Others express the same conclusion as expressed in headlines I’ve gathered: Complete collapse of economies’ ahead in Africa; Recession Bread Lines Forming; The evidence is clear: Democrats are pushing America toward economic disaster; and others.

If this economy brings America to her knees–it might be a good thing!

In an interview for his New York Times best-seller, Aftershock, Robert Wiedemer said, “The data is clear, 50% unemployment, a 90% stock market drop, and 100% annual inflation . . . starting as soon as next year.” Wiedemer has an outstanding record in that in 2006, he and a team of economists foresaw the coming collapse of the U.S. housing market, equity markets, private debt, and consumer spending and published their findings in America’s Bubble Economy. So, it would be prudent to assume he knows of which he speaks.

Hidden in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is a new $570 million family leave account exclusively for federal workers. It provides a payment of $1,400 for a single taxpayer ($2,800 for joint filers), in addition to $1,400 per dependent. It provides National Endowment for the Arts $135 million; National Endowment for the Humanities $135 million, Institute of Museum and Library Services $200 million; Native American Language Preservation $20 million; Assistance to State Governments and District of Columbia $195.3 billion; Local governments $130.2 billion; to Tribal Governments $20 billion; and Territorial Governments $4.5 billion. There is over $166 billion to various boondoggles for public education; and much, much more.

I don’t usually write obscene statements, but the above paragraph is outrageously obscene. It is shocking that taxpayers have not flooded the Capitol and confronted the House and Senate and assorted bureaucrats. It seems Socialism is the drug of choice for leftist radicals in both parties.

Wow, in the past, such a spending bill would turn the town folk into raving anarchists rushing down the streets with flaming torches and pitchforks to tar and feather every Congressman and Senator who voted for such a monstrosity. But it was no big deal which shows how far we have traveled on the Road to Socialism.

We are almost there.

With the massive federal bailouts and loans to almost any entity, it is evident that we are slowly becoming a socialist nation functionally. The federal government is bailing out various cities and states that spent money like a drunken sailor. A good example is Chicago, where their deficit in 2019 was over 8 million dollars! Don’t you delight in bailing out cities or states that have been misruled by corrupt Democrats? We are also going to underwrite many insolvent pension funds and may forgive student loans.

But then, you paid your student loans, sucker. Or maybe you didn’t go to college, but you get to pay for those who did.

Of course, the money give-away is no surprise to many of us. After all, Socialists are in control. Obama told us he wanted to spread the wealth, and all informed people knew he was a Socialist. In fact, his talk and actions smell like old-fashioned Marxism! His former fellow comrade, Joe Biden is now Spender-in-Chief, and he is proving what we have always known him to be.

With the COVID lockdowns, hundreds of thousands of businesses have been permanently closed, while others are teetering on bankruptcy. Home foreclosures and job losses will continue in a free fall resulting in more business failures, and that will result in more job losses! Fewer autos, homes, television sets, appliances, etc., will be purchased, accelerating the slide into massive national and international chaos. Power bills and accelerating gasoline prices will push most suffering families over the edge. This will require families to live together, possibly even three and four generations.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the economic worth of all finished goods and services produced within the U.S. during a quarter or annually. With so many businesses and industries shut down or bankrupt, the GNP growth in the U.S. will increasingly look like other dying nations in Africa and Latin America.

The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of money the United States can borrow cumulatively by issuing bonds. It limits how much debt the federal government can carry at any given time but does not permit additional spending. Once the ceiling is reached, the Treasury Department cannot issue any more bonds to pay the national bills already incurred. The debt limit suspension expires July 31, and the debt limit must be raised (again) if federal obligations are to be fulfilled. However, raising the ceiling does nothing to address what caused the problem. Raising the ceiling in the past is the reason America is over 27 trillion dollars in debt! Consequently, Republicans are saying they don’t want to raise the debt ceiling again, fearful that the Democrats will show no restraint on additional spending.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke opined that not raising the debt ceiling is “like a family saying, ‘Well, we’re spending too much—let’s stop paying our credit card bill.’” How about cutting spending and paying the debts!

If you came home tonight and found your house full of sewage to the ceiling, would you remove the sewage or raise the roof? I would start shoveling the sewage and do whatever is necessary to stop the constant inflow. That means paying off our national debt, but that is like making payments on a new automobile you recently wrecked. Or making monthly payments on a dead horse. Moreover, raising the debt ceiling to get us out of trouble is like committing suicide because of fear of death!

This government is being run by Curly, Larry, and Moe resulting in all kinds of corruption and administrative failure. Moreover, it may become the most destructive, deceptive, and dangerous administration in American history. Biden’s star is fading fast, very fast, and he will be stumbling around in a dark White House long before his term ends.

If you are planning on Social Security or a corporate pension to support you, you may be standing on a bridge of mist.

With more masking mandates and more lockdowns, our economy appears to be blindly stumbling toward a precipice. It is so bad, big city businesspeople have restricted themselves to one, not a two-martini lunch, and big time CEOs are now playing miniature golf. And billion-dollar corporations cut their monthly bribes to various Congressmen; moreover, young Mormons are only taking one wife. But the worst is Motel Six won’t leave the light on for you.

The party is over, and you are in the dark.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent being Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! The eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to  DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support his work with a donation.)

The economy has faltered, is failing, and will fall.

I see no way out of the coming collapse. Sometimes politicians make such a mess of things that there is no way to correct or solve the mess. It’s almost like being in a small boat on a raging sea, unsure how far you are from the coast you left and the distance to where you hope to dock. You keep going hoping to stay afloat; however, our “boat” is overwhelmed with accelerating debt.

As of May of 2021, the outstanding national debt of the United States is $28,300,000,000,000.00. Every man, woman, and child in the United States owes $84,000 for their share of the U.S. public debt, plus $3,800 state debt and local debt of $6,300. That is overwhelming, outrageous, and obscene.

I no longer feel alone or like the boy who cried “wolf.” Since my earlier predictions of the end of the boom followed by gloom and doom, everything is screaming support for that position. It is my opinion the coming collapse will be worse than I thought!

As I’ve proved for decades while traveling throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and Africa, the dollar is the world’s currency. I seldom change dollars into the currency of the nation I’m visiting, and I’ve never had dollars refused. However, the dollar is worth less and will soon be worthless!

A prominent Russian official prophesied that the U.S. will experience a moral and economic breakdown resulting in civil war and break into six distinct parts. In recent months, there has been much discussion of some parts of the U.S. withdrawing from the Union! It seems commentators and television hosts are making predictions more ominous than mine!

The current Second American Revolution, with its attendant riots, lootings, killings, political maleficence, financial opportunism, and partisan compromise, magnifies our problems.

Russia, China, and Iran are not disappointed or distressed with our financial woes but are delighted. However, the murderous, malevolent masters in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran don’t seem to understand that as goes America, so goes the world.

Taking a slap at the dollar in 2019, China and Russia agreed to use their currencies instead of dollars for reciprocal trading. This action of the two major Communist nations reduced the dollar’s use from 90 percent in 2015 to only 46 percent in 2020. Our “friends” in the European Union are delighted with that decision to ditch the dollar.

Many nations have lost confidence in the dollar and joined the “ditch the dollar” club, including China, Russia, the UK, India, Turkey, Iran, Venezuela, France, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and others. Russia (the world’s largest natural gas producer and third in oil) has decided to sell its natural resources in rubles instead of U.S. dollars, although half its total trade with the U.S. is in dollars.

In 2019, the South China Morning Post reported that Beijing and Moscow intend to “ditch the U.S. dollar and switch to local currencies in international trade,” trying to cut their dependence on U.S. currency.

I think all this is headed toward a worldwide currency à la the world court, world church, and world government with a world military. With that in mind, it might be wise to join the “ditch the dollar” club for something more reliable such as precious metals. Russia’s flight from the dollar “has pushed the share of gold in Russia’s $583 billion international reserves above dollars for the first time on record.”

I believe in a few months, we will be where the Egyptians were in Genesis 47:15 when “the money failed.” During those days in Egypt, the main concern was food. That is what I have been saying for years. Your concern will not be vacations, television, sports, hobbies, or even your job but “how will I feed my family today.”

When the dollar has totally collapsed, you will understand why informed people have always purchased gold and silver for survival during turbulent times. After the currency fails, anything of value will be held rather than unwanted, unusable, and unsupported dollars, marks, pesos, rubles, etc.

Between WW I and WW II in Germany, the people lost confidence in the German mark and ran from it as if their hair was on fire. By November of 1923, it took 4,210,500,000,000 German marks to equal one U.S. dollar! Germans literally burned paper marks to heat their homes since that was cheaper than buying coal.

By then, the Germans rushed away from the mark toward “things.” That is things that could be felt, seen, used, sold, or traded if necessary. Accordingly, they wanted the highest value item with the least volume—diamonds, gold, antiques, art, vacation homes, even “useless items—bric-a-brac, soap, hairpins.” Fearful and desperate Germans bought things that could be bartered for necessary items like food, water, soap, lumber, tools, etc.

I think that barter will become the norm for Americans in the next couple of years, if not sooner.

Furthermore, I think the Dow will plummet below 5,000, but that opinion is not based on economics or some financial formula. It is a general conviction based on numerous criteria. My opinions are philosophically and theologically based.

It is impossible to justify the reckless spending of trillions of dollars. Few are asking about whether or not massive expenditures are constitutional. I don’t know one politician who is concerned about the massive giveaway being justified by COVID.

No health issue or any other issue has priority over the U.S. Constitution.

The giving of thousands of dollars to families (many not in financial need) would have been rejected, even ridiculed, a few decades ago. Public money is being used to cover private losses without any constitutional support. Furthermore, massive corporations considered too big to fail are being bailed out by taxpayers to protect shareholders who morally and legally should take the risk. The shareholders bought into companies hoping for huge profits and are now being protected against massive losses.

Something seems to be askew here for a free enterprise republic. But that is very normal for a Socialist nation.

Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, and all Socialists of the world would stand up and cheer Biden and what’s-her-name Harris for implementing their far-left agenda.

No one asks why the Los Angeles Times should receive a $10 million loan for salaries and benefits to employees even though it is owned by a wealthy couple. The top honcho whined, “We lost tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue pretty much instantly in March 2020.”

So what! Americans are not responsible for propping up private businesses. It’s called “free enterprise,” where each businessperson takes financial risks to make it or go belly up.

Thousands of bars and restaurants received grants of $10,000 to keep them afloat. Why? If they fail, others will take their place. When I started a publishing company to produce Christian school and home school curricula in Indianapolis decades ago, it never entered my mind that someone might artificially keep me afloat. When sales were low in the winter, my people went without salaries, as they understood that would happen. They were paid when business improved in the early spring and summer.

Recently, billions of dollars bailed out cities and states that spent tax dollars as if they were going to expire, and most of those cities and states are run by irresponsible Democrats. Plus, they took tax dollars and dumped them into state pension plans that have lost money for decades while paying generous pensions.

Don’t you feel warm and fuzzy knowing you helped bail out Democrat-controlled cities and pension funds that have been used to radicalize Americans for decades?

Even Utah was given 1.5 billion dollars, yet they have a 1.5 billion dollar surplus and a Republican governor.

Wow! Why are crowds not marching in the streets with pitchforks and buckets of tar and bags of feathers for those who voted for such nonsense? Where is President Grover Cleveland with his veto pen when he is needed? We must stop spending money without constitutional support. The reluctance to spend other peoples’ money used to be a virtue; now, it is considered a vice.

Someone needs to tell Biden he cannot spend his way to national prosperity, just as you can’t fornicate your way to virginity.

However, most officials and most Americans don’t seem to be concerned about gross unfairness and illegal use of federal funds forcibly taken from beleaguered taxpayers. Present-day conservatives are not very conservative. And present-day Christians are not very Christian.

When resentment reaches a critical mass by people who lose their jobs, homes, businesses, and autos, it often prompts strikes, food riots, racial hatred, civil disobedience, and anarchy. Angry homeowners will resist being evicted, darkened streets will be vacated, and malls will become black holes after dark.

Schools will be almost empty as teachers are laid off, and it will not be safe for kids to be on the streets even during the day, as is true in London now. Home invasions will be as common as ants at a picnic. Without state funds, the streets and roads will become almost impossible to navigate.

Roaming bands of criminals will take advantage of the situation preying upon helpless citizens first in the cities then on the countryside. They know people in the country usually have more food than city folks do. Local police and deputized civilians will be stationed at each city’s interstate interchanges to keep the thugs from entering smaller towns around metropolitan areas.

If Biden and the anti-gun crowd have their way, there will be shootouts reminiscent of the O. K. Corral. Probably, the National Guard will enforce oppressive gun laws. In that case, most of those soldiers will probably refuse to shoot their neighbors, with possible United Nations troops replacing them to enforce unconstitutional laws.

With fewer jobs, there will be less state and federal tax revenue, so don’t look to the state or federal government for help. If Social Security checks fail to arrive, look for a big bunch of gray-haired guys storming the courthouses in every county.

The health care system will finally fail, leaving us on our own to deal with plagues imported from Mexico and other third-world nations. The Mexican Government will probably fall within a few months with even more illegal aliens crossing our border to “safety.” That safety could be an illusion as Americans take the law into their own hands and defend their property. The Rio Grande may run red with blood.

The entertainment industry will be bare-bones as sane people stop paying to attend silly third-rate movies, and television will be mostly news, reruns, and documentaries. Professional sports will become history, having run themselves into the ground. Female sports will be the first to go because of the transgender insanity.

Churches will experience a rise in attendance and a steep decline in revenue. Missionaries will be (actually are now being) sent home to discover they have traded one disaster for another. Some will remain in their countries to live and serve. However, this time will be an opportunity for Christians to act like Christians as we seek to help those who are hurting most.

As in the early church days, pagans were amazed at Christians suffering without complaining and reacting with concern for their enemies. During times of epidemic diseases during the Middle Ages, Christians cared for the dying, often giving their lives in support of others.

Many megachurches will fold and be turned into government distribution centers.

Life will come down to this: you must have God, groceries, gold, and guns. That fact makes knees jerk across America (left ones, of course).

Rich in oil, Texas has a 16 billion barrel crude-oil reserve, yet it was no comfort for Texans recently who shivered in the unheated homes (without water). When the power came back on, some homeowners received power bills of $17,000! Astute citizens of the U.S. should get the message: you must protect yourself. Don’t trust the government or any entity to take care of you and your family.

Batten down the hatches and lash yourself to the mast. Go out today and purchase necessities, i.e., what you must have to survive. The storm will rage for years.

The fat lady is standing in the wings, clearing her throat.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent being Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! The eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D.; and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

The November election will be the showdown when Kool-Aid drinking Trump-haters will go to any length to thwart the will of Americans who want a return to a stable, safe, and secure nation. Wiping the purple Kool-Aid from their quivering lips, they will lie, distort, purchase votes, steal votes, and stuff ballot boxes and other nefarious acts to defeat Trump.

Now we face another shutdown that will destroy millions of small businesses and some large businesses. Business bankruptcies are in the stratosphere, and small and large companies are closing daily.

Low-life protesters, mixed with naïve do-gooders, are not only protesting but also demanding resistance, reparations, and revolution as they throw Molotov cocktails and swing unregistered bats. The evil leaders behind these protests are not concerned with the alleged mistreatment of Blacks. The illusion of concern is only cover for the real goal—to keep Trump from reelection and to do so if it means destroying America.

My warning over six years ago appears to be coming to fruition. Get ready for the worst economic times in US history. The bells have been going off for months especially since the start of the shutdown: massive unemployment; paying people not to work; student loan forgiveness; national debt now past $25 trillion; major push for reparations amounting to $6 quadrillions; promises of universal income even for non-workers; a second stimulus package in days; demands for pension bailouts; even Minneapolis asked for the feds to repair the damage done to their city that local officials refused to condemn and deal with; etc.

I wrote the following column in 2014 that is very appropriate today. One word was corrected, links were added, and minor punctuation was changed.
Only a fool would publicly predict what will happen in the near future regarding the U.S. economy; however, I suggest that we will have a slowdown, shutdown, or shakedown–maybe all three. We are already in the slowdown; however, I think it is also probable that the other two disasters are in store for all of us. The “storm” is far from over.

One portentous indication of trouble just surfaced on Jan. 3 when it was revealed in a headline: “Billionaires Dumping Stocks.” The article on the Newsmax website reported that Warren Buffet is “dumping shares at an alarming rate.” He sold 19 million (no misprint) shares of Johnson & Johnson, and he is very disappointed in Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and others.

Billionaire John Paulson also dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase and all of his shares in Family Dollar and Sara Lee.

Then there’s billionaire George Soros, the radical leftist that conservatives love to hate, who sold almost all his shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Obviously, George doesn’t have any confidence in financial stocks. Hummm, wonder what he and his fellow billionaires know that we don’t know?

Maybe these wealthy elite know that a massive correction is coming on Wall Street. Highly revered economist Robert Wiedemer, the author of the best-seller Aftershock, says that the stock market could fall 90%! Wiedemer predicted the collapse of the housing market in an earlier book.

Standard and Poor’s suggested that Wiedemer’s prediction “demands our attention,” while Philip Gross, founding CFO of American Online, said the book was “A compelling argument for a chilling conclusion.”

CNN reported that about half of Americans agree with the doomsday predictions: “48% [of Americans] see a second Great Depression.” I think it will be called “the Greatest Depression.”

We must remember that our government is $17 trillion [now more than $24 trillion] in debt, almost $150,000 per taxpayer! But then we must take our pencil from behind our ear and add Social Security obligations, Medicare, etc., totaling more than $100 trillion!

The average American needs to look at the facts, analyze his financial condition, and make some difficult decisions. Does he believe Obama who said, “The private sector is doing fine,” or does he consider that statement like Obama’s assurance that “You can keep your doctor, period.”? Or maybe he believes the Washington Post that assured us with a headline: “No Housing Bubble to Pop” or the Washington Times’ headline, “No Housing Trouble,” or the conservative National Review’s article, “Hate to Burst Your (Housing) Bubble, But There Isn’t One.” Or the revered Wall Street Journal: “Housing Bubble? The Market Won’t Pop.”

Pop, pop, pop, pop. They were all wrong!

Or the average American could believe the financial wizards on the television shows who never said a word about the imminent massive collapse of Enron in December of 2001. The financial experts were telling us to buy right up to the collapse! And they never apologized!

Everyone knows that those experts and many others were wrong about the housing bubble as they have been wrong about many things.

So, when the stock market hits bottom, 50% of Americans are out of work, bankruptcies soar skyward, and cities and states go belly-up as is happening as I write, you will know the nation is on the cusp of a shutdown mode. Does that mean riots in the streets accompanied by martial law? Wiedemer thinks not, since “that did not happen in the Great Depression.”

However, the astute economist may know finances, but he apparently doesn’t know human nature: this disaster will be far worse than the 1930s, and Americans today don’t have the character those citizens had. Plan on it: panic, suicides, hunger, food riots, gang violence, etc. A recent British study declared that we were “nine meals from anarchy!”

I don’t feel lonely anymore way out on the limb!

How do the optimists in their rosy glasses defend their positive view in light of our massive debt? Today, the U.S. has more government debt than any country in the history of the world! In fact, we have more national debt than all the nations in the European Union put together!

So, what is the Fed’s answer? Well, the Federal Reserve has been printing $85 billion per month; that’s more than a trillion dollars a year! That means the dollars in your pocket are worth less, or is that worthless?

Presently, when a nation wants to purchase a product from us or any other country, they usually make payments in U.S. dollars. They could choose the British pound sterling, the Chinese yuan, or the euro; however, only a few nations bypass the dollar. That is going to end. We have begun to see the “flight from the dollar.” China, Russia, and the United Nations, as well as some Muslim nations, are already on record that they want to back off the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Why is the U.S. dollar so special and is used by almost 70% of nations as the reserve currency? It is because the market for U.S. Treasury securities is “liquid and deep.” “Liquid” means the dollar can be sold quickly, and “deep” means a large amount of dollars can be sold without impacting the price of the currency.

When I have traveled in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, etc., I never changed dollars into the currency where I was traveling. I always used U.S. dollars, but those days have changed. It is now common for the dollar to be refused, as I experienced in Africa and Japan.

Sam Zell, the 60th richest man in the U.S., told CNBC: “My single biggest financial concern is the loss of the dollar as the reserve currency. I can’t imagine anything more disastrous to our country…I think you could see a 25% reduction in the standard of living in this country if the U.S. dollar was no longer the world’s reserve currency.”

James Richards wrote in his Currency Wars, “If the currency collapses, everything also goes with it…stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.”

In light of the above facts, it seems we are in the slowdown, and the shutdown or collapse is staring us in the face. So, how will the politicians extricate the U.S. from the bottomless pit—dug by the same politicians?

Enter the shakedown phase.

The London Telegraph of January 4, 2014, reported, “Much of the Western world will require defaults, a savings tax and higher inflation to clear the way for recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund.”

Author Ambrose Evans-Pritchard opined that the debts of many nations are so huge that it “will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its ‘toolkit’ for emerging market blow-ups.” He says that what debtor nations must and will do is use huge taxes, massive inflation, and debt repudiation to stay afloat. He says we will all get a close-cut financial “haircut.”

I think he means a scalping, not a haircut.

That amounts to a shakedown. There will be no other choice. Weary, worn, wrathful citizens will be forced to pay for the failure and corruption of generations of pompous, prissy, profligate politicians.

Slowdown, shutdown, or shakedown? All three are in your future, ending with a showdown! I’m afraid that the sky is falling after all.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

However, the roaring twenties came to a sickening halt on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 when the stock market hit bottom and newspaper headlines screamed, “Wall Street in Panic as Stocks Crash!”

America and the world got a sense of reality that resonates today—a scientific fact became reality: what goes up also goes down.

This economic disaster was worldwide and lasted longer and was more devastating than any financial crisis in the history of the industrialized world. America was hurting all across the fruited plain as a result of the Great Depression and that was made worse by the drought and dust storms in the 1930s

In 1930, severe droughts in the Southern Plains brought high winds and dust from Texas to Nebraska, killing people, livestock and crops. With no jobs and no savings, consumer debt proliferated. Then the drought in the Midwest was followed by crop failure; other farmers left crops to rot in the fields as people starved in other parts of the distressed nation.

Thousands of farmers lost their farms that were engulfed by the dust storms. Not too smart farming, especially over-cultivation, had caused the Midwest to turn into a Dust Bowl.

Americans were forced to buy on credit with no jobs or money resulting in numerous foreclosures and repossessions that constantly climbed.

U.S. unemployment soared to 25% and wages fell for those fortunate few who had a job. When their money ran out, people stopped spending, only accelerating the panic. Since so many people were unemployed, the Gross National Product plummeted into the basement to 50%.

Unemployed citizens pulled savings out of their accounts triggering a bank run that caused half the nation’s banks to close. In 1933, all U.S. banks were closed by order of President Roosevelt. There were about 9,000 bank failures during the ten year depression. In 1933 alone, Americans lost $140 billion dollars and there was no federal insurance to reimburse the depositors.

Long lines of the unemployed (15 million) were common as were soup kitchens. Once wealthy men lost everything and jumped from the high windows of their plush offices. Others, literally sold fruit on the street for pennies. Hundreds of men carried signs informing all that they were unemployed and would take any job.

Many large cities had their shantytowns where once prosperous or at least middle class people now lived in squalor. Millions of Americans lived in the illegal, but tolerated ramshackle dwellings.

In desperation, Americans turned to the Democrats for their salvation; their savior was President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). The leftist president signed the New Deal into law creating 42 new government agencies. The most long-lasting result of the Great Depression was the Social Security System that plagues and pleases (depending on one’s perspective) our nation yet today. Socialism was introduced to America and will unfortunately stay until the millennium.

After a devastating, dismal, and destructive ten years, the depression ended, not by FDR’s socialist alphabet federal agencies, but by World War II.

During the ten-year depression, politicians vied with each other to gain the ear and the vote of Americans. Roosevelt had already primed the pump but the water turned out to be bitter. Such difficult conditions brought out the worst of people—including more socialist politicians who demagogued their way into office.

An ostentatious, loud, grandiose senator from Louisiana named Huey “the Kingfish” Long took the stage in 1935 with his “Share the Wealth” plan—which included a guaranteed minimum income of $2,500 for every adult, old-age pensions for all, cancellation of all personal debts, free college, a thirty hour work week; four weeks of vacation for everyone, and an electric refrigerator and automobile for every America home.

There were over 27,431 local Share the Wealth Clubs, with over 7 million members nationwide promoting Socialism.

Americans were swallowing the socialism pill.

Like all demagogues, the Kingfish went after the corporations and billionaires (who had provided millions of jobs) as looters, moral lepers, and thieves. Sound familiar?

Just after his 42nd birthday, Senator Long was shot in Baton Rouge, the state capital, and died saying, “God, don’t let me die. I have so much to do.” But he died and nascent Socialism’s ascendency was delayed.

FDR projected a calm energy and optimism, famously declaring, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” No, all you have to fear are self-righteous, zealous, Socialists—many of them Democrat presidential candidates.

Every Democrat candidate is so leftist, they make Huey Long and FDR look like flaming Libertarians.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA TODAY for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D. ; and visit his blog. Send request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

I used to feel like the cartoon character carrying a sign with an ominous message on front and back: “Prepare: The End is Near.” I’m not alone anymore. Famous money man Jim Rodgers said, “Be prepared, be worried, and be careful.” He told the media, “Eventually, the whole world is going to collapse.” He declared, “This is going to end badly.” That’s what I’ve been saying, but few have listened; even some loved ones thought I had run off the rails.

In 2009, the Telegraph warned in a headline for everyone to prepare for potential global collapse within the next two years! That was “global” collapse and while the date was wrong, you can count on the reality taking place! And some of my friends suggest that I am an extremist! Yes, I have said that panic (an out-of-control response to economic collapse) was coming to the U.S., not because I am a prophet but because I connect the dots. Moreover, I expect the panic on Wall Street to reach Main Street where chaos will reign.

Need I remind you that the U.S. is about 19 trillion dollars in debt? However, that is not exactly correct when you add the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and veterans pensions. Totaled, the amount of the national debt is about 120 trillion dollars!

One hundred twenty trillion dollar bills laid end to end would reach to the sun and back about 62 times! And you thought you had debt problems! Well, you do because a massive portion of that debt is on your back and your children’s backs, and your grandchildren’s backs.

Economic analyst Michael Snyder declared that a financial collapse is imminent “within the next six months.” The choir is getting so loud, but I’m afraid few are listening.

Americans and Canadians should prepare for very difficult days ahead. If you are planning on Social Security or even a corporate pension to support you, you may be standing on a bridge of mist.

I suggest that everyone develop a second profession or trade. A lawyer should learn to install carpet, a physician should learn to refinish furniture; a teacher should learn plumbing; a salesman should learn small engine repair. And everyone should put out a garden—and not only for health reasons.

Make plans now to get out of debt personally and corporately. Churches should start debt retirement projects. If I were a pastor of a church that owned multi-acres, I would seriously consider selling a few acres to pay off the debt and delay the erection of a new building. Of course, churches can’t put every building program on hold and not make moves that circumstances require, but I would move very carefully.

If (when) total financial collapse comes, the cities will be madhouses, so make plans to get your family to safety—that means at least 20-30 miles from a metropolitan area. Property values are still reasonable in small towns and a wise investment might be to buy a rental that you could move to when dangerous times arrive. Or you could buy a lot on a lake or a mountain side and put a mobile home on it. You could always rent it or retire there if the future is rosy.

In 2005 I wrote that in a few years 8 or 10 family members would live in the same house because of difficulty in renting or buying a house. I wrote, “Older people will live with their married children and grandchildren—three generations in the same house. .. Few people will drive a new car and vacations will be short, or non-existent. People will once again learn to ‘make do’ with what they have.” We are almost there!

DUMPies have “confidence in the system” and think “Sure, everything will work out all right.” But their faith is in the wrong place and faith without works is dead.

It would be prudent to purchase some freeze-dried food from some survival outfit and a few five gallon cans of beans and rice. You should also have many gallons of water packed away for an emergency. Most people think such suggestions are extremist, but not so. Our grandparents would not have considered having empty pantries. After all, disasters do happen, don’t they? A wise person plans for all contingencies as much as is possible. And trusts God with the rest.

If there is a financial collapse, you can count on a breakdown of law and order. Surely there is no question about that. In event of riots, it would be wise to have a couple of guns and ammo available! What! A Christian shooting someone? Yes, if a mob kicks down my door, be assured that they will be shot. Then I will expect a commendation from the governor for doing a favor to all people in Georgia! It is very “Christian” to protect your family.

My view of the immediate future is that it will be rough with a very “hard row to hoe” but that doesn’t mean not trusting and resting in the Lord–which doesn’t mean not planting a garden! We must live in the here and now, and Christians would be wise to plan for “hard times” because hard times are coming. What will you do when chaos happens?

Of course, there are massive financial, immigration, and political problems in France, England, Germany, Italy, Greece, etc. Dark clouds cover most of the world indicating a storm is coming. Make reasonable preparations, and lash yourself to the mast. Don’t be a DUMPie.

Troubles, tests, trials, and tribulations are ahead but I can see the Sonlight through the gloom. Finally, remember, Jesus said, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Boys’ new book, Evolution: Fact, Fraud, or Faith? was published last week by Barbwire Books; to get your copy of Evolution: Fact, Fraud, or Faith? click here. An eBook edition is also available.

In the last few years the world has seen one economy grow like never in world history—China has exploded on the world scene. A few years ago China made no laptops and now makes more than 40% of them that are sold worldwide. They produce about 40% of the world’s cell phones and half the shoes of the world! The Chinese make the television sets and Americans watch them. Chinese peasants are saving 40% of their meager incomes and Americans are saving none! Of course, since we spend 10% more than we make, it is impossible to save.

China’s economy has slowed and they have sold 520 billion dollars in U.S. Treasury Bills in the past 15 months! They are dumping their U.S. debt; moreover, this month China announced that they purchased 600 tons of gold in one month! What does China know that others don’t know? Furthermore, economists believe that China is not dumping dollars because of retaliation against the U.S. but because of massive internal problems.

Millions of U.S. jobs have been lost to Mexico, India, and the rest of the world. Bankruptcies, personal and corporate, are at an all-time high. Detroit; Jefferson City, AL; Orange County, CA; Stockton, CA; and San Bernardino, CA have gone bankrupt to the tune of billions of dollars. And note that three of the five are located in California ruled by “Moonbeam” Brown.

Montgomery Ward, a solid fixture in America’s past, has been long dead and not even known by many Americans. Gone is Enron, Pacific Gas and Electric, Radio Shack and others! A & P is gasping for breath and will be dead in a few months; a sickly Kmart (who bought sickly Sears) and J.C. Penny are in their death throes; Abercrombie & Fitch is dying for which no one should mourn; even IBM is valiantly struggling to stay alive. GM and Chrysler are still breathing only because U.S. taxpayers (Obama) bailed them out of deep water. The clock is ticking and Americans are sleeping. But “after all, this is America” and “it can never be like it was during the Great Depression.” Can it?

However, financial experts like James Cook say otherwise: “In a country where savings are negligible, spoiled and pampered people are commonplace, millions of people enjoy subsidies and half the people can’t scrape a thousand bucks together, you have the formula for national bankruptcy,… and confiscatory government.”

Michael O’Higgins, Money Manager answers, “When you say it can’t be like 1929 through 1931 [when stocks lost 89 percent of their value], you’re right. It could be worse.” Fear mongering? No, just the facts.

Dr. Kurt Richebacher, financial wizard was asked: What’s the nature of this recession you predict? He answered: “It will prove unusually severe and long.”

Bill Buckler, wrote, “Asian Central Banks alone hold $US 1.4 TRILLION in liquid U.S. ‘paper.’ If just a part of this immense stock of funds lent to the U.S. were to start to run for the exits, the entire U.S. financial system would be forced up against a wall and then off a cliff.” The stampede has started. In the January 23, 2004 issue of the Asian Times they opined: “All Beijing has to do is to mention the possibility of a sell order going down the wires. It would devastate the U.S. economy more than any nuclear strike.”

We are told by the talking heads on television that the stock market will bounce back, but they don’t tell viewers that the market also bounced back following the crash in 1929 only to crash later! Besides there is more to the economy than the stock market.

While I am by no means a financial expert I can read graphs and make comparisons. I would not be in the stock market except for gold and silver stocks or unless the funds I invested in had some kind of insurance guarantee. But then if the whole economy goes down the tubes, most “guarantees” would be worthless. I would use any “bounce” in the market to get out especially if I could make a profit. Then I would put that money in rental property. In most areas you can purchase doublewide mobile homes for a very reasonable amount and rent them for $600 or more per month. Before making a commitment you should check all local ordinances to make sure there are no prohibitions regarding mobile homes.

Try to scale down your lifestyle in preparation for difficult times ahead. Do you (or your adult children) really need such an expensive home? Or automobile? Why not purchase a smaller home or smaller car? It is incredible that so many homeowners are paying $1000 and $1,200 per month for a home when they can hardly make the payments. Many have second mortgages having been told to “take your cash value” in your home; however, your home isn’t a life insurance policy. It is your home. And home prices fluctuate. Very foolish people take a second mortgage on their home to purchase other items or to pay monthly bills! That is a scenario for disaster. You can’t borrow yourself into financial freedom just as you can’t fornicate your way back to virginity.

The money managers in the U.S. Government have kept interest rates down so that young couples find it difficult to resist borrowing to finance their high standard of living, but such decisions are insane. Thus far, it has worked. In fact, that has probably been what has kept our nation from going bankrupt but Ludwig von Mises was right when he advised: “Expansion of credit does lead to a boom at first, it is true, but sooner or later this boom is bound to crash and bring about a new depression.”

Those of you who are in your 60s should look very closely at your finances. If you have a choice of taking a lump sum retirement or monthly payments, I would go with the lump sum. Many pension plans are billions of dollars underfunded. I don’t mean to scare you but some funds may not survive the next two years. Washington insiders are very concerned about pension plans, and the federal insurer undergirding 31,000 U.S. pension plans confessed that there are “multi-faceted and profound challenges” ahead for Americans.

It is time to reevaluate your financial position, and make decisions to cover various contingencies whenever possible. Simplify your life, scale down your lifestyle, and get out of debt.

The party is almost over.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

Daddy told me, “Son, don’t spend more than your income.” Daddy was an Austrian-school economist with a sixth grade education! He parlayed his meager education to a comfortable life as owner of two gas stations and a drug store. He died without owing a dollar and left mother comfortable for life. He had more wisdom than the Ph.Ds. that have been destroying our economy through mistakes, misjudgments, and malfeasance–especially malfeasance.

I am convinced the glory days are gone forever. America has seen her best years. For the first time in history young couples are not enjoying the standard of living their parents did. In fact, most people in North America have seen their standard of living fall. The standard of living is closely tied to the quality of life we all experience. Americans no longer lead in the standard of living. We are now fifth in the world. And going down, down, down.

However, to keep everything in perspective, it is a fact that the average American lives a life that would make the kings of Europe 300 years ago salivate with envy. Think indoor plumbing, hot showers, medical care, dental extraction, communications, transportation, lifespans, entertainment, etc. But we aren’t living 300 years ago and we have become captivated with the “good” life that will continue to drastically decline.

Americans have no confidence that Social Security will “be there” when they reach retirement age—and what may be there will be only for the neediest. They see middle class incomes going down and no jobs as secure. In my opinion, their fears, concerns, and pessimism are justified.

Our national debt is over 18 trillion dollars! That was trillion, not billion. It is difficult for us to comprehend such numbers, but let me try. If you had started, at the birth of Christ, spending a million dollars each day and faithfully spent one million dollars per day, it would take you until 2704 to spend one trillion! And our official debt is more than 18 trillion dollars! That means every U.S. taxpayer owes more than 1.1 million dollars and climbing! That is $56,000 owed by every American citizen.

As the national debt continues to swell, the economy will continue to be sluggish, the tax burden will continue to spiral, and the middle class will continue to shrink.

But here’s the “rest of the story.” We owe far more than 18 trillion because there is more than 221 trillion dollars of debt that is “off the books” according to National Public Radio! That debt consists of unfunded federal pension obligations—government employees, military, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. There is no profit in detailing how we got in this deep well; we all know how we got there. The question is: how do we get out? (The first rule to follow, according to Daddy, is when you find yourself in a deep hole, stop digging.) How do we pay off our debts and get out of the hole? The answer is: painfully and slowly! Paying off the national debt will be like making payments on a dead horse.

When a person, family, business, or a nation owes more debt than can be serviced, no one will lend them more money. Of course, individuals would be in prison for fraud, but governments don’t go to prison—and not enough politicians do. But then, Illinois does have the record of governors in the pokey. Four of the last seven Illinois governors have made or are making license plates!

Governments usually do one of two things when they get into a “mess” such as we are in. They repudiate all obligations or print worthless money day and night. The first will not be done because it would result in riot, rebellion, and revolution—literally. So, to the printing presses!

Think of the reaction if retired military men, welfare recipients, and Social Security beneficiaries were told, “No more money!” They would storm Capitol Hill and the White House and might bring back the guillotine, used so efficiently (and ruthlessly) during the French revolution–but with more justification!

No, the politicians’ answer to our horrendous debt will be to run the printing presses. Then inflation and interest rates will race each other for the moon. Our national debt will be paid off with worthless dollars. You have always wanted to live in a million dollar house, and you will—the same one in which you now live. Of course, it may cost $100.00 to purchase a newspaper and there will be few newspapers available.

While pessimism is not my nature, I see a dark cloud on the horizon. Informed Americans should make plans for some very difficult years ahead.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

However, I am sure that America and the free world face a catastrophic financial meltdown because it is not reasonable to believe we can spend far more money than we take in. Almost 19 trillion dollars of debt is proof of criminal behavior. Everyone knows it is immoral to pass on trillions of dollars of debt to our posterity and repudiation of that debt is just as immoral. The meltdown will be heightened because we have a nation of free loaders who don’t know how to work and don’t even think they are required to work. The fact that the dollar is almost worthless will destroy us even quicker.

My support for belief in a total collapse of the economy with attending gang wars, race wars, home invasions, breakdown of law and order (remember Katrina?), disappearance of food and its production, and massive unemployment is the following.

It was a fantastic year when the stock market boomed and major U.S. companies made huge profits in domestic and foreign markets. New technology totally changed many industries, and financial pundits told us that we were on the edge of a new level of prosperity. Politicians, business leaders, and economists told us that the future was incredibly bright. No, that was not in recent years but in 1929! From May of 1928 to September of 1929, stocks jumped forty percent! In fact, trading in 1929 was more than twice that of 1928.

Newspaper headlines on Oct. 24, 1929 (Black Thursday) screamed, “Wall Street in Panic as Stocks Crash.” President Hoover (not President Roosevelt as Biden declared!) assured the American public that it was only a little correction, but the prosperous became paupers overnight. The best stock on Wall Street was General Motors, selling for 73 and after the crash, it fell to eight!

Men jumped from skyscrapers when their wealth was wiped out in the market. Powerful men were reduced to selling fruit on the streets for pennies. Bread lines were a block long. U.S. unemployment was 25% and about 10,000 banks failed. In addition, our nation did not come out of that depression until the Second World War– twelve long years! Better keep that fact in mind.

It must be kept in mind that even after the stock market crash, political, business, and financial leaders were telling all who would listen that it wasn’t really that bad! The U.S. Secretary of Commerce reported in early 1930 that business was doing well! He said that 1930 would be a “normal” year and those who predicted prolonged depression were “foolish.”

The New York Times jumped into the parade in its Jan. 24, 1930 issue with a headline blaring, “TRADE RECOVERY NOW COMPLETE—No Stimulants Needed—PROGRESS IN ALL LINES BY EARLY SPRING IS FORECAST.” Many major leaders gave such false assurances with no solid, sensible, or sane reason to support them. America was being broken, and our leaders were playing politics to keep everyone from further panic.

Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon assured the nation in early 1930, “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism.” Mellon must have been President of the League of the Willfully Blind!

Then, on Dec. 6, 1930, when the market had plunged through its 1929 low, unemployment was rising sharply, and business and bank failures were setting records, the Secretary of Commerce said in a radio speech, “We have weathered the storm and signs of stability and recovery are already appearing.” He must have been Vice-president of the League.

We are hearing the same kind of assurances today as the world is brought to its knees. (May not be a bad position!) So get ready for a wild ride that may last for years and be far worse than the hot shots in Washington and New York are telling us. Remember that these are the same people who took months before they used the word “Recession” while some of us knew we were in a “Depression.” It may be that in a few months everyone will use the word, “Panic.”

Economist Richard Yamarone said, “There is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the outlook is pitch black.” With a volatile stock market, U.S. jobless number is now about 9 million (although Forbes reports that the real number is twice that) and major banks and corporations are going belly-up. Millions have stopped looking for work and millions more are working fewer hours because of Obamacare. Your 401-k account may be worth only $401.00! It is almost too late to lash yourself to the mast to keep from being washed overboard.

While pessimism is not my nature, I see a dark cloud on the horizon. First, a major Depression followed by massive inflation. Informed Americans should make plans for some very difficult years ahead. Because life is so uncertain, every thoughtful person should always be prepared for anything. Get ready today for whatever may come tomorrow. Preppers are not only wise but are playing it safe.

I have written before that we don’t have to know the future to prepare for the future. So prepare today. The most compelling preparation is spiritual. Do you know Christ in forgiveness of sins? Are you in a good church that will provide support in time of disaster? Take care of those things immediately.

Try to get out of debt; keep as much cash on hand as possible; purchase some gold and as much silver as you can afford; look for a place to go if chaos hits town as gangs take over and law and order disappear; keep vehicles’ gas tanks full and extra fuel in a safe place; have a safe water supply that you control or stored water in glass jars; have a couple guns for protection against home invasions; have bleach for use in purifying water; purchase food in bulk such as large bags of rice, beans, oats, wheat from Sam’s or Costco’s; also purchase salt, pepper, peanut butter, raisins, nuts, honey, toilet paper, soap, tape, nails, tools, medicine, etc. Be sure to rotate the perishable food. Finally, everyone should have a garden, if only a few plants.

If the cock-eyed optimists are right and nothing happens then you have lost nothing and experienced many good nights of peaceful sleep. You can pour the water on your garden and the food you can eat for the next few months. For sure, the food will not be cheaper. It is win-win.

This is a good time to prepare a garden spot if you have any ground to use so you would need garden tools and other supplies as well as non-hybrid seeds. It would be good to plant some fruit trees.

Simply put: for the storm that is approaching, you need God, groceries, gold, guns, and a garden. Forget about living well because those days are gone for a long time, if not forever. Look for this headline: Panic on Wall Street and Main Street!

And that’s from an optimist! There is no silver lining, just a massive, dangerous, swirling, black cloud. It’s a major storm that will smack everyone.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

There is no doubt that in the Matt. 20 parable, Christ endorsed private ownership of property; the right to use one’s property as he chooses; the right to hire and fire as an employer desires; the right to contract–all epitomized with the employer’s question, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” Christ approved the above when he told of an employer who hired men to work starting at various hours of the day but at day’s end paid them all the same wage. The wage was one penny or Roman denarius, equal to a day’s pay for a worker or soldier.

Christ was informing His listeners that grace is extended without merit of the workers. Those men who worked all day thought they deserved to be paid more than those laborers who only worked a few hours. Christ was saying that it was not the laborers’ decision to make. Our rewards will be decided by Him not what humans think is “fair.” God can be as generous as He wants without any accountability to others. Most of the workers in the parable did not deserve a full day’s wage and none of us deserve His abundant grace.

In chapter 19 Christ had spoken to His disciples about the rewards in the future kingdom that would be given as He chose. His original disciples were with Him from the first but others would follow and be rewarded according to His sovereign grace. The Apostle Paul came along later yet according to II Cor. 11:5 he declared, “For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.”

It is a fact that Christ used the workplace example to express His position on the treatment of people whatever the time of coming to faith and service. To suggest that He used an unworthy example (that was wrong) to make a spiritual application is outrageous. He would never use an illegitimate principle or practice to teach a pious truth. He approved of hiring men to work and paying them for their work even if other men worked fewer hours and received the same wages. And He expected them to be satisfied with their agreement.

Critics declared that the Bible does not teach free enterprise and capitalism and self-reliance and keeping of contracts but they are wrong. As to the Book of Acts and the early Christians selling everything and holding everything common, that was the outworking of generous Christians who saw a need and fulfilled it, rather than a command by the Apostles to do so. Obviously, everyone did not do it and Peter told Ananias and Sapphira that their property was their own to do as they saw fit. On the Cross, Christ told John to take His mother to his “home.”

Obviously, the early Christians were not “Communists” as shallow, leftwing theologians teach. This early Christian generosity was totally voluntary as wealthier Christians saw new believers from far away who stayed longer in Jerusalem than they had planned. Since they had trusted Christ whom the Jews had crucified, the foreign visitors could no longer expect the usual accommodations from the Jews. So a few generous, well to do Christians sold their property and met the temporary need but there was no command to do so. It was an act of love by individuals, not compulsion by the government.

Furthermore, they were soon to be thrust out of Jerusalem to all points of the earth so they would not need homes and other property. And persecution was coming; after all, their Savior had been crucified and they had been behind closed doors in fear.

Evidently, my critics think it is “Christian” for the state to tell a businessman how he must run his business. They think government is the answer when it is the problem. They think it is right for the workers to support the shirkers and for union bosses to wring dollars from hapless workers.

Some of my critics mentioned Christ’s command to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and care for the sick as if that has anything to do with whether He would endorse the minimum wage. Most people mistakenly take what we are supposed to do as individual Christians to be the role of the government! It is not government’s role to provide for the poor but to create an environment of peace, justice, few regulations, and low taxation where the poor can provide for themselves.

One outraged writer suggested that I “should stick to religion and stay out of economics.” However the Bible is full of economics since that is basic to human existence.

I was accused of taking Christ’s parable out of context to “try and prove Jesus’ capitalistic tendencies.” The shallow critic then resorted to the “communism” in Acts as proof of the anti-capitalism in Scripture! He failed in his attempt.

The issue of the minimum wage is not about “stinginess” but about personal rights as opposed to government intrusion into an area where it has no legitimate authority. My critics did not know that the daily wage given in the parable was not “stinginess” but the normal wage for that time. All the workers in the parable were generously paid.

Of course Jesus told us to “feed the hungry, care for the sick, etc.,” but He did not tell government to do it. Moreover, a businessman is in business to make money, pay his bills, provide employment, etc., without being controlled by an ever-growing government. One told me that Christ’s ministry was all about justice but that is not true. His ministry was all about providing a way of salvation for lost sinners. Then, when men are redeemed they will love the poor, the disadvantaged, and the helpless. Uninformed or misinformed people want to make Christ about doing good but His purpose was to make men good thereby changing society.

One critic charged that Jesus was “explicitly in favor of radical redistribution” as suggested in Luke 18:22; however, that is a twisted interpretation of that incident. That passage was a specific command to a young man who needed to hear that command. Obviously, it was not a command for general “radical redistribution” of money. After all, if EVERY Christian gave away EVERYTHING he owned, how would he feed his family? How would he pay his mortgage? How would he pay for his new chariot and his wife’s used chariot? Furthermore, Paul admonished us not to provide for the one who could work but refused to work to provide for himself. Those were commanded “that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread” II Thess. 3:10-12.

Christ demands that Christians treat others fairly; however, the government has no such authority. It is none of the government’s business how much one pays another. The minimum wage is socialist, authoritarian, immoral, unfair, impractical, and always detrimental to threshold workers. Shallow socialists seeking to do good always end up doing bad.

No, Christ would not vote to increase the minimum wage and if you want a maximum wage then develop maximum skills.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

A good example is seen in Matt: 20 where a businessman went out early one morning and saw workers standing around in the market. He asked if they wanted to work. He agreed to pay them the normal wage for a day’s work. Three hours later he did the same with other workers agreeing to pay “whatsoever is right” and they agreed and joined the other group. Five hours later he hired another group. At the end of the day he paid them all the same amount! Of course, the first workers were angry since they had worked the longest. He told them that they had nothing to complain about since he did exactly what he said he would do. He asked them, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” Clearly, in America the answer is “no.”

Incredibly, many people would scream “unfair,” “unreasonable,” and even unconstitutional! And anti-union, for sure. Note that even I showed my prejudice in the above paragraph when I wrote, “Of course, the first workers were angry.” I am all for fairness but I’m much more impressed by keeping one’s word. All workers agreed to the arrangement so they had no right to demand a change in the agreement. There is a purpose for that parable being in the Bible. Many union workers can learn from it and become better people.

Most Americans have been brainwashed into believing that they are entitled to the same wage others are getting for the same work. Ridiculous! No union or government has the right to tell businesspeople how much they have to pay their employees. The owner of the business took the risk, worked hard and long and could possibly lose everything. How asinine for any entity to tell a businessperson how much he must pay a worker.

Would the hired hand be obligated, morally or legally, to subsidize the owner when difficult times come upon the business? Will employees assume some of the risk when the owner has to enlarge his place or purchase new equipment? Will they work longer hours for less pay when bankruptcy looms? I think not.

Government and many unions are tyrants who have assumed authority they don’t rightfully possess, all in the interest of “fairness,” “equality,” and “justice.” But, it is really heavy-handed totalitarianism and it is astounding that clear-thinking people would defend it. Montesquieu observed: “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” It is tyranny not justice for any government to force a businessperson to pay any benefit or minimum wage.

Each worker is worth only what he produces for the owner. A person who cleans a hospital room is not paid the same as the nurse who cares for the patient and the nurse is not paid as much as the physician. There are three levels of training, work, and responsibility in that hospital room. Even two nurses do not have the moral right to demand the same pay or double their present wage.

Only an owner knows how much a job is worth to him. It doesn’t matter what some do-gooder, union boss, or government bureaucrat says. Moreover, if an increased wage is good for the workers and the economy then why not increase the minimum wage to $50 per hour? That’s far more “fair” than $15 per hour.

Not only is it immoral for anyone to demand a minimum wage, it will always result in unemployment especially among threshold workers. If a worker does not produce more profit than his salary then he will be fired. The owner will adjust by working more hours himself, raise prices, or cut some benefits or restrict hours of operation. After all, he must make a profit. He does not run a non-profit business nor is he in business to provide a workplace for employees. He is in business to make money. No money, no business.

It would be wise for honest, decent people who really believe in fairness to understand that they can earn more by making themselves more valuable to their employer. He or she should become so valuable that the owner feels a need to pay more to keep another business owner from hiring his employee away from him with the promise of higher wages. Excel, excel, excel.

No, Christ would not seek to force a business owner to pay more especially to employees who usually only do what is required of them to get by. John commanded in Luke 3:14 “Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”

So workers should stop trying to strong-arm their boss and do more than is expected of them and be satisfied with their salary. And stop whining about perceived fairness. Life is never fair.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”