"A person without good sense closes a deal with a handshake. He guarantees a loan in the presence of his friend." Prov. 17:18 (God's Word translation--the best for this passage).
"When prosperity comes, do not use all of it." Confucius
"It isn't so much that hard times are coming; the change observed is mostly soft times going." Groucho Marx
A Chinese newspaper recently boasted that mainland Chinese are driving Hummers around the U.S. snatching up foreclosed properties. My, how China has changed during our 20 years here! But if I were the Chinese, I'd remember that the pendulum always swings the other way, and stick with the age-old Chinese values of hard work and frugality, lest China too end up paying the piper.
For years I have joked that Chinese immigrants in America can save more than they earn while other Americans all spend more than they earn--but unfortunately for us, it is no joke. Thrift used to be an American virtue, but today debt is the norm. Even worse, our so-called economic growth depends upon us consuming ourselves into oblivion.
Tomorrow's Bread A word used too often loses its meaning. Consider "consumer." Is that all I am? A mere consumer? And we are pushed, even by the government that decries our debt, to consume not only our daily bread but tomorrow's bread, and next week's as well, and to borrow to buy it.
About a decade ago I was shocked to learn that the U.S. government was studying ways to promote the growth of personal debt (already high) to stimulate so-called economic growth. "Buy now, pay later" is the mantra for those who think "delayed gratification" is unAmerican. But the "pay later" phase is upon us, and our reaction to paying the piper reminds me greatly of what we faced 100 years ago.
A century ago, Western countries enjoyed great prosperity built upon the unimaginable profits of the opium trade in China. We forced the opium trade on China, at gunpoint, not because we needed the immense profits to survive but to finance our imports of such luxuries as Chinese tea and silk. As late as the 1920s, one half of Europe's profits in Asia were from opium!. China appealed to our morality. When that failed, Chinese warned that global drug trafficking might "come home to roost" and we could have opium addiction in our own home countries. That is exactly what happened, and then the nations that had earned enormous profits from a century of nationalized opium traffic held two international opium conferences to debate the causes of the global opium problem! Their conclusion? They blamed China--the one nation that for a century had tried to stop the trade.
Recently, some friends complained to me that the U.S. was borrowing too much money from China, and they were angry not at the U.S. but at China. That is rather like blaming China for buying the opium we forced on them, and our motives today are the same as a century ago. We are not financing our survival but our luxuries, and a way of life that most of the planet could not dream of.
Our Way of Life A few years ago, an American said "Nothing is going to change our American way of life." That was a real vote-grabber, but it was wishful thinking. We are now two trillion in debt, and mainland Chinese in Hummers are buying up the country.
If I were the Chinese, I'd be slow to boast, because the pendulum will swing again; China is already facing ,serious problem just like the rest of us. But that pendulum won't swing back for America unless we abandon the much vaunted "way of life" that is built on debt, which is as wrong today as it was 3000 years ago when Solomon warned against the evils of both borrowing and lending.
Giving vs. Lending. It is ironic that while the Bible urges us to give freely, it warns again loaning money--and especially against taking the responsibility for others' loans. Once the borrowing starts, it snowballs, as I learned when loaning to friends and family. With hindsight, I now prefer to just give, with no strings attached, rather than to loan money and end up with both the strings and the relationship severed by the borrower.
Only our Daily Bread. We should not just pray "Forgive us our debts," but also make a point of getting out of debt, and avoiding future debt. Going into debt only suggests two things: 1) we are too immature to delay gratification, so we seize what our Father has not yet given us, and 2) we don't trust our Father to give us our needs and desires in His timing, so we seize tomorrow's bread as well.
"Our Father, give us this day only our daily bread, and not others' bread, and help us to wait until tomorrow to buy tomorrow's bread, with money that you will entrust to us tomorrow."
Related "Our Daily Noodles" Entries
The Millionaire's Heart
Want Success? Wash Those Dishes Well!
Only our Daily Bread
www.amoymagic.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment!