Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Forgive us our Debts 5


Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,


I'm republishing this old letter because of our current national emergency.  I dressed up the type styles for you and reedited it.  What Moses and Jesus command is not optional.  This is a Christian problem.  I pray that we take it to heart.

Yours in Christ,

Herb Swanson aka Augie

Originally written around Wednesday, April 18, 2012

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Forgive us our Debts

Dear family and friends in the Lord Jesus Christ,

A recent magazine article in Consumer Reports, “Student debt: Your threat” caught my eye (May 2012, page 29ff).  Here is a snapshot:

Consumer Reports is not an organization known for its use of hyperbole, so I take its advice very seriously.  I’ve used it for years as a faithful guide in making purchasing choices.  It’s the first place I go to evaluate a new product.

The article features a one-third page drawing of a diploma shaped hole, which someone is futilely trying to fill, one shovelful at a time, with sand.  The sand is not accumulating at the bottom of the diploma scroll, but falls endlessly into the black void below.  The article has lots of useful statistics and seven handy suggestions for getting out from under debt at our level.  It’s an article well worth reading.

It’s an Old Problem

The first time I was made aware of this problem was way back in the sixties.  Our Federal government began huckstering and shilling college education loans to gullible college students and their equally gullible parents.  The sales pitch went something like this.  When the Federal government gives or promotes loans to college students, more students will graduate, graduate incomes will go up, tax revenues on increased incomes will multiply, and the Federal government will earn back all its loan money with a handy profit.  “What’s good for America is good for Americans.”  Right?

Wrong!  Dead wrong!  Even way back in the sixties anybody that passed first year algebra in high school and had even a casual grasp of the Laws of Supply and Demand could see that this wouldn’t work.  The demand for college graduates could not increase substantially; certainly not in pace with the increasing flood of new graduates.  The supply would quickly overtake the demand, the value of graduates would go down, tax revenues would crash drastically, and the system would inevitably bankrupt.  Yes, that’s right, it will inevitably put system America and Americans out of business, as we see it doing before our very eyes today.

It’s an Outrageous Problem

A word or two about lending money to gullible teenagers....  This is Statutory Rape[1] and it ought to be against the law.  Moreover, those who have had their hands in this filthy crime should be put out of business and severely punished for their culpability in this felony.  But no, they still lead us, and will continue to lead us because we’re not going to do anything about these crimes against society.  This is Statutory Rape and it’s not even against the law; but it should be.

An Even Older Problem

Nor should we be surprised.  Our Federal government pulled the same stupid stunt on American farmers in the previous generation.  The new scientific farming methods were sold, largely through the A&M systems we all love.  Thousands of farmers leveraged into new tractors and the irresponsible application of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.  This battle still rages, but it has been greatly sobered up.  Nobody foresaw the damage that DDT would cause.  Or the decades it would take to clean up the mess.  Actually, DDT may have gotten a bad rap, but it is the one illustration that everybody understands.  America was in love with science, bad science.  Thousands of farmers went bankrupt.  Fortunately, to their credit, the A&M systems have been working as hard as anybody to pick up the pieces and undo the damage done by the irresponsible application of science.

We Survived

Somehow, we’ve managed to survive as a Nation.  Hanged if I know how we made it through, but we did.  But it ought to be perfectly clear by now that the cure for a bad hangover is not another day and night of binge drinking.  Eventually this debt cycle will kill us.  It’s just a matter of time and chance, like playing Russian roulette with five out of six chambers loaded.  The odds are going to catch up with us.  Actually, it’s worse than that.  We live with the delusion that we’ve made it through the first two rounds unscathed.  But, the cirrhosis of the liver, lung cancer, and chronic bowel problems are all in advanced stages.  It’s just a matter of time.  There ain’t no chance to it.  Radical surgery is necessary to save the patient’s life.

The Utopian Fallacy

I wish that this were not the tip of the iceberg.  College changes the way young people think.  It creates in them, higher and unrealistic expectations of wealth, living conditions, and lifestyle.  So, for example, the kid that might have been tickled to have a “32 Deuce Coupe” and work hard to get it, now wants a “Beemer” or Mercedes that he can’t afford: so, of course, he borrows money to get it.  After all, money does grow on the Federal government tree.  College teaches something else; it teaches how to loathe work.  Many college graduates don’t want to go to work, many have forgotten how to work; frankly, some are even unfit for work.  The simple joy of working has taken a damaging hit.  Becoming a painter or a welder is no longer a God honoring life goal.  Who wants to dig ditches for a living?

The Global Economy Fallacy

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our same Federal government, despite the screams of union and other skilled workers, was busily pumping jobs out of this country into other nations.  We don’t need these jobs, our new education programs will replace them with better jobs.  American can manage the world.  The rudest awakening came for me when I discovered that even engineering jobs were being outsourced overseas.  Isn’t it clear that we’re being sold down the river by our own leaders, both Democrat and Republican.

The Great Disaster Amplifiers

Even with this multiple punch: mounting debt, foolish expectations, dislike of work, and the massive disappearance of jobs, we’ve scarcely begun to examine the problem.  We’re still above the waterline of the iceberg.  Under the water are the great amplifiers, the real sinkers of the unsinkable steamship America, still on her maiden voyage.  I’m not absolutely sure which ones are biggest, or even if I know them all.  Of course, there is the false salesmanship of corrupt leadership, which must be defeated.  We’ve already seen how utopianism is the mental, psychological driving force behind debt, foolish expectations, dislike of work, and the massive disappearance of jobs.  The great amplifiers are in addition to all that.  This is what I think their order of importance might look like from the top down: inflation, taxes, and unearned entitlements.

But the, still unnamed, greatest amplifier of all, is the vanishing belief in and respect for God.  God will be obeyed, no matter how little we think of Him.

Hostile Parasites

Inflation, taxes, unearned entitlements, and a bajillion other things are parasitic to the American economy.  To be blunt, these parasites are sucking the lifeblood out of us, and don’t know how to stop, and won’t stop until they kill us.  They don’t care.  Their own selfish goals are all that matter to them.  They don’t care that they are killing the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg.  And these parasites are evidently too stupid to realize that, when the goose dies, they die also.  Or, maybe we are the ones being stupid.  Maybe the parasites, just hole up all the real money in Swiss banks and move on to a new host victim.

Inflation

We all know that inflation works by simply printing new worthless paper or electronic money.  Inflation goes up, the value of the buck in our pockets goes down.  We get taxed or robbed without realizing it.  It’s invisible, painless, and ruthless.  Nobody’s going to complain about it.  It’s even against the law to complain about it.  We’ve all had our fill of the tax discussion for another year; but long haul, one way or another, taxes are going up.  As business collapses, taxes must be increased to  maintain the great Federal government, power monopoly.  Unearned entitlements are just another tax aren’t they?  What these things all do is get a grip on debt and other problems and make them tens, hundreds, thousands of times worse than they really are, all by themselves.  In fact, we could have looked at debt as a problem amplifier as well.

Our Own Criminal Government

But isn’t speaking out against the Federal government Anti-American somehow?  And being Anti-American is somehow or other Anti-Christian, as well.  If we still had a democratically chosen, representative parliamentary constitutional government, “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” I suppose, that would be true.  Unfortunately, that government is long gone.  But, I’m an incurable patriot.  I served a few days short of eight years in the American military.  And, I’m trying to figure out, what happened to our country, because it’s 90% gone.  Criticizing this Federal-level-leadership lust for power grab, which is sustained by utopian dreams, unbridled spending, and endless giveaway programs; is not, cannot, and never will be Anti-American.  In fact criticizing this parasitic Federal mess is the single most important Pro-American and Pro-Christian thing that I can think of doing right now.  The fact is, that our Constitution is being raped too.

It’s The Lord’s Prayer

Yes, this rape is also Anti-Christian.  These essays started out as applications on the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts....”  The application, intent, and clear meaning of the Lord’s Prayer was reinforced by considering the Sabbatical Years and the Year of Jubilee as taught by Moses himself.  The teaching of Moses was then related to the teaching of Christ in Luke 1, “The Magnificat,” Luke 4, “Christ’s declaration of Jubilee,” Matthew 18, “The Unforgiving Steward.”  If anyone is still not convinced, or thinks that Matthew 18 is too strong, maybe reading all of Matthew 25, but especially verses 34-46, will help.

Yes, It Certainly Does Mean That

Tell me one more time that the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts....” has no physical or temporal meaning.  Are we going to continue to live in denial until the end comes.  This is exactly what the Lord’s Prayer teaches and we are in default of our simple Christian obligation to our brothers and sisters.  Moreover, we are being two faced about it, and have become a bunch of phony hypocrites in the bargain, because we are so silent.

False Preachers Don’t Help

Thousands of Christians watch their favorite TV evangelist every night while he spins out yarns about utopian dreams, and scary Armageddons.  So we, gullibly, continue to expect the spectacular and catastrophic; while, in reality in the chair beside us, the patient is bleeding-out one drop at a time.  We’ve become like the little Dutch boy.  Except we refuse to put our finger in the dike and plug the hole. 

Worse yet, even with our finger in the hole, we steadfastly refuse to yell for help.  Our silence is both deafening and damning.  Christ cannot be happy with us.

But all we must do is keep on screaming for help, until help comes.  Thirty million or more Christians can make a lot of noise.

This is Statutory Rape and it’s not even against the law; but it sure should be.

Yours in Christ,

Herb Swanson
aka Augie, short for Augustine

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[1] The author is well aware of the contradiction of terms, which are used throughout for emphasis.  No crime can be statutory unless it is against the law.  It is outrageous to live in a society where, children, widows, the aged, and the weak are not protected from being preyed upon by the crafty, glib, and strong.  What is true of the sexual abuse of teenagers, ought to be equally true of financial abuse.  Many adults are not adequately equipped to see through these immoral and unethical instruments of theft.  Deceitful language buries and hides fees and penalties deep within contractual documents so that even trained lawyers cannot find them.  This is wrong, and it ought to be criminal.

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