Suzanne Bardwell

OPINION/EDITORIAL

The Gladewater Mirror

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Page 2, The Gladewater Mirror, Wednesday, March 20, 2019

HATE THE SIN BUT LOVE THE SINNER Often when sin is condemned people respond, saying, “We should show more love and not display hatred and bigotry, etc.” The Bible teaches that we are to “Speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4: 15). We surely should not display hatred or bigotry toward people. But when we point out the Bible’s condemnation of sin it doesn’t mean that we hate the one who sins and it doesn’t mean that we are intolerant toward the sinner. It means we hate and are intolerant toward the sin! God hates sin (See Prov. 6: 16-19), but He loves the sinner. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5: 8). More often than not the hatred and bigotry is displayed toward those, who out of love, point out sin in people’s lives (See Jn. 3: 20). Sin must be exposed if we love God and if we love the sinner. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose (reprove) them” (Eph. 5: 11). It is never appropriate to “smooth-talk” sinners. Love for those in sin motivates us to identify and rebuke their sin. Such is not hatred nor is it bigotry. Think on these things.

Dennis Abernathy-White Oak Church of ChristP. O. Box 454-White Oak, Texas 75693-903-845-6139-preachab@suddenlink.net.

In 2018, the US trade deficit in goods grew to $891 billion, the high-est on record, meaning that the value of US imports exceeded exports by more than it ever has. Moreover, imbalance with China soared. Al-

though a trade deficit isn’t necessarily (or even usually) a bad thing in and of itself, the fact that it rose despite trade policy (tariffs) pur-portedly aimed at reducing it sheds light on the fundamental problems with such policies – they fly in the face of basic economics and they don’t work!! Just to pile on, they are also counterproductive.

Since last summer, the US has imposed tar-iffs on a laundry list of products, with leveling the playing field and reducing the trade deficit as the stated rationale. Not surprisingly, other nations have responded with tariffs on US goods. As the two biggest economies on the planet, escalating trade tensions between the US and China have been particularly problematic. Even so, deficits continue to increase to historic levels.

With the US economy performing well and incomes rising (due in part but not solely to tax cuts), households have more disposable in-come. Much of this additional money is spent on consumer goods. A large proportion of these items that Americans choose to buy are made in other nations (including China), representing tens of billions of dol-lars in imports. All tariffs accomplish is forcing us to pay more for the things we want. Similarly, the government dramatically increased deficit spending (including for foreign goods) and some of our major customers in the world saw economic slowdowns. All of these things increase trade deficits.

The benefits of free trade go back to the simple idea of comparative advantage. Essentially, comparative advantage indicates that production should flow to the regions with relative advantages, such as lower costs or proximity to needed inputs. Any artificial constraints on global trade cause resources to be used with less than optimal efficiency, decreas-ing overall wellbeing. This principle was first articulated more than two centuries ago and the basic math is incontrovertible.

While the US has advantages in some products and services, primar-ily those involving high levels of innovation, there are many where we clearly do not. For instance, unless we as a society want wage rates com-parable to those in China (which we obviously don’t), many labor-inten-sive Chinese products will cost less and represent good values to Amer-ican consumers. To the extent trade deficits go down in the future, it will likely be due to our rapidly expanding exports of energy and ongoing innovations enhancing our competitiveness in other sectors. It definitely won’t be because of any trade wars or other needless impediments. It’s nothing more than supply and demand.

By Dr. M. Ray Perryman

THE ECONOMIST

PERRYMAN

Balance of TradeEd SterlingCapital

Highlights

Supplemental legislation draws from ‘Rainy Day Fund’AUSTIN — A few of the funding priorities expressed by the ex-

ecutive, legislative and judicial branches are not covered in Senate Bill 2, the state’s tentatively approved appropriations bill for fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

So, on March 13, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of SB 500, $6 billion in supplemental funding to plug many holes. Some $4.3 billion of the total would be taken out of the Economic Stabili-zation (“Rainy Day”) Fund. Authored by Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, the legislation proposes the following allocations:

• $3 billion for Hurricane Harvey recovery expenses;• $2.1 billion to address the Medicaid shortfall;• $100 million for school safety, with an amendment that gives

districts greater flexibility on the type of safety equipment they can buy;

• $300 million to improve state hospital facilities;• $542 million to address pension liabilities for the Teacher Retire-

ment System and provide retired teachers a “13th check” up to $500;• $211 million to pay obligations of the Texas Tomorrow Fund, a

college tuition savings program;• $160 million to address the Correctional Managed Health Care

shortfall; and• $100 million to refill the Governor’s Disaster Fund to help re-

build from natural disasters.“The supplemental budget provides funding for some of the Leg-

islature’s key priorities: Hurricane Harvey relief, school safety and healthcare needs. It provides significant resources to improve the state’s flood control infrastructure and helps communities along the Gulf Coast rebuild,” Nelson said.

Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said hurricane disaster recov-ery and flood mitigation “are exactly what the Rainy Day Fund was designed for” and added that the fund, now at a historically high balance, is projected to reach $15 billion. The state constitution caps the maximum biennial “Rainy Day Fund” balance at an amount not to exceed 10 percent of certain general revenue deposited during the previous biennium.

Declaration is extendedGov. Greg Abbott on March 15 extended the state disaster decla-

ration he originally issued on Aug. 23, 2017, to counties affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Thirty counties were named in the original declaration. As reports revealing the extent of the disaster came in, Abbott amended the dec-laration on Aug. 26, 27, 28 and Sept. 14, 2017, to include 30 more counties.

Abbott has renewed the disaster declaration every month since then, saying that a state of disaster continues to exist in those same counties.

Panel OKs pension billThe Senate State Affairs Committee on March 14 approved SB

12, legislation to keep the state’s Teacher Retirement System fund actuarially sound by increasing teacher, school district and state con-tribution rates gradually over the next few years.

Last August, at the end of fiscal year 2018, the fund had $47 bil-lion in unmet debt obligations and a funding period of 87 years, the time it would take to pay off all of its liabilities under current reve-nues, according to the Senate News Service.

If nothing is done, unfunded liabilities would increase to $124 billion by 2050, said Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, chair of the committee. Under her proposal, the active teacher contribution would rise from the present 7.7 percent to 8.25 percent in 2024; state contributions would rise from 6.8 percent of payroll to 8.25 percent over the same period, and district contributions would rise from 1.5 percent of eligible payroll to 2 percent by 2025.

SB 12 next moves to the full Senate for consideration.

Effort targets traffickingThe Texas Department of Transportation, in partnership with the

governor’s office, law enforcement and industry partners, on March 12 announced the launching of the “On the Road to End Human Trafficking” initiative.

Similar to a neighborhood watch program, the initiative encourag-es everyone to know, watch for and report signs of trafficking.

TxDOT said University of Texas research showed more than 300,000 people are trafficked in Texas at any given time, including 79,000 youth victims. “These innocent human beings are horrifically abused by being forced into slavery, either in the form of hard labor or sex/prostitution,” TxDOT said.

TxDOT is encouraging citizens to use a toll-free, confidential phone number, (888) 373-7888, to report suspected trafficking. Vic-tims are encouraged to call 911.

Report: 11 measles casesEleven cases of measles have been reported in the Lone Star State

since Jan. 1, according to information posted by the Texas Depart-ment of State Health Services.

In all of last year, nine cases of measles were reported statewide, the agency said.

The DSHS and the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend children get a dose of measles vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age and again at 4 to 6 years old.

Love in the fast lane…Jack the Wonder Dog has been having a bit of a hard time. We

really don’t know how old he is. We tried to vote for an optimistic seven years old when we got him but he may have been 10. We just don’t know. We adopted a senior dog who needed a lot of care and who needed us. But we needed him too.

He’s been having heart trouble. Sunday he had some sort of sei-zure and we ended up racing to the doggy ER. Jim was driving like a wild man and I was holding a very frightened Jack in the back of the SUV.

We thought that we were headed fast to heartbreak. Instead we got a reprieve…for now.

Dr. Pina found that his heart was running away with him. His heart rate was so high they couldn’t count it. Jimmy held him on the exam

table. Then my two boys got on the floor together while waiting for tests, more tests, and results.

That’s the thing about tough and grumpy Jim Bardwell, I know who Jimmy really is. He is the boy I fell hard for who has a soft, soft heart that I am still falling for today 43 years later. Jimmy will tenderly cradle a scared Jack until he relaxes. He will get up at 2 a.m. with Jack. He will make sure that he eats something before taking his mountain of meds. He will brush Jack until he relaxes and his heart slows.

I know why Jim picked beautiful Jack out from all of the Texas Star Rescue dogs. And, I am pretty sure I know why Jack picked Jimmy.

Jack came to us with the story that he came from a Louisiana shel-ter, that his elderly owner passed away and the family took Jack to the pound. I can not imagine why anyone would do that to a gor-geous, well-trained loving Shetland Sheepdog. I can’t imagine how confused, scared and sad he must have been.

It took awhile for Jack to train us but now he has us well in paw, and he has our hearts too. All he has to do, is look at us with that one blue and one brown eye with one ear cocked up and one ear down. And whatever Jack wants he usually gets. What Jack wants more often than not is to be allowed to patrol the yard and chase cats, at a limping slow gait.

God did something really special when he created dogs. I imagine the Good Lord watching Adam and Eve’s first fight and thinking, ‘you know they need an animal that shows them what My love looks like all the time and what their love SHOULD look like’.

An animal that loves unconditionally whether their keeper de-serves it or not is surely a divine gift. A gift we should thank the good Lord for every single day. A gift that is not to be taken lightly.

Today I am thanking the Architect of creation for the gift of Jack’s unconditional love and for his presence in our lives for however long we are blessed to have him.

That is gift we do not take for granted.

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