Here’s the latest twist on administration officials/nominees with tax problems.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was forced to fork up $34,000 in unpaid back taxes, told the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that the Obama administration will be going after people who avoid and evade taxes. In prepared remarks before Congress, he said the president [...]

In his Washington Post/On Faith column, “Our Brothers’ Keepers, Not their Guarantors,” Rabbi Brad Hirschfield cites the Cain and Abel story to support bailing out even those who behaved irresponsibly, offering a different take than this famous TV clip arguing the government’s subsidy of “losers’ mortgages” promotes bad behavior.
When God asks him where his brother is, Cain [...]

Now a fourth Obama administration nominee with tax troubles.
This time, it’s Ron Kirk, the president’s choice to be U.S. trade representative. Kirk owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to pay them, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday.
Remember this good lesson for public officials from Abraham in Genesis: even [...]

Pharaoh’s famine policy — besides teaching us about nationalization of assets and urbanization  — constitutes an ancient precedent that to this day hasn’t changed much: a government is never quick to reduce the tax burden even when the crisis ends.
Pharaoh’s famine tax remained in effect, even after the seven years of famine were over. Joseph — the [...]

A new Huffington Post column by Alan Schram discussing Obama’s colossal federal expenditures and the taxes they portend are remeniscient of the permanence of ancient Egypt’s tax policy described in Genesis.
Once government is on the advance, it rarely yields its power and authority, and it will be exceedingly difficult to cut back expenses. So either taxes [...]

The eternal debate over free will vs. preordained behavior continues…
By Genesis 44, Joseph’s brothers (remember, the guys who sold him and told their Dad Jacob he was dead?), have already been to Egypt once to purchase food. The famine continues and the brothers travel to Egypt again. Joseph secretly knows it’s them, but as a [...]

Continuing our discussion about saving for a rainy day, in Genesis 41  just as Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, the earth produced heaps for seven years.
Joseph oversaw gathering food on Pharaoh’s behalf and stored it in the cities. So great was the corn, it was “as the sand of the sea,” so plentiful that they couldn’t [...]

So much for moderation among our public officials. The Washington Times reports Postmaster General John E. Potter has received a nearly 40% pay raise since 2006 and even got a six-figure incentive bonus last year. This as the USPS faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatens a day of mail delivery. This will be the subject [...]

In his book, The Rented Veil – The High Cost of Worship: God’s Plan for Building Wealth, author Darryl Odom takes a unique look at tithing that breaks ranks with previous teachings.  The crux of his thesis: the faithful should not feel guilty if they cannot contribute a tenth of their income during hard times, [...]

With all this doom and gloom filling the airways, we thought we’d look at something a little more uplifting than our usual admonishments toward savings, moderation, and personal responsibility. After all, when you’re down and out, the last thing you feel like hearing are all those “I-told-you-so’s”. In that spirit, let’s think about what you’re [...]