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Answers - America's Economy & Debt
"[President] Obama's faith doesn't compare to issues
like America's economy & debt." |
Let's consider those issues, starting with America's debt and economy.
America's national debt is $11 trillion. Add in unfunded Medicare, Medicaid,
Social Security and the like and America's debt obligations ("America's debt")
exceed $60 trillion; America's debt is more than 3 times larger than the
combined debt of the rest of the world, and 5 times larger than America's economy
(see below). Every man, woman and child in America is burdened with $200,000 of
America's debt.
If the size of America's debt doesn't impress, consider this. The stock market bubble and crash
of 1929 were driven by extreme leverage; people bought stocks with 5% of
their money and 95% of borrowed money. After the crash of 1929, the SEC limited
stock investment leverage to 50%.
But the SEC did not cap the leverage on other types of securities, including
derivatives, which now tops $450 trillion - 35 times larger than the US GDP.
The leverage in the derivative market is still 95%, which means that the
leveraged counter-party risk of $428 trillion - 33 times larger than our economy
- is a bubble.
Even if that risk bubble were to somehow deflate without exploding, how are we going to pay off our national deb
t?
We can't do it with exports since our manufacturing base has been shipped
overseas and the driver of our economy
for the past decade hasn't been production but consumption, including of
the goods made overseas:
And we've been consuming with money borrowed from foreigners, who have been
buying up the bulk of our Treasury notes issued to keep us afloat so that we can
keep buying their exports; China and Japan together account for about half
of the net Treasury purchases below:
But our consumption bubble has burst and we can no longer afford to buy their
exports. Moreover, our government printing massive amounts of new money to try
to keep the economy afloat is devaluing the Treasury notes they already
hold. It is a matter of time before they lighten their massive holdings, which
will have devastating effect on our currency and economy.
Let's consider the issues on a few other fronts as well.
On the energy front, we imported 26% of our oil during the 1970's oil crisis;
today that figure is 70%. On the social front, 40% of our children are being
born out of wedlock. 50 million
people lack medical cover. Even more are hooked on drugs,
gambling and
pornography (America hosts 89% of the world's pornographic web pages). On foreign policy, we are stuck in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Radical
Islam is on the rise.
Iran is about
to go nuclear. The list continues.
Is President Obama or any other President really going to solve these and other
issues? What America needs today isn’t some superhero President, but
God!
Four centuries ago, God saw a boatload of people leave the comforts of Europe to
worship Him unhindered in a new land and blessed their descendents into a mighty
nation. At the height of our prosperity, however, we turned away
from God, who is withdrawing the prosperity and security that always were and
are
His.
Israel was in a similar situation after the prosperity of Solomon’s
reign when it turned away from God and ignored repeated warnings to turn back.
God eventually destroyed Israel and sent its people into exile, not out of hate
but out of love because they wouldn’t have turned back to Him - whom they needed
more than prosperity or even freedom - without the persecution.
But such an outcome doesn't have to be.
The
Bible also
speaks of Nineveh, a great power in its day that like Israel was about to be
destroyed. But unlike Israel, the Ninevites heeded
God's warning and led by its
leader, humbled themselves before
God in time.
The faith of our President matters because for America to be spared as well, we need to
humble ourselves before
God as a nation, seek His forgiveness and cry
out for His help. Our President should be someone who truly believes in
God and humbly admits, "Yes HE can" instead of rebelliously chanting, "Yes We Can."
Who Really Is God?
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