Trump's First Budget Proposal

In April 2016, then candidate Trump told the Washington Post that he would promise to completely eliminate the U.S.' national debt over 8 years. (This of course assumed his re-election to a 2nd term.) His first budget proposal includes a 9% boost in defense spending, and deep cuts elsewhere.

Trump is proposing a 31% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, a 28% cut to the State Department, & deep cuts in foreign aid, medical & scientific research, as well as anti-poverty programs that do things like provide free meals to children and the elderly. Trump would entirely eliminate federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR), the Corporate for Public Broadcasting, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Trump's philosophy seems to be to shift the funding of many social programs to the private sector - let the philanthropists pay for it. I'm actually okay with that because I see that our current national debt of over $19 trillion is equal to more than $166,000 for every man, woman and child in America.  And it is still growing.  We have to make deep, painful spending cuts somewhere. The problem is that that's not really what Trump is proposing.

Overall federal spending under Trump's proposed budget still comes in around $4 trillion - about the same as in President Obama's last budget plan.  Moreover, the deficit (the amount by which spending exceeds tax revenue) would be about $559 billion under Trump - nearly the same as it was under Obama.  And the Trump budget doesn't do anything to curb the growing spending - or raise revenue to pay for the growing spending for Medicare, Social Security, and other entitlement programs that so many Americans rely on.

Trump's April 2016 pledge doesn't seem to be reflected in his budget proposal.  Don't you think it should be?  

I realize that Trump is already in for a fight.  He believes we're not secure, and by making these deep cuts he's freeing up existing spending for things like the defense departments and construction of a border wall between us and Mexico.  Already the liberals are crying foul, and the lobbyists are preparing to launch their attacks to persuade Congress not to let Trump have his way.  Based on their past behavior, I have no confidence that our Congress has the courage to make deep spending cuts anywhere.  My guess is they will either not let Trump have his defense increases - or they will just borrow more money to pay for it. 

It's even more frightening to consider the prospects of our national debt, when the Republicans are promising tax cuts.  In the face of our national debt and deficit spending plans, they think American corporations and individuals should pay less taxes.  I know there is a much-beloved theory that if we make tax cuts they will stimulate the economy and more taxes will actually get paid.  I haven't actually seen that work.  Ever.  Not in my lifetime anyway. 

While I'm not an expert on world history, I am a student of it.  And so far I'm not aware of any country that has been able to make that work either.  In all the history of the world, it seems that governments must tax their people in order to pay for what they do.  No one has ever been able to cut those taxes and actually pay for government spending.  Not in the history of the world.  And many governments have actually collapsed under the weight of their own spending (and inability to raise the tax revenue.)

Its not inconceivable to me that the U.S.' national debt could top $40 trillion or more before Trump's maximum term of eight years in office.  I remember when Obama took office.  Our national debt was already in the stratosphere.  It was breathtaking.  I could not imagine how our country could go on borrowing.  I honestly feared our whole economy could collapse if the national debt got any worse.  But Obama, and our Congress, had a different vision.  We continued our wars, our liberal social programs, and even implemented a costly health care plan.  The government spending and borrowing continued unabated for eight more years - and the national debt more than doubled. 

Here's the thing I know.  It is expensive to be America.  We have made ourselves the world's police force - moving literally on every continent to fight for freedom and democracy.  We have made ourselves the world's benefactors - shipping humanitarian aid to every continent when there is need.  We have made ourselves the freedom fighters, propping up regimes that we view as righteous, providing foreign aid to the tune of billions to countries like Israel or Egypt.  And of course, we are not willing to say no to our own people.  So we allow the people to vote themselves all sorts of benefits - by sending representatives to Washington who will work to give them what they want.  (Politicians often point to their record of "winning" federal money & program support for their own geographic constituents.)  All of this is expensive. 

Like I said, it is expensive to be America.  And so I wonder how we can move forward if we don't both make deep spending cuts AND commitments to pay more taxes.  When will American individuals and corporations decide that it is worth it to pay our own way?  When will we be willing to make the hard financial choices in order to reverse this collision course with reality?

What are YOUR thoughts about this?

America the Expensive

There is an ugly truth here. It's a bit like the proverbial elephant in the room. That is to say it's there, it's true, everyone knows it (or should) --- but nobody is ready to talk about it. Are they afraid to talk about it? Or do they just not know how to talk about it?

New York Times' editorial writer Eduardo Porter recently published a book that he titled, "The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do." I haven't (yet) read the book. But when I first heard about it, I thought the title was very catchy. The Price of Everything. Isn't that just the question that needs to be answered?

I don't know why we pay what we do for different things. But I'm sure that Mr. Porter will be able to enlighten when I read his book. I'm just not sure that he's answering the most important question. I mean, is it more important that we know why the price of everything is ... or what the price of everything is?

As you and the rest of the world are painfully aware, the United States is struggling with federal budget deficits and a national debt that is staggering. A fascinating web site that I visit from time to time is http://www.usdebtclock.org/. It provides a running account of the debts and unfunded liabilities of the federal and state governments of the United States.

Our politicians are only just now starting to intensify the dialogue in Washington, DC about what to do. It remains to be seen whether they'll really get serious about increasing taxes, reducing spending and putting the U.S. federal government on firm financial footing again. At the state level, the various state governments are reacting in different ways. Some are slashing spending. Some are raising taxes. Most are - like the federal government - just wringing their hands without actually taking any tangible action to address the issue.

And exactly what is the issue? Quite simply it is that living in these United States is an expensive proposition. The freedoms that we celebrate? They're expensive. The security that we appreciate? It's expensive. The global leadership role? Expensive. Those civil rights? Expensive. That rich heritage? Expensive.

Do you see the correlation here? America might truly be the greatest country on earth. It may be the largest super power that the world has ever known. But it is also the most expensive country the world has ever known. Operating the U.S. government and the governments of the individual states is expensive. How expensive is it?

The math here isn't complex. We simply look at how much the government spends doing all of the things it does --- and that gives us the price of everything. In the current fiscal year, that will cost about $3.5 trillion dollars. However, the total revenue of the federal government (from taxes, fees, etc.) is only about $2.3 trillion dollars. This leaves us with a federal budget deficit of about $1.2 trillion dollars.

So think about it this way. America the beautiful is about $1.2 trillion more expensive than we thought it would be this year. So if our politicians threw away the tax code and just sent everyone a bill for their fair share of the cost to be America, each of us (every man, woman and child) would get an invoice for about $4,500 this year ... on top of the taxes that we have already paid! So nobody gets a tax refund. Everyone gets an additional tax bill of $4,500. And it's due immediately. This is how you should think about this.

The story is worse though. Because the government didn't do a "true up" and send us each an additional tax bill last year or the year before, or the year before and so on, the cumulative deficit (i.e., national debt) now adds up to more than $14.2 trillion dollars. So if our politicians threw away the tax doe and just sent everyone a bill for their fair share of the cost to be America, each of us (every man, woman and child) would get an invoice for about $47,300 this year ... on top of the taxes that we have already paid! So nobody gets a refund. Everyone gets an additional tax bill of $47,300. And it's due immediately. This is how you should think about this.

We've had presidents promise, "No new taxes!" And we've had politicians and so-called experts calling for spending reductions. But the oddest thing is that no one has just said, "Look America. Being America is an expensive proposition. What with aging baby boomers going onto Social Security, the war against terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the aging infrastructure, the program commitments that we've made to everything from national parks to the arts to single mothers to the unemployed to airline security ... it's all gotten terribly expensive. None of us knew it would be this expensive to be America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. But it is. And we have got to all knuckle under and pay for it."

Why isn't anyone having this conversation? Isn't that what sane, rational people would do? I imagine if my wife kept spending and spending and I was borrowing to pay the bills and digging ever deeper into debt --- then we'd have that conversation. I'd say something like, "Look honey, as much as I love and admire you and all that you're doing, the truth is that we cannot afford to live like we do. We can't afford to be as generous as we are. So we have two options. And the good news is, we can do both of them. But we at least have to do one of them. First, we can make more money to fund this expensive lifestyle. Second, we can stop living such an expensive life. So what will it be?"

Let's face it, this is the conversation that Americans need to be having right now. And we need to have it with both our federal and state government leaders. The likely answer is that we need to increase taxes and reduce spending. But not doing either is not an option. We are on an unsustainable road here. It is the proverbial elephant in the room. Are you ready to talk about it?

American Challenges

With all the people marching in the streets around the world, trying to get their government leaders' attention, I'm wondering if Americans ought to join in. After all, there are some things we'd like to call our government's leaders' attention to. And for the life of me, I cannot understand how the politicians that we elect in Washington, DC can wander around acting as if life is normal when we have massive threats to the sovereignty of our country looming over our heads. Call me a pessimist, but some of these things just have to be addressed. Now.

Let's start with the national debt. As of this week, it stands at $14,123,589,307,190.50. If we divide that by the approximately 300 million people that comprise the United States of America, it equates to about $47,078.63 for every man, woman and child alive today. How many people live in your household? Multiply that times this amount and you can see what your personal share of the burden is.

Of course it is the largest national debt number ever known to any state in the history of the world. But if that's not an attention getter, there are more practical aspects to this dilemma. For example, the current interest expense on this national debt is equal to about 10% of all government spending. Said differently, 10% of all the money the government spends is being used to pay interest on the national debt.

Now keep in mind that what our government spends is not equal to what you pay in taxes. So this 10% number? It's considerably more than the amount you pay in taxes. In fact, the government will spend, just this year alone, about $1.5 trillion more than it will receive in tax revenues. So just like the cartoon, we really are borrowing from our MasterCard to make the payments on our Visa card!

The U.S. faces two huge problems right now that really are linked. Our unemployment rate is hovering at about 9.4%. But once you add in those who want full time work but can find only part-time jobs, it is almost twice that (or about 18%). Job creation is not even keeping pace with the rise in population. And the budget deficit is running at almost 10% of gross domestic product (GDP). What that means is that the amount of money our government needs to borrow this year to keep the lights on is about 10% of all the money that will be made in the whole country this year.

But the first couple years of Obama's presidency, he and his administration largely focused on health care reform. Is that really the most seriously pressing issue? I don't think so. Now Obama referred to our currently dilemma (i.e., lack of innovation, lack of progress, etc.) as a "Sputnik moment." He was recalling the time back in 1957 when the U.S. realized that Russia had just out done us on the space program. So we surged forward with major investments in infrastructure, education, space exploration, etc.

And Obama wants to call our nation to do the same now ... surge forward with massive investments to ensure that America remains the leading super power globally. The only problem is that back in 1957, the U.S. government had piles of cash to spend on catching up. Now it has none. In fact, we owe everybody and can't even maintain our mediocrity without borrowing heavily from both our friends and our enemies in the world.

Perhaps the thing that disappoints me most about how our government leaders are failing us is that they are allowing Americans to continue living in denial. Just once I'd like to see a politician go on national TV and tell us that we have to pay more taxes. A lot more. These freedoms that we all hold so dear? This country that we're all convinced is the greatest on earth? It turns out they are considerably more expensive than anyone thought.

I love the United States. Perhaps it is the greatest country on earth. But frankly I can't enjoy something nearly so much if I don't own it. And Americans are fast losing our ownership of these freedoms and riches that we hold so dear. Unless we pony up and start paying a lot more taxes than we're paying now, we could lose everything that we hold so dear. It'll be foreclosed on by our creditors. Talk about a foreclosure crisis!

The first step is for Americans to get educated. It's clear (at least to me) that our government and its leaders aren't willing to tell us the truth about the situation at hand. Fortunately Peter Peterson has plowed a bunch of his wealth into a foundation that is dedicated to educating us, equipping us and calling us to action. You can check it out and join the cause at http://www.pgpf.org/.

I urge you, if you really love this country and value our freedoms, then go get the facts. Find out how expensive this way of life really is. And let's start having a national dialogue on how we're going to pay for it.

Debt Solutions

Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere, you've noticed in the past couple of years an enormous growth in the "debt industry." (I'm not sure it is an industry, but it sure is behaving like one!) The radio and TV ads, the pop-up ads on the Internet, and even ads in newspapers. They all ask you if you're fed up with credit card debt. Basically they want you to agree with them on the definition of the problem ... for which they conveniently have a "solution."

They purport to give you hope by telling you they can help you. Many explain that a new law, a little known law, or simply your "rights" make it possible to settle your debts for less than you owe. Some of the nastier ones cast the lenders and creditors as villains in some kind of an evil scheme that victimized you, the debtor.

It's fair to say that having too much debt is a bit of a problem. Americans are carrying more (personal) debt than any other people group in the history of the world. We have big mortgages, big car payments, big credit card balances, etc. But is debt really the problem? Or is it maybe a symptom of the root problem?

It's like being obese. We all think the problem is the extra weight we're carrying around. We use the bathroom scale to measure our weight and try to track that. But at the end of the day, how much you or I weigh isn't the point. Rather the point is what we eat. Obesity is a symptom of the bigger problem ... our eating habits. And so it is with debt I think.

Americans live large. As a nation we've lived large for quite some time now. We're involved in everything everywhere. It seems that no matter where there's a conflict (war), disaster or even political event - the U.S. is involved. We are perhaps the most influential country in the history of the world (that hasn't had sovereignty over those it influenced).

As individuals, we tend to live just about as large. Even the poorest of our citizens will have satellite TV, a nice car or other things they really shouldn't afford even if they can. Compared to Germans, for example, we live on a spectrum that is more like a polar opposite.

Consider the German culture is to define their lifestyle within the confines of their finances. They look at how much money they have and then determine how they will live. Americans on the other hand, do it quite differently. How much money we have is not really part of our decision criteria. We seem to define how we want to live, and then spend the rest of our time trying to make our finances obey our lifestyle. And as the popular Dr. Phil would say, "How's that workin' for ya?"

I've become a big fan of Peter G. Peterson, a respected business leader who put $1 billion of his wealth into a foundation (http://www.pgpf.org/) dedicated to fighting the national debt. He backed the movie, I.O.U.S.A. that really was a documentary on America's unbridled spending and unprecedented debt. He's been campaigning to make the national debt a key issue on the political agenda of our nation, and even of the world.

Recently, Peterson produced a five-part follow-up called "I.O.U.S.A.: Solutions." Here he talks about what needs to happen to put America back on firm financial footing. Check that out at http://www.iousathemovie.com/.

We Americans seem to be trapped in some kind of time warp that is disconnected from reality. We're living large. We're living much, much larger than we can afford. Somehow, we need to find room in our budget to retire the astronomical debt this nation (and its people) carries.

But more importantly, as Peterson points out in his solutions piece, America and the Americans need a whole new thinking process when it comes to finances. The paradigm must shift to whether or not we have the money to pay for a war, assist the poor, advance an agenda, etc.

So it would seem that the best "debt solutions" have yet to appear in the American culture. For the true debt solutions will have to come from an extremely significant revolution in our thinking about money and how we live.

Are you ready?

Cash 4 Clunkers

Like most Americans with older cars in the driveway, I've taken notice of the U.S. Government's "cash for clunkers" program. They will pay you up to $4,500 toward the purchase of a new, more fuel efficient car than the old car you presently drive.

I guess the concept is to use government funding to get polluting gas-hogs off the roads in America. On the surface, it seems okay. Probably a noble thing to do. Saving the planet and making America less dependent on foreign oil and all.

But there are some things about this program that are starting to bug me. Let me explain.

First, the U.S. government funded $1 billion for this program. It was money we didn't have. So we borrowed it. We'll pay it back in 40 or 80 years. Meanwhile, we'll pay interest on it. Probably to China. Over the years, the interest costs will mount up to multiples of the billion dollars we borrowed. The debt will last far longer than the new, more fuel efficient cars.

Second, a billion dollars didn't cut it. We ran out of money. So our Congress funded the program with another $2 billion. Again, it is money that we don't have. So we're borrowing it. We'll pay it back in 50 or 90 years. Meanwhile we'll pay interest on it. Probably to China. Over the years - decades really - the interest costs will mount up to multiples of the billion dollars we borrowed.

Third, most of the reason people drive old gas-hog clunkers is financial. I mean few people, if they'll really be honest, enjoy driving vehicles that make them the laughing stock of the soccer team. I can't imagine anything Americans love more than a brand new car. It's the pinnacle that we all enjoy. If we can afford it, I'm convinced that the majority of Americans would get a new car. But that's the rub --- we can't afford it. So in order to get that new car, we'll apply the "cash for clunkers" that our government borrowed from Japan to the down payment. Then we'll get a loan that we can't afford the payments on, from the banks that our government bailed out.

Fourth, I notice that as we spent the first billion dollars on this program, there were five models of new vehicles that captured most of the sales. Four of them are made by Japanese companies. So our government borrows money from China ... to pay Americans to buy new cars that they can't afford ... and we buy them from the Japanese. Someone, please help me understand how this benefits our country!

Fifth, I saw a video on YouTube that explains how the government's web site for this program gives the government rights that you never intended to give it. View the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWs12ccbOiE. You'll see that to get into the government web site, you have to agree to give the government access to all the information in your computer. Further, it gives the government the right to control your computer. As such, it gives the government the right to monitor all activity on your computer - including Skype phone calls. Is this really what you want to get from your government as you go about the patriotic duty of getting that new car?

So here's how I see it. Cash for clunkers? I don't think so. Not this time. Not now. Not with these conditions. Moreover, I'm more than disappointed to see that the average American who is participating is flocking to the Japanese dealers to do it. If Americans are going to continue to bury ourselves in so many ways, couldn't we at least buy American in the process!

Moral Debt?

When I was a kid my mother used to refer to something outrageous or enormous by comparing it "the national debt." At the time I didn't know how much the national debt was. I doubt that my mother knew the amount of the national debt. But we could tell by the tone of her voice that it was a nasty number. Surely no one would approve of such a debt. But that was then.

In the 1980's I voted for Ronald Reagan. I thought he was a decent president. But I was in banking and paid more attention to the national debt. While I supported Reagan's presidency, I was alarmed to see that the national debt was ballooning under his leadership. In fact, despite the economic prosperity that much of the nation enjoyed during his presidency, we ran up a staggering amount of debt compared to the presidencies before him.

Through the years since then, we've watched the national debt grow at a staggering pace. At something like $11 trillion now, I doubt my mother could even comprehend such a number. She would surely roll over in her grave if she knew it now! I have to confess, I see the number and am utterly overwhelmed.

Just a few years ago, I did a spreadsheet and tracked the national debt during the term of each president since George Washington. It was an interesting exercise. I learned then that we hadn't reduced the principal on the national debt in more than 40 years. (Now it's more than 50 years!) But you know, I could comprehend it. I could see how a percentage of our national budget was going to cover interest on the national debt. Under President Clinton, we finally achieved an operating surplus, and it looked like we would finally start to reduce the principal on the national debt. I comprehended that (and felt good about it).

Today, in the Dallas Morning News, there are a number of distinguished writers giving opinion about the moral dilemma that our national debt poses. They argue in both directions and I think they make some pretty good points. You might want to scroll through what they have to say at http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/texas-faith-is-it-moral-to-pas.html.

So here's the thing: the national debt seems destined to keep growing at a staggering pace. Our current president doesn't seem to be terribly concerned. He just keeps telling us to be prepared because it will grow and grow at a staggering pace. But I am fully overwhelmed by the number now. I don't understand how we can keep spending so much money. I don't understand why the world keeps lending us so much money.

I don't understand how we could ever pay back so much money. Moreover, I am quite certain that I don't comprehend the amount of sacrifice and change in national lifestyle America might have to make in order to be able to pay back the national debt. When it balloons to more than $1 million per American family (as they say it will in my lifetime), I am no longer able to grasp that number. You can't get enough taxes out of me to retire such a debt. So who will you get it out of? How many generations would it take, living an austere life of fiscal sacrifice, would it take to retire the national debt of the U.S.?

I think any one of us could preach about the moral dilemma. But I honestly suspect we have probably crossed the moral threshold on this topic. It is really too late to be talking about whether being such a debtor nation is right or wrong. It just doesn't matter any more. We are so far over the waterfall on this one that there could never be any turning back. It seems that we are destined to find out what consequences await us --- with little ability to change course and avert those consequences.

In my simple mind, it seems that the only way the U.S. national debt might be resolved is if Christ returns. I wonder what the number will be when He does. I wonder what Jesus will say about that number. Stay tuned, because it appears we will get to find out!

One Nation

The Bible is pretty clear about how people should live their lives. And in the U.S., faith-driven people no doubt identify more with the good book’s heroes than its villains. Yet it’s fair to ask, is this country living up to God’s expectations?

When the last vote is tallied and the last yard sign pulled down, Democrats and Republicans must go back to being "one nation under God." That's especially important when we're drowning in economic woes at home and fighting at least two wars abroad.

As a Christian, I'm mindful that most Americans are citizens of two kingdoms. They're loyal Americans, but they're also people of faith. Thus, their patriotism is tempered by their loyalty to a God who transcends all national and international boundaries whose precinct is the universe.

True patriotism exists where citizens love their country enough to hold it accountable. That means working to make certain that the president we have elected and the government we have created live up to the words of our creeds and the dreams of our poets and prophets.

That kind of patriotism is at the heart of authentic biblical faith. The great prophets of the Bible were considered unpatriotic by many of their day. No wonder. In two of Israel's most cataclysmic wars one in the eighth century B.C. and one in the sixth B.C. both Amos and Jeremiah had the unmitigated gall to tell the Hebrew people that God was not on their side!

Can you image the howl that would erupt if a preacher today suggested that God was using Arab terrorists to humble America? The First Amendment might save him from arrest (the prophet Jeremiah was not so lucky), but any such preacher would almost certainly be relieved of his pulpit duties, if not run out of town. I'll be the first one to write off the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a fanatical, even dangerous man in our society. Nevertheless, our brand of religion and patriotism is so widespread in our country today that most of us would never entertain the notion that America's foreign or domestic policies might fall short of what God requires.

Part of our challenge stems from the fact that we Americans have an overabundance of self-confidence. Management guru Marshall Goldsmith reports that 70% of the 50,000 people he has surveyed rank themselves in the top 10% of their peer group. Among doctors, pilots and investment bankers, the number is even higher. Once when Goldsmith told a group of doctors that his "extensive research" had revealed that exactly half of all doctors graduated in the bottom half of their med-school class, two in the audience insisted that this was impossible. Do you suppose there's any possibility that Americans don't have a realistic view of themselves?

I suspect we read the Bible much the same way. We don't identify with the Egyptians, Babylonians or the multitude of Israelites who worshipped the golden calf. We identify with Abraham and Moses the good guys. Likewise, in the New Testament, we don't identify with the scribes and the Pharisees. And we certainly don't identify with those hated Romans. We identify with Peter, James and John. But like Goldsmith's surveyed physicians, we might be fooling ourselves. Look beneath the surface, and much of what's plaguing the world is what's plaguing us.

For starters, we're greedy. America consumes more than its fair share of most everything: gasoline, food, plastic, you name it. On a personal level, millions of us are overweight, overspent and overleveraged. The sub prime mortgage crisis is all about people wanting more than they can afford. And despite greed's appearance on the list of "seven deadly sins" and the Bible's admonishment to refrain from excessive borrowing, the average American carries more than $2,000 in credit card debt on top of his household mortgage. Collectively, we behave much the same way. The unpaid balance on our national debt now tops $10 trillion and is climbing at a breath-taking pace. Overall public debt and other obligations outstanding are easily measured in multiples of our national debt too.

We're also violent. The United States remains one of the most violent of the so-called developed nations. I'm not even talking here about our various wars and incursions. We kill one another at an alarming rate. According to the Children's Defense Fund (a non-profit that studies these things), a child is killed by a gun every three hours in the USA. That's eight a day. And that’s just the children.

I have read that perhaps the best measure of a nation is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Here, again, we Americans fall short. Our infant mortality rate is among the highest of the developed nations. (And that doesn't include the millions of infants that we slaughter through abortion.) Our old people are living in continually deteriorating circumstances. They are not well fed. Many miss important medications because they cannot afford them. Most live alone and are not cared for. Many of our nursing homes are a travesty. Ironically, many of our nursing homes are too full to take in all of the people who need them.

Although growing numbers of us are volunteering, our government's efforts overseas are proportionately relatively meager when compared to other prosperous nations. Most of the overseas assistance we do provide is military-related and in service of our own strategic goals. In contrast, the Bible time and again admonishes God's people to advance the cause of the poor and to show hospitality to foreigners. Interestingly, nations are also warned not to put our trust in weapons of war. On a personal level, our giving is not generous. While it is true that Americans individually give vast sums of money to charity, that can be deceiving. Americans do not tithe, for example. Barna Research has surveyed our giving and among self-identified born-again Christians, giving to church or other religious organizations is less than 3% of their gross household income.

Don't get me wrong. The U.S. is a great nation. I love my country. It has pushed the bounds of science and technology and brought prosperity to the masses, creating the world's largest middle class. We have defeated some of the world's vilest villains and brought freedom and the rule of law to the farthest reaches of the planet. But it is not perfect. Some would be surprised to know that the United States has toppled democratically elected governments in favor of “friendly” dictators and firebombed civilians. We consume resources at a dangerous pace and ravaged the environment in the process. And, we have gone from a progressive tax structure, that was built upon the biblical premise that to whom much is given much is required, to one that provides massive tax relief to the people who need it least --- the rich.

The faith community has our work cut out for us if America is to be the beacon envisioned by some of our greatest leaders. And if self-awareness is the beginning of wisdom, perhaps we should start by reading the Bible with different eyes. Maybe we're not ancient Israel. Maybe we're Rome!

Government Bailouts

It is a financial services melt down of historic proportions. Not since the great depression have we seen such global chaos in our financial services (i.e. banking) sectors. Riding to the rescue is the U.S. government, bailing out, propping up and now even offering to buy the very assets that are sinking the institutions. So if one entity buys assets from another entity which are sinking that entity, what do you suppose those assets do to the purchasing entity (our government)? Don't they then sink it financially?

Before this financial crisis, the U.S. government was hurtling towards a $10 trillion national debt. To put that in proportion, we have direct debt liabilities that equal more than $30,000 for every man, woman and child alive in the U.S. today. Indirect liabilities, where we've made commitments that don't have to be funded yet, drive that number closer to $58,000 for every man, woman and child alive in the U.S. today. Those are sobering numbers, folks!

Thus far, the Iraq war has cost the U.S. about $600 billion - of money that we don't have to spend. So guess what? We borrowed it! The loans to finance the Iraq war amount to about $2,000 for every man, woman and child alive in the U.S. today.

Similarly, the bailout of the financial services (i.e. banking) sectors such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and other measures has cost the American taxpayers more than $300 billion. Again, this is money that we don't have, so we have to borrow it. The loans to finance this have so far amounted to about $1,000 for every man, woman and child alive in the U.S. today. The measures that Congress is considering today (Friday), are likely to drive that number north toward about $600 billion --- or the same cost as the Iraq war.

Given that this is an election year, it is curious that none of our candidates are talking about what they'll do to get their arms around this financial mess. America is drowning in debt. We are a debtor nation. Shouldn't someone be asking how we're going to pay any of this back, or when?

I agree that the financial services sectors must be salvaged and not allowed to fail. I just wonder if the average American realizes the cost and is really willing to pay for it.

National Debt

Call me a worry wart. Call me a pessimist. Call me someone who "just doesn't get it." But please - call me and explain to me why America shouldn't be worried about our national debt. I really would like to understand.

With the presidential elections underway and the political mudslinging, I wonder if we have even identified the real issues to argue about. Is America selling its soul to the devil? Can democracy really work in the long run? Why can't the United States pay its own way in the world without a vicious addiction to credit? And isn't it ironic that while we don't talk about these things, America is in the midst of a "credit crisis!"

Let's take a look at some facts about the federal debt of the United States. (Keep in mind we're not talking about any debt that states, counties, cities or townships carry.) As of today, the federal government of the United States is in debt to the tune of $9,352,044,096,140.51. That's more than $9 trillion - in case you've never seen a number that big

So how much is that? Well, it equates to about $30,769.76 for every man, woman and child alive in the United States today. Can we pay it off? Ever? Well, for more than 40 years, we've not paid a cent on the principal. For more than 40 years we have just borrowed more each year. We pay the interest of course - and borrow more.

Speaking of interest, isn't it expensive? According to the U.S. Treasury (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/rates/pd/avg/2008/2008_03.htm), the average interest rate on the outstanding forms of debt at the end of March 2008 was about 4.215%. So how much is that? It equates to an annual interest payment of about $1,296.95 per year for every man, woman and child alive in the U.S. today. Put another way, it costs the U.S. government $394,188,658,652.32 in interest this year (as the debt grows, the interest payments grow each year as well). In 2008, our government will spend $1,079,968,927.81 every single day paying interest on its debt. Put another way, that's $44,998,705.33 per hour!

Folks, do you get the sense that we're talking about real money here? Do you know that an increasingly substantial portion of this debt is held by governments that are not our allies (like China's central bank)? I don't know about you, but I for one think this needs to be an issue for national discussion.

Quite frankly, the national debt scares me even more than its numbers. I know we are borrowing more every single day just to keep America humming along "like normal" - if there is such a thing. I know that we're in the midst of a very expensive war that is far from over. I notice in the papers that our government is financing the bailout of the mortgage industry - much like it bailed out the S&L industry a few years ago. I know that our Social Security administration is heading for a massive bailout before it collapses and leaves our elderly on the streets in a few years. I also realize that the world is getting more hostile and that we could end up in the middle of more costly wars in the not-too-distant future.

Are we ready, America? Do we have our ducks in a row? Are we ready to sail into the future, confident, prepared and strong? Or are we limping along like lame ducks ready to be picked off by our enemies. Our transportation infrastructure is crumbling. Our economy is on its knees as the Middle East sucks the cash out of America to finance its dream (and build more Islamic mosques in America). Frankly, it seems like this would be a good time to be ready for just about anything.

Mrs. Clinton, Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Pelosi, Mr. Cheney - can any of you explain this to me? Do any of you have answers or have a plan to get America strong and sturdy? In my lifetime is it unrealistic to think that America might live within its means and begin to pay back some of this national debt?

I'm just a man who loves his country and has some questions here. So call me naive. Call me a pessimist. But please - call me - with some answers.