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Posted on 12/20/2009 5:57:02 AM PST by rabscuttle385
The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is the slave of the lender. (Proverbs 22:7 ESV)
In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, King Solomon details the differences in thought, word, and deed between a wise man and a fool. In addressing the foolishness associated with borrowing money, he makes clear the relationship between debt and servitude: No man can truly be free when he is bound by financial indebtedness to another. It's clear, however, that the danger of debt is something a majority of the American people — including members of Congress and our President — have yet to take seriously. Even though our national debt is spiraling out of control, we appear unwilling to change our spendthrift ways.
Congress has just taken action to increase our national debt limit by $290 billion — bringing our debt ceiling to a whopping $12.4 trillion. This, after two years of unprecedented spending during which time we accrued the same amount of debt that we accumulated in the first 200 years of our nation's history. No matter how much money Uncle Sam extracts for his coffers, however, it appears it's never enough. The demand for entitlements continues to grow and liberals in government are only too willing to accommodate that demand by expanding the power of the nanny state. Contemporary society has been taught that when it comes to the world of finance, credit is king. Credit, we are told, is how we finance the good life. When Gordon Gekko told us that greed was good, we apparently believed him, and set about to prove his point.
But, as the old saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The United States cannot continue on this path of fiscal gluttony indefinitely. With every dollar we borrow, we sacrifice more and more of our freedom.
As individuals, we've come to rely increasingly on those credit cards in our wallets, charging 40 cents out of every dollar we spend. We finance everything: our homes, our vehicles, our educations, our entertainment...even basic essentials like food and clothing are more often than not purchased on credit in today's marketplace. Thanks to the folks at American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover, the American worker's penchant for champagne and caviar need not be stymied by the constraints of a beer budget.
As a nation, we've racked up nearly $12 trillion in debt and have seen the budget deficit soar from $455 billion to $1.4 trillion in the last year alone. And in the same way a strapped homeowner takes out a second mortgage on his house to stave off financial ruin for one more year, Congress has time and again — in the name of the people's "general welfare" no less — voted to take on more and more debt to fund a ballooning list of appropriations and entitlements.
In the face of this grim economic picture, only one of Solomon's fools could say with a straight face that the American government and her people are economically free. To keep up with our consumption habits, we have surrendered the freedom that comes with true ownership and live in service to our lenders. Because we have lost the discipline and maturity to distinguish our needs from our wants, we find ourselves surrounded by material goods bought on credit. But, one too many missed payments and that luxury vehicle in the driveway will be repossessed, and that McMansion in the suburbs will fall into foreclosure.
The risks associated with excess borrowing are no different at the federal level. As it now stands, 35% of the United States' gross domestic product is comprised of foreign debt. Each year, we are financing a larger and larger chunk of the nation's day to day operations on borrowed money, and each year the cost of servicing this debt goes up. This debt burden not only impacts our fiscal strength, it also significantly compromises our political and diplomatic position on the world stage. When the U.S. Government is beholden to foreign nations because of its debt, it is not free to act in the best interests of the American people, particularly when those interests conflict with the interests of our lenders.
Up to this point, America's approach to dealing with the pressures of our debt has been to take on still more debt and leave the headache to future generations. This folly must end. If we truly value our freedom we must overcome our addiction to debt and learn how to live within our means.
For more information on how to take control of your finances and achieve freedom from debt, visit Crown Financial Ministries at www.crown.org.
© Ken Connor
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Can we "reset" our debt after that?
I am sure China would have something to say about that.
I don't know what will happen. But the biblical words about being a slave to money are a true today as ever.
Hey, hey, BHO.....!
Where did all your spending go?
The yearly cost of debt service alone will exceed what used to be an expensive budget. Long term, we will be further imprisoned financially by the progressives. This is their plan. WAKE UP FOLKS. We are on that slippery slope.
America is full of debt serfs.
‘Dave on a much larger scale,’ Ping!
You might have been kidding with this comment - but it could happen. It would explain some of the choices being made...
Three years ago on FR, I said this and I was put into the 'black helicopter' echelon.
And now, here we are:
China proposes a new world currency
I lived in Europe when the Euro went into effect overnight. At midnight on a cold January, the ATM machines were all emptied of Deutschmarks and Euros replaced them.
Then next morning, we were on the Euro.
We will probably start with an "Amero" to include South America, Mexico, Central America, and Canada.
Then, all currencies can merge. Or, we could just skip the "Amero" and go to whatever it is the powers at be say it will be.
As a Christian, I believe scriptures point to a one world currency someday in the future. The Anti-Chirst needs this in order to enforce forced worship of himself.
"Oh but I didn't contract it voluntarily, it is political spending" - that is why we are a democracy and elect our representatives. Unelect the profligate who buy things we do not need.
You aren't enslaved or made a serf by a particle of it. We just haven't been winning free elections we can't afford to lose, and too many in all parties have been willing to overspend on useless crap, trying to buy votes.
I’m not smearing the lender. I’m smearing the borrower. People in America have voluntarily become debt serfs.
Also, if you have debt, hyperinflation will cause that debt to be virtually worthless if salaries are forced to rise to keep pace.
So, who knows what the real strategy should be.
One thing is for sure, China will one day be able to buy this country for pennies on the dollar, and they probably will.
I know things will radically change soon, I just am not sure what I want to do with my situation. I am actually considering taking out a new mortgage on a new property, because the Fed is keeping interest rates at 0% for banks right now, and the 30 yr fixed rate is extremely low. In a few years, we may be back to 1981 rates of 21% (or worse) to purchase a home - and the window to move up in a house may be closed for decades to come.
In terms of who they will recalculate the money to reflect the "real" price, that is going to be interesting. I know when I was living in Europe, it was a real crap shoot, and it also ticked off consumers. The DM was basically worth about 60 cents to a dollar. The Euro came in overnight, and was trading for approx 80 cents. But, average Germans who were paying 5 Deutsch marks for this and 10 Deutsch marks for that, suddenly found themselves paying 5 Euros and 10 Euros for the exact same products!
All the merchants did was switch price tags. People were livid. There were calls for government action, but those were slow. Well, anyway, after a few weeks, it all sort of settled down on its own, because the market took over. A store selling jackets for 500 Euros could not compete with one that sold them for 299 Euros, and prices went back to "normal."
As for debt, I cannot imagine (even banks) re-adjusting your debt for a higher interest rate if you get the low fixed now. That is a violation of basic contract law, it the courts would (probably) not allow it, but who knows? I don't trust the courts on iota.
Can they take the $300K you owe on a house, and know that $300K is worth only, lets say, $50K in Euros, "convert" it to $300,000 Ameros?
Or, if the one world currency is implemented overnight, and not in increments, how would this play out?
Don't know.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZA0qNsf4m0&feature=pyv&ad=3723781624&kw=dollar
The ingraditude of present day Americans toward their unprecedented prosperity is one of the greatest moral outrages in human history, and I for one and profoundly sick of it.
Stop your whining, you useless ingrates...
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