So much happens in every day that can be shared as thoughts that provoke, that change, that need to be expressed, but I get here and the current moment is just a small piece of time.
I really need to write a book about the purpose for Working Together.
How many chapters?
How many words?
How many pages?
How do I fit a lifetime into print?
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I read a news item today about the increasing delinquency rate for auto loans... and that people with bad credit scores "don't have many options to get money to buy a new or used car and often end up getting a subprime auto loan that comes with an interest rate of 15 to 20 percent." So their lives get worse with every effort to make it better. I know the feeling.
Since learning that GOD also charges interest when people borrow their tithes, my goals for financial programs has been deeply affected. When I first started planning some way to help members get through their hardships, I decided to offer member credit towards WT products, programs, and events... with an interest charge of one percent each month on the unpaid balance, thinking it would encourage quicker repayment. This would be a maximum of 12% a year if the balance continued. Right? (I'm not a banker, I was just trying to find a fair option. I didn't want to charge more than would be needed to pay for the program's overhead and expenses. Automatic increases with each membership year were planned, as long as the previous balances had been kept up to date -- a minimum payment of $5 was expected to show that the member was aware of their debt.
I haven't figured out the jubilee effect yet. That is still being decided.
Now I have discovered that GOD charges a flat 20% fee for borrowing the money we are expected to give to Him. I am trying to work that out in my plans.
You can see how different the world would be if we operated with GOD's plan. My school loans started at about 30K dollars, they are now in the 150K range. If I don't win the big lottery prize or sell a lot of products online, it will just keep increasing until I die... and then who knows what the government will do. My current income is less than $400 a month, plus food stamps and government medical.
I don't know why GOD hasn't provided the income I needed to get Working Together going, but I can't change the world without a decent amount of start-up money. I guess the banks will win this battle, too.
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I have also been trying to contact local government offices about low-income housing that is in jeopardy of being sold to the highest bidder. The government sees the program as a burden because they can only see it as a subsidy program... that means it costs them money they just don't have. I see homeless housing as part of the low-income program, with the government owning the land and the resident owning the "improvements" on the land. Using the same 30% of income formula that the government already uses for subsidy payments, a poverty household could begin the ownership process and eventually sell their property to the next low-income resident when they are able to purchase their next house.
A lot of changes would happen between the first payment and the last... depending on the property the government sold to them. Government apartment complexes can become housing associations of owners. People will have the stability they need, and not be afraid of being kicked out, and be able to slowly improve their future options. If people have problems that will keep them at the same income level, like senior status or disabilities or other problems, they can still be owners of their homes and have something to build on.
Poverty isn't going anywhere, the people who are poor will just change as each generation passes through this life. Isn't it better to create a permanent, positive, financially sound program that earns the government an income instead of adding to their subsidy burdens... and the change in direction will allow the program to create more housing options as the years go by.
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Tax reform is overdue, but the government will never do what is right. Expecting them to reduce their wages, cut off their power strategies, eliminate bad laws that just encourage their re-election, or enforce laws that protect our future, is unrealistic. I don't know how it can be done, but to save America we need a complete change of direction in tax perspectives. ONE TAX is what the government needs to live on... ONE reasonable tax that is forever limited, restrained, enforced. I realized there was only one tax that could be applied at a global level - and divided fairly among our three primary government levels - so I have been advocating a 10% sales tax since then.
Ten percent can be collected at 3% for federal, 3% for state, and 3% for county governments. Our international commitments can be paid with the remaining 1%. This covers all the internet sales issues, reduces all the various overhead and oversight issues with the IRS and other tax agencies, allows taxes to be collected and adjusted in real time, allows for arrests with illegal activities by tax evasion, eliminates income tax, property tax, estate tax, and other taxes - which will greatly stimulate the economy, AND it will tie every single decision government makes to the health of the economy. I just remembered that this limited tax structure would still allow each government to enter into partnerships with the others (for roads and things like that) and would also still allow the creation of government bonds, which investors seem to like.
I'm sure I have mentioned other things since I started sharing this concept, but that is all I can remember tonight.
Imagine how different the world would be.
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I guess I just wish my life would have allowed me to implement some actions toward these goals... get them going, I guess. The financing changes would disrupt the current practices. The tax changes would disrupt the government and make it better after a bit of an adjustment period. The housing changes would set the government on a path toward creating its own income instead of always resorting to new taxes, increasing taxes, and abusing tax funding.
I hope someone will get these things going if I am not able to... but, as I am still breathing, I will keep trying to move in these directions and others that I want to see done...like prison reforms, education choices, business development for the poor, and more...
In Christ,
Deborah Martin
office@work2gather.us
