Keeping Order In Our Work Day With Chaos At The Gates - 4

We continue with our "chaos" theme. To recap:

We need to keep order in our work day. Surely we know this as a practical requirement. But it's critical to our being able to sanctify our work.

More so these days - days of chaos.

Chaos may not be on the tip of everyone's tongue, nor may it be front and center in our experience every day. But it sure does seem to be a force of nature that's been building for some months, no, years now.

We've identified three areas to address: our Church, our Government, our Culture. Last time we discussed our Government again, but focused on a kind of high level view of how government has fostered chaos in varying degrees for many years. Today we'll look at a couple of specific items that have proven intractable and continue to sow the seeds of chaos.

Our first item is our money. Many of us are aware, to some extent, how our money has been corrupted. Once money was gold and silver, basically fixed commodities that retained their value over long periods of time. But when the monetary regime switched to our current paper/digital version of money, all became unglued.

Beginning with the secret creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. (If it was such a good idea, why was it done in secret?) Government began to dismantle a system that relied on the historic money of gold and silver. We don't have time to go through all the steps taken, in all its detail, but know that with this dismantling, chaos invaded our money supply. 

When the U.S. dollar was exchangeable for a fixed quantity of gold, you could save a dollar today and its value would be roughly equivalent decades hence. So if one chose to eschew gratification of impulse to have something one desired right away in order to provide some future security of one's family, it could be done simply by not spending that dollar. In addition, to not spending, one did not need to speculate in the stock market to retain the buying power of that dollar, as many say we must do today. And isn't the stock market frequently chaotic, in some instances causing great distress and anxiety when if has its occasional dramatic drops? 

Under the old regime you could stick the dollar (or the equivalent amount of gold, in your mattress, or secure it in a bank, and years hence it would still retain its value. It wasn't a perfect system. But there was stability that allowed people to make prudent decision, to delay gratification, to save and not have to rely on volatile financial markets for a secure future. No more. Now we must endure the relative chaos of the financial markets as we slog our way through our working years hoping to build up the value of a 401k or other investments to have enough to live on after we've retired from regular work. We are convinced must put our savings into the stock market or find the value of our hard-earned dollar be a mere fraction of what it was when we first decided to save it. And if we have the misfortune to retire when the stock market is down significantly, well, there goes the value we expected to have to fund our living expenses in our old age.

Again, a simplification, but one based in the current chaotic reality. And, by the way, a very real circumstance for some folks we have known.

Our second item is the other creation that descended upon us in 1913: the income tax. We mentioned this before. Here we note it wasn't a first, but past income taxes came and went. This one stuck. It's now 112 years that our money has been sucked out of us before we even get a chance to spend or save it.

At first, we were expected to file a tax return (originally a fairly simple one-page document) to tell the government what we made in the past year and pay what we owed. Most folks didn't make enough to have to pay taxes. So when the system was put in place, it didn't really impact most Americans. 

All that changed as tax rates were gradually increased, along with the threshold where they kicked in. By World War II, the government decided to impose "withholding" on us. It was something new. Now they get our money first. We get what's left. 

And when income tax rules change - as they recently did - then what we get changes. Now that's nice when we get more; but what of the opposite? Either way, if you're conscientious, your financial planning includes a budget, and this changes according to the whim of the government. Isn't this a bit chaotic?

More so, all projections you might make into the future can be dramatically altered by such changes. And worse, many folks don't ever go back to their assumed projections thereby potentially exposing themselves to a nasty surprise down the road when the money they thought they'd have for the rest of their lives seems to unduly whither away. Or if they're able to sustain their deductions into their 401k in the face of less money in their pay check, they're constantly running around trying to find money for current expenses and emergencies. 

Even if there's more in their paychecks, what do they do with that money? Save it, spend it, indulge, give it away.

Should we really be subjected to rounds of reconsideration of our decisions based on Government's actions?

And isn't this chaotic?

Next time we'll sum up Government's role in chaos and move on to our Culture.