"I am not ashamed of the gospel." – Romans 1:16a

We usually think of our consumer culture as a force that "pulls" us toward the false promises of more happiness, more acceptance if we buy this or that. But perhaps there's a bit of a "push" involved as well—a push away from shame. Read more...

News You Can Use

McDonald's Pulls Report Card Ads
Here's an update to a story reported here last month. Bowing to public pressure, McDonald's has cancelled plans to advertise on the cover of report cards issued to 27,000 Florida students. According to Adage.com, the mother of one of those students brought the planned promotion to the attention of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood a group that works to "counter the harmful effects of marketing to children." That led to more than 2,000 calls of protest and the ad campaign flunked out. Read more...

Quicken Goes Online
With budget tool upstarts Mint.com, Geezeo, and Wasabe are generating lots of buzz, Quicken has entered the online space with new version of its popular budget software. However, the list of what Quicken's own web site says the online version cannot do is almost as long as the list of what it can do. It cannot transfer data to or from other versions of Quicken; it cannot track investments with many brokerage houses; it cannot split transactions, allocating portions of an expense to more than one spending category; and it cannot track cash expenses. Read more...

Paying as We Go
More Americans must live within their means. That's the conclusion of a recent New York Times article (shocking, huh?). It said a tight job market, falling house prices, and growing debt levels are leaving many people with no other choice. The article said some analysts believe we are at a "cultural inflection point." In an economy that has become increasingly dependent on consumer spending, consumers are finally getting tapped out. Read more...

Preying on the Least of These
Payday lenders are increasingly targeting elderly and disabled people who are dependent on Social Security benefits, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. The evidence comes from dozens of legal-aid attorneys and credit counselors who report seeing "more and more clients on Social Security struggling with multiple payday loans." And it's backed up by research showing payday lenders clustered around government-subsidized housing for seniors and the disabled. The appeal for payday lenders is that Social Security income may not amount to much, but it's very reliable. Such tactics are helping the payday loan industry prosper, with loan volume of about $48 billion per year—up from just under $14 billion in the 1990s. Read more...

Spotlight