There are baboon gangs in South Africa running amok. They unlock car doors, steal food and punch children in the eye. Should we be concerned? Most certainly. But give the baboons a break. The economy is awful; it’s no wonder they have to break into cars. Plus, I feel these baboons are being maligned for several terrible reasons.

First, humans are feeling a bit insecure. Think about it. For millennia human beings have been stealing from one another and now that privilege is being usurped by a common primate. Next thing you know they’ll be running Ponzi schemes and begging for a bailout. I hear one of the baboons is named Bernie.

Next, it’s clear we need a new scapegoat for our bad behavior, but we’ve run out of options. We’ve already targeted Jews, gays and people who shop at Wal-Mart. Clearly there’s no one left. But baboons? Come on. Surely wombats have done more harm to humanity than a baboon ever could.

Finally, people need to quit caring about their possessions and learn how to share. I’m sure that if you offered a baboon a sampling of your lunch he would gladly take it without snatching off your nose or jabbing you in the eye. I might sound like a Commie but I believe we should share our resources with everyone and everything.

Well, everything but a wombat.

The statistics tell the entire story, over 5000 bankruptcies per day are being filed and those that are business oriented could have been worked out. Either saving the business by stripping the debt so the business can continue and/or reducing dramatically the personal guaranties through a workout. Bankruptcy  is NOT the only option. Workout your debt while preserving assets and  live to play another day without losing everything you own…including your home. That is the best plan of all, a small business bail out plan that works.

Yes it sounds too good to be true and no it is not just a matter of arguing louder, begging for leniency or modifying current debt adjusting amortization schedules or interest rates, it is all about massive reduction of principal debt, a goal that can be achieved with a workout plan that is expertly prepared and delivered…yes it is part science, part art, a little reality and a better result for all involved, bank and borrower.

I have spoke often about the incredible success we have with our workout strategies, but it is clear few are getting the message. Those that we serve are experiencing the second chance opportunity we provide, the others are faced with annihilation by the secured lenders, the banks, or prefer bankruptcy another form of self destruction.

The problem is, those that attempt to do it on their own, fall into a myriad of traps, barriers and obstacles that only experience, skill and expertise can lead you through. Do not attempt to do this alone, on your own, with pure logic as your guide, if only the banks were driven by such realities.  They are certainly influenced by these guidelines but influence alone will not prevail or deliver the desired result.

A few suggestions on  while on your way to finding a workout advisor capable of leading you to your desired goals:

1. Do not wait until you are cleaned out, on your last leg, out of cash and out of steam. Do it when you see the end is inevitable, but before all is lost and spent.

2. Accept the reality that revenues are down and will remain down. This is not a speed bump we are experiencing but a changing economic environment that will not be returning to the accesses of yesterday for a long long while. Plan to live in today’s market as this is what it will be.

3. Downsize!

4. Prepare your financial picture to represent exactly what is necessary to present yourself in the light most beneficial to YOU, not the bank.

5. Get effective representation, not a bankruptcy attorney.

6. Be prepared to accept change.

7. Re-invent yourself. the objective is a soft landing…

8. Workout your debt safely.

It can be done, but remember, if you go to the bakery you will get a loaf of bread. if you go to the meat market you will get meat. if you go to a bankruptcy attorney you will go bankrupt. Find a workout specialist and get a workout.

Call us for analysis and options, 413-584-2581 Norm will arrange a no obligation tele-conference. Explore your options.

A Stimulus Story

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea.

It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.

He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.

The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.

The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her services on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.

And if that doesn’t scare the heck out of you then you are brain dead!

Why are we paying taxes?

For the love of common sense, why are the good, hard working people of the United States paying income taxes? We live in a Republic, where we elect politicians to REPRESENT, WE THE PEOPLE! Well it seems to me that there is no one in Washington DC representing me! I never asked to be a 72% owner in a car company. I was never asked if I wanted to bailout AGI, Bank of America or any of the other big financial institutions. I never asked to be enrolled in a government sponsored health care program. I never asked to be taxed on the cola I drink or the potato chips I eat.

And why is it that when “my” government, be it the federal, state or local when they say they “will be forced to make cuts”, the first item they cut is money for education?  Why the hell would I want teaching positions cut. Don’t the idiots in elected positions realize that education is the most valuable resource we have in this country? Why don’t we CUT, or better yet, ELIMINATE  tuition aid to foreign students, especially from the Muslim world! Why do we let these Islamic Fascists come to our country, take a chair in an institute of higher education, that should go to an American, then go back to their caves and use the knowledge against us. And while we are eliminating aid, let’s include the Chinese, North Koreans, Iran and all of the other students from the rest of the countries that are openly opposed to our way of life. Let them learn from their own teachers, if there are any left.

And who do they cut next – POLICE! Right, in the world we live in now, let’s get rid of the only people who are really looking out for us. The POLICE are the front line troops in the war on terror waging on our streets. Some police departments are short of ammunition, limiting the number of days of gun training and putting all of our lives in danger.

Who is the next to go under the governments budget cutting ax – The Fire Fighters. Well of course, why not? Everyone knows we don’t have a problem with fires in this country. Just ask the Left Coasters. Why not just give every home owner a 2 buckets, one for sand and one for water and turn them loose to put out the wild fires that destroy billions of dollars worth of property. Where do these idiots get the ideas?

Why don’t cut funds for prison? Not cutting guard position, but the benefits the convicts get. In the broke state of California, it cost $50,000 a year to keep a convict in jail. And what do they do to deserve this type of spending? Not a damned thing. What did they do to earn this luxury living? Rob, murder, rape, distribute drugs and every other type of heinous crime you can think of. Put them to work. Make them pay for the room and board, medical care and the luxuries they believe they deserve. No TV, no radio, no weights, nothing. Let them sit in their cells and think about what they did to get where they are.

I worked in medium security prison (Federal) in TN. It was an exact copy of the Lake Placid Olympic Village except there was no swimming pool. Do these animals really deserve to live like our athletes? I think not. Madam Pelosi says that Alcatraz Penitentiary is a “natural treasure”. Well, if that is so, why did the government close it as a prison in the first place. Reopen it, make it even more secure , put more armed guards and razor wire and move the scum who are living in better housing them some people live in the cities. And as an after thought, I think I would chum the waters to keep even more sharks swimming by. The law library at the prison I worked at was more up to-date than that of the local university’s law school. Why, because the bleeding hearts feel these scum bags deserve the best of everything. BS!

I have a better idea. Why don’t we tax payers just stop paying taxes for one year! Next, vote everyone of those elected out of office. Clear the Supreme Court bench of the antiques serving on it. Cut the staff of every one of the elected officials staffs to two aids. Why do they such large staffs? Hell, none of them even read the bill or really answer their constituents mail or emails! Get rid of all these private jets for the elected officials. Why should a millionaires like Pelosi and the others have the use of expensive government aircraft. Let them fly coach like the rest of the peasants! Get rid of the government fleets of gas guzzling limousines. Let them drive Obama’s Car Companies new 35 miles per gallon cars. Make them car pool. Wouldn’t you just love to see the Capital Clown Car Fleet with the likes of Pelosi, Killer Ted, Harry Reid, Barney “The Clown” Frank, Barbara Boxer, and of course, what clown car would be complete without the likes of John “The King of Pork Murtha arriving for a meeting!

And get His Holiness, King Obama off of Air Force One. At the rate he uses the plain, it will have to be traded in for a new one by the end of the year.

I for one believe we should really have a say in our future. And by having a say in our future I mean to put limits on what these idiots in every little village, town, city an the country as a whole. We should all refuse to pay a penny in taxes until the government can give an exact accounting for every penny the governments have collected. There should be a full accounting of every penny that lobbyist have give to our elected officials. And all elected officials should undergo a complete audit by the IRS. Those who owe even a penny should be tossed out of office without any golden parachutes, no heath care benefits, not severance packages and most of all, no pensions. They should also be banned for life from ever hold an elected office, even dog catcher (with no insult intended to the hard working dog catchers).

Come on America, lets stop paying takes, fees, surcharges or any money in any name to the government until they can prove that they know how to handle the responsibility!

This is a little outdated, but it’s something I wanted to put up as a precurser to a project I plan on posting in the next few days. Look for the update and let me know about anything in particular you would like to hear about.

On school vacations I cook at a seafood restaurant by the beach in New Hampshire.  This past winter I was informed that my pay would be cut by 8%, or about $40 a month.  The grandfather of one of my close friends lost $180,000 in the stock market last fall.  Last month, my second cousin was laid off from a construction company he’s been working at for ten years.  Every day I check my email and see notices informing me of job cuts in publishing companies and auto industries, textile production and landscaping, software technicians and city workers. 

Our nation is at a pivotal moment in its existence.  The United States is currently losing more jobs than at any other time in history other than the Great Depression of the 1930’s.  Since December 2007, 4.2 million jobs have been lost, bringing the number of unemployed persons to 12.5 million, 8.1 percent of the population.  Nearly 650,000 of those jobs disappeared in the month of February 2009 alone (Bureau of Labor Statistics).  Fuck.

The United States Congress attempted to fix this economic recession with a $700 billion bailout plan in October 2008 under President George Bush.  No fiscal program to this scale had ever been attempted before.  The bailout plan was supposed to allow the United States Department of Treasury to buy out failing bank assets, thus saving them from collapse.  However, due to a loophole in the law, the banking systems took almost half of the money and never told the government or the people what they spent it on. I won’t even bother commenting on this.

When is government intervention too much to benefit the people?  The United States is a democracy that walks a fine line between the federal, state, and local government.  We hold elections at each of these levels that are supposed to be fair and equal, but we live in a nation where many believe money rules all.  That is why this bailout was undertaken, because some people don’t think the American economy can survive without these powerhouse companies that employ hundreds of thousands of people such as General Motors or AIG.

The bailout plan aside, the Democrats won the presidency in November 2008 and Barack Obama took office in January 2009.  He faced a presidency still inundated with the problems of the previous administration, including the economic recession, which has steadily gotten worse since his entrance to office.  Based on the past few months and the decisions made by congress, the Democrats pursued another bailout plan, this time worth $787 billion, this time with complete transparency (Stout).  Any company taking money from the bailout package will be required to show the public where the money is spent and how it will be used to better the current situation.  This bill was passed into law on February 13^th, 2009. 

In the last year, The United States government has legislated almost $1.5 trillion towards fixing the economic recession, yet the American people have yet to see where the money is going and how it is helping fix our crisis for the next generation.  The second round of the bailout plan, under President Barack Obama has yet to take effect, but what did he do differently in his plan that George Bush and the Republican congress did not?

Bush’s bailout plan was actually not his own, but that of his Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson.  Paulson believed that by giving the U.S. Secretary of Treasury the power to spend up to $700 billion to buy out the poor assets of banks and lower interest rates, the problem could be remedied.  The rationale Paulson gave for the bailout included stabilizing the economy, improving liquidity, and providing investor confidence.  The downside of a bailout plan of this proportion is that the dollar loses much of its worth compared to the Euro or gold, not to mention the money needed for such a plan did not exist.  The American government is conjuring money from their printing presses and borrowing from the rest of the world, thus lowering the worth of the dollar further.  But if all goes well jobs will be maintained, thus allowing the market to rebuild itself. Essentially, the American government is buying back its value.

Critics claim that it is not America’s duty to bail these companies out of the muck they have put themselves in.  They say that in a free market economy, we are all supposed to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.  Their rationale is that American taxpayers should never have to bail out these giant corporations that have done their best to put down the small businesses of our taxpayers, the ones who claim each time a case is brought up against them that we live in a free market economy, the ones who claim survival of the fittest.  Why is it that when these large corporations and companies are not the fittest we should bail them out?  When is government intervention too much?

Barack Obama’s bailout plan merges the philosophies of both sides of the argument, the ones who believe this money is necessary so there won’t be a total collapse of our economy and those who believe that handing out this money is a flagrant injustice to the American people. 

These companies have been greedy and inadequate in the use of their funds.  For example, after Bush’s bailout plan, one of the banks taking money from American taxpayers handed out a record breaking number of bonuses adding up to over $20 billion (Obama: Wall Street Bonuses Shameful).  This was all because there were not enough checks and balances placed on the plan to begin with.  Under Obama’s plan, any individual making over $250,000 will be taxed much heavier than someone making less than that amount.  Each of the companies receiving funding from the bailout plan will be required to report on what they spent the money on and how it will benefit the economy (www.recovery.gov).  There were actual sections of the economy designated to receive percentages of the money in order to expand American infrastructure, renewable energy and education.  This time there were rules placed on the funding.

However, the critics are still there.  Many people are still wondering why we are bailing out these corporations that have failed themselves.  It has been thought that these companies are the building blocks of our society, that when they are in good shape, the profits trickles back down to the people.  When the proposed tax cuts within Obama’s bailout plan are combined with the funding heading into the larger corporations, profits will head upwards and downwards to the people and the country, creating surpluses once again.  The American people are hoping to be in good shape in the years to come. 

Is this the truth?  Can we welcome such a provocative use of our tax dollars on the theories of a rookie politician voted into the highest office in the land just months ago?  The entire point of this bailout plan is to pull America out of the deficit it is already in, but how will spending hundreds of billions of dollars that don’t exist help our economy?  When is government intervention too much?

If there is one thing that America has taught me, it is that there is always hope for something to come.  This bailout plan may be unprecedented and some people will disagree with it, but without it we are facing poverty and despair for years to come.  It may take years for the plan to come to fruition and fix the problems it is meant to fix, but at least we are starting sooner rather than later.  At least we are doing our best to rebuild our savings accounts, to reclaim our jobs, to make the money we deserve.  This bailout plan will allow us to do just these things by giving banks money to hand out loans at a low interest rate, creating thousands of jobs all over the country with public projects that will better our countries infrastructure, and saving the jobs that are on the brink of disappearing along with their employers.

Not only is this plan setting us up for the future, but it is helping us in the present.  It is giving people hope to rebuild their lives and better plan for a future that is so filled with uncertainty.  I hope it will allow me to work for full wages, I hope it is enough to refill the bank accounts and savings of my family and friends, and I hope it is enough to give people back their jobs.  Instead of continuing the downward spiral from recession to depression, we have set a plan in motion that will lift us above all others and lead us back to the position America once held in the world.  This is the first step; the beginning of a better tomorrow starts today.

Remember the adage,

“Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it” !

Look at this cartoon from the Chicago Tribune in 1934 and look carefully at the plan of action.

Looks like we could be in for difficult times.

Could this have been drawn NOW, April 15, 2009?………..

What has changed?

These figures today could be Pelosi, Ried, Dodd, Murtha, Geithner and the rest of Obama’s Happy Spending Club. Does make the future look bleak.

mood – pissed off typical

thoughts – I’m trying to write a paper and do homework for what? I don’t have any idea. Working this hard and stressing out about something like my english 104 class feels like a waste of time. I have no motivation to go to college when it’s obviously meaningless.

I was talking to my dear friend maggot about although her brother is smart he is a shit head and can’t stay in high school. I thought about what getting a diploma and degree means.  The aroma of late night steak burgers in the middle of my home town puts your accomplishments under a sick light of realism. By getting a high school degree Chris (her brother) would have established he could bend himself to the rules and regulations of the humiliating, and harsh world of secondary schooling.  Instead he chooses to do something that makes him happy, which is to say, pimping his ride.  He’s a capable person, he will get a job, it won’t be a career, he might regret not finishing high school, but he’s not going to die,  he’s not going to suffer his entire life. He’s not going to suffer at all probably. It’s so hard to please the rest of the world. If he’s happy leave him alone.

Leave me alone. I don’t want to be anonymously assigned something, that will essentially rank my intelligence. Lets just say I’m stupid and leave it at that.

thoughts – I’m so sick of this environment. It’s frighteningly typical and so many people are moving in and out performing typical tasks and doing saying sleeping reading feeling typical. The cement walls of this massive library, as a person like me should typically feel,  is like a jail cell. I need a bailout.

coping – accepting this feeling of loathing is probably PMS, day dreaming about writing a book about my bedroom/life revamp

result – staring at the computer, with no progress towards finishing this paper

Easter Sunday – God’s Bailout Plan

Download Sermon MP3 – God’s Bailout Plan

Regulator from the S&L Crisis opposes Geithner’s plan. Author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One.” He recently helped the World Bank develop anti-corruption initiatives and served as an expert for OFHEO in its enforcement action against Fannie Mae’s former senior management.  

In his book, The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One (University of Texas Press 2005), “a classic.”  Paul Volcker praised its analysis: 

Bill Black has detailed an alarming story about financial – and political – corruption.  The specifics go back twenty years, but the lessons are as fresh as the morning newspaper.  One of those lessons really sticks out: one brave man with a conscience could stand up for us all.

Robert Kuttner, in his Business Week column, proclaimed: 

Black’s book is partly the definitive history of the savings-and-loan industry scandals of the early 1980s. More important, it is a general theory of how dishonest CEOs, crony directors, and corrupt middlemen can systematically defeat market discipline and conceal deliberate fraud for a long time — enough to create massive damage.

Black developed the concept of “control fraud” — frauds in which the CEO or head of state uses the entity as a “weapon.”  Control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime combined and kill and maim thousands. “Control fraud” is what happens when the person who controls a large company is a criminal. Enron was only the most conspicuous example of a pervasive phenomenon in corporate behaviour, says this white-collar criminologist.

The following is from Bill Moyers Journal interview:

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, certainly in the financial sphere, I am. I think, first, the policies are substantively bad. Second, I think they completely lack integrity. Third, they violate the rule of law. This is being done just like Secretary Paulson did it. In violation of the law. We adopted a law after the Savings and Loan crisis, called the Prompt Corrective Action Law. And it requires them to close these institutions. And they’re refusing to obey the law.

BILL MOYERS: In other words, they could have closed these banks without nationalizing them?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, you do a receivership. No one — Ronald Reagan did receiverships. Nobody called it nationalization.

BILL MOYERS: And that’s a law?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: That’s the law.

BILL MOYERS: So, Paulson could have done this? Geithner could do this?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Not could. Was mandated-

BILL MOYERS: By the law.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: By the law.

MORE INFO:

•  US collapse driven by ‘fraud,’ Geithner covering up bank insolvency
• William Black on Alex Jones Tv: Former Federal Regulator Tells All !!

The Feds are now buying bad mortgage loans owned by banks, planning to split a portion of the costs with private investors. This brings $500 billion in toxic mortgages up for grabs, with investors taking roughly half the profits.

The bottom line question is this: Are these delinquent loans still collectible? Can the buyers get any money back from the consumers that got the loans in the first place, or sell the home for more than the mortgaged amount? This is the only way to profit on this deal, other than selling off the noncollectable loans at a higher price to other investors down the road (an unlikely notion).

I have yet to see an answer on the critical question of whether any of these now-labeled “toxic” loans are still collectible. If they’re not, then it’s a bad deal for everyone. If they are, then it’s a great deal for investors — since they’ll pay only 6 percent of the past-due value of the mortgages for the option to potentially get half of the full mortgage amounts when the homes sell. (Note that you’ll be able to buy these loans from investment fund managers who participate in the FDIC’s new Legacy Securities Program; $25,000 minimum purchase required.)

Meanwhile, the FDIC will give loans to eligible investors to cover their cost, charging a loan origination fee and paying back the investor’s loan as consumers make payments. Perhaps Credit Suisse Group had it right when it gave toxic loans in lieu of “bonuses” to its executives…

FYI: FDIC eligibility requirements rule out 1) anyone in default from buying their mortgage back at the cheaper rate; 2) anyone with bank judgments, a foreclosure or bankruptcy on an FDIC-insured account; 3) anyone convicted of crimes against banks; and 4) any officer or director of a failed institution.

RESOURCES

“A better means to soak up toxic assets,” China Daily

NPR fact sheet on this Public-Private Investment Program

The text of Secretary Geithner’s Financial Stability Plan

“Public seen more at risk in public-private toxic fund,” MarketWatch.com

I understand that Treasury may want to have Main Street American investors have the ability to invest in the bailout funds akin to a mutual fund investment.

I believe a legitimate question is raised about what happens if one or more of these large sponsors fails or the underlying fund “breaks the buck.” If all does not go well and the assets are ultimately sold by the bailout fund at a loss will the government and taxpayers underwrite the risk for these bank bailout bonds, or will the banks who are regulated by the banking regulators be charged additional fees to recoup these losses or will Main Street investors be asked to recognize these losses which some will argue are fundamentally attributable to the large money-center banks in the first place.
I encourage your comments.

Around March 2006 I started to theorize that housing prices in the San Francisco Bay Area might be this decade’s bubble.  It followed that we could see a collapse in housing prices to the same dramatic proportion as we saw in the NASDAQ.  When discussing this concept with friends, relatives and even a tax accountant I was presented repeatedly with these arguments of why that was impossible:

1. The Bay Area is still a highly desireable place to live so housing prices could never decline and if they did never that dramatically.
2. Houses take longer to sell and can’t be traded like a stock so prices can’t fall as fast.
3. Also since you can always live in your house (and you can’t live in your stock) there is no reason for a fire-sale so prices can’t fall as far.

At that same time I saw a chart of house prices in which the curve was shifting to the point where it was almost going straight up.  That reminded me of what the NASDAQ looked like in March of 2000 and we all know what happened in April of 2000.  So could this happen again?   Were all bubbles fundamentally the same (eventhough the assets were dramatically different)?

Well clearly we are in the midst of a price adjustment but evenso it can’t be as bad as the NASDAQ, or can it?

So the other night I decided to do a little data-diving and found two key pieces of information:

• Month-end NASDAQ prices from 1981 to the present.
• Month-end median housing prices for the Bay Area back to 1987.

I then overlaid the data on top of one another after shifting the NASDAQ data up by 6 years.  Why 6 years?  Simply put the NASDAQ bubble popped in 2000.  The housing bubble, it is currently agreed, popped in 2006.   By shifting the NASDAQ data by 6 years we could see how well the curves aligned.

So what you see graphed below are month-ending NASDAQ prices starting in 1981 and month-end median house prices for the Bay Area starting in 1987.  See anything interesting?

So there you have it.  All three arguments as to why the housing prices wouldn’t collapse like the NASDAQ were COMPLETELY WRONG and now we see that no matter what the asset the dynamics of the bubble are the same.  Yes it is true that the run-up in housing prices is not as fast BUT the fall was just about as fast and there is a good chance that it will go as far.

So next time someone says “this time its different” make sure to laugh discretely and sell quickly. 

Now the next question is when do you buy?  Certainly not now. 

I wouldn’t advise using the chart above as a way to peg a specific date and I would go back to fundamentals.   The key fundamentals you need to check are:

• Is owning now cheaper than renting?
• Are prices equal to or less than 3 times the median of incomes in the area?

If you answer “no” to either of these questions then  DO NOT BUY.

There is a sense of worry in the world around me. Economy is failing to meet our expectations. The government seems to be untrustworthy; our leaders too corrupt to properly perform their duties. War is erupting across the map. The next terrorist attack is always on the horizon; seeking to top America’s 9/11.

Worry. A natural response to the shock and awe of today’s ever gloomy events. Worry. An inevitable response from a world losing faith because its idols are unable to withstand the weight of that faith.

Fingers are being pointed every which way except back at ourselves. Our pockets are empty, so now someone must pay up, but the problem is not money and its dropping value. The problem is not government leaders -because why should we be surprised when a viper acts like a viper? The problem is me. The problem is you. The heart of the problem rests in the image staring back at us in the mirror.

Sin. It is an inherited condition, and one that we indulge in. It is fun for a season, and when the season is up…well it is not so fun anymore. Sin is a disease with which we have all been infected. It destroys lives, relationships, families, communities, cities, cultures, and countries. And it isn’t something that we can cure with a pill or blame someone else for.

Each one of us has sinned and enjoyed our sin. Sinning, of course, is something that is done against God. A breaking of His standards; literally, missing the mark.

How much time have we wasted trusting in our idols? We all have them; I have them. How much time have we allowed to slip from our fingers going through the motions of life believing that our idols will keep us secure?

I think the bailout plan speaks quite loudly of our love for our idols, and our willingness to do whatever we can to reassure our faith in those idols. Instead of coming together as families and communities, instead of finding ways to make do with less and sacrifice some of our luxuries, we decided to make our children, our children’s children, and our children’s children’s children the inheritors of a monumental debt. How does this not speak to the problem with sin that we have as a nation?

And of course this is only a current event example. We could reflect on our crime rate (violent and otherwise), we could speak to our corruption, we could speak to our permissive behaviors, and much more.

Despite how incredibly heretical it is to say in light of America’s modern, cute, sensitive, culturally aware, and Christless christianity, I believe that the various crisis situations we face are an outpouring of God’s wrath on our sin. I know that there are some that would argue that God is merciful, loving, and longsuffering, to which I respond, amen. But God still deals with sin. God doesn’t let sin go unanswered forever.

Nineveh is a great example. It was an exceedingly wicked city which God had been patient with. God showed compassion and mercy upon Nineveh by sending His prophet, Jonah, to call the people of Nineveh to repentance. God even took His prophet to the point of death when Jonah refused to fulfill God’s command. When Jonah obeyed and delivered God’s message (however poorly Jonah had delivered it), the people repented of their wicked ways and turned to God. And they were spared for their faith.

But…Nineveh eventually returned to its wickedness, and turned its back on God. God was patient with them; God had shown grace towards them, God gave them mercy, but that patience had ended in its proper time and God dealt with their sin…

Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder-
no end to the prey!
The crack of the whip, and rumble
of the wheel,
galloping horses and bounding chariot!
Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spear,
hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end…

…Behold, I am against you,
declares the LORD of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over
your face;
and I will make nations look at your
nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.
And all who look at you will shrink
from you and say,
Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve
for her?
Where shall I seek comforter for
you?…

…There is no easing your hurt;
your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
clap their hands over you.
For upon whom has not come
your unceasing evil?

~Nahum 3

God deals with sin, and we are all sinners. I am not saying that God is about to wipe us off the map because honestly I don’t know the plans of God. What I am saying is that we have a sin problem that has become more and more evident, prevalent, perverse, and permissive.

We are chasing after our own lusts and desires; things wicked in the sight of God. We call good evil and evil good. We rejoice in wickedness. We don’t love God. And we are -knowingly or not- at war with God.

And our idols are getting us nowhere.

If we, then, are the problem, are we also the solution? Some, perhaps many, would say yes; there is some good in all of us that will pull together to set things right. I greatly disagree.

Look at our solutions so far.

No, if we are honest, we are not the solution. Sin is the problem. In sin we are dead. What can the dead do? Nothing.

We need to fall to our knees and REPENT (a very uncomfortable word) of our wickedness. We need to place our trust in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our (those who put their trust in Him) sins.

Will repenting make the money crisis go away, end all war, bring worldwide peace, and prosper our nation? No. That is idolatry. But Christ never fails us. He is all sufficient. He is our treasure and our portion. When there is true Faith in Jesus Christ there is always hope because Christ won’t fail.

Money fails. Worldly peace fails. Governments fail. Leaders fail. The world is losing its faith because it has misplaced its faith.

Our problem is bigger than money, war, corruption in government, etc., etc. The problem begins with our sin. It is our death. It secures our damnation in Hell. It is our transgression.

But God, rich in mercy, has shown us Grace through the work of the Cross. In Christ there is salvation for those who rest their entire faith upon Him.

Despite the climate around me, I have faith because Christ doesn’t fail. He is sufficient for me. I can do with less because I have Christ. I can resist my sin because Christ has enabled me to do so. I can live without worry because the Lord provides for the needs (not necessarily the wants) of His children.

To Live is Christ, to die is gain.

Although Big Three(General Motors, Chrysler and Ford) have witnessed a wonderful past with increasing profits and rising share prices, but the final quarter of 2008 was one of the worst nightmares for them. US auto sales have gone down from 17 million in 2007 to just 11 million in 2008. This decline of about 38 percent in sales has viciously damaged profits of Big Three, as they are facing highest losses of the past three decades. Click here to continue with the analytical review of the auto-industry crisis and the bailout relief package.