...
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Through
the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and
save us. Amen. Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury
of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every
impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal,
have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for
Your Name’s sake. Lord have mercy (three times).
August
25, 2014 Monday Message, National Destruction
The
Gospel
Matthew 18:23-35 a personal
translation
Because of this the
kingdom of heaven was compared to a human king, who wanted to review accounts
with his stewards. So starting to review,
a debtor of ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was [unable] to pay, his lord ordered him to be sold with his wife and
children and all that he had, to make payment.
Thus the steward, falling
down, prostrated before him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay
you everything. So, being moved with
compassion, that steward’s lord freed him, and forgave him the loan.
Now, immediately coming
out, that steward found one of his fellow stewards who owed him an hundred denarii,
and seizing him, strangled [him],
saying, Pay me what you owe. Thus his
fellow steward, falling down at his feet, begged him, saying, have patience
with me, and I will repay everything to you.
Now he refused, but as he was leaving, threw him into prison, until he could
pay the debt.
Well, his fellow
stewards, seeing what was taking place, were vehemently grieved, and coming, explained
to their lord everything that had taken place.
Then, summoning [him], his lord said, you wicked steward,
I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have showed your fellow
steward mercy, as I also showed you mercy?
And being furious, his
lord delivered him to the tormentors, until he could repay the whole debt. Thus, My heavenly Father shall do to you, as
well; unless you each forgive your brothers’ trespasses from your hearts.
The
Homily
Sunday we delivered this message to
our nation.
“For this very reason our nation is
being condemned and destroyed by God.
“Are you concerned about a lack of good
jobs? Look no further. Are you concerned about national
security? Look no further. Are you concerned about any other major
social issue? Look no further.”
Let us be very clear. This is not a message about prophetic doom
and gloom. I am not a prophet, nor do I
speak as a prophet. This is a message
about the undeniable realities of arithmetic.
This is a message about cold, hard cash; and about worthless fiat paper money
and electron money. This is a message
about finance.
Here is the fundamental equation for
interest:
FV
= PV * (1 + r) ^ n
The future value (FV) is equal to
the present value (PV) times the quantity of one plus the interest rate for
some time period (1 + r), raised to the number of time periods that pass (n).
If we stop to think for a moment, we
quickly realize that this is identical to the fundamental equation for
exponential growth:
yt
= y0 * (1 + r) ^ t
The magnitude at some future time (yt)
is equal to the starting magnitude (y0) times the quantity of one
plus the growth rate for some time period (1 + r), raised to the number of time
periods that pass (t).
Or using Napier’s mathematical
expression:
y(t)
= y0 * e ^ (-kt)
This expression is handy, because it
allows us to get into the idea of logarithms, which allow us solve problems
that, without logarithms, could only be solved by trial and error, or
understanding of finite series mathematics.
However, we are not going there today.
This math lesson is painful enough.
We’ve seen this exponential equation
before, and we already know that it is lethal.
We already know from the perspective
of the final value that the exponential equation explodes into infinity. An infinite final value requires infinite
power to sustain. Since God alone has infinite
power, the exponential equation cannot be sustained my man, and it eventually
collapses under its own weight. At some
arbitrarily small value, it must be arrested before it reeks destruction, havoc
on everything it touches. As an
equation, it’s just a harmless exercise in arithmetic. When it is applied to any area of reality, it
quickly threatens life. For this reason alone
our nation is being condemned and destroyed by God. Actually, this is self-destructive behavior;
by attempting to play God, we are destroying ourselves.
From the perspective of time the exponential
equation reduces the time left to avoid disaster to zero, zilch, nada. Again this is a harmless equation. Applied to life it appears harmless and
innocent. Yet, by the time we realize
that it is growing very rapidly, there may not be enough time left to stop it in
time to avoid a great deal of destruction.
In the proof of these matters, back
in grade school arithmetic we learned that saving money was a good idea. Buy savings bonds or start a savings account. One dollar invested in savings at 2% will
double in value every 34.66 years. Put
in one dollar and get two dollars back: no sweat, no work, it’s a good
deal. In 69.31 years your one dollar
will double twice and be worth four dollars.
We will temporarily ignore the fact that the government is coming to
collect taxes on your profits. Is this
really a good deal?
Let’s take a side trip before we
answer that question. Exactly how long
does it take for a dollar to double its value at any given annual interest
rate? Using our fundamental equation for
interest we want the future value to be two times the present value:
FV
= 2 * PV = PV * (1 + r) ^ n
We see that PV divides out of the
equation leaving:
2
= (1 + r) ^ n
Now we need to solve for the number
of years it will take to double (n), which is also called the doubling time. We need logarithms to solve this
equation. If you have never studied
logarithms, or don’t understand them, not to worry, any handy engineering, math,
or science student should be able to explain the basics of logarithms to you. Logarithms may be first studied in a high school
trigonometry class. Alternately, you can
search for logarithm articles on the internet, using your favorite search
engine, where you will find dozens of articles wanting to explain logarithms to
you. Here we go:
ln
(2) = ln [(1 + r) ^ n] = n * ln (1 + r)
Now, solving for n just involves a
little first year algebra:
n
= ln (2) / ln (1 + r)
Now, solving for n merely requires an
ln table and grade school long division.
Your spreadsheet program on your computer has an ln table built into it,
and does long division in the blink of an eye.
Just type in:
=
ln(2) to get the numerator: .693 ≈ .70
Now, type in, don’t forget to use
decimals (1% is .01):
=ln(1+r)
to get the denominator
Now, divide the numerator by the
denominator to get the exact number of years in your spreadsheet. It’s easy.
At this point a hand trick can be
very useful. For small interest values,
even 10% and larger:
ln(1+r)
≈ r
Go ahead, check it out with your
spreadsheet. Now you can do approximate,
rule of thumb calculations in your head, using nothing more than grade school
division:
n
≈ .70 / r or 70 / r%
This is conveniently called the Rule
of 70, and you should try to remember it.
Money at 2% interest will double about every 35 years (34.66 years,
exactly).
We digress. Is this really a good deal? Your grade school arithmetic teacher taught
you that buying savings bonds or starting a savings account is a good deal. Your grade school arithmetic teacher probably
didn’t know, and didn’t teach you that savings is a zero-sum game. The chances that a grade school arithmetic
teacher spent a lot of time studying game theory are slim to none.
What is a zero-sum game? If I win, you lose. If you win, I lose. That’s what a zero-sum game is. Wherever there is a winner, there is also a
loser; and the size of the win is exactly the same as the size of the loss. Green Bay won by one touchdown; the Steelers
lost the same game by exactly one touchdown.
This ain’t rocket science folks, this is just a little easy
thinking. Now my savings plan doesn’t
look so good, because the dollar I doubled, was taken out of somebody else’s pocket. I won a buck; they lost a buck; maybe they
couldn’t afford to lose that buck. There
are words for this kind of transaction: petty larceny, robbery, theft. It’s all legal. Yet, now my savings plan doesn’t look so good:
because I may have taken that dollar out of a poor persons pocket.
It only gets worse. If I loaned my dollar to a fool, who spent it
on some frivolity and destroyed it: in 35 years the fool will be unable to pay
me back; I’ll be out my dollar, and out of 35 years of better opportunities for
investing. If I loaned my dollar to a person,
who invested it wisely and multiplied it 100 times in 35 years: I will get two
dollars; the investor will get 98 dollars; and I will be proved a sucker. If I bought a savings bond with my dollar,
the government will likely squander the money on some destructive frivolity
(war, for instance): in 35 years the government will be unable to pay me back;
and the government will tax me to pay back my own money; I’ll be out my dollar,
and out of 35 years of better opportunities for investing.
At this point, it may be clear that
actual money really does grow on trees. Had
I used my dollar to buy a pack of tomato seeds, which I then carefully planted,
cultivated, nourished, and watered; labored and sweated over: at the end of a
year I would have hundreds upon hundreds of tomatoes, more tomatoes than I
could possibly eat. I’d be canning
tomatoes, saving tomato seeds for next year’s crop, and selling tomatoes for
profit. Had I then used my profits to
buy peach saplings, which I then carefully planted, cultivated, nourished, and watered;
labored and sweated over: at the end of 30 years my peach trees would mature,
and I would be producing peaches, bushels of peaches for the next 5 years. At the end of 35 years I would be a truly
wealth man; I would have made thousands of times my original investment; I
would have robbed no one: all because the gifts of God are better….
Let’s change the scenario to make me
the borrower, instead of the lender or saver.
And let’s suppose that I’m always going to pay the loan back in monthly increments. The exact formula to calculate payments in
this transaction is:
P
= Li / (1 - 1/(1+i)^n = Li / (1 - e ^ -n*ln (1+i))
My spreadsheet has a hand exact calculation
called PMT, which is a lot easier to use than the exact formula. So I do the math in the spreadsheet.
=PMT(Rate,Nper,Pv,Fv,Type)
At age 17, fresh out of high school,
I’m itching to have a car. My folks are
willing to help me and I found a new car for $20,000, with a six year mortgage
at a six percent annual interest rate.
My Rate is 6%/100/12, or .005 per month.
I have 72 monthly payments to make.
The Pv is $20,000. I’m going to
pay the mortgage completely, so the Fv is 0.
No special payments (balloons) will be made, so the Type is also 0. My new car costs $331.46 a month for 72
months. Over the course of the loan, I
pay $23,864.96 total: $20,000 to the car dealership; $3,864.96 to the lending
institution. At the end of six years, my
new car is a worthless piece of junk, and I’m now in a spiral of entrapment which
will continue at a rate of $3,864.96, or more, every six years for the rest of
my natural life. Sixty years later, I
will have given $38,649.60, or more, to lending institutions for car
purchases. At the end of sixty years, I
will have nothing to show for my money. That is expensive money. What did the lending institution do to earn
this money? Nothing: they just sat
around on their fat derrieres and counted their profits.
At age 21, fresh out of college, or
even while I’m in college, I’m dying to have a credit card. I need to buy things. I run the same math as for the car. I get a credit card deal at only 20% annual
interest, no penalties or fees, and maintain an unpaid balance of $1,000 for
fifty years. That $1,000 balance costs
me $9,000.49 in interest expenses. That
is really expensive money. The lending
institution is still counting. I’m
sweating.
At age 30, I’ve found the love of my
life, we marry, buy a house, and start raising kids. We find a nice small place for $100,000, with
a 4.5% fixed-rate, thirty-year mortgage.
This costs us $82,406.71 in interest and nearly doubles the cost of the
house. In the meantime, we are
confronted with constant maintenance costs and remodeling expenses, averaging,
$10,000 a year, not to mention house insurance.
At the end of thirty years, our house will have a zero Pv, but if we’ve
faithfully kept up with repairs, it might still be worth $100,000. If we chose a good location, it might be
worth more; but in a really bad location, it might be back to zero. At least we hope to have a roof over our
heads. Life is good, we have the kids,
we have each other, we’re not so old that the medical bills have started to
pile up.
I’ll ask you one more time. Is this really a good deal? We’ve spent $120,000 on house and cars. We’ve floated $1,000: God knows what that might
have bought. This cost us an additional
$95,272.16 in interest charges, nearly twice the cost of goods sold. We might have invested the same money in factories,
farming, forestry, or fishing and made a fortune by now. Can anyone, other than the lending
institutions, win at this game? I think
not. Is this really a good deal? Absolutely not. Growing money on trees is a good deal. This is a terrible deal.
Your grade school arithmetic teacher
probably didn’t know, and certainly failed to teach you, that a savings plan,
and a borrowing plan are no different than gambling. Your grade school arithmetic teacher taught
you that saving is a good thing, gambling is a bad thing; in reality, they are
the same thing. So here we are, suckered
in, and sold into a crushing downward spiral of financial slavery from which we
can never recover. The only good
interest rate is zero. The only good
loan is no loan. The only reasonable
savings plan is a safe deposit box, a can in the yard, or a mattress full of
cash. That won’t “win friends, influence
people,” or make more money. Neither
will it steal from the poor.
It only gets worse. Businesses and governments play this game at
the billions and trillions of dollars level.
All the interest costs and other losses come back to us in the cost of
goods sold, in taxes, and in inflation. At
least business yields products.
Government, on the other hand produces very little of marketable value:
roughly 25% of federal dollars support the military, another 25% support research
mostly for the military, a little money funds roads. State dollars are not spent much more wisely: roughly
50% is spent on education, but actually goes to grandiose programs; little goes
to teachers. Giving or lending money to
government is like lending to a fool: the money will likely be squandered, and
we will certainly never see it again. We
will be lucky to settle for ten cents on the dollar when we deal with government. Contrasted to a tree that produces thousands
and thousands of God given profits, government is a very, very bad deal. Sweat is a good deal. We do not possess the infinite power required
to support this infinite cost. You do
the math.
Government could do much
better. Government could get us
completely out of the usury game.
Government could, but government won’t.
"Compound interest was once regarded as the worst kind of usury and
was severely condemned by Roman law…."[1]
For this very reason our nation is
being condemned and destroyed by God. Or
rather, we should say, for this very reason we are causing this self-destructive
behavior. By attempting to play God, we
are destroying each other and ourselves. [2]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_interest
[2] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations,
please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish. No rights are reserved. They are designed and intended for your free
participation. They were freely
received, and are freely given. No other
permission is required for their use.
No comments:
Post a Comment