The Economy & Family Life | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The bishops comments are along the lines of the Prosperity Gospel - if you give first to the Church, God will always give first to you. My wife's cousin believes that - of course, he is a Republican with an engineering degree and formerly a company man at GM - so of course he would feel that way. The truth is that most families at risk start missing Mass, especially together. That, more than not putting enough in the plate to keep the heat on at the Archbishop's Palace, is what hurts.
The article, however, is well researched and spot on. When things are tight, not having that good job as a husband has the wife think of leaving (mine did), even if there is some kind of illness involved - or anything that hurts the prospects of getting back to work. Even when working, supporting a family, especially a large one, is hard. While the Child Tax Credit does put more money in our pockets, it is not enough. It needs to be multiplied by six to twelve times and given with pay to take the pressure off (and that means more spending, more jobs, less divorce). An underwater mortgage is another stress factor - especially in our case. Our home went from $257,000 to less than $120,000 at bottom, but the mortgage does not adjust. That can mess up a marriage, because you both feel trapped. What kills it, though, is when someone has the belief that the problems will never get better. If someone thinks that way, God has no room to work and someone is leaving. Oddly, things get better.
I wonder what the data on the 1930s says on that (of course, it was likely the war that got taxes high enough (as well as bond borrowing) to stoke the economy - although that era had its share of problems as husbands went to war, things were rationed at home and men had plenty of women to chose from - but that is another story.
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