Mhaolain's Child, a Renaissance Thinker in a Post-Modern Culture

Economics 101

My friend and former pastor, George Grant, recently posted this pithy explanation of the various Economic Models. It is as cogent today as the first time I heard George voice it:

Economics in One Easy Lesson

Economics, commonly known as the "dismal science," can actually be easily understood. Here are each of the basic economic philosophies explained in simple "two-cow" terms (first articulated years ago during a delightful dinner in Washington DC with Murray Rothbard):

Communalism: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.

Communism: You have two cows. The government takes them both and--from time to time--provides you with sour milk.

Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes them and sells you the milk.

Liberalism: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours it down the drain.

Socialism: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point that you must sell them both in order to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow which was a gift from your government.

Free-Market Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

Centralized, Multi-National-Corporation-Based, Government-Subsidized, Democratic Socialism: You have two cows. You sell one, force the other to produce the milk of four cows and when it dies you write off the depreciation, hire a lobbyist, and garner a government bail-out and tax-breaks in order to purchase two new cows. Repeat.

posted by George Grant , 21 October 2008

a Watercooler Wednesday contribution

Living in the Present

Tonight, our book study will continue to ponder Meletios Webber's exhortation to us to live in the present. While God, being eternal, inhabits the past, present, and future, we His created beings truly live only in the present. Though I can learn from my past and plan for my future, it is my present where my cognitive physical self moves and works. Webber teaches, ". . . the present moment is the only moment that is, in any sense, real. Morever, in spiritual terms, the present moment is the only possible occasion in which we can meet God (or anyone else)" (20).

I think of all the times in my life when I've set my sights on a goal and spent periods of "present" truly living for that future date as if that would be when my life would begin. I remember the days of high school and then college when I filled my days with activities and classes but all the time looking forward to the day when my "real life" would begin. My husband, the doctor, spent six years in medical school and residency (after four years of college). We were newly-weds when he embarked on this path. For those six long years, it seemed as though we would never reach the day when life would begin. Yet, I look back at those long-gone years and see so many moments filled with the joy of living, the joy of growing as partners. Days filled with learning to cook (many times through trial and error), to decide who has control of the toothpaste (get one for each of you), and who has the privilege to withdraw funds from the ATM.

Now, I'm watching my son walk along this same season of life, longing to finish college so he can get on with his real life. But, if we heed Father Webber's advice, we will focus on today, on this moment, and lift a voice of praise for 3:07pm on October 27 when the sun shines, the birds sing, the chipmunks scurry, and God is present with me.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Yesterday, I drove down to spend the day with my parents. We joined my aunt and uncle for a celebratory lunch at Ardmore's famous diner, The Fried Green Tomato. There, we lifted our glasses that brimmed with Southern Sweet Tea to toast my dad on his birthday.

It was a great day not only to celebrate his birthday but also to celebrate his great recovery from hip replacement surgery. The new joint is working great. On this birthday, Daddy walked without a limp. He is almost past the need for his walker, having progressed to his cane almost exclusively.

As is usually the case when my family gathers, we talked about the upcoming holidays and what foods we will enjoy. I make the menus and assignments for Thanksgiving; my aunt plans for Christmas. We all look forward to the swiftly approaching holidays, especially as we give thanks for the good health of my parents in this year.

So, Happy Birthday, Bionic Man. You're the best daddy a girl could ever have. I love you loads!

The Alpha and Omega and All Points in Between

Again, I offer, at the request of my study group, another of my observations on the nature of God and our relationship with Him as seen in contrasts:

His Perfect Nature	Our Sinful State
His Cold Wind	His Fiery Wind
He reaches to Heaven	He covers the Earth
He seeks The Just	He seeks The Unjust
The Righteous	The Unrighteous
Believers	Unbelievers
Rich	Poor
The Well-Loved	The Stranger
The Strong	The Weak
The Homeless Exile	Those who live behind the city walls
Those who live in peace	Those who live in war
Those who are free	Those who are slaves
Those who hunger and thirst	Those who are fed by the Bread of Life and filled by the Living Water

 He is the Alpha and Omega.

He is All and covers All.

There are no points on the compass, no situations of life, outside of His realm.

Taking every Thought Captive

In the opening chapter of his book on experiencing the Mysteries of God, Bread & Water, Wine & Oil, Fr. Meletios Webber spends many pages discussing what the early church fathers termed logismoi, those pesky thoughts that seem to assault our minds throughout our day. I shared one of my musings at our session today, and, per their request, I offer this musing here:

I've been pondering Mysteries.
I find it really interesting to think of all the diametrically opposite terms we find in the Scriptures, including the appellation for Christ, The Alpha and The Omega, the Beginning and the End. Holding those thoughts in my mind, I have found myself thinking how interesting it is that so many Orthodox prayers request from God and thank God for wisdom and understanding. Yet, all the while, we are told to abandon our need for things of the mind in favor of things of the heart (nous).
 
When I think of all these diametrically opposing concepts, a visual image of a compass jumps into my mind (the assault). I see the needle swaying from point to point, from opposites to opposites. Then, I see the geometric plane of Christ as a cover over the entire circle -- not just a 2-d circle but a 3-d sphere. For He is over all things, from A to Z. As such, when God is the source of understanding, when He is the provider and the cover of our thoughts (think of His hand sheltering the compass), then He gives us the ability to hold captive for His glory all that we think, understand, and do.
 
Further, I see this ability He pours on us to hold thoughts captve as a military maneuver for which He has given us His Armor: "Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."  Did you know that schemes is the accurate translation of the arrangement and style of persuasive speech, aka Rhetoric? So, again, we have a word that, when used according to God's perfect plan, is a beneficial tool. But, like logismoi, when the scheme is used outside of God's pleasure, this tool, like our thoughts, takes our minds captive for evil (that being anything outside of God's perfect will).

Living in the Highs and Lows

When our son was younger, our family spent many vacations at the Orlando theme parks. Over the years we progressed from Dumbo's Flying Circus ride to the Rockin' Roller Coaster, from the Incredible Hulk Coaster to the Dueling Dragons free flight rides.  We learned the tricks to minimize our time in line and to maximize the effects of the coasters' g-forces. Even now, my husband and I take off for a long weekend and subject ourselves to these fantastical flights of physics.

These past couple of weeks have reminded me of our many roller coaster rides, what with the plunging of the economic barometers and the soaring heights of Wall Street this last week. This period of dramatic highs and lows has caused many people to express their belief that humankind is living in an unprecedented period of chaos, which causes me to chuckle. Yes, the days bring great uncertainty. But Scripture tells us to live in the present since we have no assurances of tomorrow. Christ, in his model prayer, even instructs us to ask, "Give us this day our daily bread," but no more.

I love to read each day from The Book of Common Prayer. In this version of the devotion, James Kiefer adds testimonies of the various saints of The Church, men and women who suffered much more than an emotional roller coaster ride based on financial futures. My Orthodox prayer books also remind me of the things of this world that have real value. Today, I've been listening to this great hymn: Hymn of the Cherubim from the Sacred Treasures collections. I'm remembering the One who is the cover over all our highs and lows; His Name is The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End (and all points in between). He is the Treasury of all Good Things, our Redeemer and Friend. So, "Let not your hearts be troubled." The King is on His Throne.

Look in the Mirror and Ask these Questions

Dr. Mark T. Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and a James Madison Fellow at Princeton University. He offers the following article, Ten Questions and a Modest Proposal. Sobering thoughts here.

One Corporation's Thinking

I own a management company, and, as such, I'm one of those nasty CEOs of a corporation. I'm a careful manager, and I'm fiscally responsible. Consequentially, I've been listening to all the talk about bail-outs, corporate greed, and financial mismanagement with deep interest. I must confess that I'm a little tired of hearing all corporations and businesses lumped together under the heading of "Bad Guys."

Here's my own current thinking:

As a corporation, my business pays federal, state, and local taxes. It also pays me a salary, on which I pay income tax, Social Security and Medicare tax, and federal and state unemployment taxes. I have employees who are paid a salary that generates income tax, Social Security and Medicare tax, and federal and state unemployment tax. I pay sales and use taxes on all the materials that I purchase to make my business function. (Have you ever read your telephone bills line by line??) Additionally, I pay personal property taxes on all those goods that I've already paid sales tax on.

Currently, I'm a staff member short, as one of my team took a new job as "Mommy." I'm interviewing possible replacements, and I have a couple of newcomers to this area who look perfect for the position. However, I'm considering leaving the slot unfilled because of all the talk of raising taxes and issuing new mandates on the "greedy corporations." So consider this: I will choose not to hire a new employee, call her Jane. Jane will not find a job here and will not buy a house from my friend who is a real estate broker, who will cut down on eating at restaurants, which will cause my friend who is a server to lose tip money and maybe lose his job. With less money, he will not longer have discretionary funds to buy a book from my friend who is a publisher, who will in turn need to whittle down his own staff since people don't have the extra money for things like books. I could go on, but you get the picture.

I'm a little uncomfortable with the term "Trickle Down Economics" because of the bad connotation it gained in the 1980s. But it worked under the leadership of Ronald Reagan. Perhaps we should call it the "Circle of Life" because, when the employers prosper, the employees prosper. The employees buy goods and services, which drives the employers to hire more employees to produce more goods and services. The more monies that are earned and spent provide a bigger pool of funds for the gentle taxation of Corporate America. A beneficial circle for all involved.

The Effectual Fervent Prayer

As is so often the case, the many facets of my day are voicing a common theme. Sunday's sermon was dedicated to the role of prayer in the life of a Christian. Likewise, my ladies' book study group is reading Meletios Webber's Bread & Water, Wine & Oil, in which Father Webber frequently discusses prayer as part of the path to experiencing God. The idea of intercessory prayer is one that frequently confounds both the Believer and the Unbeliever, for if God is Omniscient, then He already knows how all things play out even unto Eternity. I love the way Father Webber discusses Intercession in the following quotation:

Intercession is praying for people and situations. . . . Intercession is not a matter of telling God what to do, even with the best of possible intentions. Nor is it a question of trying to change God's mind about something. Intercession is simply a matter of bringing the concerns of our own lives . . . to the throne of God and leaving them there. . . .

Bringing [situations] to God in prayer is very powerful, but the effect of the prayerful action is more likely to be seen in oneself than in the other person. . . . Like an offering of fruit, of grain or wine or oil, we bring things to God, not that He lacks them in any sense, but simply because He accepts our offerings.  Intercessions are like that. We simply offer our concerns to God. (p. 57)

And may our offerings be pleasing to our God.

Autumn Moonglow