Even Christian Media lies. Below we have two different views about the economy .For the Christian Media , they are more concerned about giving than the economic status of the believers .Yet the other secular surveys project a gloomy picture all from one country !!
Whereas it is true a recovery of some sort has taken place, it is a fake band aid. The American Economy is dead .You cannot talk of recovery when your highly indebted .The Bible has clearly sated that point clearly where the borrower is the salve of the lender.
However because Christian Media perceives that it has a Christian audience , it gives them”Christian Lies”, to prop up Mega Churches that pay them sums of money in the name of advertisements.
Christian Media is increasingly becoming guilty of miseducating Christians in the name of money.
What people should know is that the Economic hardships are raging tough and the only reason why people have not left churches and mega stadiums is because they are running their for safety hoping that the churches can soothe them form the economic pains.
Yet the church are now turning this critical mass into votes :In reality they are preparing Christians to be a political force that :
Such actions are ANTICHRISTIAN but the Media and Church are in cahoots. Notice that the article is whining about Obama not funding charities.
Did you know that African Christian AIDS groups are also whining about USA funding on AIDS that is promoting condom use and abortion than abstinence.?
The problem is this has now been turned into a spiritual political problem justifying Christians to rise up and take back the nation for God. BLASPHEMY…Only Jesus Christ should do that physically.
So read and be aware that DECEPTION IS IN THE SO CALLED CHRISTIAN MEDIA BECAUSE JESUS PROPHESIED THAT IN THE LAST DAYS WILL BE WIDESPREAD .
Then compare with the other article that clearly paints the picture of the American economy which concludes the American churches are made p of rich people whose riches are about to gain wings like an eagle. You will not hear that from your regular Christian Media outlet ,would you ?
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Churches have begun to rebound financially with more seeing increases in giving, a new survey found.
Forty-three percent of churches saw giving go up in 2010. In the previous year, only 36 percent reported increases in giving.
Nearly half (46.5 percent) of churches were also able to increase their budget this year.
The statistics were laid out in the third annual State of the Plate report, a research project led by Maximum Generosity ministry, Christianity Today International and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
Released Wednesday, results from the survey of 1,507 churches revealed that many churches were still struggling financially. Thirty-nine percent saw a decline in giving in 2010, similar to the previous year.
Churches in the Pacific Coast states and Southeast states were hardest hit this past year.
“I want more Christian news!”
Adding to their woes, however, is President Barack Obama‘s FY 2012 budget proposal, which includes reducing the value of charitable tax deductions for Americans making $250,000 or more.
Ninety-one percent of survey respondents felt church giving would be negatively affected by the federal government’s plans.
“Charities and churches have been hit hard by the economy the past 3 years. If the government’s plan to change the rules on charitable tax deductions goes through, giving to charities and churches and the help they give to others will likely be negatively impacted at a time it is needed the most,” said Brian Kluth, founder of Maximum Generosity and the State of the Plate research, in a statement.
Nearly a third (31 percent) said changing the rules regarding charitable deductions would have a significant impact on future giving at their churches. Only around 9 percent felt it would have no impact.
Churches have been responding to economic challenges mainly by cutting back on staff travel and conferences expenses, and decreasing spending on ministry programs and expansion or renovation projects.
But with more churches faring better, many have responded with staff pay raises, and allocating more money to missions as well as facilities/maintenance/utilities.
According to the survey, churches more likely to have sailed through the economic storm more smoothly were larger churches.
Only 29 percent of megachurches (2,000+ attendance) experienced a decline in giving, compared to 40 percent of churches with an attendance of less than 100.
In other findings, most churches have been actively working on issues related to financial integrity and accountability. Ninety-four percent make their financial statements available upon request to their members and 90 percent provide copies of their annual budget to their congregation or make them available upon request.
Additionally, 84 percent of survey respondents reported that their church leadership board is made up of five or more people, with at least three of the people not being paid staff or a family member of paid staff.
The annual State of the Plate survey was not conducted as a random sampling study, but rather as a constituency survey. Respondents consisted of mainline (13 percent), evangelical (24 percent), Baptist (23 percent), Charismatic/Pentecostal (12 percent), independent/nondenominational (21 percent), Catholic/Orthodox (2 percent), and other (5 percent).
THE OTHER ARTICLE ..http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/howthenationaldebtaffectsyou
At more than $14 trillion, America’s debt might seem abstract, a number so large it’s difficult to conceptualize. But if left unchecked, that swiftly swelling figure has the potential to affect our daily lives in a big way, primarily in the forms of higher interest rates and ultimately, a slower economy.
And the numbers are only getting scarier. That $14 trillion tab is growing at a staggering pace of more than $58,000 per second. “It’s truly huge–we’re talking 9, 10 percent of GDP,” says Richard DeKaser, deputy chief economist at The Parthenon Group, a Boston, Mass.-based financial services firm. “We haven’t seen anything like that in most people’s lifetime. For most people, this is unprecedented.”
When will the government’s habit of maxing out its credit cards finally hit home? Here a few ways you might feel the pinch of Uncle Sam’s borrowing binge:
Higher interest rates. Low interest rates over the past few years have worked to the federal government’s advantage, but experts say the luxury of smaller interest payments won’t last forever. America relies on foreign investment to fund more than 50 percent of its debt, and while most experts agree that those investors will continue to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, they are unlikely do so on such generous terms.
“At some point, it may be much harder to finance our debt,” says Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University’s Fermanian Business & Economic Institute. “As a result, we would see an economic or market solution and that would mean either higher interest rates or a lower value of the dollar, or a combination of both. The potential for future growth could be less, and you could see a slower growth in the standard of living or even a decline.”
Consumers will also be affected. Interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds serve as the benchmark for many consumer loan products, including mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and student loans. As interest rates inch up to attract treasury bond investors, so will rates for consumers.
And just in case you’re thinking the Fed can step in and hold rates down indefinitely, Georgetown finance professor Reena Aggarwal says that’s not the case. “At some point, the Fed can’t really control interest rates,” she says. “The market is not stupid. The market sees [that] eventually interest rates have to go up.”
Slower economic growth, weaker job markets. If interest rates ramp up, a greater portion of the government’s budget will go toward interest payments, leaving fewer dollars for other, more economically stimulating types of spending, such as building roads or providing tax incentives for small businesses.
“Higher debt in general is a drag on economic growth,” says Russ Koesterich, iShares global chief investment strategist and author of The Ten Trillion Dollar Gamble. “The government is still stimulating the economy by spending lots of money. When it gets more expensive to do that, they will have to pull back, cut benefits, [and] cut transfer payments. That will further slow the economy and the job market.”
Government spending currently accounts for a quarter of economic activity in the United States, Koesterich says, the largest footprint the government has had in decades. “Twenty cents of every dollar is coming from the government,” Koesterich says. “If the government can no longer afford to do that, that is going to have a very sharp, negative effect on the consumer.”
Higher taxes. Over the past few decades, Americans have voted themselves more benefits than they are willing to pay for, Koesterich says, and at some point, something has to give. “Generally, the economic effects are less destructive if the government deals with the deficit by cutting back on spending and entitlement programs,” he says. “You’d want to reform some of the longer-term entitlement programs,” such as Medicare and Social Security.
But many experts argue that cutting spending is only half of the solution. “At some point, the government has to think about raising more revenue, which means higher taxes,” Aggarwal says. “We are getting to the point where the economy has stabilized and if we don’t address this debt problem, it’s going to end up being a bigger problem.” Higher taxes could hit consumers as early as 2012, when Bush-era tax cuts expire and debate heats up in Washington about how to tackle the debt problem.
Higher inflation. Massive public spending by the federal government in the wake of the financial crisis has put some pressure on supply-and-demand dynamics, but has yet to spark meaningful inflation, in large part because of the continued weakness of consumer and corporate spending.
“Public demand is essentially crowding out private demand,” Koesterich says. “It’s the old definition of too much money chasing too few goods, and it breeds inflation.”
But when demand returns from the private sector, additional competition will crop up for a limited supply of goods, which in turn will cause prices to rise. Inflation is particularly harmful for consumers because it erodes purchasing power and can ultimately lead to a lower standard of living. Savers will also feel the pain if the inflation rate outpaces yields on certificates of deposit or other savings accounts.
While this might sound like a doomsday scenario, experts say the fallout from chronically high public debt is more a matter of perceived risk than a clear threat right now. “What’s sort of baked into the cake right now is the presumption that there’s some sort of bipartisan action to reign in the deficit, which is by no means assured,” says DeKaser. “I happen to be pretty optimistic that some progress will be made.”
Only time will tell whether the Obama administration and Congress can get the recipe right.