Less taxes = better economy

I am a staunch supporter of low taxes, no taxes. Same with the government; I'd prefer as little government as possible. Anyway, my sister sent this email to me and I love it. Just wanted to pass it along to you. If you agree with it, high five. If not, I hope you'll think about why it makes sense. While I am a Christian and wholeheartedly and passionately support the idea of charity, I also wholeheartedly and passionately support the notion of hard work and reaping what you sow...


To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know,the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

Let me tell you some little tidbits of fact, which might help you decide what is in your best interests. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understandthat for every business owner there is a back-story. This back-story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my new car outside. You've seen my home at last year's Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don't see is the back-story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time,I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for three years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you. My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, andsacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hoursa week, made a modest $50K a year, and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars, lived in expensive homes, and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was strolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have that freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1-year-old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the new car, the vacations... You never realize the back-story and the sacrifices I've made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bailout all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately,the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why: I am being taxed to death and the government thinks that I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes; payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire an accountant to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs andserves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business?Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next government check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hardwork? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into theWashington black hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that taxcut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death,you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens,you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about...

Signed,
Your boss

The Great Surgeon

As modern day Christians I don't think we reflect often enough on how serious our terminal problem of sin is. And when I say terminal, I mean that without the salvation of Jesus Christ, we will die because of the sin that seperates us from God. If you like analogies, here's a good one that just hints at what we're facing...

When seeing the doctor about a problem, we all too often want that doctor to prescribe God pills. He'll say take one morning and night and you should be good to go. Is "curing" our sin that easy though? Some churches and religious organizations make it seem that way, but that isn't an accurate picture of the depravity of our situation as sinners. The conversation we should really be having is that we're facing a life threatening disease; maybe even cancer. It has metastisized and infiltrated every part of our body. It is painful yet we seem to be addicted to that pain. We don't have many days to live and death is guaranteed without intervention. The best news about this bleak situation though is that we have been given the best surgeon around...and for free. His name is Jesus and he has a 100% success rate. He's never made a mistake and once surgery is complete your future life brings eternal hope.

True isn't it? Our sin problem isn't small. No, no, it is far to big for our minds to fathom. There's no 12 step recovery program that can neatly remove sin from our lives. We must see the best surgeon and allow him to intervene and bring us hope. Praise God though that our salvation doesn't depend on our faithfulness in taking pills or following a 12 step recovery program.

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she find it, she says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Praise God for the value he sees in the unsaved, or lost. I am so thankful that my life was turned upside down as God sought after me. And I am thankful that for every lost sinner that turns, and repents, the angels in the halls of heaven are rejoicing with joy. I pray for the lost in my life that they might seek and find the great surgeon so that after a life saving surgery, they may find eternal hope.

A belated Christmas greeting, electronically of course

Hey, hey, ho, ho!

I had a hard time starting this letter with a greeting that was purely related to Christmas since I missed getting my letter out on time. Nevertheless it is with great joy that I send you and yours a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The end of December snuck up on me quicker than I expected and here I am sitting down at the beginning of January to quickly review the happenings of 2008.

I found myself in the middle of my first year of teaching last January—I could hardly believe that I had survived one half a year and I was already looking forward to the start of summer vacation in MayJ As many of you who have teachers in your lives know, the first year is always the hardest and this mantra definitely held true for me. The most difficult challenges came in April and May as I struggled to work through some issues with multiple parents over philosophical differences related to the way I ran my FFA program. I have never been so challenged nor felt so attacked as I did then but in retrospect God knew what he was doing. At the time I felt very unprepared to deal with the issue but going through that time allowed me to truly develop and refine many of my teaching philosophies related to both instruction and my intra-curricular FFA program.

I completed my first year by taking a team of four students to the National Land Judging contest in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where we spent four days practicing and competing in evaluating various soil properties. I was very proud of my team for their effort and hope to take another team next year. (Side note: I am a soil geek at heart and was absolutely overjoyed to share some of my limited knowledge from college with my students.)

As always, my summer flew by packed with FFA leadership camps and conferences for my students as well as attending multiple professional development workshops. Among the most impactful was the National Agriscience Ambassador Academy held in Chestertown, Maryland last July. This week long workshop truly changed my approach to teaching both agriculture and science concepts and I was also able to meet some of the neatest Ag teachers from around the nation. Ag teachers are a unique breed and I am proud to count myself as one of them, especially after that week.

I entered my second year of teaching in August much refreshed and reenergized. I didn’t believe all those veteran teachers who told me that each year gets easier, but they were right. I feel more comfortable with the concepts I am teaching and am more prepared to be the authoritarian figure with my students. I am eager to start the spring semester continually trying new activities and approaches in presenting material. I know I will continue to be challenged as I teach but am truly grateful to be at the school I am. Before I started teaching I knew that I would enjoy teaching, but I never expected to love it as much as I do nor enjoy my students as much as I do. I am so blessed and content.

I anticipate 2009 will be another great year filled with the richness and abundance of God’s blessing. I look forward to the next time our paths cross and I pray that your family is healthy and happy.


Love Always,
Katy

Tolerance

Note: Today's post is kind of a "soap box" for me, if you will. Just some thoughts...random mostly. But definitely from the heart.

Tolerance is defined as a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own. I often think of this word when trying to reconcile differences between my spiritual perspective and the actions of others. Experience has shown me that most people expect Christians to tolerate anyone who is different. I am not opposed to that, in fact I would encourage it. For example, I love homosexuals. I don't agree with the lifestyle they've chosen because it is defined as sin in the bible. While I don't condone their actions, I sincerely accept and love them as people.

This tolerance is rarely, if never, reciprocated towards Christians. Instead, they are ridiculed and persecuted for being close minded. We're the only people who are not allowed to say "no, that's wrong, I don't agree with that." That is probably an extreme view but it's accurate based on my experiences.

I absolutely hate the fact that people (to be more specific, critics of the Christian faith) are always worried about people being offended. They don't want nativity scenes displayed around town. Christmas trees in department stores might even viewed as offensive if someone doesn't celebrate Christmas. On the other side of the coin though, I don't take offense if I see a menorah. I'm not offended when I drive past a muslim place of worship. Again, going back to that point from before, I may not agree with someone's beliefs but I am not going to force them through legislation to remove or hide all signs of their faith.

Christians are held to a different standard. We must tolerate everyone else, yet no one will consider tolerating us. I know I'm making extreme generalizations here, but honestly I wouldn't expect anything different. As Christians we are to expect persecution if we identify with Christ. But it's because of our identity in Christ that we can take joy in both the persecution that comes with it as well as the blessings.

I pray you take joy this holiday season in being intolerable. Relish what we have in common with Christ. Expect persecution and ridicule but remain confident that God will bless you as you perservere. Blessings to you on the Eve of Christmas! What joy we have because of the life that was given us in Christ Jesus.

Sharing God's greatness

I saw a sunset last night that I couldn't begin to describe. Awesome. Majestic. Pure. Colors so rich they were almost unreal. Alive. I was trying to take a picture of it when I saw someone walking by so I made some passing remark about how beautiful it was. I thought I knew this person but I didn't. That exchange made me smile though because it was nice to share that moment with a total stranger. It was almost like sharing a secret moment with God with an individual who I might never see again. It was thrilling and so easy to share that. I never said anything about God but He felt so evident that I didn't really need to. Why couldn't always be that easy to share God? I think it's because I often feel like I have to do the work to share the greatness of God. I should know better. God's greatness is everywhere and I will never do it justice sharing it on my own. I pray I might feel more compelled to share God's greatness with strangers and close friends, knowing full well that God is the one who is really at work in that conversation or deed.

"...but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light..."

A Ranch Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! I am so thankful for the abundance from God's hand--family, friends, a great job and the ability to work. Enjoy your holiday and all its traditions!

(This article was originally published in 1983 in Arizona Highways.)

Nine times out of 10 Thanksgivings in northern Arizona will come nosing ahead of a storm like an old lead cow going to water.

A solid front of gray will move across the high plains driven by a northwest wind whipping and slashing at the drags. It will be a full-blown storm front, shivering with snow and sleet, a storm that does what it sets out to do - puts an end to autumn. Every year is a gamble to see how long the cattle can put on weight before that first storm hits and the feed loses its strength. Fifty years ago, northern Arizona ranchers rounded up cattle in October and sold them around the middle of November. Some still do.

When fall roundup is over and the cattle are shipped, there's more work to be done. Holes in the fences and watergaps are fixed, the shoes are jerked off the horses. Mother cows go off to their favorite canyons and cedar breaks to wait out the winter. The saddle horses, turned out on the open range, will have to make their own living until they're needed again unless they decide to come in for a handout. Then, if a person listens, the coyotes will tell him a storm is on the way. A strain of urgency, a high-pitched ululation breaks with dawn. Thanksgiving Day is near. In the old days a cowboy often let Thanksgiving get by him, as the work didn't stop for holidays. Even faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had little time for celebration. On Thursday, Nov. 29, 1894, Lucy Hannah White Flake wrote in her journal: "This is thanksgiving day [sic]. The wind is blowing. There was no school this afternoon so we washed. The men folks are all working on the reservoy."

Later on, when the country developed and roads improved, ranch neighbors often came together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving dinner on an Arizona ranch is likely to have scents and seasonings never dreamt of by the Pilgrims, but cattle people have just as much to be thankful for, maybe more. A ranch family is thankful if they all made it through branding and fall roundup and lived to tell about it. They are thankful for the rain that filled their dirt tanks and made winter feed. They are thankful for the calves and steer yearlings that paid the bills. They are thankful, too, for friends and neighbors who helped with the work. Most of all, they thank God for partnering with them another year.

Women raised on ranches are likely to serve recipes they inherited from mothers and grandmothers. With every bite of cornbread stuffing, carrot pudding, homemade noodles or mincemeat pie, memories ebb and flow - back to the smell of cedar wood firing up a cookstove on a frosty morning. Doing chores before school. Bacon, coffee, sourdough biscuits. The whang of a windmill pumping water into a steel storage tank. The ring of spurs and clomp of boots on a wooden porch. Cold mornings and fresh horses.

Memories waft from the kitchen. The summer garden greens up again with each bite of bottled peas or green beans. The orchard comes to life in peach preserves spread thick on homemade yeast rolls. It may be slim pickings part of the year, but at Thanksgiving there's plenty for all. Somehow, the ones who made it possible are always there at Thanksgiving time.

And if a winter storm is biting at the heels of dark clouds, listen. You can almost hear the pounding of a herd of range cattle and the far off cries of men bringing in the roundup. Coming home. Coming home.

Close to the land

I am on a continual quest to find quotes that accurately paint a picture of the way of life that cowboy's live. I was reading Range magazine this weekend and stumbled upon some great quotes describing just this. I hope that in sharing them, you may be reminded about the way of life that is slowly being lost as farms and ranches are encroached upon by urbanites.

"Those outside of rural America need to see what is in this book. They'll be astounded to find that those who are close to the land have a startling sense of where they belong in the universe. They love their lives, accept the inherent struggles, and are surprisingly at peace for those who confront so many daily challenges. Perhaps it is because they know what it is to grow things, have worked to understand and to accept the forces of nature."