Banks Complain About 5 Percent Interest Rate

According to Scrath Pad bank CEO’s are protesting the requirement that they pay a 5 percent interest rate on their TARP funds.  They must have though they could borrow th emoney for free becasue it was lent through the Treasury. The Bankers Association should know better. If they want banks to have zero percent loan maybe they should also advocate for students who currently pay 6 percent or 8.5 percent on a PLUS loan on their debt for the current academic year to also pay zero percent on their academic loans. They are claiming that the 5 percent amounts to an exit fee because it was predicated on the thought that banks would need money for years.

They suddenly want to get out of a legal binding contract, and none of us could get out of our loan contracts just because we did nto like it. They are complaining about changes in the rules being retroactive. Well, so how it feels when something changes retroactively and applies to everything.

Plans, Staffing and Calls for Resignation

The American people are getting impatient and are frustrated abouot the state of the economy. The target of their frustration is Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. According to the New York Times Secretary Geithner has yet to produce a plan to deal with systemic risk. This charge is untrue becauause his plan for controlling systemic risk is posted at FinancialStability.gov where anyone in the media or general public can access and evaluate it.


Some of the extra challenges that Mr. Geithner faces are do to not having a full staff at Treasury. He is, according to The New York Times, working with a "skeleton crew" of unofficial senior advisors. This is the case even though Mr. Obama has nominated people for three senior positions the Senate Finance Committee has not held hearings on any of them.

A group of people from across the aisle including Sen. Jim DeMint have called on Mr. Geithner to resign. However, Mr. Obama says he will not accept the Treasury Secretary's resignation should he tender it. This is a good thing because the most importnat thing at this time tis to get the Treasury Department properly staffed.

Christian Citizenship

This past year has been spent humbling myself in prayer asking the Lord this question: What does it mean to be a Christian Citizen in a secular country such as the United States? How do I live your will and be a light to others while allowing them their liberty of conscience? How do I best help people to understand that a pro-life position is more than just an anti-abortion position, but one that honors all life the pre-born as well as the life that is already born?

I have yet to receive complete answers to all of these questions. However, the Lord has given me one simple rule that is to choose leaders that will enact and support laws which while honoring the secular nature of the country would represent Godly ways. For example, one question I had early on was weather since the bible calls on individuals to care for the needy and also says in Romans 13 that the only “the only authority is established by God” and that the ruler is “God’s servant.” The answer to the question is not clear, however, it became clearer after I thought about it more and come up with the principle that we must care for the needy. However, I still struggle with a concern about weather civil disobedience is acceptable to God. If you are supposed to as Romans 13 commands to obey the authority then how can one participate in civil disobedience while still obeying God? This is not an easy question because we have had great leaders like Martian Luther King, Jr. who led civil disobedience during the Civil Rights Movement. I suppose he should be a guide as to that question.

What God expected of me became clearer upon close study of Romans 13 and humble prayer how I was to carry out my responsibility as a Christian Citizen. This means submission to family (including marriage) (Ephesians 5:22 – 6:3), church leadership (Eph. 5:21, 1 Cor. 16:16, 1 Pe 5:5), and civil government (Romans 13:1-8) while remembering that disobedience is called for when I am asked to disobey God’s law to follow civil law (Acts 4:19-20).

It is easy to see how this applies in the private sphere (home and Church), however, it is still and always will be a struggle to apply in the public (government/political sphere). This means, at minimum, supporting laws and regulations that support life, marriage, and family while attempting to change those that don’t meet the standards of the Lord. The challenge here is not showing any disrespect for other human beings which we are called to love.

The greatest responsibility of any citizen, but particularly the government is to preserve and protect innocent life. The unalienable right to life is granted in the Declaration of Independence and the bible, as well as by many criminal laws that punish those who murder or kill. However, this means more than being simply against abortion and vowing to appoint justices who over turn Roe v Wade, it also means that all living and pre-born must have access to health care so that they can be healthy. It means access to a quality education, affordable housing, and a safe community in which to live, learn, and worship. An important part of this is creating economic policies (including trade) that reduce/eliminate debts and deficits and encourages investments in human potential.

Supporting marriage and family in the public sphere is more than simply defining marriage as between a man and a woman, but that is a good start. Then we need to move on from there and create a family friendly environment with policies on all issues which allow the family to be the primary place where children are reared. This also means keeping government out of ecclesial affairs. The First Amendment was meant to keep government out of the garden and not the people of the garden out of government.

In conclusion, at this point, being a Christian Citizen means sincerely obeying authority and institutions created by God as well as those that are not created or sanctioned by God. It means advocating changes in policy that honor, life, family, and allow the Church to be the Church. This is part of honoring our citizenship and knowing our heritage.

Stimulating Discrimination

Many Democrats and their allies  complain of writing discrimination in to the Constitution/law when Republicans take action that supports and endorses traditional values. However, in H.R. 1 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act they have written in to the law discrimination of their own. They ban funding from going to institutions or portions of institutions that teach courses with sectarian content at the Post-Secondary level.

Free-Market Principles for the Digital Economy

“The Internet,” it is often said, “changes everything.” For consumers, business leaders, and elected officials, this may not be far from the truth. But the transistion to a digital economy does not repeal the laws of economics, change our concept of justice, or invalidate the desirability of what classical liberal thinkers call “the rule of law.” The task is to apply timeless truths and the scientific method to a new and fast-changing reality.

1.Governments must allow electronic commerce to grow up in an environment driven by markets, not burdened with extensive regulation, taxation, or censorship. While government actions will not stop the growth of electronic commerce, if they are too intrusive, progress can be substantially impeded.

2.Where possible, rules for the Internet and electronic commerce should result from private collective action, not government regulation.

3.Governments do have a role to play in supporting the creation of a predictable legal environment globally for doing business on the internet, but must exercise this role in a non bureaucratic fashion.

4.Greater competiton in telecommunications and broadcast industries should be encouraged so that high-bandwith services are brought to homes and offices around the world and so that the new converged marketplace of broadcast, telephony, abd the Internet operate on laws of competiton and consumer choice rather than those of government regualation.

5.There should be no discriminatory taxation against Internet commerce.

6.The Internet should function as a seemless global marketplace with no artificial barriers erected by governments.

7.Protection of private property rights is an essential condition for effective planning and the long-term growth of the digital economy.

8.Effective public policy advocacy abd education are required to overcome opposition to change by special interest groups if the public is to public benefit from the many opportunities and efficiencies made possible by the digital revolution.