President-elect Joe Biden has proposed a new $1.9 trillion COVID-relief package that includes another round of direct payments, this time $1,400.
It is remarkable how quickly the trillions rack up in Washington once we loose the reigns. There is nothing quite like war and plague to send the spending through the roof (let’s pray the former does not come). If there is one thing our politicians have learned, it is this: just about anything can be passed if you tack on “free” money.
It is not my intention to offer an analysis of the specific Biden plan or of the stimulus checks. It is true enough that the majority of the economic devastation has been foisted upon us by the state, so perhaps it is fitting that they should make some restitution. All the same, it isn’t as if the federal government makes money. Actually, in the literal sense, that precisely what they do. This is something we should think about.
The avalanche of federal spending will not be satisfied simply by debt and taxation. You can be sure that they will use this “unprecedented” circumstance to bring about what they have long wanted, Modern Monetary Theory. This, among other things, involves printing money to stimulate the economy and then taxing the life out of it to stop inflation. More qualified people have dissected the problem on an economic level, but I don’t think it requires such study to know that this is a bad idea. More than that, it is evil.
One of the first errors is separating money from work. This connection is not merely a convention of society, but it is engrained in God’s created order. From the very beginning, work was given to mankind to fill and subdue the earth. We sustain ourselves and cultivate the world by the sweat of our brow. The theme is carried forward throughout Scripture. As Paul wrote, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10, ESV).
Money, then, is the tangible reward of work in God’s creation. Money printing, such as we are seeing, redefines the economy in way entirely antithetical to the Christian worldview. It makes it a property of the state that can be manipulated for whatever purpose suits their interest. This is the real endgame.
By Modern Monetary Theory, the state strips the economy from the family and takes it under its own dominion. It doesn’t seem to me that many of the politicians have such self-conscious plans, but there is no doubt this is what they have wanted. It is frightening just how many of the people seem to want it as well.
Federal spending is too far away to hurt in the present, but have no doubt, the hurt is coming. The most prudent path would be to decentralize government spending. The bloat of Washington has solidified every godless step this nation has taken. How many anti-abortion laws have been struck down for fear of losing funding? By our own money, we have been held captive. Government spending may not seem to be the most pressing concern, but it may just be the key that unlocks everything else.
Lockdowns, What Are They Good For?
A report appeared in Newsweek covering a study on the effectiveness of COVID response measures. The findings: lockdowns don’t do much of anything.
I am well aware that one can find a study to support just about anything. All the same, the body of evidence on this subject is mounting. Moreover, it really is just common sense. It seems an obvious question to ask. If lockdowns and universal masking work, why is California being slammed? Why are New York and New Jersey seeing massive waves? There seems to be no correlation between stringency and result.
I suppose it will be said that the people aren’t actually following the orders. Whether right or wrong, the point is self-defeating. Good policy must deal with real people (they are the only ones we have). Those, like me, who have consistently opposed lockdowns and forced masking have been characterized as inhumane grandma-killers. It turns out, these inhumane grandma-killers are the only ones who seem to know anything about real human beings.
Governments the world over have shut down everything to save lives. It is questionable whether they saved anyone at all. However, lockdown had one result which was inevitable from the beginning. They have eviscerated the livelihoods of millions of people and inflicted economic damage we have not yet come to terms with. Economies are not about financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies; they are about families, families whose lives have been uprooted by the unprecedented response to an all too precedented pandemic.
Money Here and Money There
I seem to be on an economic theme today, so I suppose I will keep it rolling. I came across an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on the mental games that accompany our spending habits.
A rational perspective might say that money is money. A dollar here is that same as a dollar there. Meir Statman shows how this is not the case. It is in our nature to divide our money between different “pots”. We distinguish between housing costs and the Netflix subscription. We divide our savings, our investments, our spending. At the end of the day, it may all be the same but not to us.
The artificial division extends to our income. Money earned as a fruit of hard labor is valued in way “free” money never is. I can attest well enough to that. $1,800 of government handouts may not have been used so wisely. I return again to the fact that God made work and money to be connected. It is in our very nature.
As we seem to be coming into a time of increasing detachment between labor and pay, it is important that we take better stock of our finances. If we become nursing babes of the mother state, we will have ceased to be a free people. If we are not wise with the inflow, we will have no choice. So, a reminder to myself and everyone, think carefully about the windfall money that is coming. It would be a terrible irony to lose our freedom by the uncalculating acceptance of “free” money.
The Free Narnian 