{"id":1472,"date":"2011-10-06T05:41:08","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T09:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2011-10-07T08:43:58","modified_gmt":"2011-10-07T12:43:58","slug":"group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html","title":{"rendered":"Group Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a difference between a “group project” and helping one another out.\u00a0\u00a0 As an honor student in high school, I was often asked by my teacher to help out a student struggling in class with a particular concept. I was always thrilled to be generous with my time to help someone else improve and grow. As a teacher and son of a teacher, there is nothing more rewarding that watching someone grasp a concept and grow.\u00a0\u00a0 In a mentoring relationship, the student is still responsible for their own efforts and rewards, but can learn from someone with more experience or expertise. Tutoring is far superior to group projects.<\/p>\n

I hated group projects. Why?\u00a0 The teacher would pair some ants with some sluggards -to use a Bible metaphor.\u00a0 She would take some “A” students and put them in a group with some “D” students.\u00a0 If the instructions were, “Please everyone work together to learn the concept, but you will all be judged individually on your final effort,” the results would be good.\u00a0 However, group projects NEVER work that way. Instead, group projects reward everyone equally.\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore, the sluggard lazy students know that they can do very little and still get the same reward as the ant students who are most concerned about their GPA.\u00a0 The result is always….\u00a0 A few people do all the work and the team gets the reward.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ants resent sluggards receiving the same reward for half the effort while sluggards learn that being a sluggard works quite well.<\/p>\n

How does this apply to economics? Europe is one giant group project.\u00a0\u00a0 Some countries like Germany have worked hard, been prosperous, and have savings.\u00a0\u00a0 There are a few ant countries.\u00a0\u00a0 There are also some sluggard countries. The sluggard countries don’t like the painful realities of “spending less than you make,” budgeting, and being thrifty.\u00a0 The sluggard countries spend too much, run up the bills, and can’t pay their utilities at the end of the day (or in this case by the middle of October).\u00a0 The sluggard countries turn to the ant countries and ask for some money to “make it through the month.”\u00a0\u00a0 This continues for months and years.\u00a0 Eventually ant countries resent subsidizing sluggard countries.\u00a0 They tell the sluggard countries (which are usually run by sluggard corrupt politicians who are stealing from nice hard working ant citizens in their country) to get their act together.\u00a0\u00a0 Sluggards don’t like this kind of talk. Why shouldn’t they get something… or everything for nothing?<\/p>\n

Here is the reality Europe is in…Greece is bankrupt and will default on its debt.\u00a0 It might be this month (or it may not) but it will be soon.\u00a0\u00a0 When it does\u00a0default, all the other holders of Greek debt (other countries) are in trouble.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 They bought Greek debt hoping to be repaid.\u00a0 They hoped that Greece would get its act together and pay them back the\u00a0money they loaned them with interest.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Psssst…\u00a0\u00a0 A little secret.\u00a0 They will not be getting their\u00a0 money\u00a0back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is the problem.\u00a0\u00a0 The default cancer isn’t just about Greece now. Like a group project, everyone’s grade\u00a0is infected by the kid who refuses to do his part. The whole project comes apart when one student let the dog eat his homework.<\/p>\n

The stock market is railing. The banks are panicking.\u00a0 Trouble is on the horizon.\u00a0\u00a0 This is what happens when you build an economy on “group rights” rather than individual rights. This is what happens when you take away Biblical ideas like property rights, incentive, and reaping what you sow.\u00a0\u00a0 Any system that rewards sluggards and punishes ants is doomed to fail.\u00a0\u00a0 Any system that allows corrupt politician sluggards to exploit and steal from hard working ant citizens is unjust.<\/p>\n

Proverbs 6:\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup> Go to the ant, you sluggard!\u00a0\u00a0Consider her ways and be wise,\u00a0 7<\/sup> Which, having no captain,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Overseer or ruler,\u00a0 8<\/sup> Provides her supplies in the summer,\u00a0\u00a0And<\/em> gathers her food in the harvest.\u00a0 9<\/sup> How long will you slumber, O sluggard?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When will you rise from your sleep?\u00a0\u00a0 10<\/sup> A little sleep, a little slumber,\u00a0\u00a0A little folding of the hands to sleep\u2014\u00a0 11<\/sup> So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And your need like an armed man.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n\n
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lKGYRqzw_30<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

For a free first session of Godonomics:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/watch-session-1<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a difference between a “group project” and helping one another out.\u00a0\u00a0 As an honor student in high school, I was often asked by my teacher to help out a student struggling in class with a particular concept. I was always thrilled to be generous with my time to help someone else improve and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,68],"tags":[425,397,426,427,428],"class_list":["post-1472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capitalismsocialism","category-governmentpolitics","tag-bible","tag-economy","tag-god-economics","tag-greece","tag-group-projects"],"yoast_head":"\nGroup Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble - Godonomics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Group Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble - Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is a difference between a “group project” and helping one another out.\u00a0\u00a0 As an honor student in high school, I was often asked by my teacher to help out a student struggling in class with a particular concept. I was always thrilled to be generous with my time to help someone else improve and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-06T09:41:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-07T12:43:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"chadhovind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Group Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble - Godonomics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Group Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble - Godonomics","og_description":"There is a difference between a “group project” and helping one another out.\u00a0\u00a0 As an honor student in high school, I was often asked by my teacher to help out a student struggling in class with a particular concept. I was always thrilled to be generous with my time to help someone else improve and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html","og_site_name":"Godonomics","article_published_time":"2011-10-06T09:41:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-10-07T12:43:58+00:00","author":"chadhovind","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html","name":"Group Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble - Godonomics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-06T09:41:08+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-07T12:43:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/b94809cbc6e13eafdb08a63d1825e37a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/10\/group-projects-greece-and-coming-economic-trouble.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Group Projects, Greece, and Coming Economic Trouble"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/","name":"Godonomics","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Chad Hovind","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/b94809cbc6e13eafdb08a63d1825e37a","name":"chadhovind","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/5ce\/5ce450f147d7562d63fa6a7f70df8143x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/5ce\/5ce450f147d7562d63fa6a7f70df8143x96.jpg","caption":"chadhovind"},"description":"Chad Hovind is Senior Pastor of Horizon Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Moody Bible College in Chicago, majoring in pastoral ministry and communication. His love for ministry and creativity can be seen in many forms: leading teams, expository teaching, acting, and video production. He has served as pastor at two high-impact churches in Georgia: Cumberland Community Church and New Community Church. Chad received an M.A. in Ministry from Moody Graduate School in 2008. He loves volleyball, movies, and hanging out with his wife Beth and their three children.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/author\/chadhovind"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1472"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1475,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}