I was recently invited to a seminar on the 21st with Dave Ramsey called, “The Great Recovery”. He and a number of church leaders are calling people to embrace Biblical Principles regarding debt, spending, and consumption.I’m not sure exactly what the seminar will propose but I can assume it won’t be political. We have tried political solutions to problems for years but politics is not the answer, God is the answer.
We certainly need God in our finances. If you are like most Americans, home equity was the source of most of your net worth. As home prices have shrunk the equity Americans have in their homes to nearly the lowest percentage since World War II.
According to the Federal Reserve, average home equity plunged from more than 61 percent at the start of 2001 to 38 percent in the January-March quarter of 2011. For years, Americans have put their hope in a financial plan that said to borrow money, leverage a small down payment and reap a huge windfall on rising home prices.
Over 4.5 million foreclosures have dashed that dream. Millions are looking for a better way.
The better way is and will continue to be the Biblical principles that many of us have advocated, even if we haven’t been really good at following our own advice.
In the news each morning is the continued debate regarding the US Debt limit and the antics by our elected officials. What is interesting to me is that by looking at spending and debt, our elected officials and the news media are ignoring the most important side – Revenue.
We are still living in a very blessed country. Revenue to the US Government continues to increase. The graph above illustrates that total Government revenue has increased in the US geometrically in the past forty years growing from less than $900 billion to over $6 Billion. This increase in revenues couldn’t keep up with the insatiable appetite to spend which resulted in our $14 trillion debt.
God has a better plan.
If you are interested in hearing more about the Great Recovery seminar coming up in a few weeks, here is the link http://www.thegreatrecovery.com/
