Friday, April 08, 2011

"For What It's Worth" Friday

So the government may shut down this morning. Think of all that productivity coming to a halt! (That comment was intended as sarcasm, in case you didn't notice).

The fight is over $40 billion dollars in tax cuts. Now here is a Congress that is really serious about dealing with the national debt. Right now it is running in excess of $1 TRILLION a year. If my math is right, $40 billion in cuts would reduce the deficit by .4%. That's right -- not even one half of one percent. And these guys can't even agree to that? What hope do we EVER have of dealing with the deficit issue?

And the scare tactics are incredible. Of course, the one issue that is being paraded is that our troops would not receive their checks. Is today payday? Or do they get paid every day? If the government shuts down today, it will not last long. All of this is political posturing. It would be political suicide to actually allow our troops to miss a paycheck.
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The state of Texas is considering raising the posted speed limit on some roads to 85. I have never been one who has a "need for speed", so this has no appeal to me. But 85? Doesn't that seem awfully fast?
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If you want to see what the "new earth" will look like, tune into the Masters this weekend. God is allowing us to get a peek at heaven there (this conclusion comes with a lot of scholarly research). By the way, my sermon Sunday comes from the last half of Romans 6 where Paul discusses our choice: slavery to sin or slavery to righteousness. We choose our master. So my title? "The Masters."

4 comments:

Unknown said...

So is it actually bad to have a government shutdown?

I'm sick of it...and I don't even pay that much attention to the national news. Shut it down. The federal government has morphed into a self-sustaining monster.

It would be extremely painful to have massive cuts in government because we are now so dependent on the numerous government jobs and payroll, subsidies, funds that trickle down to even the local level, etc.

But it's probably in our national best interest to have exponentially less federal government.

In my view, the federal government should focus on providing national defense and the best military, providing infrastructure such as roads, utilities, clean air, clean water, and promoting freedom and responsibility. That's obviously over-simplified. But could simple be better?

So a shutdown? Non-essential government? It may come to a surprise to most in Washington that much of our federal government is already non-essential. But the egos involved refuse to believe it.

But are we willing to wean ourselves off the breast milk of federal government?
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New speed limit? Sounds like a ploy to me by big oil to help us consume more fuel. If we could have a natural gas or electric car that could go 85mph for about 350-400 miles continuously, I'd be interested in that.
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I just don't see the new earth needing 18 holes. :) Augusta in indeed beautiful though. And I am looking forward to your sermon.

I guess that's enough of my rant today..."for what it's worth."

Jeff said...

So, if I hear you correctly, heaven will be a place where lots of people get mad, scream, throw bags full of metal in the pond and stomp off to drink more beer? I never pictured it that way before.

A government shutdown. Is that an oxymoron?

85's not that fast.

Not that I would know, of course.

Randy Davis said...

Looks like the government didn't shut down - too bad.

85 mph sounds great but I'll have to have another car. I'm not sure the little 4 cylinder Pontiac Toyota will go that fast.

Rick Ross said...

Jeff,

You must have been watching something different than I did. So, no, you did not hear me correctly.