June 9, 2015

There were 3 posts published on June 9, 2015 (this is page 1 of 1).

Iceland put bankers in jail rather than bailing them out — and it worked – Vox

Yesterday, Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, announced a plan that will essentially close the books on his country’s approach to handling the financial crisis — an approach that deviated greatly from the preferences of global financial elites and succeeded quite well. Instead of embracing the orthodoxy of bank bailouts, austerity, and low inflation, Iceland did just the opposite. And even though its economy was hammered by the banking crisis perhaps harder than any other in the world, its labor didn’t deteriorate all that much, and it had a great recovery.

Source: Iceland put bankers in jail rather than bailing them out — and it worked – Vox

Cheap Thoughts: God and consumerism

It occurred to me this evening that God and consumerism are diametrically opposed in at least one way. God tells that we’re perfect just as we are, while consumerism tells us we need that new car, house, or shiny new toy to be complete.

Funny how when we do get that new car, house, or toy, there’s always another car, house, or toy that will really complete us. Anyone whose God is the almighty dollar is doomed to be perpetually disappointed.

Stepping aside as PTA president

I decided a few weeks ago to complete my term as PTA president of Ligon. Leading a PTA is an enormous amount of work and a good deal of stress, in addition. Right now I need to be reducing the stress in my life, so I opted to hand the reins over to someone else.

Was I a perfect PTA president? Hardly. I made a lot of mistakes and learned some hard lessons in the process. Still, I was the best PTA president Ligon had. I was willing to step up when no one else did.

Overall, it has been incredibly rewarding to do the job, though. I might not have heard much from the parents but I did get a huge round of applause from the Ligon staff today during their staff luncheon. The assistant principal told me he’s seen a lot of PTA organizations during his career as an educator and Ligon PTA’s by far the best he’s ever seen. It meant a lot to hear that!

I leave the PTA leadership in good hands with the incoming president, Terri Hart. I wasn’t able to pull off a PTA election at the end of the year, so I’ll stay on as the official president until the first meeting when we can make it official for Terri. She will hit the ground running over the summertime, though, with me showing her the ropes.

I also plan to continue playing a role – after all, how could I not? We’ll have both kids at Ligon next year and I will continue to play a role in the education of my kids and their classmates.

Volunteering gets into your blood, you know. It’s not easy to give it up.