A significant amount of time has passed since I began this series and nothing that the current presidential administration and congress have done has changed the thrust of this column. The budget that was recently passed and signed into law has almost tripled the combined amounts of both so-called bailout and stimulus bills passed in the last 6 months. I’ve already dealt with the issue of unconstitutional spending. Now I want to talk about immoral spending.
When I talk about immoral spending it is clear from the title of this blog that I get my morality from the Bible. For the sake of those who don’t believe the Bible I’ll depart from biblical standards of morality for the moment and just use some common moral standards of the society. I’ll do so by asking some simple questions and leave it up to you, the reader, to answer yes or no.
1. If I borrowed money under pretence of using the money to help someone and then spent it for another unrelated and selfish purpose would that be immoral?
2. If I borrowed money beyond my means to repay it would that be immoral?
3. If I took money from those that had legitimately and responsibly earned it and used it to bail out those who had been criminal and/or irresponsible in their actions would that be immoral?
This is exactly what our government has done. The money for the “bailouts” was given to companies and individuals who committed criminal fraud and/or were irresponsible in handling their own and others’ finances. No one (Congress included) has been held accountable. Large portions of the “stimulus package” money have gone to programs and earmarks that will stimulate nothing in our economy and will generate no economic growth. Look through the long list of spending I posted in the previous installment of this series and list the ones that will create new jobs or new businesses. It won’t take long because your list will be short. Most of the money is to fund government programs and increase government control. Additionally, the President’s recent public addresses have expressed the need to get the banks lending money again. Uh, maybe it’s just me but isn’t that what got us in this crisis to begin with? Bad loans and over extended credit were the cause of the housing market crisis (remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?). Our credit based economy has turned into a monster that cries to be fed and cannot be sustained. Meanwhile, our own government has put us into debt to our enemies (communist China for example) to finance its spending spree. They try to spend our way to prosperity, which, by the way, is not only immoral but just plain stupid. The bottom line is that our government is continuing its irresponsibility and by any standard its behavior with the American people’s tax dollars is immoral.
America is in a precarious financial position that doesn’t look to get better as long as we allow the government to spend beyond our means. Our fate is clearly prophesied in the Bible if we continue to squander our nation’s wealth and resources. It comes in the form of a simple and profound proverb.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)
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