How Close We Came

I love September. I always have. Here where I live in southeastern Washington state, the month of September hits and "ding" the weather changes. We still have warm days, often through the latter part of the month, but the days finally start getting cooler, and now that fall has arrived, I am looking forward to those crisp fall mornings. It would almost help me be able to ignore what is going on in our country. The far-reaching effects that the events of this month will have are only going to be known in time.

Huge financial institutions in this country have been failing right and left. This month has seen Lehman Brothers holdings file the largest bankruptcy in the history of the nation. AIG (American International Group), the largest insurer in the world, was bailed out by an $85 billion loan from the federal government. Merrill Lynch always had those big ads on TV. That's what I remember about them, and they were saved from bankruptcy by merging with Bank of America. On top of all that, the United States government has taken over Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation).

It is alarming to me that the federal government has become this nation's lender. All of the money that the fed has thrown at these problems places the burden for these enormous monies squarely onto the shoulders of Joe Average. I wonder if Joe average is even thinking about it though. Nobody seems to be that upset about it. I wonder if America's financial practices have become so outlandish that most folks are just desensitized to these issues.

The fact is, Joe and Josephina Average are the ones who fund the federal government. That means that as taxpayers, we are, with all of these bailouts subject to about a $90,000.00 commitment. Do you have ninety grand lying around if something goes wrong? I don't. Most people don't, and that sends a clear message to nations all around the world about our present financial situation. Doesn't look very good.

Last night at church, a couple of guys were chatting with me before worship, and one of them was throwing out statistics that I found appalling but not surprising. One of those was that the U.S. people in 2007 spent $27.9 billion on wine consumption. Statistics like those, coupled with this year's national quarterly growth reports were what he used to bolster the idea that the U.S. is financially sound. This nation came very close to financial collapse last Thursday. He apparently didn't notice. Short-sightedness really bugs me, especially when there are voices all around calling for caution and restraint, and there has been seemingly no one listening. Let me throw another thought out for consideration. The presidential elections are coming up. Hypothetical situation--all of those nations which supply the U.S. with oil decide to cut us off cold turkey. Which candidate is most prepared for that scenario? Which candidate even has a plan for such a scenario? We are at such a bad place financially, that I am fairly confident that something like that would take us from where we are to certain financial doom.

How much does all of this matter in the bigger picture to us as believers? I don't really know. I can say that the outcome of the election has nothing to do with Jesus' kingdom in my view, but how we as citizens of heaven deal even in our small ways with what is happening, can say a lot to those unbelieving who are watching, and have no doubt, they are watching.