Economies

America's value-creating economic engine energizes the world. We often hear that China's economy is growing fast and will overtake it, but that hasn't happened yet.

Here's a graphic showing the relative sizes of the economies of the nations of the world.

image: how much

Chic in NYC

Chick-fil-A's new restaurant in Manhattan is the world's largest, with multi levels and rooftop dining. Business seems good, in spite of the non-welcome from an editorial writer who thinks the restaurant is "distasteful" because of the Christian identity of the franchise owners.

Customers, however, lined up at the door for a tasty meal.

This gently mocking headline sums it up, "Evil Christians Oppress Secular New Yorkers with Delicious Chicken Sandwiches."

photo: cbsnews.com

Very skeptical

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Vijay Jararaj is an environmental scientist doing research in India. He makes virtually the same argument as the author summarized in yesterday's post: that journalists will not report climate news factually that doesn't support the correct narrative. 

The politically correct narrative says we are living in a time of "unprecedented, continuous, accelerating warming."

So there's been no reporting of our historic cooling event (see yesterday's post). "The mainstream media and a select group of scientists and decision makers in institutions that interpret and distribute climate data have misled the public."

When media and scientists are discovered to be hiding information from the public that might challenge their preferred story, the public begin to suspect they are being intentionally deceived. That's the conclusion Mr. Jararaj has come to.

Temps unreported

"Would it surprise you to learn the greatest global two-year cooling event of the last century just occurred?" The answer is No, no one could know because it's never reported.

(We in Minnesota are not surprised. This blizzard photo was taken here ten days ago, and we're finally coming out of the coldest/snowiest April in state history according to local tv).

photo: StarTribune

This author seems to believe in global warming, but he says contrary evidence should be reported. If there's a warming trend over months, or a new hottest month or year - that's a story. But if there's any cooling of any sort - that's not a story they will tell. He thinks that bias like this could make the public cynical about global warming.

(Cont'd tomorrow - author from India agrees, and doubts global warming)

Leap of faith

Faith is required by both of the main views on how our universe came to be. Neither one is proved. 

MbS on Israel

(cont'd from last Friday's post)

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), is cutting a new path for himself and his country. The new path includes more freedom for women, a more diversified economy (less oil, more other ventures), more moderate Islam.

Last Friday's post was about a possible partnership with Virgin Hyperloop One. If the deal goes through, there will be a new hyperloop route between Riyadh and Jeddah which will bring travel time down from the ten hours it takes now by public transport . . to a mere 76 minutes.

But the Prince's attitude toward Israel may be the biggest contrast to other parts of the Muslim Middle East. 

Iran, for example, openly admits planning to destroy Israel. But "Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince has said that Israelis “have the right to have their own land” and that formal relations between Israel and the kingdom could be mutually beneficial."

"Instead of seeing Israel as an enemy, Prince Mohammed has come to view the Jewish state as an attractive regional economic and technological hub . ."

"I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation,”

H1 and Branson

(con't hyperloop update from yesterday's post)

**go here if you need info on "hyperloop"**

Hyperloop One has $50 million of new funding, and English entrepreneur Richard Branson is its new chairman. The company is now called "Virgin Hyperloop One" (Branson's airline is called "Virgin").

He said, "this groundbreaking technology will change transportation as we know it and dramatically cut journey times . . and I look forward to making history together."

The company has gained a lot of strength since its startup in 2014. Its competition is Elon Musk's Boring Company - though he originally said he would not start a hyperloop business.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince met with Branson during his American tour to discuss the possibility of building a route in his country. 

photo: latestarabnews.com

(cont'd next Monday)

Boring

The Boring Company is another one of Elon Musk's. They're actually building hyperloop tunnels under Los Angeles. They've completed one 305 feet in length that starts at the SpaceX parking lot, and they want to extend it toward the airport.

They need permissions from several levels of governments and commissions, lots of red tape. Culver City (within Los Angeles county), for example, heard a presentation from a Boring executive in January but they definitely have concerns. 

Another tunnel, 6.5 miles in length, is planned by the Boring Co. as "proof of concept" - to show that this thing could really work. 

"In the meantime, Musk is apparently already driving around the first tunnel in a Tesla."

(hyperloop update cont'd tomorrow)

Debt clocks

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

U.S. federal government collects a lot of money in taxes, but unfortunately it spends a lot more than it collects. The difference is called a "deficit" and it's growing fast.  

National Debt Clocks gives you a view of the speed at which debt is growing. Compared to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) here are some nations' debt:

America - 109%
Brazil - 76%
China - 45%
France - 99%
Germany - 65%
Greece - 194%
Japan - 250%
New Zealand - 34%
Poland - 55%

Tax dollars

"The average American household sends more than $20,000 to Washington in tax revenue each year, and most see little in return.

"In 2017, the federal government nabbed more than $3.3 trillion in taxes — but that still isn’t enough to satiate Washington’s immense appetite for spending. The 2017 deficit was a whopping $665 billion."

"Social Security, the single largest federal program, accounts for roughly a quarter of all federal spending. Its trust funds are already paying out more than they take in."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Central Park

Parks are a priority in my town, but my town isn't unique. Community parks are common in the America. New York City may have the most famous one.

It's Central Park, very big by ordinary standards, 843 acres, and in the middle of Manhattan.

photo: reference.com

Its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, had a purpose to accomplish with this park. He  said that the beauty of the natural landscape expresses God's love, and he wanted “hundreds of thousands of tired workers” to be healed of their “vital exhaustion,” “nervous irritation.'

from "Central Park: the largest religious art work in the city, Part 1. Series: God in NYC Gardens"

Covenant

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Channing and Jenna and most of our culture see marriage as a contract: an agreement that will last as long as both of us are very happy.

The Christian view of marriage is more of a covenant. We acquire a status, rather than provide a service. We pledge ourselves for life (barring abuse). The terms are defined by God, expressed in the moral law, and based on human nature as God created it.

"This whole-person commitment is what we lose when we re-define all relationships as contracts. Our relationships become thin, fragile, self-interested, and easily broken."

Feelings

 Joyous feelings of excitement, connection, love, passion, warmth, friendship draw us into marriage.  And everybody knows feelings waver.

"Marriage in our society has been reduced to simply a celebration of feelings. It’s only logical that marriage can end when the feelings change. The lynch-pin is still “my happiness,” so if the marriage is no longer serving my happiness, then it’s time to take it all apart and move on." 

Actor Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan have decided to do just that.

Here's a bigger vision of the marriage relationship, beyond feelings:

“It is not your love that sustains the marriage but, from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.”

(cont'd tomorrow)

"Les Mis" casual

Imagine a big extended family gets together. Just for the fun of it, just casually standing around in the living room, wearing t-shirts and jeans - they all break out into glorious harmonious song. 

How can everybody in this family all be amazing?

Not hopeless

We tend to think that people can't change. But God can help them, and He will - if they want help. 

“There goes an angry, lonely old man to die in his bitterness.”

 The thought tore me up, but every sign pointed in that direction. I couldn’t see any hope of change in his life.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Check out this true story, experienced by the author.

photo: stream.org

Gov't over all

Consolidating more power over its people is an on-going project for China. The government that bombed an evangelical church of 50,000 people is now claiming authority over the Catholic church and religion in general.

Xi Jinping, president of China perhaps for life, has said that "religions could operate only if they were "Chinese in orientation" and that Beijing "must provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to socialist society."

That's spin for . . "we'll decide what you people can say and teach in your religion." But don't Christians look to the Bible for information about God?

Well, "The Chinese government removed Bibles from online stores after announcing it is working on re-interpreting and translating the Bible so it conforms to “Chinese-style Christianity.”

How are Christians going to handle this? We'll see. Pray for them.

photo: The Economist

Meat & USDA

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Nina Teicholz, the woman in yesterday's video, was invited to submit testimony to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture regarding their official nutritional guidelines. A new guideline will be published in 2020.

What did she tell them? "You must focus on disputed topics!" She is an influential voice for one of those topics, the low-carbohydrate diet. Her message is that the official nutritional guideline's promotion of grains while blaming meat/fats for disease is contrary to established evidence. 

Her claim is an uncommon one, but she's not completely alone. Nutrition Coalition brings attention to the disputed topics:

• Salt: is lower always better?
• Saturated fats: do they cause heart disease?
• Total fat: is the low-fat diet recommended?
• Fat and cancer: does fat of any kind cause cancer?
• Fat and obesity: does fat make you fat?
• Low-carbohydrate diets: have these been adequately researched?
• Dietary cholesterol: does cholesterol in your food lead to higher blood cholesterol?
• Red meat: does it cause heart disease and cancer?

"Disputed" is right. Here is one of her critics.

Red meat

Here is more advice on what to eat for good health.

Red meat causes diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and processed meat is even worse. Right? There's a whole lot of people who are completely convinced of this.

But the woman in this video is on a crusade to change the narrative. She says that the story about red meat being unhealthy is just wrong, and she explains why in scientific terms.

Unfunny

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Elon Musk's joke about Tesla going bankrupt was not that funny to serious investors. The company's stock went down about 22% in March.

The fatal crash, the downgrading by Moody's, and failure to reach production goals has some investors worried. 

How is Musk coping with this stress-filled situation? In typical Musk fashion:

1) He is personally taking control to get Model 3 production up to where it needs to be. In a situation fraught with risk, he's "back to sleeping at factory." It's stuff like this - doing whatever it takes -  that makes investors bet on Musk despite lots of contrary evidence. He's got to get this done.

2) He tries to seize control of the narrative, to joke about those nasty rumors of bankruptcy. Here's another of his tweets:

"Elon was found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by "Teslaquilla" bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks.

Tesla "joke"

Hundreds of thousands of people still wait for their Tesla Model 3, the mass market car introduced last year. Model 3's were supposed to be rolling out at 5,000 per week by now, but reality is closer to 1000/week, with a promise to get up to 2500 soon.

Around a billion dollars in loans will come due in twelve months. Moody's rates Tesla for how worthy the company is of more investment.  Their assessment? Tesla is "very high credit risk, poor standing."

The bad financial news came last week, along with more bad news: a Tesla driver was killed in a crash while the car was on autopilot.

photo: The Washington Post

So with all the bad news, Elon Musk put out a joking tweet this weekend:

"Tesla Goes Bankrupt

Palo Alto, California, April 1, 2018 -- Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt, you can't believe it."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Good giving

Body and mind connections are closer than most of us realize. Here's an article claiming that we are "hard wired" to give, that our bodies react in very good ways when we give:

• acts of compassion trigger the release of oxytocin and dopamine, which produce feelings of warmth toward others, happiness and tranquility
• part of the brain involved in giving and compassion also strengthens prayer
• compassion triggers a type of brain cell which specializes in social awareness skills, like understanding the voice inflections and body language of other people
• health, optimism, reduced stress are triggered by compassion via the vagus nerve
• a study of victims of multiple sclerosis found that giving help to others benefited the helpers more than those helped

"God has designed our bodies to be compassionate." No surprise there. Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."