So I was doing a little research for the next Good Sense budget course. Unfortunately some of the numbers in the leader's guide only go up to 2000, and I wanted to get more recent data. The results are astounding. Did you know that consumer debt in the US climbed from $1 trillion in 1994 to $2.5 trillion last year? Of that $2.5 trillion, $938 billion is on revolving debt (i.e. credit cards). This is just consumer debt which doesn't even include mortgages! You can tack on another $11 trillion for that.
Does anyone else see that just maybe this could be a problem? Let's think about this. So if the general population owes $11 trillion in mortage debt, $2.5 trillion in consumer debt and the federal government is about $5 trillion in debt ($9 trillion if you want to get technical), guess who we owe the money to?
Oh what am I worried about? That $386 billion the government owes to China could never come back to haunt us.
5 comments:
Dude, when you get worried about this stuff, I get VERY worried about this stuff. I know if you think it is bad we have a problem.
"Do not worry, for tomorrow has troubles of its own."
When you have the power to change that, get stressed about it. Until then...don't worry about something that is outside your power. Next November, it will be in your power, so concern yourself with it then.
Hi David. Respectfully, I disagree with what I think you are saying here. And I think that Steve is acting more in accord with this scripture than not.
Here are few thoughts on why I feel this way.
It seems that at least part of the sphere of influence God has marked out for Steve is to help guide and encourage people in seeking Him regarding their financial decisions and management. It is clear that God wants us to do this from the theme of fiscal responsibility as it continually appears in both the OT and in Jesus’ teaching on good stewardship and money management.
The current debt crisis (and I do think that the word crisis is an accurate word) is an eminent problem. And though a president that will exercise fiscal discipline is a good thing, the mere act of valuing such a candidate comes down to personal values. There is only so much that a president is going to be able to accomplish if fiscal responsibility is not something that is a value at the grass roots level. The 2/3 of the debt that Steve cites shows that something has gone wrong with our personal values regarding money. And it is a direct result of the financial decisions that they make every day.
The people in Steve’s class are making decisions now; they are facing the daily reality that “each day has enough trouble of its own.” They have been given resources and a commission from God to do their best with those resources. What they decide now may very well affect their lives and their ability to serve God in years to come. And they are making decisions that will either lead them down a road of conformity to our society’s current way of living (that is, out of control) or down a road of exercising wisdom and discipline in managing their resources.
So when Steve is researching and discussing these things it isn’t due to over worrying. Rather it’s because he is addressing the immediate troubles, concerns, challenges that come with the sacred call to exercise his gifts and knowledge to the best of his ability in guiding others through their transformation into people who glorify God more in their daily lives and who “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” for the management of their finances. And who knows, the more they transform, the more the society at large may catch on.
(As a side note, I do not think that ‘sacred’ is too strong a word to use in describing teaching a Sunday school class on personal finances to a dozen people, but rather a recognition that God has deemed fit to make the sacred dwell right within the ordinary. Actually it makes sense if you believe that He wants to be with us. After all the ordinary is where we spend the vast majority of our time.)
Joe W.
Did you see where you get $300/kid? I think we should start fining people after the third one.
So you get $900 for the first three and give it back for the next three? Or no help for the first three and fines for any aditional kids above three?
Joe
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