Tag Archives: Risk

Why Is Mandatory Vaccination Wrong?

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Mandatory vaccination by the government is wrong because God did not give the government the job of stopping disease. Nowhere in the Bible will you find God declaring or demonstrating that disease control is a governmental responsibility. God does give individuals the responsibility to isolate themselves and gives priests guidance as to how to determine if someone is infected with certain diseases. That’s it. God does have a lot to say about governments that suppress people and take their freedoms away. When a man creates a law that God doesn’t require, it places God’s people under man’s control. Those leaders rebel and usurp His power. As Christians, we have a duty to not allow this to happen. Here’s what the Bible says:

“You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men.“

1 Corinthians 7:23

Is it wrong for a government to force us to do things for the good of all? Isn’t there a case in which it would be prudent for a government to protect everyone through vaccination? If the only way to protect everyone from a disease was to require everyone to be vaccinated, then it would seem to make sense, but whether we think it makes sense or not, we should trust God’s knowledge more than our own. In this case, God has also provided a clear reason why governments should not force vaccination. Vaccinations can cause injury and even death. Here’s what the CDC says in their crafty disclaimer:

“As with any medicine, there is a very remote chance of a vaccine causing a serious injury or death.”

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm

The way things are with vaccines today, the government would be choosing to risk the lives of a few for the sake of the rest. To put it simply, they would be demanding that innocent people take the risk dying from their medicine by forcing it upon them. That would only make sense if the government was given domination over the lives of people by God, but it is not. Here’s what God says the government is for:

“Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority, for he is a servant of God to you for good.”

Romans 13:3b-4a

The government is supposed to be protecting good people, not managing which of them must die for the rest of us. So, the risk of illness and death as a result of vaccines is a very serious reason for a government not to require them, but there’s another thing we know about this. We also know that it isn’t necessary to vaccinate everyone in order to bring a disease under control.

Consider how diseases are controlled naturally. When there is no vaccine, diseases are passed around until enough people have had it already and the disease has no where to go. The disease may not go away for a long time, it simply becomes very, very rare as fewer and fewer people are susceptible to it. When people willingly choose to be vaccinated, in theory, it lowers the number of people susceptible to the disease, but there are those who catch the disease and survive. These people usually develop an immunity and they are no longer susceptible. Then, there are the very healthy people. These people have a strong natural immune system. When the disease comes knocking on their door, the disease is attacked and killed making them insusceptible as well. When a disease runs out of “susceptibles” the risk of anyone catching or spreading the disease drops very low. Often only a part of a community has to be vaccinated in order for the whole group to become safe. So, It is unnecessary for a government to mandate vaccines anyway because a disease can be controlled without a mandate. We have already experienced this fact with other serious diseases that have run their courses.

So, if there is a way for people to be protected without a mandate, it is actually evil for a government to mandate people risk their lives. I believe that this is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments:

“You shall not murder.”

Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17

At this point, it should be obvious why vaccination mandates are wrong, but there’s still more to consider.

There are certain conditions under which a specific vaccine is immoral. There are some popular vaccines that were created using aborted babies. Even some of the COVID-19 ones are being developed this way. For the record, I know that they don’t all have aborted fetal cells in them but were created using them. God has clearly said throughout the Bible that he hates the shedding of innocent blood. Allowing pharmaceuticals to abuse mankind in order to make money is just another form of slavery and murder. As you can see there’s a consistent theme in the behavior of those who push for mandates.

It’s important that we consider another thing. The Bible does warn individuals about their responsibility to not spread disease. In fact, there’s a lot of information in the Bible that deals with it. The actual mandates from God are given to Jewish individuals and to their priests. You can find some of these rules in Leviticus 13. These rules tell us that the process of disease control is not through vaccination, but through observation and isolation. The first step is for an infected individual to brought to the priest for observation. The Bible teaches these priests what to look for when someone is infected and when to require that they be isolated and for how long. The observation process is objective, which means that they can’t just be making it all up.

So we see that the Bible doesn’t support a government vaccine mandate, but does require visibly infected individuals to be observed to determine if isolation is necessary for the protection of the community. Notice that observation is done by men of God, not the government. Does that mean that we physically go to church for this? I don’t think so. We have doctors and nurses trained in these things and churches already recognize them to be the ones trained for the task, but it’s pretty obvious that we don’t need a government mandate for this either. Also notice that symptomatic people were to be tested not asymptomatic ones. I did a short investigation about asymptomatic diseases in the past and found out that the flu can also be asymptomatic. God knew about the flu when He made these rules. He also knows that men often lust for power over other men and He made sure that His laws stop tyrants. If a disease is asymptomatic, it can’t be observed and since it relies on tests that are not certain, it is an inappropriate way to judge the guiltiness of a person.

What the Bible does tell us is that people who are sick have an individual responsibility to stay away from those who are well. When we are reckless with our health and refuse to confine ourselves when we know that we have a deadly disease, we may cause someone to get sick and die. When we are reckless with another person’s life and they die, we are guilty ones.

The Bible clearly tells us that the government’s job is to punish those who break God’s civil laws. When we are reckless, the government is mandated to stop us but if a government attempts to mandate risky medicines for those who are well, they risk breaking the very laws they are required by God to uphold.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive… To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

Inflation Protection and Taxes

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Tax PaperIt’s important to understand that inflation protection is removed when taxes are applied.  Current tax rules disregard inflation, and as a result it’s easy to demonstrate that inflation can cause all of our interest on a TIPS and some of our principle to be lost through taxation alone.

When we consider our inflation adjusted returns, we can easily see that the real tax rate climbs to astronomical levels.  This simple example shows how easy it is for taxes to use up all of our real returns.

A Revealing Example

Let’s consider the effects of taxes on our inflation adjusted gains.  These adjusted gains are what finance professionals call our “real” gains.

Let’s use the actual TIPS that is being offered as I write this and our current inflation rate.  Our current inflation rate is actually 2.2% but we will use 2% make it easier and more conservative.  If you buy a $1000, Ten year TIPS with a 0.5% interest rate and experience inflation that averages about 2% during that time, the overall real gain would be 5% over 10 years and the overall inflation adjustment if it stayed the same during that period would be 20%.

After 10 years, your principle would be adjusted to $1,200 and you would have been paid about $60 in interest.  The problem is that you are not taxed on the just the $60.  The tax rules require that you be taxed on the $60 real gain + the $200 of principle adjustment.  If you are paying taxes at a low 15% rate, the rules say that you must pay 15% of $260 or $39.  Since you really only earned $60 in real value, you will have paid 65% in taxes.

That’s a very high tax rate for sure, but look what would happen if we had an unusual amount of inflation.  This is something we need to consider because our intention is to protect ourselves from both average and unusual changes in inflation.

Let’s change the average inflation to 5%.  After 10 years, your adjusted principle would now be $1500 and your 0.5% interest would be $75.  Your tax on $575 at 15% would now be $86.25.  Since you only really earned $75, taxes will have taken all of your real gain and forced you to take a loss of $11.25 on top of that.  That comes out to be a real interest rate of -0.1125% and a real tax rate of 115%.

In a taxable account, the greater the inflation, the less the protection.  I can’t honestly say that it provides any protection at all because a taxable account amplifies inflation.  It is wrong to assume that our savings is inflation protected just because we hold a TIPS.

One Safe Place

If you open a tax advantaged account such as a 401k or an IRA at a brokerage that allows you to hold TIPS within it, your savings is guaranteed to be protected.  That’s because all growth in a tax advantaged account is either not taxable or tax deferred.  This means that all inflation adjustments to your TIPS principle will only be taxed once, either before you put it into a Roth IRA or 401k or after you take it out of a traditional IRA or 401k.

The combination of a tax advantaged account and TIPS is currently the only option that I am aware of that will guarantee inflation protection to a person attempting to save money in United States.

I Bonds are Only Guaranteed in Certain Cases

I Bonds are tax advantaged in that they are exempt from state and local taxes.  That makes them an even better option than other “safe” investments.  This still does not protect them from a total loss of real gains through federal taxation on inflationary gains.  There is one more advantage though.  If an I Bond is used for tuition, it is tax free and becomes a great way to save for a child’s education.

It is also possible to sell your I bonds at a time in which your taxable income is below your exemption allowance.  If your total income falls below the your permitted exemption, then your I Bonds are tax free for that year.

A Problem for All Investments

It’s very important for all investors to understand that this problem exists outside of TIPS and I Bonds.  As far as I know, all investments have the potential of losing all of their real gains through taxes that are amplified by inflation.  Here’s an explanation of the effects on capital gains:

It’s not just a problem for investors, though.   Inflationary gains are taxed in your very own bank account.  Your interest may be only $1 per year, and you may have actually lost $5 of purchasing power in your account.  You would think that would mean that you lost $4 in purchasing power.  Since you pay taxes on your inflationary gain of $1, it pushes the loss even lower than $4.  Inflation amplifies your taxation because the more inflation there is, the more tax you pay.

Important Things to Remember about Tax Advantaged Accounts

If you have the ability to have 401k, I highly suggest that you do that.  IRAs only allow you to contribute $6,000 per year for those under the age of 50 and $7,000 per year for those over 50.  401k’s allow you to hold far more depending on your income.

If you are a high-income individual.  You currently have no guaranteed protection from inflation for savings that I know of.  It may be a good idea to consider moving your investments overseas.  There are several nations that don’t have capital gains taxes including Mexico and New Zealand.

Stressed about Savings? Divide and Conquer!

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Piggy Banks

JamesCube (Pixabay)

Trying to decide what to do with the money you have can be stressful.  There are plenty of people willing to “help” you invest your money, but they rarely agree on how.  Just leaving it the bank doesn’t seem right, but neither does losing it all in the market.  I have found that dividing my money into two parts reduces the stress and gives me confidence.

Protection vs. Opportunity

There are two very different points-of-view when it comes to investing money.  It’s possible to look at money as something to protect for some point in the future.  It is also possible to look at it as an opportunity for gain.  Both perspectives have benefits, but they require that we invest in different ways.

When we look at money from a protection point of view, we want to make sure that we don’t lose it.  Our concern is not about future gains, but about having something at a specific time.

When we look at money from an opportunity point of view, we are willing to wait in order to get a big gain.  We’re hoping to use money in order to get significantly more, but we can’t really control the timing of it.

These two points of view, are at odds with one another.  Like the old saying goes, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.  We can’t protect something and risk it at the same time.  When we choose opportunity, we also choose to risk not having our money at a specific point in time.

Many of the professionals in the financial world are more focused on opportunity than they are on protection.  It’s good to keep that in mind when you seek help.  If your intention is to protect, you probably won’t need professional help.  With a little education, you should do just fine on your own.

Insurance vs. Investments

Those who intend to preserve their money are better off thinking about it like they would insurance.  That’s because when you preserve, you are saving what you’ve already earned.   You’re just making sure that it’s there for you when you need it.  A preservation mentality is helpful when you are saving for specific things.  Those things might include maintaining or buying a car.  Other things include buying a house, paying for college or for paying for retirement.  Preservation is good for those things that you already know that you will probably need.

When you want to use your money to take advantage of growth opportunities, insurance doesn’t really make sense.  That’s because you’ve accepted the risk that your money won’t necessarily be there at a specific point in time.

Promise vs. Potential

When we make a decision about where we put our money, we need to decide whether we care more about having a promise that our money will be available, or that we have the potential to gain when opportunity arises.

These kinds of financial arrangements are at odds with each other but they both have their place.  If there was no potential for gain, there wouldn’t be a way to have something to preserve.  If there was no place to save your money, how could you keep what you have gained for a time that you need it?

Determine Your Timing Related Risk Capacity

When I say “timing related risk,” I mean the kind of risk you expose yourself to by not having money when you need to use it.  Considering your timing related risk capacity is a good way to decide whether you should preserve or speculate.

source: nattanan23 (Pixabay)

If you don’t have any savings at all, then you are at risk whenever something doesn’t go right.  You really don’t have any capacity for timing risk.  If you have no extra money and your car’s transmission fails, you would immediately be in financial trouble.  It’s important to have emergency savings and not having it definitely qualifies a timing related risk.

There are other timing related risks you may have.  Retirement is an important one.  You can calculate the amount of time that remains before you plan to retire and the amount of money you might need for the rest of your life from that point.  These projections expose a risk.  If your retirement money isn’t there when you need it, you will probably suffer.  Other things have timing related risk too, like buying a house, paying for college or paying for family vacations.

When we think about risk, we need to consider what we would feel like if our money wasn’t there when we need it.  If the money you are thinking about isn’t going to be needed for a particular time in the future, then opportunity investing is probably a good idea for you.  If you know what the money is intended for, then preservation investing would probably be a better idea.

A Helpful Separation

I have found it helpful to separate my money into two distinct parts.  One is the part I intend to preserve as savings.  That part includes my emergency savings, the part of my retirement savings that would pay for my basic retirement needs and any other amount of money that I would rather preserve than take risks with.  These may include funds I intend to use as an inheritance or a donation.

The other part is for investments that I believe will eventually be profitable.  For these investments, I accept that I don’t know when they will be profitable and I am willing wait.

Less Stress

By taking your savings and setting it aside as something you intend to preserve, you don’t have to worry about how much money it makes.  As long as it keeps up with inflation, it will still be there for you.  The rest you can use to do some investing.  That’s the part you may want to have an investment professional help you with.  If things don’t go quite as well you expected them to go, you can rest assured that your savings is still intact.