Saturday, November 21, 2009

How Does Your Phone Bill Look?

There are two not-so-new inventions that can help you save big. But before you consider buying either one, ask your yourself these questions:

Do I need a cell phone with a voice and internet plan?
Can I go without my voice or internet plan?
Do I use the internet on my cell phone because I can't afford internet service at home?

If you can go without an internet or voice plan, then this $9.99 per month text-only plan may be right for you.
http://tinyurl.com/yer45xp



Can you imagine paying only $19.95 a year on your home phone line? I didn't say a month, but an entire year.

Do you already have the internet at home?

Would you like to save the money spent on your current phone bill and put it towards something else?

If so, then the 2008 Product of the Year "The Magic Jack" may be right for you. Check it out here:
http://tinyurl.com/5q7fpz

9 ways to Serve God in a Bad Economy

This is an article originally posted on Catalystspace. I think it is a great starting point for Christians who want to learn how to serve in a bad economy. I also think this book will help Christians gain a good sense on how biblical principles can help liberate the nations from bad governance and prosper.
The economy sucks right now. Un-employment is up to 10%. Starbucks is doing something about it - they have a really slick campaign encouraging is to all go out and serve our communities.

What about The Church? In these tough economic times, the Church needs to be right there, serving people, helping - this tough economy is really an opportunity from God for us to be a light! Let's not squander this!

Here are some ideas of how we can serve our communities, lessen the burden of the economic crisis, and build trust with outsiders:

1. Setup a clothes trading program or event. People can come together and trade clothes, or just have free clothes for people who need help.

2. Stone Soup - help everyone save money, and build some community by having a potluck gathering where people bring different contents for soup, and you all make and eat the soup together.

3. Setup a website or bulletin board to help setup car pools for people in your community.

4. Setup a volunteer to coordinate a program where people in your church or community get help renting out their empty rooms. Helping them with advertising, cleaning it up, screening, etc.

5. Have a garage sale at the church, members and locals can bring their stuff to the church, take a little square, and sell their stuff. A large aggregated sale like this benefits b/c more people will be interested in a monster garage sale.

6. Have volunteers teach financial classes at your church, advertise them as free to the community.

7. Setup a ministry of mechanics who take one Saturday a month to consult on car problems for locals and members.

8. Setup a job board, connecting the employers in your church with the people without jobs in your church.

9. Create a gathering for entrepreneurs - men and women who want to start businesses (helping the economy, creating jobs) and who want to do business in a godly way. Make a one day seminar that takes people through the steps of starting a business, removing some of the mystery and encouraging them to do it.



We NEED to take this opportunity to pour ourselves out to serve and love our neighbors in these difficult times. If we do, the resulting community and trust that we will engender from outsiders will truly advance the Kingdom.
In a future blog, I will post several more things that can be done to serve God in a bad economy.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Scrooge McDuck against the FED



They don't make shows like this anymore. This gem from the early 1990's will bring back a lot of memories for those born in the 80's yet consider themselves children of the 90's. It is interesting that even though the show officially ended on November 28, 1990 (I was only 2-years old), I was watching this on syndicated television in the mid-1990's. In fact, according to Wikipedia, this was the first Disney show to become syndicated. TV.com reports differently; they say the show ended on March 11, 1990. Either way, I was still two and too young to remember its original broadcast. I was also into other Disney Classics, such as Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, Goof Troop, and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers.

Those were the days, and if I had time to watch them now (or finish all those Playstation One RPG's: Legend of Legaia, Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon) I would. But times are different now and I live according to that famous Pauline saying, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." Leaving behind the things of our past is a necessary part of becoming an adult; but man, were those days fun!

But why DuckTales? Why put this on a blog about economics and politics? It makes sense. Scrooge McDuck was a very learned businessman and he knows something about basic economics that Ben Bernanke either doesn't know (which would be an embarrassment) or ignores. In this video Scrooge says, "I never trust a dollar I didn't work for." Our government can learn a lot from ol' Scrooge. After all, he was the richest duck in Duckberg.

Watch this video to see how easy it is to understand how increasing the money supply causes inflation. See, I told you DuckTales was a gem packed with serious educational minerals. They don't make shows like this anymore.

Remember the theme song:
DuckTales! Woooo-Oooooh!

The Alpha Strategy (Free Book)



January 12, 2012 Update: The old link no longer works. The old link is still below but the new leak is right below the old link. Thanks to the person that commented.

This book is probably the most informative book on inflation (and how to prepare for it) than any other book available. It is written with the layman in mind. It is only 99 pages long and available in PDF form.

The book was written by John A. Pugsley in 1980. In 1981, it was on the New York Times bestseller list for about nine weeks. It contains some of the same material covered by Peter Schiff in his 2007 and 2009 "Crash Proof" series.

Peter Schiff is a great financial commentator, and I'd trust him as an economic adviser, but Pugsley's book is a steal. Why get a book for $15+ when you can get the same information for free.

Well, maybe it isn't completely the same.

The Alpha Strategy
talks more about the history of inflation, its causes, and how to prepare for it.

Crash Proof seems to be tailored toward those who are already investors and includes more recent information on the housing bubble, the stock market crash, and the underlying causes of the recent financial meltdown.

If you could care less about the history of inflation, the fractional-reserve banking system, and myths and facts about the causes of inflation, and you want to go directly to the investment strategies, skip to page 59, where Pugsley talks about the solution.

But if you want to know about the causes of the problem, which is equally important as the solution, then read The Alpha Strategy from the beginning.

Then share the book with a friend.

It is available for download here:

New Link: The Alpha Strategy: The Ultimate Plan for Financial Self-Defense for the Small Investor

Old Link:The Alpha Strategy: The Ultimate Plan for Financial Self-Defense for the Small Investor

WCF Chapter One "Of Holy Scripture" Sunday School (Sept.-Oct. 2021)

Our text for Sunday School (also "The Confession of Faith and Catechisms") Biblical Theology Bites What is "Biblical Theology...