George Washington died the same way America’s economy is dying: he was bled to death by his doctors. As George’s symptoms got worse, his doctors siphoned out another pint of blood–believing his bad blood was the problem. With every pint pumped from his veins, he surprisingly –at least to them- got worse. These educated and elite medical professionals never questioned their original assumptions. They erroneously concluded they had not intervened enough and siphoned yet another quart of blood. Washington’s doctors killed him. As his cold corpse lay in his bed, you could hear in hush tones, “If only we’d bled him out faster and sooner.” The worsening symptoms were never interpreted as the proverbial light of the dashboard clamoring, “This is not working! Stop! You’re not solving the problem. You are the problem!”

The doctors of democracy from BOTH political parties have been bleeding out America today with their Keynesian assumptions that you can never spend too little, intervene too soon, or stimulate too much. And how does a doctor, trained in blood letting, respond to worsening symptoms? The same way a government brainwashed in Keynesian nonsense responds, “Take out another pint!” Keep spending. Keep borrowing. Keep inflating.” If George Washington’s ailing body could talk, he’d beg us to ignore the profoundly wrong assumptions of the professionals. He might advise us to go watch Weekend at Bernie’s, when we see politicians waving America’s dying hand while mouthing, “We’re almost out of the woods! The recovery is underway.” George might gasp with his dying breathe, “Stop helping, I can’t take it!”

What America needs today is God’s view on economics–Godonomics. In Proverbs 31, it outlines how economies work. This business woman begins with PRODUCING, by finding a vineyard. Then she PROFITS -which is a good thing, not a four letter word. And in a free market system, the only way to profit is when someone willingly chooses to buy your product, requiring the producer to put the consumers needs first. Don’t confuse free market capitalism with corporatism, where companies line the pockets of government officials to manipulate the system in their favor.

Our Proverbs 31 woman does just that, as she “affirms that her merchandise is good”, working day and night to make the business go. From her profits she produces SAVINGS, which allow her to INVEST in another vineyard–blessing others, hiring more workers, and PRODUCING more. From her SAVINGS she extends her hand to the poor and needy. And twice the Scriptures affirm two lynch-pins of capitalism: Property Rights and Incentive, when it says, “Give her the fruit of her hands.” Those profits belong to her, because she worked for them. This is called property rights. And they were the incentive of her hard work: her profits.

Contrast this with Consumer-onomics, which begins with CONSUMING more than you PRODUCE. Since you have no SAVINGS, you must turn to BORROWING to support your lifestyle. Where does this money come from? If you are an individual, it may come from ENSLAVING yourself to the compounded interest of debt. If you are a government or governmental program, you only have three ways to consume.

Option 1: TAXING the producers, thus decreasing their profits, savings, and ability to invest in new jobs. (Good bye employment). God warns us against the ways a large government will “take” what is “ours” and make it “his.”

1 Samuel 8. “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons…¹³ He will take your daughters ¹⁴ And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants….¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.

Option 2: INFLATING the currency which devalues the dollar and hurts the poor, ignoring God’s strong words about “unjust scales” and “dishonest weights.”

Proverbs 11:1. ¹ Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD,
But a just weight is His delight.

Option 3: ENSLAVING itself by borrowing from other nations- -ignoring God’s commands from Deuteronomy not to borrow from other nations, because they will have power over you. All three of these bad options pass the buck of our selfish binging to our children and grandchildren, rather than following the advice of the Proverb that says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s
children.”

Deut 15:6 You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Deut 28: You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.