The Cure to Our Economic Problems

...by Marc Cuban (Blog Maverick)

I have yet to publicly admit that I follow investing/economy blogs (now you know!), but I think it's so good to stay up with this stuff. As we await a tremendous decision for our country's future, I thought this recent soundbyte from investment master Marc Cuban was a great reminder to my perspective. He writes...

"I would hate to be the winning Presidential candidate. Both candidates are delusional in thinking their economic policies will drag us out of a recession or even improve the economy. The reality is that the solutions offered by both are the equivalent of shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. They are meaningless.

You can cut taxes for 95pct of Americans and raise taxes for the rest. You can cut taxes for businesses and retain the Bush Tax Cuts. You can increase or decrease the capital gains tax 5 or 10pct either way. Under both programs the deficit for the country will increase, we will borrow and print more money. 5 or 10pct variance either way, given the big hole our economy is in wont matter.

The cure for what ails is us the Entrepreneurial Spirit of this country. We are a nation of people who encourage , support and invest in those of any and all age, race and gender who will use their ingenuity and come up with a new idea.

Its always the new idea that re energizes this country. Industry, manufacturing, transportation, technology, digital communications, etc, each changed how we lived and ignited our economy and standard of living. Tax policy has never done that. The American People have.

Entrepreneurs who create something out of nothing don’t care what tax rates are. Bill Gates didn’t monitor the marginal tax rate when he dropped out of Harvard and started MicroSoft (btw, it was a ton higher than it is today). Michael Dell didn’t wonder what the capital gains tax was when he started PC’s Limited, and then grew it into Dell Computer. I doubt that any great business or invention started with a discussion or even a consideration of what the current or projected income or capital gains tax was or would be...

Entrepreneurs live to be entrepreneurs. I have never had a discussion with anyone about starting a business that included tax rates. Ever. If anyone that wanted an investment from me made a point of discussing tax rates as an impact on their business, I wouldn't invest in them. Ever.

Entrepreneurs live for the juice of making their dreams come true. Of having a vision and fighting to see it come true. The joy of mission accomplished and the scoreboard of the financial rewards.

We are in an economic mess right now. It doesn’t matter who caused it. It’s here. It doesn’t matter what our Presidential candidates and their economic advisors come up with. Its meaningless.

The cure to our economic problems is the Entrepreneurial Spirit of All Americans."

(don't) VOTE

Wonderful Wedding

This past weekend I had the immense pleasure of coordinating a gorgeous wedding in Palm Springs.

I cannot say enough about the couple, Brock & Kristina, and the passion and care they put into every detail of their day. I felt so blessed to be a part of it, and to be entrusted with enacting their vision.

Kristina is a graphic designer, and if you are getting married, are already married, might someday get married, or have ever been to a wedding -- you should check out her AMAZING blog. It was so fun to daily see photos of her ideas, and posts on her joys, frustrations, thoughts, and advice to other brides!

From the homegrown white pumpkins and succulents, to piece by piece collections of white pottery and antique flower frogs... Kristina managed to mesh the Fall season, old-world Hollywood location, garden surroundings, and her own fabulous style to make a scenery that glowed with her personal touch. And if you go to her blog, be SURE to try the recipes. Her spiced nuts, jams, and pickled zucchini (hoarded over at the rehearsal cocktail party) are to die for!

It's truly a gift to work with a bride so creative, SO organized, so on top of things -- and yet who continually threw out lines like, "I know it won't be perfect," or, "however it works out will be fine!" Really... coordinator's dream come true :)

Not to mention, the joy of seeing how loving, supportive, and involved her husband was in all the planning. These two had been buddies since jr. high, but it was evident that he still is deeply in awe of his radiant bride.

Her beautiful dress was made by Alix&Kelly, a very boutiquey and personal dress design co. in LA that I highly recommend! The event was held at The Colony Palms Hotel in Palm Springs -- newly restored and glamorously adorned to reflect it's original 1930's mobster ownership!

One OTHER reason why this wedding was so fabulous... I was assisted by my two wonderful friends Christie and Emily! All of the hard work of coordinating was book ended by fun and refreshing girl time. Other than the moment when I had to pull them from the cabanas to come help with wedding details ;) I think they loved it as much as I did!

In the Spring I'll be coordinating Emily's wedding to my friend and Bible study leader Sean. We had a blast chatting through details over the weekend, and Emily was so inspired by the bride's ability to combine home details and personal touches with the highest element of class and elegance.

I feel so blessed to get to be a part of such a significant and holy day for these couples. I'm so thankful!

Praise worthy!

This week US Federal government broke trafficking rings in 29 cities throughout the US.

600 adults were arrested, and 52 kids were rescued. What a huge success!

Check out the BBC article here!

The good, the Bad, and the Railroad Tracks

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), Rick said:

"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a rail road track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into selfcenteredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings."

The past week I've continued to reflect on this interview. Thank you Mom for passing it along :)