Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Hey, maybe prayer *does* work...
. . .and we can blame the sub-prime debacle on it!
Huh?
Via Sully, a TIME item on how Prosperity Gospel insanity helped lead to the current financial mess:
Foreclosures: Did God Want You to Get That Mortgage?
Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God will "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."
Well, hell, they've already proven that they're easy prey for the preachers. Why not for the brokers, too?
More:
Although a type of Pentecostalism, Prosperity theology adds a distinctive layer of supernatural positive thinking. Adherents will reap rewards if they prove their faith to God by contributing heavily to their churches, remaining mentally and verbally upbeat and concentrating on divine promises of worldly bounty supposedly strewn throughout the Bible. Critics call it a thinly disguised pastor-enrichment scam. Other experts, like Walton, note that for all its faults, the theology can empower people who have been taught to see themselves as financially or even culturally useless to feel they are "worthy of having more and doing more and being more." In some cases the philosophy has matured with its practitioners, encouraging good financial habits and entrepreneurship.
* * *
With the bubble burst, Walton and Butler assume that Prosperity congregants have taken a disproportionate hit, and they are curious as to how their churches will respond. Butler thinks some of the flashier ministries will shrink along with their congregants' fortunes. Says Walton: "You would think that the current economic conditions would undercut their theology." But he predicts they will persevere, since God's earthly largesse is just as attractive when one is behind the economic eight ball.
Gah. Makes me crazy.
OK, so maybe prayer does work, and the Christian Sky-Daddy worked his magic to make it possible for all these idiots to qualify for mortgage loans they couldn't pay back. But since he paints with a rather broad brush, millions of other people also got sub-prime loans. And as a result the banks started going belly-up. Leading to the credit-crunch, the economic downturn, and the $820 Billion Bailout.
Gee, thanks, God.
Jim Downey
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Maybe God made Democrats
Maybe God made Democrats vote against any oversight for the FMs, whether it was Clinton in the 90s or Bush in 2003-04 (and, what, a couple of times after that, right?) pushing for it.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
Letter to Bernanke.
Yeah, too bad there isn't a pol running who actually had a clue about the problems on the horizon and tried to do something about it well in advance of the whole fiasco.
Oh, wait, here's a little something about a letter to Bernanke and Paulson that Obama sent in March of 2007:
Be sure to read the rest.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Not the only one
Obama's not the only pol in this race who made a meaningless gesture 10 or 15 years too late to do any good. McCain made his meaningless gesture two years earlier.
:)
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
Won't open.
Rob, that site won't open - can you give a summation of what this item is?
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Senate bill 190
McCain was a co-sponsor (along with Elizabeth Dole and John Sununu) of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. It never had a chance of passing, and expired peacefully in it's sleep sometime in 2006 (I imagine.)
McCain made a speech in support of the bill (which I had but can't find the link to) that sounded just as sincere as Obama's letter. Just, like I said, 2 years earlier (and of no greater import, as it turned out.)
Ah, here it is: the direct url to McCain's speech is http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109... (you may have to cut and paste to make it work if the line doesn't wrap properly), and there's a link to the actual bill from there.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
OK, thanks.
I appreciate the direct link, Rob. Couldn't get the site to work properly from the other one, and since I didn't know what I was looking for . . .
A couple of things. The date on that is May, 2006. Obama's letter was later, in March, 2007, but that is less than a year, not two years (perhaps you were looking at the date of Sullivan's post?) Also, while McCain's co-sponsorship did indeed call for further regulation of Fannie May and Freddie Mac, it seems that was pretty much the entire scope of the bill as listed. FWIW, I would have been happy to see that bill go on to become law. But that is not the same thing as calling on the people responsible for oversight of the financial system (Bernanke, as Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Paulson, as the Treasury Secretary) to deal with the entire scope of the then-developing mortgage crisis, as outlined in Obama's letter. Read the whole thing, if you think I am mischaracterizing it.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Not mischaracterizing
I don't think you're mischaracterizing Obama's letter, I just don't give it as much weight as you apparently do. The Act McCain co-sponsored was in 2005, but it does look like the speech he made was in 2006; no matter, because my point was that both candidates have made meaningless, and mostly useless, gestures.
The mortgage crisis wasn't developing in 2007, it has been developing for close to (if not more than) 20 years. McCain and Obama both were late by about 15 years.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
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