Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see the growing likelihood of several legitimate Democratic candidates joining the 2016 race and preventing a coronation of Hillary Clinton. They also shake their heads as John Kerry believes he alone is capable of brokering a Middle East cease fire. And they react to more reports of badly wasted taxpayer dollars in Afghanistan.
Archives for July 21, 2014
The End of Christianity in Iraq?
The rise of a self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq is already responsible for the eradication of Christianity in the historic city of Mosul, and this could be the first step towards much greater persecution in the weeks and months to come.
Even before the rise of ISIS, Christianity was greatly endangered in Iraq. Open Doors USA listed it as the fourth worst persecutor of Christians in the world earlier in the year.
“Iraq was already a very dangerous place for Christians because of the weakness of the central government and their inability of unwillingness to protect Christian churches and Christians who wanted to choose for themselves what their religious beliefs worse,” said Open Doors USA President and CEO Dr. David Curry, who says the latest developments in Iraq are making things exponentially worse.
On July 19, ISIS announced every Christian in Mosul had a choice by noon Saturday to convert to Islam, pay a financially crippling tax or leave with no possessions but the clothes on their backs.
“Since June 10, when ISIS came in and took over…it’s been incredibly difficult. Over 3,000 families, just from Mosul, are homeless, are on the run and have had to leave everything and it’s really unprecedented in this modern age to have a group call out this kind of segregation of a religious minority and force them out of their homes with impunity. No western government seems to be standing up or protecting these folks,” said Curry.
Not surprisingly, the persecution is leading to a significant humanitarian crisis.
“Those that have the resources are heading out of the country entirely. Most of them, of course, don’t have the resources to get on a plane and fly out so they’re heading north into the Kurdistan regions, where there is more security,” said Curry.
Open Doors USA is racing to meet the physical needs of those heading for an uncertain destination.
“Open Doors has set up response to help the refugees. We’ve got a project that is giving them food, water, tents, whatever we can do to help them stabilize in their homeless condition and try to acclimate them back into society if possible,” said Curry.
Curry says those who choose to turn a blind eye to the treatment of Christians in Iraq are making a horrific mistake.
“I think people underestimate how fast this kind of persecution spreads and to our detriment. This sort of persecution in the Middle East could certainly spread to other religious groups, like Jewish minorities, certainly Buddhist minorities. When we let this kind of aggression stand, I think it’s a very bad sign for the rest of civilization,” said Curry.
“I think you could see problems in Jordan. I think you could see problems in parts of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There’s still key parts of Iraq. It certainly is a major shift in the Middle East. I think it could get worse,” he said.
That’s why Curry says western nations need at least to publicly condemn ISIS for this persecution.
“Government need to stand up and send clear messages of support to the Christian minorities, to do what they can to put diplomatic pressure on these groups and to make this very difficult to happen anywhere else and to hopefully turn the tide in the coming weeks,” said Curry.
The upheaval of the past 11 years is taking a severe toll on the Christian population in Iraq. Curry says there were a million believers in Iraq in 2003. Now he says some estimates are as low as 300,000.
Should a Young Person Rent or Buy?
By Ryan Brown
The 2008 housing crash is still having a huge effect. During the recession, Americans lost more than a quarter of their net worth. Housing prices dropped 20% and total home equity in the United States dropped $4.2 trillion. All told, losses during the recession totaled $8.3 trillion.
But some of the losses appear to extend beyond mere dollar value and penetrate Americans’ psyche. In 2011, 53 out of every thousand eligible young adult renters became a homeowner. That’s 38% lower than the pre-recession 85 per thousand, recorded in 2001.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that so many young people pause when confronted with the question of whether they should rent or buy. Among an age group where only 43% respond that they are “very satisfied” with their current job, researching the question to buy or to rent is a tough situation.
That situation isn’t made any easier when a lot of experts agree that the best answer is, “it depends.”
Rick Harris is regional vice president for the National Association of Realtors and the owner and broker of Coldwell Banker Pro West Real Estate in Ashland, Oregon. He agrees that it does depend, but adds that there are a few criteria by which young people can base their decisions.
“It depends on some things that you can point out. It depends on a person’s financial situation and what their goals are. It depends on what kind of credit they have. It depends on where they live, what the market is like where they live, how long they plan to stay there, and really how flexible they want their lifestyle to be,” says Harris.
If a young person can’t give good answers to those questions, Harris says the best thing to do is wait and keep renting. That, in itself, he says, may have some added benefits.
“Renting gives you great flexibility. You can move for jobs more easily and you can live where you want to. Unless you have a lease you can be out of a rental and move to a different place relatively quickly. Up front it costs less to get into a rental investment and you can call the landlord if the roof leaks. If the paint needs to be redone a landlord will often do that, or if there are plumbing repairs they’ll often deal with that,” he says.
But when a young person is ready to sacrifice some of the flexibility of renting and buy a house, Harris recommends they remember one important fact from the recent housing crisis.
“Understand that real estate is a long-term, not a short-term investment. In the bubble, a lot of people were doing what was essentially day trading in houses. They would buy houses before they were built and flip them. It worked like the stock market works, but the same thing that can happen in the stock market happened in the housing market—the bubble popped,” he says.
As with any complicated issue, however, even when someone is ready to own a home after answering some of the important questions in home-buying, those questions open the door for even more questions. In renting and buying, many of those new questions focus on real estate’s biggest issue, location, location, location.
Jed Kolko is chief economist and vice president of analytics at Trulia, an online real estate site. He says where you plan on living might help you determine whether to rent or buy.
“When we look across the country and compare a similar unit for rent and for sale, similar-sized units in the same neighborhood, it looks more than a third cheaper to buy than to rent. But that’s only if you get today’s low mortgage rates and if you stay put for seven years,” says Kolko.
A closer look at the data shows that buying ranges from being just 5% cheaper per month than renting in Honolulu, Hawaii, to being 66% cheaper per month than renting in Detroit, Michigan. Kolko is quick to point out, though, that the length of time you plan on staying in an area is still the most important factor.
“One of the most important factors in deciding whether the math makes sense to buy or to rent is how long you’re going to stay put in a place. People who aren’t planning to stay put at least five or seven years, might be better off renting,” he says.
For young people who plan to stay for seven or more years, have a great job, and want to settle down, though, there are still hurdles they may face, simply because they’re young.
“There are a lot of obstacles right now for young people who might want to buy. The first of course is the down-payment. Qualifying for a mortgage is also a hurdle. And, as student debt is rising, debt might make it harder for some young people to qualify for a mortgage,” says Kolko.
To make sure that young people do all the necessary research and get all their facts straight, Kolko recommends they use a rent versus buy calculator to really make sure that the details all point in the direction of renting or buying.
“A rent versus buy calculator lets you compare for any two units whether buying or renting is going to be the better deal. The calculator lets you put in what your tax bracket is, how long you’re going to stay in the home, and your location, to get a very personalized calculation of whether it’s going to be cheaper to rent or to buy,” he says.
But using a rent versus buy calculator can leave some questions unanswered. Jared Gerlach is a software developer in Provo, Utah. He says that even after a lot of research, owning his first house came with some surprises.
“Before I bought a house, I didn’t realize all the different things that I would need to do. I have to worry about paying utilities and the mortgage on time, watering the lawn, taking out the trash—stuff like that,” says Gerlach.
Though the decision to rent or buy might seem to be subjective, by using rent versus buy calculators, taking into account the flexibility of their lifestyle, and looking at location, young people can navigate this difficult decision.