My last newsletter compiling some of my more controversial hot takes inspired some great responses from you all. Many agreed, many asked some great clarifying questions and there were a few dissenters on some points. I want to dedicate a weekly rant to at least three of the seven points. If you forgot all seven, then
click the link below for a refresher.
A Mishmash of Hot Takes | Christ Centered Capital
This week, I want to tackle what seemed to be the most
controversial one…Welfare, Child Support, and Alimony should be abolished. The other 3 that I plan to write about individually in the future are as follows…Retirement then Professional Sports.
Two caveats about two other points first before we get to retirement.
- Public Grade School has been a plague
on society. I completely stand by this point for more reasons than I could count, but I also have a deep respect for all the amazing teachers out there. My issue is predominantly with the system and the culture that has resulted from the system, not those on the front lines. I have seen and experienced many horrible teachers at work, but I have witnessed truly outstanding teachers as well. Yet, it would not matter if every teacher was great, the fact that kids nowadays only spend less than 25%
of their awake hours with their actual families is just plain wrong. Plus the system hinders teachers by pushing them to teach for a test rather than giving them the freedom to truly pour into kids the way those kids need. Much more could be said, but these are my major summarized points.
- Anything started solely because of perceived opposition is intrinsically flawed. Good can come from doing
something because of opposition, and often times we are forced to do good things because of opposition. This is more of a point that addresses our intentions. Simply put, do not go to church because you want to fight secularism, go to church because that is how we do the ultimate good of worshipping God Almighty.
Okay, on to retirement…
Modern retirement is an idea that I believe has been a plague on the family and society. The idea that able-bodied people should want to live an easy life and stop working for their fellow man is something that runs very counter to the Christian ideal of loving thy neighbor. If we are able, we should always keep working to help promote the common good. Not too long ago we had pension plans which
were, for the most part, an employer saying to an employee that if you work for us, we will take care of you when you are no longer able to work. What began as a righteous premise for attracting top talent evaporated rather quickly. Over the years, employers began handing over the responsibility of caring for their employees to the ever-growing system of speculation called the stock market. By promoting retirement accounts, the stock market encourages us to set as a goal living an easy life.
“Retire early” is a common mantra, but the truth is that investing our hard-earned money in the stock market facilitates inflation, hinders the common good, and divorces compensation from labor. When we dare to question the legitimacy of stock investing, we are fear-mongered into thinking that if we do not invest in the market, we will not be taken care of in our old age.
Please
understand that I am not condemning those who worked for the past 40 years and retired with some nice savings. I am never condemning anyone, no one gets a vote in the state of another’s soul unless you are the Son of God, died on a cross with the weight of the Worlds sins on your shoulders, and rose from the dead (Pretty sure only one person ever meets that criteria). By utilizing a retirement account you were merely doing what you thought was the responsible thing to do. The issues I take with
modern retirement is two fold. 1.) Retirement is a key cog in the stock market machine and I know my readers are well aware of the issues I take with the stock market and all the family decay it creates. 2.) The retirement culture all too often embraces the idea “Now I get to do what I want when I want.” A sentence with so much emphasis on the self will almost never be in keeping with Christian virtue.
Perhaps you are retired and you spend the majority of your time helping at soup kitchens and going on mission trips, that is great!!! However, do you think retirement culture has more people going on mission trips, or more people going on vacation? Nothing against the occasional vacation, but the point is, if you are able bodied, then you should be helping your neighbor. And the best way we can help our neighbor is usually by working and contributing to
society.
A deeper dive into the question of Christian retirement can be found at Should Men Retire? — NEWPOLITY and pretty much a whole chapter in my upcoming book will be dedicated to the subject.
