USA versus Europe's Standard of Living

With the soon coming addition of a Value Added Tax in the USA that rivals Europe, it would be nice to see a good, honest comparison of our current standard of living. I recently read a comparison that was dated in 1991 and it showed the USA as having a much lower standard of living and lower taxes than Europe.

The charts I read were old and unclear as to how issues, including taxes, were counted. If any of my readers have such comparisons I would like to see them.

Thanks,

Gary Sweeten

The Myth of the Expert

Anonymous left a comment on the previous post asking, "What is The Myth of the Expert?" Good question. I left the following comment on the blog but want to add some more content to it for clarification.

The Hopper brothers wrote in the book "The Puritan's Gift" that the key to our economic, social and spiritual strength was the approach to work and relationships we got from the Puritans. The were all ready and willing to pitch in and get "their hands dirty". In Britain and Europe, managers did not ever do practical work so they did not have practical knowledge.

Over the past few decades the USA has developed a "professional class of experts" that is out of touch with practical knowledge. This leads us to rack and ruin because the top bankers have never loaned anyone anything. They are theoretically trained in economics not banking so they ruined the financial industry.

The same is often true in counseling, religion and family life. Experts rely on fuzzy theories not practical life. For years such counselors recommended divorce to women who were frustrated with marriage. Then, the wrecks of millions of divorcees started showing up in their offices and those "experts" started to change their minds.

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In the book "The Churching of America" social researchers Starke and Finke say that there is an inverse relationship between seminary graduation rates and church growth. Since the days of the American Revolution the churches with fewer seminary trained Ministers have out planted and out grown those with "experts" at the helm.

In the Seventies I started doing research for a Doctorate on the best ways to train Christians to care and counsel. Much to my surprise I discovered that lay persons (Peers) were as effective or more effective when compared with Professional "expert" Counselors.

The West seems to be hurdling toward making expertise and education even more central to education, business and especially medicine. The medicalization of all kinds of moods and attitudes is not good for the country and it is driving much of the current increase in medical costs. Counselors made a pact with the "expert model" when we started taking third party payments for our work. Those who pay the piper calls the tune so now we have to pretend that it is our expertise and theoretical education that make us better Counselors. That is a major part of the "Myth of the Expert".

One last point. When Universities started programs for Masters in Business Administration, companies started moving away for requiring managers to have common sense and knowledge of the businesses they were in. This was part of the growing "Myth of the Expert" and leads the USA down a road to bad management and a lack of understanding of the way companies and workers operate.

Unions bought into the "Myth" and started demanding that their members got better jobs based not on skill, understanding and abilities but on "seniority". The term "fairness" replaced the need for someone who really knew the business.

I know of churches that selected Senior Pastors on their ability as "Motivational Speakers". In some cases the person had never himself worked in a church and knew nothing about Sunday school, committee work, hospital visitation, etc. Just as the Chris Farley character on Saturday Night Live was a poor leader so were these men. They had no practical knowledge of how to manage a congregation.

You can buy Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty at Author House.

NOTE: I am not anti education. I have several advanced degrees. The issue is having practical people and management skills along with the theoretical knowledge.

Crisis in America

Jesus Calms The Storm

I must admit that I am very sad and even somewhat depressed. The way Obama and the Democrats are tearing America apart is unprecedented. I normally do not get down but see things in God's perspective but reading that the Dem's are going to pass the health care take over left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

But it is more than that. The EPA has declared CO2 to be a dangerous gas and are dedicated to bullying, bludgeoning anyone who breathes to be a danger to the planet.

The bullying is one of the things about Obama that really concerns me. The Left is mean, cold blooded and hard hearted when it comes to disagreements. The have no commitment to freedom of speech or freedom of conscience. All Christian hospitals will be forced to do abortions. All Christian charities will be forced to hire sexual deviants.

The leftist obsession with sexual deviancy and abortion are oppressive. They will bully people into compliance. I saw it in the mainline denominations and we can see it in judicial rulings now. In Scandinavia the left insists that homosexuals be hired on every church staff. The insist that all kinds of extremely dysfunctional sexual obsessions be funded by tax dollars and will persecute Christians who disagree.

Read this article about Massachusetts if you do not believe me.

I do not know what to do but pray. I urge my readers to pray. But, as Romans 8 says, "We do not know how to pray as we ought..."

Lord, teach us to pray.

George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

Thanksgiving Proclamation

George Washington

City of New York, October 3, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Where have all the Terrorists Gone?

Frank Goig, is a man I met when he was a Chaplain at Ground Zero. I was there ministering to the First Responders. Frank sent me a very interesting email. I must admit that the contents of the email shocked me.

It included a link to an Internet site that contains a report on the National Security Team that advised the President Obama as to what he needed to do after the Inauguration. The Internet site is run by George Washington University, one of the best schools in America.

I will let you read the report without my guidance or editorial input, but go to page 29, Appendix C and read the names of the members of the task force. Look carefully and see if you notice any names that have been in the news recently. Then write me a note and tell me what you think when you find the name of a man who was advising the new President and his team how to deal with terrorism.

Some days I think I am being a bit paranoid but others it seems as though I am not suspicious enough. Of course my many visits to the former USSR have taught me that authoritarian leaders will stoop to any and all kinds of evil.

Gary Sweeten

Hasan and The Afterlife

According to ABC News, the terrorist Nidal Hasan was ready to die.

United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, according to an American official with top secret access to 18 e-mails exchanged between Hasan and the cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, over a six month period between Dec. 2008 and June 2009.

Other messages include questions, the official with access to the e-mails said, that include when is jihad appropriate, and whether it is permissible if there are innocents killed in a suicide attack.

"Hasan told Awlaki he couldn't wait to join him in the discussions they would having over non-alcoholic wine in the afterlife," the official said.

How is Obama Doing

I just wrote a post on my Seasoned Believers blog about Obama's talk in China. Take a look and see what you think.