 2-day event that draws thousands upon thousands of women to little falls the first weekend of september..]. the first year that we ran it i ended up in the hole - not a dime of profit made. the next year was much better..i made about $500. but i had hired a bunch of my friends and handed them a bunch of cash as well - about another $500 worth. i got to thinking..hey..if i cut them loose next year, i can make $1000! and that's what i did. it was a crazy amount of work, i didn't have two seconds to breathe that whole weekend but i came out of there loaded (and we all know that i love money..refer to my mammon blog..).

this story details a two-day event, not a big deal. imagine people that live their lives like this. cutting hard workers loose (like my great friends) to receive a larger chunk of the profit. it's all about getting more and more money..making a name for yourself on this big ball of matter. giving your kids a life > any of the lives of their friends. having a bigger house to show off when you host ridiculous parties. nicer clothes. yes$yes$yes.

[this concludes part 1 of my blog..Godthoughts coming at the end..wait for it..]

the stock market is plummeting. people are losing thousands of dollars by the day and can't do a damn thing to stop it. retirement funds going up into smoke. college funds-gone. dreams shattered.

my dad is an investment banker and should probably fear for his life. his clients have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, money they don't know if they'll get back. i was curious about how investments work, so i asked my pa a few questions.

1. Q: "when people are losing 'thousands' of dollars..is that from the initial amount that they put in? or just the interest they've collected?"
A: "the interest rates are so highly inflated that in the past decade people have been making ridiculous gains in investments that weren't ever real. they have this feeling of 'ownership' of this money that they never actually earned." [my version of what ron said..]

an oprah 'AHA' moment: what's better than hard-earned money? money we didn't earn! i can only imagine the dollar-signs in the pupils of the investors throughout the early 2000s as their money doubled, maybe even tripled. and all they had to do was put their in a roth ira. (ps i technically don't know what that is..but it's some sort of high-earning investment). why do you think credit card debt is so high? [hint: credit card lines are money that we didn't earn either..].

2. Q: "will [the market] bounce back?"
A: "eventually. it always does. but it's gonna be a long time. this recession is not going away any time soon, and it will be a miracle if we don't slip into a depression. but for now, people have got to restructure their spending, and start leaning on money that they actually have."

i get the impression that when he says 'actually' he's referring to the amount of money that is written on your paycheck and put into your bank account.

[conclusion]

if there's anything that i wanted to get across in this blog is that as much as we want to point the finger at someone 'high up' for screwing us over, the problem lies within us. we think we deserve more than what we earn, and what we have is never enough.

i don't think there is a specific word in the Bible for the 'god of self' (maybe i just haven't found it yet..), oh but that's the biggest god that we have to fear. again, luke 16 says: one cannot serve two gods. it does. not. work.

i saw a story on the news while i was in DC (i kid you not, the ONE positive story i heard on the news my whole trip) that proves my point:

a cookie company in ohio has been facing a lot of trouble with our current economic situation. [which i find ironic because this economic crisis just makes me want to eat more cookies, but that is neither here nor there]. they've made cuts left and right, in hopes of not having to close down altogether. in all, they've laid off 60 employees, as of the beginning of december. right before Christmas..that just plain sucks. two guys decided to buy out the cookie company with the surplus of money that they themselves had. they were able to hire back all 60 employees by spending their own money and get them back on the assembly line two weeks before Christmas. on top of that, they gave every employee a $1600 visa gift card to show them that "things were going to be different from now on". quick recap: in the course of 2 weeks, these employees lost their jobs, were re-hired, and now have $1600, no strings attached.

the news coverage didn't mention if these two guys were Christians, and i guess i can't really say if they were for sure or not. but they could've taken their money (that i don't know where they got, but that's irrelevant) and hoarded it for themselves to protect their future, but they didn't. and SIXTY people (and families) will benefit because of it.

can you imagine if we lived in that kind of world? what if all employers did that? what if they reached into their deep pockets and put others first?

i'm sure an economist would read this blog and think i'm stupid. this situation can only be solved by equations and barack obama. b-rock (who i did not see on my trip btw), is the savior of not only this country, but the world.

i voted for barack obama, because voting was my duty and i believed he was the better candidate.

but the Savior of the world came 2008 years ago. and is coming again to clean up this mess.

can't wait.