“I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.“
-Thomas Jefferson[1]
In the book of Kings we find the story of a widow who was burdened with a debt that she could not pay. The creditor was on his way to take her two sons and sell them as slaves. In desperation, she went to Elisha, the prophet and told him of her situation. After a miracle of multiplying the oil—her only possession, he told her to “pay thy debt, and live”.[2]
Most of us have had experiences with procrastination. Whether it is putting off an assignment, or waiting to change your lifestyle for the better, it never does you any good.
Debt is procrastination.
When you go into debt, you take the reward without paying the price. You assume that you deserve the item or service even though you can’t afford to pay for it. So instead, you sign a contract stating that you will “pay for it later.” This might sound good, but there is a problem. When “later” comes, you will still have to pay for the basic costs of living.
Another problem with debt is the enormous amount of interest that comes with the price. The average American spends $890 per year on credit card debt and $1,027 per year in student loan debt.[3] This is insane! Not to mention mortgages, car loans, and loans from retailers. The average American has $90,460 in debt, and the total amount of consumer debt in America is $14.1 trillion.[4]
$14 trillion is a lot of money, but here’s the sad part. The US national debt is even higher. As of October 2020, it is over 27 trillion dollars[5]—$215,000 per taxpayer.[6] That’s the equivalent of our federal government holding a full home loan for every individual taxpayer! I don’t know about you, but I’d say that’s about $27 trillion too much procrastination.
Debt is bondage—financial security is freedom. A study by the World Bank found that if the debt-to-GDP ratio of a nation exceeds 77% for an extended period of time, it slows economic growth and will eventually lead to an economic disaster. Right now, the US debt-to-GDP ratio is sitting at about 137%.[7]
We have been pouring trillions of dollars into our socialist welfare programs.[8] We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars per year on endless wars in other countries.[9] This limitless government spending is undoubtedly leading us to economic instability. As President Ronald Reagan once said, “We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.”
Consumer and national debt will hold us back, put us into bondage to someone else, and create perfect setups for economic disaster. We need to change.
Ron Paul, an American patriot and defender of liberty, has said for years, referring to our economy: “It’s a shiny building, but it’s built on sand.”[10] Eventually, no matter how shiny it is, a building built on sand is going to come down.
Begin now by clearing up any personal debt you may have. Depending on how much there is, it might take a lot of work and time, but it will be worth it.
Clearing up national debt might be a little bit harder to do. To succeed, we need to educate the people of the United States. We need to elect servants of the people who understand the importance of economic self-reliance. Servants who understand the dangers of socialism and the dangers of central banking.
The truth is, debt is dangerous. As President George Washington once said, “No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable.”[11]
Our current economic crisis is a wake up call to America. Our economy is crumbling under the false prosperity that debt and inflation have created for us. Let us “Pay Thy Debt, and Live”—before it’s too late.
[1] – Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 28 May 1816
[2] – 2 Kings 4, Pay Thy Debt, and Live
[3] – The Average American Now Spends Over $7,000 On Interest Each Year
[4] – 2019 Consumer Debt Study
[5] – Government – The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It
[6] – US Debt Clock | Real Time
[7] – US Debt Clock | Real Time
[8] – Children of the Republic | What’s behind America’s Economic Problems
[9] – DOD Releases Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Proposal
[10] – Ron Paul Liberty Report
[11] – Founding Fathers Quotes
