Archive for the 'Political' Category
May 11th, 2012 by Justin
Seven Deadly Sins in America
Why America is not a Christian Country
4. Wrath
American society on the whole cannot be characterized as particularly violent per se. However, it is the most violent among developed countries. A ranking of countries by the number of murders per person places the US high among industrialized nations. According to the most recent data, the US has more murders on this measure than Armenia, India and Romania, as well as almost all other rich countries. For example, the US has 0.043 murders per 1000 people, while Italy has 0.013 and Switzerland has 0.009. Total crimes per capita also rank highly relative to the rest of the world, and especially (and most importantly) relative to other rich countries, as do assaults per capita.
The American justice system is characterized by greater emphasis on punishment and revenge than other rich countries. Accordingly, the New York Times reported in 2008 that 1% of the adult population was incarcerated. On the world ranking, it is clear that the US has one of the highest numbers of prisoners. (Reasonable questions can be raised on the number of Chinese prisoners, but the US clearly remains high internationally.) In addition, the US continues to execute certain criminals—an extraordinarily unChristian practice, and highly unusual in the rich world. All of this ignores the significant amount of violence in American culture and media, again relative to other industrialized countries.
More deadly sins:
Greed
Envy
Pride
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth
May 11th, 2012 by Justin
Seven Deadly Sins in America
Why America is not a Christian Country
3. Pride
No one in the developed world is more proud of their country than Americans. This is not just a rhetorical twist of the word “pride.” Given the nature of the economic and social system, in a Darwinian fashion, we can expect that those who are more self-confident and aggressively self-interested will enjoy more success, on average, than those who are not. Just as confidence breeds success, success breeds confidence. An interesting take on the interplay between the two is written in Business Week here.
Much of this is subjective, of course. But will anyone honestly argue against the notion that confidence, pride, vanity, even narcissism are celebrated and rewarded in American society? A quick look at reality TV and its idolization of otherwise unimpressive personalities will dispel that idea. A glance at ESPN shows the kinds of personalities that succeed, and that are loved, in professional sports. A quick tour through YouTube will demonstrate that many people think themselves “experts” in this matter or that, rightly or wrongly. Personally, I think I am an intelligent person who has opinions that others may find interesting (hence this blog). I would not call myself vain or narcissistic, but obviously I am partaking of this overall phenomenon.
The spirit of individualism and independence inherent in the American social, cultural and economic character will almost inevitably lead to excess pride and vanity. How much pride is too much? Perhaps that can be answered with a question: how successful would Jesus be if he lived in the US today?
More deadly sins:
Greed
Envy
Wrath
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth
May 11th, 2012 by Justin
Seven Deadly Sins in America
Why America is not a Christian Country
2. Envy
The strong individualism (which is itself un-Christian) and consumerism that lie at the heart of American society inevitably give way to envy, jealousy and coveting. Hence the tradition of “keeping up with the Joneses.” Indeed, an economy where 65 to 70% of the GDP is consumption almost by definition requires a significant feeling of want and a desire for more and better stuff. Consumption can even be estimated to be in the 80s or 90s percentage range.
The largely self-interested character of economic activity can be explained by greed. But only envy can adequately explain the huge rates of consumer debt ($2.5 trillion in 2009), the economic staple that credit cards have become, the entire phenomenon of the Christmas shopping season (very apropos) and the vast entitlements and services along with the low taxes that Americans demand from their government. This is envy not only of others who have more stuff than you, but also of what you could potentially be, and the kind of stuff you could have.
More deadly sins:
Greed
Pride
Wrath
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth
March 14th, 2012 by Justin
The recent Quran burning incident and rampage by an American soldier have probably irreparably harmed the United States’ image in Afghanistan, and in the larger region. Not to say that it was all that great to begin with. American policy makers should understand that the longer the US has a military presence in the Afghanisan-Pakistan region, the more of these kinds of incidents will occur. From the simply embarrassing to the shocking or tragic, these kinds of PR disasters alone are enough to completely sink the American effort–whatever that effort is, the purpose of which fewer and fewer people seem able to identify.
The fundamental problems with American military involvement remain the same as they were over a decade ago: poor understanding of Islam and the cultural and political idiosyncrasies of the Islamic world; poorly defined goals and objectives; and flawed assumptions vis-a-vis Islamic terrorism and its root causes. The fact that both Democratic and Republican administrations have fallen into these traps (and that the entire field of Republican presidential candidates continues to miss the mark) supports the conclusion that this is a problem with the American political establishment in general, rather than a single President’s or Congress’ problem. Which makes it all the more likely that true, constructive change is impossible in the near term.
The natural conclusion is that the US should cut its losses–its financial losses, its human losses, and the losses to its image and prestige–and make a significant shift away from the foreign policy paradigm of the last 10 years. Even if there was a coherent policy with a clear objective, it should be obvious by now that the United States, at least with its current political establishment, cannot accomplish it.
The best the US can try to do is adopt a policy of limited involvement where only the minimal required amount of military intervention is allowed, and emphasis is placed on less obvious, less muscular, smaller-scale operations in the Islamic world (and elsewhere) primarily consisting of quieter intelligence and police efforts. Large-scale nation-building efforts are extremely complex, extremely difficult and highly unnecessary.
If the Muslim world will change and become more civilized, moderate and modernized, it will not happen overnight, and it will most certainly not be prompted by a foreign military effort, which serves mostly to antagonize local populations. In addition, the post-9/11 period has verified that terrorism is best combatted through intelligence efforts, police efforts and the occasional (highly targeted) military operation. Even the fall of Soviet communism, which similarly straddled cultural, ideological and political zones, occurred not because of large-scale military operations, but because of softer economic, diplomatic and sociocultural efforts.
In addition to being much cheaper and less strenuous on a weakened economic system, this kind of an approach would be more effective and more palatable to the international community. It is time for the US to reassess its underlying approach in Afghanistan and the Islamic world with an honest understanding of its actual strengths and weaknesses.
September 28th, 2011 by Justin
Continuing from part 3, on why the rich are taxed less than everyone else.
6. Corporations and businesses
The largest business firms in America are in a position to exploit countless loopholes and exemptions and deductions, as well as lobby for and legislate new ones, that small and medium-sized businesses will never be able to enjoy. The proof is in the pudding; again, see the GE story. In addition, note that at the highest levels of corporate income, not only do the merely rich and the mega rich pay the same (see number 1), but there is actually a regressive phenomenon. Specifically, according to SMBiz.com, instead of going up, as a corporation increases in income, the tax rate goes up, then down, then up, and then down! Here are the corporate tax rates:
Taxable income over Not over Tax rate
$ 0 $ 50,000 15%
50,000 75,000 25%
75,000 100,000 34%
100,000 335,000 39%
335,000 10,000,000 34%
10,000,000 15,000,000 35%
15,000,000 18,333,333 38%
18,333,333 .......... 35%
We can see that a corporation that makes $5 million in taxable income actually pays a lower tax rate (34%) than a corporation making only $200,000 (39%)! And moreover, the corporations at the highest income levels–$20 million, $100 million, $10 billion or more–are subject to a rate of only 35%, while those orders of magnitude lower (such as $17 million) must pay a higher 38 percent. Extraordinary but true. The same rules apply as far as influence peddling and lobbying: the biggest corporations can do it, and they do it in spades, while small and medium-sized businesses (where most of the jobs and economic production comes from) simply do not have the resources or the money to do that. The biggest firms are able to take advantage of loopholes and exemptions so much that the actual tax rates themselves have become all but meaningless for them (but still relevant to everyone else). Obviously business owners that own the biggest companies get off far easier than those who own average businesses.
