Torch, Spring/Summer 2009

8 TORCH | Spring–Summer 2009 We need to allow market forces to work. Companies and municipalities often approach bankruptcy because they either are inefficiently managed or have become obsolete. If markets determine that an industry is no longer needed, the federal government should probably not continue propping it up. The other component of the solution is for both individuals and governments to begin exercising fiscal restraint and paying off their debts. Most of us are in favor of cutting government spending — until we are personally discomforted by it. Politicians, too, are hesitant to make cuts and are therefore unlikely to reduce government spending. The steps necessary to fix our economic mess will undoubtedly cause anxiety for many Americans. This is particularly true of those who have been conditioned to depend on the federal government for their very existence. Nevertheless, the government must be forced to live within its means, just like American citizens are required to do. In short, there are things that could be done to reverse our economic course. With so much opposition from all quarters, it is unlikely that any of those steps will be taken. If these things are not done, America will likely suffer a prolonged recession, if not an outright depression. We will continue to build our debt-based house of cards until it inevitably collapses. The Big Picture Where is God as we contemplate the ultimate outcome of current economic events? The same place He was during the Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina, and the Asian tsunami of 2004: He is on His throne. Our limited vision and understanding prevent us from knowing all that God is doing in individuals and nations through this crisis. But we have the precious and magnificent promise that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Our task is to be faithful to the end. Dr. Bill Ragle serves as associate professor of finance at Cedarville University. He received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in finance from the University of North Texas. His areas of teaching and research interest are investments, pedagogy, and corporate finance. “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been about 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage.” — Attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747–1813) T