The awful costs of family disintegration

The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed ChildbearingFirst-Ever Estimates for the Nation and All Fifty States
Report from: Institute for American Values * Institute for Marriage and Public Policy * Georgia Family Council * Families Northwest
Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives [fbciohio@governor.ohio.gov]

Why should legislators and policymakers care about marriage? Public debate on marriage in this country has focused on the “social costs” of family fragmentation (that is, divorce and unwed childbearing), and research suggests that these are indeed extensive. But marriage is more than a moral or social institution; it is also an economic one, a generator of social and human capital, especially when it comes to children.

In this study, we adopt the simplifying and extremely cautious assumption that all of the taxpayer costs of divorce and unmarried childbearing stem from the effects that family fragmentation has on poverty, a causal mechanism that is well-accepted and has been reasonably well-quantified in the literature.

Based on the methodology, we estimate that family fragmentation costs U.S. tax-payers at least $112 billion each and every year, or more than $1 trillion each decade.
These costs arise from increased taxpayer expenditures for antipoverty, criminal justice, and education programs, and through lower levels of taxes paid by individuals who, as adults, earn less because of reduced opportunities as a result of having been more likely to grow up in poverty.

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Even very small increases in stable marriage rates as a result of government programs or community efforts to strengthen marriage would result in very large savings for taxpayers. If the federal marriage initiative, for example, succeeds in reducing family fragmentation by just 1 percent, U.S. taxpayers will save an estimated $1.1 billion each and every year.
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The crisis of family destruction is upon us. If every church in America adopted a small program to support marriages, we could help break the cycle of poverty and increase giving to our own churches.

Want to learn how to decrease family break ups? Contact me at gary@sweetenlife.com

Money Rules in Vegas

Michael Boys adds, "Whatever happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas (Except the bill)

Michael thinks a lot like me. I know what the odds are for winning anything in Vegas and I work too hard for my $$$ to give it to the underbelly of society.

Vote for Gambling

Here is another response to the Advertisements for Vegas.

Here in Cincinnati there is a huge promotion to pass a bill to allow casino gambling. We have gambling boats and casinos just a few miles from us in Indiana but that is not enough. Here is my response to Vegas.

"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" (Except the greedy casino owners who want to bankrupt more people in Ohio.)

In this case we might say, "What happens in Indiana"

What do you think?

Paula Clare wrote a great response.

Another Contest for You

It is 3:30 AM and I can't sleep. I suppose that is good because I am thinking of ways I can engage you, my readers, in a dialogue. I want, need and love interaction. After all, the tag line of Sweeten Life is, "A life time of great relationships" and how can you and I have a great relationship if I never hear from you? (Some of you mention that you have read the blog. Thanks!)

Here is the new contest. I am looking for the best satirical way to answer the TV ads from Las Vegas that say: "Whatever happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas."

Examples: "Whatever happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas" (Except the broken marriages)

"Whatever happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas" (Except the bills)

Send me your nominations via email or on the comments.

gary@sweetenlife.com

Charitable Giving

The Chronicle of Philanthrophy

June 04, 2008
Religious Habits of Young Americans Spell Trouble for Fund Raising
Baby boomers give less to religious causes than their parents’ generation did when they were the same age as boomers are now, new research has found. And members of Generation X, people born after 1965, give even less than boomers.

What’s more, younger people attend religious services far less regularly than their parents or grandparents.

The research, conducted by Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, is based in part on an analysis of data from 8,000 households that have been followed and interviewed on a range of topics every two years since the 1960s.

Giving to religion is an important trend for fund raisers of all kinds, since numerous studies have found that people who give to religious causes — and attend services — tend to donate more to groups of all kinds.

In the study by Indiana University, researchers found that people aged 35 to 49 gave $789 to religious causes in 2000, while people their parents’ age, who were 35 to 49 in 1973, gave $991, for example.

The difference in giving among the generations appears to be related to attendance at religious services, which has declined nationwide, said Bill Enright, one of the Center on Philanthropy researchers.

A generation ago, more than 40 percent of Americans attended weekly religious services, but that figure has shrunk to about 25 percent, he said.

Who will support Christian ministries in the future?

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My Daughters' Blog

I am very proud to say that my daughter has a wonderfully written and produced blog. You can find it at http://hookedonhouses.wordpress.com/

Yesterday's post had a photo of our grand daughter Lily. She has her grandma's looks and her Papa's interest in computers. If you look around the blog you can see me when I was about thirty and working at The University of Cincinnati. I was sitting with our very young daughter Julia on the steps of the Residence Hall where I served as a Resident Counselor to 600 students. Julia had 600 big brothers and they loved having her around.

Memories are made of this.

Growing Up and Then Out

I am an extrovert. I am also a person that loves to talk. Additionally, I have a personality that has been described by my best friends and loving family as, "Often wrong but never in doubt."

Taken together this package can cause me trouble. I can be very quick to speak and slow to listen. Umm, that is the opposite of what the Bible commands me to be. If I am wrong and God is right, guess who needs to change.

Ever since I did my doctoral research on the integration of psychology and theology I have carried around a hefty bag of embarrassment because I find it so difficult to change myself and yet I am very interested in changing others.

There are many instances when I am about to preach to somebody about their need to change when it strikes me that I am being judgemental. I am hit with the truth that God wants to change me.

One of the big shocks I had in Graduate School at Southern Illinois University was the insight about why people judge and criticize others. It may not always be the case but usually my judgementalism and criticism reveal areas of my own life that need examination and transformation.

I really hated that session. One of my profs offered that bit of wisdom the my class. I wonder if everyone else was as bummed out about their sins as I was about mine.

I had always thought my criticisms were the result of my superior holiness and wisdom. After all, they proved I knew better than the guy whose faults I was judging. Don't get me wrong, that guy really did have faults. Some of them were pretty awful. However, I learned that it was not my job to change people. God can do it by Himself.

I was thrown into a tizzy. Why would anyone go into the field of Counseling if not to straighten out people? I had thought that it was my job, my profession, my solemn duty to fix those messed up folks and now I learn differently.

Later, much later, I began to see that God had called me to walk along side the people in pain and allow the Holy Spirit that was with me and in me lead them to their own insights and ability to change. Man, that was disappointing! It is hard to be a hero if God gets the glory.

If you want to learn more get Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty from http://www.authorhouse.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/

Write me at gary@Sweetenlife.com or go to http://www.sweetenlife.com/ for more information.