James Quinn at The Cutting Edge wrote a piece on 30 March 2009 called “America Once Ruled the World–The Last Bubble is Bursting”, since republished as “When America Ruled the World (Part 1)“. It pretty much summed up this financial mess and compared the bursting of the bubble to the previous ones. Quinn wrote:
I’ve scrutinized the four most well known bubbles in history. They all deflated completely. There are hundreds of other bubble examples throughout history and none of them deflated halfway…. Home prices will need to fall another 20 percent to reach pre-bubble levels.
This is particularly worrisome, as it signals the end of an era. It will take years to get back on track, if it indeed even can be done. Worst, we are running up federal deficits to try and cushion the fall, a policy which has never worked in the past.
“I have often talked about the need to build a new foundation for economic growth so that we don’t return to the endless cycle of bubble and bust that has led us into this deep recession. Clean energy and the jobs that it creates will be absolutely critical to this new foundation.”
~ President Barack Obama, op cit, Robinson, Dan. (27 June 2009). Democrats, Obama Win Major Victory as House Passes Climate Change Bill. VOA News.com. Retrieved 27 November 2020 from https://www.voanews.com/archive/democrats-obama-win-major-victory-house-passes-climate-change-bill.
Yet, there are 2 problems here:
- Most economists agree that you cannot regulate bubbles. They are part of a cyclical pattern. In fact, it may be impossible because politicians will try to not invoke the wrath of voters by curtailing market profits.
- Worse, a major part of this bubble was created by the federal government push to give “affordable housing” to those who really could not afford it!
Now, we are trying to spend our way back to prosperity. We are leaving a huge debt to future generations.
Mr Obama claims to be a Christian. I’m sure these verses are in his Bible:
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
~ Pr 22:7
The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
~ Dt 28:43-44
If we don’t engage in national repentance very soon, I’m afraid the following verses will also happen soon:
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
~ vv 47-48
What if all of our creditors were to call in their loans today? Our economy would utterly fail. China, Russia, and now parts of South America are looking to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency with something else. As our debts keep piling up, more and more nations will clamor for this to change. Like Germany prior to WWII, we may try to print our way out of debt, but then our currency will become worthless and foreign nations will pull their investments out even faster. We would quickly become a third world nation.
It is amazing how cavalierly some take this. “Oh well, empires have come and empire have gone,” they will say. Most Americans haven’t visited a third world nation. Most think of poverty as when the government gives you four walls and food stamps. Most in the US have not gone truly hungry. Most have not become enslaved in a lose-lose world.
The Bible points to a time beyond a great time of chaos, though. The Good News is that Jesus Christ will come back to earth and rescue it from complete annihilation. It is sad that the race of humans can learn only by going to the brink, to the very edge. However, God will not allow that. He will set up a government that truly looks out for others and not itself. Peace and prosperity will be the rule of the day.
God speed that day!