Get Out and Experience the World

Today I wrapped up another chapter in my life experiences.  I ended my tenure at Seneca Foods in Rochester Minnesota.
To give a little background, Seneca Foods is a local factory that cans vegetables.  They pick them in fields throughout southeast MN, bring them into the plant, process and can them to be bought by companies like Wal-mart.
My specific job in this whole system was to operate the scale the trucks would weigh on as they came in and out.  Needless to say, it wasn't exactly mentally challenging, there was a lot of down time, and I don't plan on making a career out of it.  But my point is not to throw the past months away as a "summer job" and move on with my life.  Rather, my experience at Seneca has further opened my eyes to the world in which I live.
Let me take a step back and tell you what I am driving at: don't live your life in a bubble or a rut, experiencing the same thing over and over again with the same people in the same place.  It leads to stagnation in your life, which can lead to dissatisfaction, grumpiness, even depression.
As I continue to grow, gain more independence and experience more of the world I gain a deeper gratification for my past experiences as well as continued excitement for the next thing to come along.
But there was a time not too long ago where the idea of change was terrifying, and to a large degree it still is.
The biggest hammer to knock down my fear of change was when I attended school in Jackson TN, hundreds of miles away from where I grew up.  I didn't know a soul there and I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with myself.  There were many times in my first semester where my home-sickness was so strong there was nothing more I wanted than to hop on a bus home and hold myself as a sat alone in my parent's house.
But it struck me one day - I believe it was divine providence - that other people have gone through such change, and many had gone through much worse change, like being forced out of their home.  I realized that my hatred for my situation came from myself, and I was the only thing holding myself back from making my situation the best possible it could be.
So I came back to Union for my second semester with a goal in mind - find a niche, make a place for myself and expand my views.  Skipping all the details in between, I would like to think I have done just that, and it is weird but when I stopped hating my situation and opened myself up things actually got better.
Now I try to make the best of every situation I find myself in, especially the new ones.
Which brings me full circle to Seneca.
I am far from the typical employee at that establishment.  Few people there outwardly proclaim Christianity, most everyone smokes or chews tobacco, and the talk - laced with profanity - centers around going to bars and strip joints.  My job was to interact with all these people, often balancing opposing egos in the attempt to please everyone.
In my first few days, I hated the job and wanted to quit, but again I resolved myself to make the best of the situation.  I worked hard, didn't hide from my faith, and did my best to be an enjoyable person.  Weirdly, it worked and the workers in the plant and the truckers all enjoyed working with me - at least outwardly - and today when I was saying my goodbyes they were genuinely sad to see me go.
From this I want to make two statements.  One is the overwhelming power and grace that God gives to believers.  I do not doubt for one minute that it was his good people were seeing through me that made them like me, and for such grace I cannot thank God enough, and let me encourage my fellow believers that even if you find yourself "in the lion's den" of the world you should not shy from your faith, because that makes you look weak to non-believers.  Rather stand your ground on your beliefs, not making any concessions while at the same time not harassing others who oppose your views.  It's a balancing act.
The second point I want to make is that from my time spent with worldly people, I have gained such a better understanding of how people think and go about their daily lives.  I grew up in a Christian household, going to church and a Christian school my whole life - even now I attend a Christian University.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing (rather I think it has bolstered my faith to be surrounded by giants of the faith), but I have lived in a bubble. Getting to experience life outside that bubble has been good for me.
So let me summarize what I am saying to my readers.
Jump at the opportunities that come your way.  Making the best of any situation pans out to create invaluable experiences in life.
Look always to God for guidance in how you should act and seek his grace in your actions.
Do this while you are young.  It's good to see more and more as you grow to help you develop into a more well-rounded individual.  Breaking down barriers that make you uncomfortable let you have a bigger personality and help you to seek better opportunities later in life.
Finally, never stop loving life.  There is so much in the wide world for us to experience I just don't know why you would let yourself become stagnant, but the more you experience life, the greater you come to love it.
I always love seeing elderly people who haven't lost their joy of living, because I know it's possible to never lose that joy - and who really wants to grow to be a miser?  Love your place in life, look always for a better future, and you will see a brighter path ahead.

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Economic Woes and Political Blows

The markets are bracing for impact this weekend after the S&P downgraded the nation's credit rating from AAA to AA-plus.  This marks the first downgrade in America's credit rating since 1917, a stat that the GOP presidential candidates have jumped on to bash Obama's presidency.
So is Obama to blame for the current economic crisis?  According to John Mariotti, yes.  But I think there are more people to blame than just the Commander in Chief.
In the past half century, the power of the presidency has taken center stage in federal economic policy - from LBJ's Great Society, to Reaganomics, to Bush and Obama stimulus - so the presidency is partially responsible for the ecomonic trends we have encountered.  But necessary for all these economic plans is the complacency of Congress.
Thus we arrive at my point that Congress is to blame for our economic woes as much as Obama is.
It is the constitutional authority of Congress to set the nation's budget.  Just because presidents have dabbled in the process does not mean Congress is excused from that responsibility.  And I must admit, this last debacle was quite revealing of how our lawmakers in Washington operate.
We have seen in the last couple of weeks that Congressmen are so driven to have political power that they will not deal with dissenting factions, leading to gridlock and public unrest.
Don't misunderstand me, I think that this is how politics should work, and it should be difficult for lawmakers to pass sweeping bills that cover taxes, spending, and entitlement programs.  The issue arises then, when we find ourselves in situations where immediate and drastic action is needed.  Too much political banter slows down action and forces either failure (default) or poor solutions (the compromise that was hastily made).
So what could happen that would make our political and economic systems better?  Easy solution: end the plethura of programs and fiscal responsibilities our federal government has.
Allow me to make an anecdote.
A family of five is living the good life.  They live in a 4 bedroom home in a suburban community, a dog in their fenced backyard, a sedan and SUV in the driveway.  Father works at a successful law firm and Mother works part-time as a teacher's assistant at the local middle school.  They are making payments on their house and cars, but are able to stay on top of their budget.  Suddenly, Father has lost his job and the money flow has slowed to a small trickle.  What would be the best actions to take?
If he were a Keynesian, like our lawmakers in Washington, he would spend money on a newer, more expensive car, a new wardrobe, perhaps even a $300 haircut so as to appeal to employers as he searches for a new job.  After all, you have to spend money to make money.
6 months later, Father has defaulted on his credit payments, lost his home, his car, and his dog (he had to sell it to pay for a monthly payment - poor Fido).  Clearly, spending money to jumpstart his career did not work.
But let's backtrack 6 months and allow Father to take a different route.
This time around Father decides he should save what money he can and look for any job willing to hire.  He sells his BMW and buys a used Corolla, he refinances his home to make smaller payments over a longer period of time, he even gets  rid of his ultra-deluxe cable package and Netflix account.  He gets hired on as an assistant at another law firm and makes 80% of what he used to, but because he is frugal with his money, he and his family are staying out of credit problems and are able to live in relative economic safety.
Ok, my anecdote done here's my point: when faced with economic instabiliy and credit failure, the response should not be for the government to print more money and throw it into the marketplace in an attempt to jumpstart the ecomonic engines.  The government needs to set the example by cutting their spending and finding appropriate areas to tax (perhaps the Fair Tax) so as to run a balanced budget.
Consider this a battle between Keynesian and Austrian economic theories.  If you want a simple explanation of what these two positions are, check out this rap.
So what are some of the repurcussions of this great Keynesian experiment?
S&P has already downgraded our credit once, we may need to plan on having it happen again in the near future.  The budget deal is only a temporary patch that really accomplishes little.  Yes, $940 billion will be cut, but it's over the next 10 years and those are just cuts on projected spending hikes, which basically means we're not lowering our budget spending.  In the long term, if we don't stop real spending in Washington by cutting out or reducing multiple programs, America will eventually default and then really bad times are in store for us.
Looking into foreign markets, there is a good chance that if America does not get her financial house in order, the dollar will lose its hegemony over global trading.  Already China is looking to dethrone the fiat currency that has been in power since the 1960's.
So let's take a step back and look at the whole picture.  It doesn't look pretty.  America needs to run a balanced budget and reduce our debt, not allow for us to go into more debt.  We need to "tighten our belts" and take the necessary steps, unpleaseant thought they may be, to fix our spending problem.
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