Godonomics | Liberty, Prosperity, and Generosity

Didn’t Jesus Drive Capitalists Out Of The Church… uh… no!

chovind — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:00:55 +0000

What’s more important to you: a higher stock market, or more buyer power? Would you rather have more money that can buy less stuff or less money than can buy more? This somewhat confusing concept is at the heart of what is going on in our economy. If you wonder why the gas is approaching $4.00 a gallon, there is a factor you must understand.

While the stock market can waver between climbs and falls, there is an important factor to consider. Often one of the causes of rising stocks is a devalued dollar. What is a devalued dollar? Why would a devaluing dollar result in a rising stock market and price increases in food, gas, and commodities? Since the dollar is worth less, it takes more of the less valuable dollars to buy the same old stock. So the stock goes up -that sounds good, right? Depends on what you want. Do you want to see a higher number in your 401K? Of course, we all do. What if at the same time that your stock portfolia goes up, the price of the stuff you buy (gas, groceries, etc) goes up as well? In fact, last week it was reported that food prices rose at historic levels.

Now we have a problem. You may have “more money” in your stocks, but they have the less buying power as prices for things you need go up as well. The final result? You are not richer because of your higher 401K, you are poorer -since you lost your buying power. This is the result of what economist call inflation. Inflation is the increase in the money supply when a government prints more money. This is now an increase in supply of money chasing the supply of goods (food, gas, corn, oil, etc). The Bible teaches strongly against “unjust weights” in the Bible. Jesus showed us how angry God gets at financial corruption.

There is an often misunderstood, but relatively well known passage in the Bible about Jesus’s anger that speaks to this issue:

45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

Jesus “drives out” the thieves that have made His Father’s house into a place of robbery. I will often hear someone expound on this passage and conclude that Jesus/God therefore hates any kind of commerce or capitalism. This is not only erroneous, but missing the whole context and point. Let’s look at how the political/religious system was robbing the poor and middle class by devaluing their currency. That’s what Jesus is mad about.

In those days, people would travel great distances to come to Jerusalem to sacrifice to God. God had instructed them to bring their best sheep, animal, etc to sacrifice to God. So this out-of-towner would come to Jerusalem to make a sacrifice to God. Before he was allowed into the temple, his beast had to undergo an “inspection.”

The scribes/priests had set up a insidious way to devalue the out-of-towner currency. Much like Boss hog used to give “30-day-in-jail” speeding tickets to musicians passing through Hazard county -unless they gave a “free concert”- on the Dukes of Hazzard. The corrupt scribes were exploiting the out of towners. How? In those days, your currency included both your money (silver, gold, and Roman coinage) as well as your property (your sheep, cows, etc).When you brought your sheep to town, the priest would declare it “unworthy” for sacrifice and then sell you one of their “qualifed” animals at twice the price. As you left the city, the priest would then take your “unqualified” animal and sell it to the next guy for twice the price. This is what Jesus is angry about. The religious and political leadership found a way to exploit the people. They were robbing them by devaluing their property and then upcharging them through rising prices.

The Bible teaches the importance of sound money as a protection for everyone in a community and nation. What we see going on today in our Federal Reserve is equally as wrong. They are purposefully attempting to devalue the people’s currency hoping that a rising 401K will keep you distracted from the rising prices at the gas station and the grocery store. They hope the citizens will blame the companies for raising prices when they have created the environment. For more information, check out www.godonomics.com or Here is a clip from “What Would God Say to Alan Greenspan?”

The Dalai Lama has either lost his mind or needs an education… Either way, he announced today he’s a Marxist.

chovind — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:01:01 +0000

Again, Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must be either true or false. . . . And immortality makes this other difference, which, by the by, has a connection with the difference between totalitarianism and democracy. If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of the state or civilisation, compared with his, is only a moment.

Since Marx thought force and coercion of other’s liberty would serve the “greater good” of the society, he advocated (in the Communist Manifesto), for the “forcible overthrow” of all existing social conditions. In other words, he was saying, Eliminate God, Family, and Church, and replace them with Statism and Government.

“…Communist regimes…turned mass crime into a full-blown system of government”. The estimated death toll totals 94 million, not counting the “excess deaths” (decrease of the population due to lower than-expected birth rates).”

Here is a summary of the carnage from the book:

65 million in the People’s Republic of China

20 million in the Soviet Union

2 million in Cambodia

2 million in North Korea

1.7 million in Africa

1.5 million in Afghanistan

1 million in the Communist states of Eastern Europe

1 million in Vietnam

150,000 in Latin America

10,000 deaths “resulting from actions of the international Communist movement and Communist parties not in power.”

“Courtois claims that Communist regimes are responsible for a greater number of deaths than any other political ideal or movement, including Nazism. The statistics of victims includes executions, intentional destruction of population by starvation, and deaths resulting from deportations, physical confinement, or through forced labor.”

So with the naked facts painting a evil and horrific picture of communism. Why do many today still have dinner conversations like, “Do you think Jesus was a communist?” or ‘I think the early church practiced communism…” Those statements are as naive and uneducated as hearing, “I wonder if Jesus and the early church were mass murderers?” and “I think Jesus would want us to promote a system that grants the State power to coerce and starve it’s citizens.” Why would the Dalai Lama support suggest a horrifying philosophy? Perhaps he’s lost his mind. Perhaps he’s getting old. Perhaps he needs to go to college.

The problem is the “redefining of history” and the redefining of words. Fifty years of progressive education has indoctrinated and brainwashed a generation into thinking the word communism and Marxism are synonymous with “Giving” and “Generosity.” They are not. Was the early church generous? Yes. Were they radically ‘others-focused” with their personal individual possessions? Yes. Did they promote and encourage the State to steal from one group and give to another? Never. Would any of the disciples say, “We were practicing communism?” Not a chance.

Christianity is a thinking religion. A rational mysticism. An empirical, historic event based on the facts of history -most notably the literal, physical, and documented resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s not fall for the perfect murder by dialing “M” for Marxism. Let’s remember the “M” stands for MURDER.

For more information about what the Bible teaches about liberty, prosperity, and generosity, check out www.godonomics.com For a lighter take on Marxism, check out the video below.

[bcvideo vid="901665204001" pid="96582452001" height="410" width="480"]

God is a Lion, Not an Elephant

chovind — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:49:03 +0000

My father worked as a public school teacher. My mother worked with senior citizens. They were always frustrated by the tendency of churches to present Jesus as an elephant. As I pastor over the years, I’ve met Christians who lean more donkey-ish and some more elephant-ish. We know we are hearing the true meaning of the Scriptures when the Word challenges all political assumptions. Jesus is not a donkey. He is not an elephant. He is a lion. He is the King of kings, the Lion of Judah. That makes Him unsafe for all who attempt to fashion Him into their image. I love the scene from Narnia when Lucy comes face to face with Him.

‘Then, he isn’t safe?’ asked Lucy.

‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver. ‘Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’

As a Lion, the Scriptures challenge both greed and entitlement. It challenges overspending, and hoarding. As C.S. Lewis said,

“Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political program for applying ‘do unto others’ to a particular society at a particular moment. It could not have. It is meant for all men at all times, and the particular program which suited one place or time would not suit another.” ~C.S. Lewis in Social Morality.

In the name of bipartisanship, many have attempted to either tame the lion and put him in their camp or pretend the lion is cowering in the corner with nothing to say about issues with political implications. Both approaches turn the lion into a mouse.

Ironically, as issues like the debt ceiling are debated in Washington D.C., the Bible challenges both approaches. The debt problem is far, far, far worse than either Republicans or Democrats admit. David Walker, the chief comptroller of the United States during both Red and Blue Administrations, is calling out to the American public. He is warning that we need a much, much more radical approach than either side is proposing. The only way to get back to health will be radical. The only way to avoid the consequences of the Roman Empire and Weimar Republic will be an “all of the above” approach. We will need significant entitlement reform. We will need radical warfare reform returning to Biblical ideas and criteria of what constitutes as “just war.” We will need to increase taxes. While both political sides debate “how much to borrow” from China. The Bible taught that nations should NOT borrow from other nations. See Deuteronomy 15:6.

⁶ For the LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Here is an interview from January 2011 on NPR where he calls upon all Americans to see behind the curtain. If you have not seen his bipartisan video called, “IOUSA” check it out (but know you may not sleep tonight). And this video is two years out of date.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TjBNjc9Bo[/youtube]

AMOS: Our next guest is likely to agree with that statement. He’s David Walker, and he was the comptroller of the United States and CEO of the Government Accountability Office from 1998 until 2008. He’s currently the President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and he’s the scariest CPA who’s not doing your taxes.

After taking his message on the road, Walker has just written a manifesto of sorts, “Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility.” Welcome to the program.

MR. DAVID WALKER (President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation): Deborah, good to be with you. And I love that movie “Dave,” and it’s a great name, too.

AMOS: So you have to agree, then, with Murray Blum, the fictional accountant in the movie, that the real government’s books are in trouble.

MR. WALKER: There’s no question. Our financial condition is much worse than advertised. We face large and growing structural deficits that threaten our future, and we need to start doing something about them.

AMOS: Now, you’ve written in your book that there is a moment coming soon when most of the government budget is going to go to servicing debt.

MR. WALKER: That’s correct. The GAO, under its latest simulation, said that within 12 years, without an increase in interest rates, the single-largest line item in the federal budget would be interest on the federal debt. That means more than defense, more than Social Security, more than Medicare, and that’s obviously not acceptable.

AMOS: You point out that when President Clinton left office, we had a balanced budget and even a surplus. So how did it get so bad so quickly?

MR. WALKER: People lost control. The money burned a hole in their pocket, through the floor and half way through the planet. Basically, the statutory budget controls that we had in place in the 1990s through President George Herbert Walker Bush, President Clinton, and the early part of the Bush 43 administration, they expired at the end of 2002 and things got totally out of control after that.

AMOS: What do you think that the specific dangers are of running a deficit this high?

MR. WALKER: It’s OK to run a deficit in the short term, when you’re in a recession, when you face serious challenges dealing with housing and financial markets. It’s not the current deficit that I’m concerned about. It’s the structural deficit that will exist whether the economy’s growing, whether or not we’re at war, no matter what the circumstances are. The dangers are that we end up losing the confidence of our foreign lenders. They end up wanting to charge much higher interest rates. The dollar declines dramatically, and the effect on that on the budget, on the economy and on, frankly, Americans, the cost of credit and other things is not a positive sight.

AMOS: You write that the seriousness of this is for future generations, that there is no way for children and grandchildren, that they can avoid higher taxes. We do. How does that work?

MR. WALKER: There are two kinds of taxes: current taxes and deferred taxes. Deficits, especially unreasonable deficits, represent deferred taxes on our children and grandchildren with interest. That’s reality, and it’s also math.

AMOS: Does that mean that at some future date, no matter what, that Congress is going to have to raise taxes to pay for what we’re spending now?

MR. WALKER: There’s absolutely no question that taxes are going to have to go up. When you look at the promises that have been made for Medicare, for example, $38 trillion underfunded, Social Security $7.7 trillion underfunded, plus military and civilian pensions and retiree health care, to make the numbers work, you have to restructure those programs, constrain spending, and raise revenues.

AMOS: Almost every one of your solutions includes a blue ribbon panel, and I get the idea that you’re suggesting that you don’t quite trust the politicians to do this.

MR. WALKER: Ultimately, elected officials will have a vote. However, the regular order is broken. Washington can’t make progress on a single difficult issue at a time, much less multiple at once. And we’re in a situation now where we have to make progress on budget controls, Social Security, health care and taxes quickly before we lose the confidence of our foreign lenders.

AMOS: Your polls show that Americans actually take this seriously, that they think the budget deficit and the dangers are more important than global warming and even health care reform. But those very politicians, in a broken system, are the ones who would have to convince people to do things like have their health care at work taxed or have benefits from Social Security go down. How does that work? How do you get politicians to sell the kind of ideas that actually get people turned out of office?

MR. WALKER: Well, first, the American people are ahead of their politicians, as typically is the case. Eighty percent of Americans believe that escalating deficits and debts should be a higher priority. Seventy percent of Americans believe we need some type of special blue ribbon commission to be able to deal with it. But ultimately, the elected officials are going to have to make a decision on the recommendations to the commission, whether to go with them or not, and the President will have to decide whether to sign or veto it.

AMOS: When you look at how health care – that overall process – went, does that make you more or less optimistic that the American government and the American system can implement these kind of broad changes that you’re talking about?

MR. WALKER: Well, the current health care reform bill is really not a health care reform bill. It’s a health care coverage expansion bill, and the only reason that people are talking about cost is because the President rightfully said he wanted to make sure that it was deficit neutral. The problem is that this country has $38 trillion of unfunded promises for Medicare already.

So our health care house is already mortgaged for more than it’s worth, and all we’re doing is adding a new wing onto it. So it doesn’t give me great confidence. And my question is, when are we going to start dealing with the real problems with health care costs that threaten to bankrupt the country and to make sure that we can deliver on the promises that we make?

AMOS: No one argues that what you’re talking about is crucially important, but we’re in an even bigger financial hole. We’re in a recession. So how do you talk about balancing the budget when government spending is the very thing that the economy has needed to sort of stir jobs and to keep the country afloat?

MR. WALKER: I think it’s very important to separate the short term from the structural. It’s understandable to run deficits when you have a recession, a depression or unprecedented financial services and housing-type of challenges and crises that we’ve had. That’s not what I’m concerned about. We will ultimately turn the economy around, but what we have to do is deal with the large known and growing structural deficits that are growing with the passage of time, and they are not long term anymore. They are within the horizon. They are going to hit our shores and we are not prepared.

Check out www.godonomics.com for more information.

Chuck-E-Cheese Economics: The Biggest Tax Hike No One Knows About

chovind — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

This spring break children and grandchildren will travel across the countryside to come visit grandma and grandpa. As we gather together, eat turkey, or vacation together; there will be a lot of down time as well. Often the challenges of keeping the family happy and entertained eventually leads to some kind of arcade, Chuck-E-Cheese, or video game family entertainment. As we watch our kids move from crawling through tunnels to driving cars, they seem to grow up right before our eyes. They seem oblivious to how fast the future is coming and roll their eyes when mom or dad say, “You are growing up so fast.”

Our children are racing into a future that is becoming increasingly uncertain. We want to pass the dreams we received from our parents on to our children and grandchildren. Will they have the same opportunities to thrive? Will they be given the same environment of liberty to pursue their own hopes as we had? Will they understand the importance of religious, political, and economic freedom? There are actually alot of economics to be learned at Chuck-E-Cheese.

The Bible teaches that God loves sound money. One of the roles of a just government is to protect its citizens from fraud. The most important financial protection a government can offer is to keep the currency strong. Consider how important God sees this issue

Leviticus 19:35-36 You shall do no injustice in judgment in measurement of length, weight, or volume.

You shall have honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 25:13 -16 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small, You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.

Proverbs 16:11 Honest weights and scales are the Lord’s. All the weights in the bag are His work.

Proverbs 20:23 Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord, and dishonest scales are not good.

What does it mean to have honest scales? What are dishonest scales? Let’s look at the Chuck-E-Cheese store first. We arrive at the arcade and give our children $20 worth of tokens to play games. As they win certain games, they collect tickets. They are so thrilled and excited to have earned over 1700 tickets in one hour. The come up with a bucket of their children’s currency with high hopes of being able to buy some great treasures and exciting toys. They’ve seen the wall covered with giant stuffed animals and ipods. They’ve played hard in hopes of bringing one home.

Then they count up their currency and discover something. Their tickets don’t have the buying power they hoped. Their tickets are so “worthless” that it takes 500 of them just to get a blowpop. It takes 1000 to earn a Chinese handcuff. The ipods and giant stuffed bears cost over 20,000 tickets. They are disappointed. You realize something is messed up since you you gave them $20.00; and now if they spend all their winnings, they can only “afford” cheap toys that cost less then $1.50 at any dollar store. What’s happened here? The people in charge of the currency (Chuck-E-Cheese) have tinkered with the number of tickets you win and the prices of the cheap toys in such a way that your children’s money has lost it’s value.

The US government’s central planning has done the same thing to the US dollar. It’s lost over 80% (Some Estimates have it up to 97%) of its value over the past 100 years. The government even provides us a website to measure how much they’ve destroyed our currency here. The result: An ice cream cone that cost 0.26 cents when my grandfather took me to McDonalds when I was a child, now costs over one dollar for my children. Is the ice cream that much more valuable now? Does it have alot more intrinsic worth? No. It’s not that the prices are rising as much as the dollars and cents are worth less. You now need almost four times as many “tickets” from the US treasury to buy the same dessert. Something is wrong. Very wrong. Gas prices have doubled. Food costs more. Insurance costs more. Healthcare keeps rising. Though there are many factors to consider, the biggest is the tax on regular folks called inflation: the increase in the money supply. God hates unjust weights because it hurts the entire society. Inflation is the most insidious tax that no one can even see, but they can feel. For more information check out www.godonomics.com Here is a clip from Bovine Economics:

Beware Porky Pig in Government

chovind — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:00:54 +0000

This political season, some fear donkeys, some elephants, and others rhinos; but it’s pigs we must keep our eyes on. Animal Farm warned us that Pigs are those political leaders that think “all are equal, but some are MORE equal than others.” Yes, pigs make rules for others that don’t apply to themselves. Although pigs can be found wearing red or blue shirts these days, some animals are more piggish than others. You can always spot political porkers by their love of overeating from other people’s troughs, and their preference for coercion over conversion.

Milton Friedman rightly called Socialism a force–forcing someone to do something, believe something, or give something they wouldn’t freely choose. The irony is that those who are most offended by the idea of “converting others” through ideas, religion, or reason, are often the most in favor of mandating behavior modification. Both political and religious coercion stand in opposition to the Bible’s call to an inside-out transformation of an individual and a society.

God lays out principles -Godonomics- which outline liberty, prosperity, and generosity throughout the Bible. 2 Cor 9:7 “So let each one (individualism not collectivism) give (not force) as he purposes in his heart (not as someone forced him to), not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Should we all be more generous? Without a doubt! Is it shameful that we buy a$4 a cup morning coffee, without even considering that half the world lives on less than $2 a day? Yes. So, what should we do about it– convert hearts or coerce pocketbooks?

Consider some philosophy: If God owned everything (and He does) and God could accurately discern who is needy (which He can) and God had the power to take from one group and give to others (which He could), then why doesn’t He? The one Person who could ethically, morally, and accurately coerce others, chooses not to. How presumptuous is it to adopt a method that God (the only One qualified for the job) won’t use?

Karl Marx’s philosophy was built on the need for coercive external liberty-killing force while the Bible motivates others through conversion internal liberty-releasing grace. This grace motivates individuals toward generosity and compassion. The end game of Marx is a large government that steals your liberty, prosperity, and generosity.

The Bible teaches that Christians should be people under authority and should pay our taxes: “We should render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” It may not be popular, but it is in The Good Book. But to misquote Porky Pig, “That’s NOT all folks.” He also warned us about a big coercive government.

In 1 Samuel 8, God’s people want to set up a government like other nations. They want a king with lots of power and influence. They want a big government. God, through Samuel, warns them about the “behavior of a king.” And over and over and over Samuel says, “He will take.” He will take a percentage of your income, a percentage of your land, and a percentage of your harvest. What was “Yours” will become “His.” And despite example after example of the loss of liberty, personal prosperity, and property, the people say, “We will have a King over us.” And the King does exactly what God said he would do. He taxes, he takes, and the whole nation declines because of it. The people choose to exchange liberty for perceived security. But government always takes more than it gives. It’s the nature of mankind’s sinful heart.

God won’t stop us, but He will lovingly warn us that government is like that man-eating plant from the Little Shop of Horrors. It is never satisfied. “Feed me Seymour.” It just grows and grows until everyone is eaten.
Naively assuming that government’s motives are more altruistic than industry is to fall prey to the con job in Ocean’s Eleven. George Clooney’s men robbed Andy Garcia’s Casino by showing up in police uniforms, when they were called in to stop the heist. The very people who robbed the bank were called in to stop the robbers. When the regulators of the future economy were the robbers, overspenders, and inflators of the previous economics mess, it looks like Porky Pig has more job security than ever.
The mafia’s “protection,” the Godfather’s horse head, and the socialist’s “nudging” are triplets that share the same father: coercion
For a free, first session of Godonomics, visit: http://www.godonomics.com/watch-session-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IULqlFKDdL8

Socialism and Capitalism contrasted by Spock and C.S. Lewis

chovind — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:42:18 +0000

Property Rights are the key difference between Socialism and Capitalism. Ask many on the street to define these terms and they will stumble for a comprehensive explanation. They may –perhaps- mumble something about capitalism being about greed and socialism being about generosity. The facts are quite the opposite. Here is a working definition.

Capitalism: The free exchange of privately owned goods and services

Socialism: An economic system focused on state control and state-ownership of industry and property.

Notice the difference? Do individuals own their businesses and property or does the government? Do we want “free exchange” or “control” of our lives by some larger innocuous entity? The key concept of comparing and contrasting these two is a question: Is the state more important than the individual or is the individual more important than the state? Was Spock correct in Star Trek when he said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?” Does the Borg’s collectivism justify assimilation of the individual?

The Biblical worldview has a clear and unapologetic answer to this question. C.S. Lewis said it best.

– C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 74-75

An economics teacher was contrasting to his class why capitalism produced incentive and socialism did not. They didn’t buy it. So he waited for the first test. Everyone got back a “C+” Many students had studied hard and got “A’s”, while others had blown off the test and failed. The teacher said that he wanted to treat everyone equally –just as they had suggested. He averaged the efforts of the class and gave everyone a “C+”! Well, guess what? Next test, the A’s students who had been robbed for their efforts, didn’t study as hard… The F students continued their bad study habits since they were quite happy with the rewards of their efforts on the last test. At the end of the day, everyone’s averaged grade was a “D.” The class was catching on. They saw that treating everyone equally leads to a downward spiral. It robs the hard workers of the gift of labor. The fruit of their hard work.

So what is Godonomics? It’s the beauty of God’s wisdom applied to economics. The power of His wisdom in a personal, family, or even national economy. It is the blueprint and framework where everyone can experience liberty, prosperity, and generosity.

For more information, check out www.godonomics.com

The Solution to Our Economic Problems is Godonomics

chovind — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:14:42 +0000

George Washington died the same way America’s economy is dying: he was bled to death by his doctors. As George’s symptoms got worse, his doctors siphoned out another pint of blood–believing his bad blood was the problem. With every pint pumped from his veins, he surprisingly –at least to them- got worse. These educated and elite medical professionals never questioned their original assumptions. They erroneously concluded they had not intervened enough and siphoned yet another quart of blood. Washington’s doctors killed him. As his cold corpse lay in his bed, you could hear in hush tones, “If only we’d bled him out faster and sooner.” The worsening symptoms were never interpreted as the proverbial light of the dashboard clamoring, “This is not working! Stop! You’re not solving the problem. You are the problem!”

The doctors of democracy from BOTH political parties have been bleeding out America today with their Keynesian assumptions that you can never spend too little, intervene too soon, or stimulate too much. America’s heart rate is up with historic high unemployment -reported at 9.0 % on Friday, but actually higher than 10% with underemployment approaching 20%. Gold has broken out into a cold sweat above $1700, and small businesses sound like Will Robinson’s robot: “Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger!” Reports came out today that our so-called recovery based on spending and printing is not quite as healthy as reported. In fact, the IMF cut the U.S. growth forecast and warned of crisis this morning.

And how does a doctor, trained in blood letting, respond to worsening symptoms? The same way a government brainwashed in Keynesian nonsense responds, “Take out another pint!” Keep spending. Keep borrowing. Keep inflating.” If George Washington’s ailing body could talk, he’d beg us to ignore the profoundly wrong assumptions of the professionals. He might advise us to go watch Weekend at Bernie’s, when we see politicians waving America’s dying hand while mouthing, “We’re almost out of the woods! The recovery is underway.” George might gasp with his dying breathe, “Stop helping, I can’t take it!”

What America needs today is God’s view on economics–Godonomics. In Proverbs 31, it outlines how economies work. This business woman begins with PRODUCING, by finding a vineyard. Then she PROFITS -which is a good thing, not a four letter word. And in a free market system, the only way to profit is when someone willingly chooses to buy your product, requiring the producer to put the consumers needs first. Don’t confuse free market capitalism with corporatism, where companies line the pockets of government officials to manipulate the system in their favor.

Our Proverbs 31 woman does just that, as she “affirms that her merchandise is good”, working day and night to make the business go. From her profits she produces SAVINGS, which allow her to INVEST in another vineyard–blessing others, hiring more workers, and PRODUCING more. From her SAVINGS she extends her hand to the poor and needy. And twice the Scriptures affirm two lynch-pins of capitalism: Property Rights and Incentive, when it says, “Give her the fruit of her hands.” Those profits belong to her, because she worked for them. This is called property rights. And they were the incentive of her hard work: her profits.

Contrast this with Consumer-onomics, which begins with CONSUMING more than you PRODUCE. Since you have no SAVINGS, you must turn to BORROWING to support your lifestyle. Where does this money come from? If you are an individual, it may come from ENSLAVING yourself to the compounded interest of debt. If you are a government or governmental program, you only have three ways to consume.

Option 1: TAXING the producers, thus decreasing their profits, savings, and ability to invest in new jobs. (Good bye employment). God warns us against the ways a large government will “take” what is “ours” and make it “his.”

1 Samuel 8. “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons…¹³ He will take your daughters ¹⁴ And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants….¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.

Option 2) INFLATING the currency which devalues the dollar and hurts the poor, ignoring God’s strong words about “unjust scales” and “dishonest weights.”

Proverbs 11:1. ¹ Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD,

But a just weight is His delight.

Today reports another weakening of the US dollar.

Option 3: ENSLAVING itself by borrowing from other nations- -ignoring God’s commands from Deuteronomy not to borrow from other nations, because they will have power over you. All three of these bad options pass the buck of our selfish binging to our children and grandchildren, rather than following the advice of the Proverb that says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s

children.”

Deut 15:6 You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Deut 28: You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

If Washington is to be resuscitated… if he has any chance of recovering from his blind guides and blood thirsty doctors; we must return to God’s wisdom. We need to educate others in Godonomics, and seek His founding principles… before we, like George are bled to death. God’s principles are timeless: Liberty, Prosperity, and Lavish Generosity from all to all.

For more information, check out www.godonomics.com. Sign up for the RSS feed in the upper right corner. If you like this post, click like and share. If you want a copy of the 6 session DVD series or ipad/itouch APP, click to the right to order a copy of the series which covers “What Would God Say to Adam Smith, John Keynes, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alan Greenspan, Karl Marx, and the I.R.S.?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNFzpHn_bOo

Godonomics: Ant and the Sluggard.

cathy — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Will-E Coyote had incentive: a Roadrunner Stew, but he never had to face the consequences of falling off that cliff. Sure, he’d fall 100 stories and a puff of air would replace his outline; but in the next scene he was fine. He never learned to reap what he sowed (Galatians 6:8). The cartoonists rescued him from the pain of his actions. Socialism does the same. Throughout the proverbs are two characters: The Ant and the Sluggard. The ant works hard, gathers his food in the summer to prepare for the winter (Proverbs 6:6, 30:25) while the sluggard ooozes around. Socialism and corporatism tries to punish the ant (the saver, the wise spender, the frugal buyer) by taking from him to help out the sluggard (the poorly managed company, the corrupt union boss, or the “needy” political cause). And the sluggard learns that laziness pays. The ant learns that hard work is punished. So the sluggard hires lobbyist to petition the government to take from the mean ant with “all his food” to provide for the poor helpless sluggard shivering in his trail of goo.

For more information check out Session 1 of Godonomics: What Would God Say to Adam Smith?

Monopoly Money, IOU’s, and Quantitative Easing

cathy — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:40:37 +0000

Here is a phrase that you don’t hear much but will soon dominate the news: quantitative easing. What does that mean? In laymen’s terms, one might say, “I’ll rob Peter to pay Paul” or “I’ll pay off one credit card by putting it on another one.” When you say it that way, it sounds like an unwise, short term solution, but not a sustainable plan.

America has bad credit. Terrible credit. We are almost 13.7 Trillion dollars in debt and we are continuing to spend more than we make. How are we able to do that? Most American citizens do it with the use of credit cards and lines of credit. The same is true for governments. The US borrows money from other nations. However, when someone is a good credit risk -meaning they make good financial decisions and have good chance of paying the bill in an agreed-upon time frame- they are offered a lower credit rate by the bank. When a person has bad credit or is making continual, habitual, bad decisions, the bank wants a higher interest rate to compensate them for the risker loan.

China is our Bank. America is the Bad Credit Risk. China is not impressed with our credit score and current trajectory, so they are refusing to keep lending to us unless we clean up our financial house. They also want us to raise the interest rate we give them for enabling our bad behavior. The US treasury doesn’t want to do either. So what does a government do who can’t find a new credit card, won’t stop spending, and refuses to compensate the lender for taking a risk?

Quantitative Easing. What? Yes. This is the proposed solution. The government loans money to… itself?! The US becomes it’s own credit card. Instead of borrowing from its citizens like we did in World War 2 and paying them back later, the government justs borrows from itself. How does that work? In short, it doesn’t. That’s why gold surged again this week to historic levels. The only way to borrow from yourself is to print money off the government printing press. Why is this a problem? It causes inflation which leads to rising prices. Look at gold. Look at the price of oil. Get ready to see it in your grocery store bills.

By borrowing from itself, the government is playing monopoly against itself. Do you remember the last time you played monopoly with one of your kids or friends? At some point one of them ran out of money, but wanted to keep playing. You first let them give you an IOU in hopes that one more time around the board might lead to some revenue. When that didn’t work, they sold you their property. Pretty soon, they didn’t have any property left for others to land on -so there was no hope of ever paying you back. Imagine your son is in that situation, but offers a solution, “Mom, it’s okay, I’ll write you another IOU for my IOU?” Huh? Your son continues, “My left hand is going to give a loan to my right hand. So even though my right hand has no money, my left hand is good for it.” You ponder this ingenious childish thinking and ask, “Does your left hand have any money?” He protests, “No, but I feel really good about the chances that it will soon.”

That is quantitative easing. It is nonsense. It stands in opposition to God’s commands.The irony is that the excessive printing is done to provide beneficial programs to help the poor and needy. The unintended consequences are ironic. The more you print and spend; the more you’ll need to print and spend. As the printing press saw blade spins, the prices for supplies go up. The more prices go up, the more you need to print more money. The cycle continues. This is a way of stealing from the public, like John Keynes told us, without the public ever seeing how it was done. The government is able to steal the citizens’ prosperity right under their noses.

The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. ~ John Keynes

This is why God said that dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord. A just weight or standardized weight in our monetary system is a consistent value. That consistent sound money is God’s delight. God cares about money. Sound money is about helping not only the poor, but everyone. It’s about honest and impartial transactions. God has a lot to say about it:

Leviticus 19:35-36 You shall do no injustice in judgment in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah… I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 25:13 -16 13 You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small, You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.

If our government doesn’t stop playing monopoly with our money, it’s the middle class that will see their savings and wallets turned into funny money. The government will then blame businesses for raising prices rather than looking in the mirror

For more information, Check out www.godonomics.com Sesssion 4 What Would God Say to Alan Greenspan Check out this video of Chad explaining why the Bible supports incentive and sound money

Shouldn’t Christians Consider the Cost of War?

chovind — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:55:49 +0000

Osama is dead. Obama is celebrating. Mother’s day is just around the corner. What a roller coaster of emotions. Mother’s day is a lot like this week. One moment you are laughing at a child’s funny moment, the next moment you are overwhelmed that you have no idea what you are doing. Imagine the challenges of being a mother to Osama Bin Laden. Imagine the complexities of mothering a known terrorist. Imagine the prayers, the pain, and the horror of seeing the world celebrate your son’s death. Imagine the smile and proud look of Obama’s mom, knowing her son caught the worlds most famous terrorist.

Jesus spoke of the complexities of both war and emotions of motherhood. He said:

Luke 14:28-3128 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Jesus notes that a leader and wise builder will weigh the cost of battle before going into war. Why? First, to ensure victory. Second, to consider the huge cost in human life, financial commitment, and loss of young men and women.

The Bible takes a nuanced view on war which explains why Christ followers can disagree. While the Bible clearly teaches us not to murder, the word murder is different from the the Hebrew word kill. The Bible forbids murder: unjust killing. The Bible makes exceptions for self-defense and lays out ethics for war taking a realistic view of our broken world and the reality of evil.

I once spoke with a dear friend, a Quaker, who was a strong pacifist… Until he got married. His wife once asked him, “If an intruder broke into our house and attacked me, are you saying you wouldn’t fight him off?” My friend said, “No, I am a pacifist.” He told me the look in his new bride’s eyes will haunt him till the day he dies. She was horrified that her husband wouldn’t love her enough to protect her from evil. He made a decision that day to take evil more seriously and relook at his position on “just” violence vs “unjust” violence. He changed his position and provided his wife with the security she needed and hoped for.

War is terrible. My father in law still aches from the things he saw in Vietnam. My grandpa fought in WWII as a marine; my other grandfather was in the army. They fought the forces of evil and did “the loving thing” by serving in the military and fighting off Hitler. I know first hand the challenges to mothers and grandmothers who see the complications of war on their sons and daughters and long to hold them tightly. Jesus knew this feeling well when he referenced feeling like a mother and grieving like a mother hen seeing the coming war and destruction of his people in Jerusalem.

Matthew 23:37-39

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! ’”

Should we rejoice in Osama’s death? Should we celebrate Obama’s military strategy? A follower of christ can have mixed emotions. They can celebrate that evil is judged and innocent lives will no longer be victims while grieving the lost of a human life. They can support a war that punishes evil while questioning the cost of it. They can support just war while questioning if this particular war meets the criteria.

If you want to keep up with godonomics blog, click the “subscribe” button on the rss feed to the right of this blog or go to www.godonomics.com

[bcvideo vid="867547677001" pid="96582452001" height="410" width="480"]