Four powerful words: “We Can’t Afford It.” These are words that are lobotomized out of the vocabulary of insatiable materialism and politicians. Instead of admitting that we as a nation can’t afford helpful, but expensive programs; we keep spending. (Both Democrats and Republicans Spend, Spend, Spend!) Washington D.C. lives up to the meaning of poli-tics– “Poly” meaning many, and “Tics” meaning blood-sucking.  Our leaders are sucking the blood from our children by spending too much today.   I heard a marriage counselor quip about this once.  He said, “The problem with most marriages is that one person is the tick, and the other person is the dog.  Unfortunately in too many marriages, the real problem is that you have two ticks, and no dog!   And that’s why your marriage “sucks.”  His point is clear, taking rather than giving not only destroys relationships, it also bankrupts countries. What would God say about debt for a family, or for a nation? Actually, He says quite a bit!

When we borrow from the future by committing our grandchildren to interest on our reckless spending, it’s foolish and immoral. Proverbs 15:22 states, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children”. We should not leave our children or grandchildren with the burden of paying for our wasteful spending. As of today, we are 14 trillion in the hole or 120 trillion in the whole with unfunded liabilities according to usdebtclock.org. Does it seem wise or moral to commit our children and grandchildren to paying later for our overspending today?

Proverbs 13:7 tells us that there are two types of people: those who “pretend to be rich” buying stuff they can’t afford, and “those who pretend to be poor” and don’t spend all the money they could. The overspending pretender really has nothing but a bill, while the frugal and wise saver has money in the bank.

You’d think at over 110 trillion, we could all look ourselves in the mirror and say, “WHOA! This is not good. This is not wise. This is immoral. We are in trouble. We can’t afford it–whatever “it is!” We want to see the common sense wisdom of Proverbs 21:20: “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.”  Solomon noted that when you stop by the bank account of a wise man (or wise nation), they have treasure (savings) in their bank accounts. Solomon says that when you stop by the foolish nation (or family), they have spent everything they have (no margin, no savings, just credit card bills). At a national level, we want our grandchildren to go to America’s bank vault and find oil and treasure when they grow up, not the bill for all the stuff we “spent” a generation ago.  When we demand that our government keep providing services for things we cannot afford, we are asking them to enslave our grandchildren.

For more information, check out www.godonomics.com