Money and Stuff

I received a couple of responses to my Stuff sermon. One was a from a church member who invited me to check out this video, The Story of Stuff. It also has a study guide.

Download the film on your computer here.

Here is a teaser:

And I received a nice note from Sam Pizzigati, editor of Too Much, an on-line magazine, and author of the book, Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality that Limits Our Lives.

He wrote:

Just read your October 11 “stuff” sermon online. Nicely done!

A little factoid for your statistical files . . .

In 2006, the latest year with IRS numbers available, America's 400 highest-earning taxpayers collected an average $263,306,000 each in income. They paid 17.2 percent of that, after exploiting all the loopholes they could find, in federal income taxes.

In 1955, the top 400 collected on average, in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars, just $12,257,000. They paid, after exploiting all available loopholes, 51.2 percent of that in taxes.

Please take care.

Well, there you have it. Thanks for the factoid, Sam.

Money. It's a gas.