Basic “math” of how unions are ruining us

The basic math, fairly simply put, is as follows. A company sets a price to sell their products. This price is, hopefully, one that pays all of their expenses and gives a reasonable return to the investors. Competition keeps that return from being exorbitant, keeping prices lower, and also exerts pressure to be more efficient, as lower prices, all other things being equal, bring more business. When a cost goes up, whether it is materials, labor, or investment, the price has to go up, or the business has to stop producing the product(s). (The cost of labor is determined by competition, as are the other costs.) So higher costs either cost consumers/purchasers more money or the opportunity to buy the product.

Introduce unions. Unions do have their uses to prevent *abuse* by companies in some situations. However, when unions coerce the price of labor above a competitive level through the use of force (yes, I mean force...what else do you call picket lines and reprisals against those who cross that line?) then they are essentially either holding up everyone who consumes that good for more money and/or doing harm to the company and society. This is because the company must raise prices, taking money from the consumers, must stop or lower production, or must sacrifice. Assuming that competitive forces have resulted in a price without exorbitant profit, continued such sacrifice will ultimately close the company. (I recently read that business owners are not very good at getting a good enough profit to be successful, even without outside pressure, because they tend to be overly optimistic. Having fallen prey to this myself I believe it.)

Unions are, at this point in history, legalized gangs of thieves and vandals, stealing from and damaging everyone, including themselves!

The Bell: I Know Who I Am

THE BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM

I am God’s child (John 1:12)

I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15)

I am united with the Lord(1 Cor. 6:17)

I am bought with a price(1 Cor. 6:19-20)

I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)

I am a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)

I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt.5:13-14)

I am a member of the body of Christ(1 Cor 12:27)

I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom.8: 1-2)

I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant ( Phil.3:20)

I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31-34)

I am a minister of reconciliation for God(2 Cor.5:17-21)

I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)

I cannot be separated from the love of God( Rom.8:35-39)

I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor.1:21-22)

I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8: 28)

I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)

I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)

I am God’s temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am God’s co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God’s workmanship(Eph. 2:10)

I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil. 1: 5)

I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col. 1:14). I have been adopted as God’s child(Eph 1:5)

I belong to God

Do you know

Who you are!?

(:Keep this bell ringing…pass it on:)

“The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine up on you

And be gracious to you;

The LORD turn His face toward you

And give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26

--Author unknown(:Keep this bell ringing…pass it on:)

April 19, 1995

I was working in the Oklahoma County Assessor’s office as a residential field appraiser. Valuation protests in progress, with some of us each day acting as hearing officers and some of us going out to check on disputed physical characteristics of properties. That day I was setting up appointments and getting ready to go out to check on some properties when there was a loud boom and the building shook.

My first thought was that something had blown up at Tinker Air Force Base, and I looked out the south facing windows there on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma County Annex Building. I then realized that an explosion that big might be a nuke and looking out the windows was not a good idea. Jeff Pennington, my supervisor, came out of his office and yelled for everyone to evacuate the building. All of us in the office—about 20—headed out, and to the stairs, and down. The rest of the building was evacuating, also, through the corridors full of dust drifting down from the ceilings.

We ended up in a parking lot across the street to the west. There we stood around waiting, speculating as to what had happened. Car exploded in the basement garage? (The District Attorney’s office was on the sixth floor and sometimes he got death threats.) No, it was quickly obvious that it was not in our building but somewhere to the north. Gas line explosion? No, gas explosions were softer, not so flat and hard. I don’t remember what else, or exactly how long we were out there, but eventually we were all sent home; the building needed to be checked for structural damage.

It was not until Monday that we were back to work. Besides checking for structural damage, downtown was mostly shut down to keep the streets, cell towers, and phone exchanges clear for rescue efforts. I sat at home the next several days. I had been sick and was still on an anti-biotic, so I was not in a hurry to go anywhere or do anything. I was also glued to the TV praying, along with everyone else that more survivors would be found. Along with the rest of the world, I heard about McVey’s being stopped and arrested.

I don’t when it was that the names of the lost started appearing. One of the four dead across the street from the Murrah Building, in the building containing the Water Resources Board, was someone that I had known from Riverside Church’s College & Career group several years past. She left a son to be raised by her parents. A secret service agent who was killed had sat across from me at my desk two weeks before protesting his property valuation. (I think that I had shown him how his house valuation was in line with sales in the neighborhood.) A friend from church had just entered the building before the bomb exploded. He was waiting for the elevator, and sheltered by the blast by the elevators. Telling about it later he said that it blew him down the corridor but, by the grace of God, he only had a few scratches. Others I knew worked on the rescue effort, and it was something that left its mark on them from then on…as it has on so many others.

I had been in the Murrah Bldg. only once: when I spent a day at MEPS (the Military Entrance Processing Station) being tested, poked, and prodded…when I wasn’t waiting, of course.

Separation of Church and State 01

There can be no separation of Church and State without banning Christians from voting, serving in gov't, or being employed by gov't.

To explain:

1)The Church is not, in its original intent and still truest sense, an organization, especially an organization created by man. The Church is all those who serve God through having faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, when any person who is a disciple of Jesus Christ is a part of the gov't, then that state has become joined with The Church.

2)To be a disciple of Christ is to come to know God. One does not know the Almighty, Loving God without being changed. The longer one knows God and serves Him the more that one will be changed. Those changes will greatly encompass attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs, and the resulting actions. Such a person's voting will reflect the values of God and The Church. If such a person serves in gov't, or works in gov't, then policies and actions will be influenced by The Church.

As long as there are Christians (parts of the Church) involved in The State, then Church and State will not be separate.