Faithfully Yours: Economic slavery

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Published on Sunday, April 30, 2017

By Neil Strohschein
The Banner

At any time, any one of us can find ourselves facing a huge expense for which we do not have sufficient funds. That happened to me several years ago. Fortunately, a clause in my mortgage allowed me to borrow the funds I needed. That amount was added to my mortgage, increasing my monthly payment and with it, the control the bank has over my life and resources.

Banks have a unique relationship with those to whom they lend money. King Solomon described it this way: “The borrower is the slave of the lender.” (Proverbs. 22:7b) That’s another way of saying that when you and I borrow money, we pledge the time, talent and energy it takes to earn the amount of our monthly payment to the people or institutions from whom we borrowed the funds. For those hours, we work for them—not for ourselves, not for our families—we work for them; and we won’t stop working for them until we have repaid every cent we’ve borrowed.

The same principle should apply to debt that governments accumulate. But within the hallowed halls of government, a different attitude persists. And this attitude has put our country on a path that could lead to economic slavery. To support this statement, I offer the following argument.

Like many of yours, my parents grew up during the Dirty ‘30s. Money was tight. The goods and services with which we are familiar were either unavailable or so expensive that no one could afford them. When the depression ended, WWII began; bringing with it disruptions in family life, rationing of resources and challenges similar to those experienced in the ‘30s.

Those who lived through those years became fiercely independent. They didn’t want government help; they felt they didn’t need it. They survived by being frugal, paying cash for purchases and working together. Most of them were reusing and recycling long before those concepts became popular (anyone else remember washing plastic bread bags and tin foil so they could be used again; or covering school books with paper grocery bags to keep them from getting damaged?).

For many, retirement wasn’t an option. They kept working until declining health forced them to cut back or until they died—whichever came first. 

But in the late 1950s, things began to change. Saskatchewan introduced government-run health insurance (Medicare). Ottawa introduced the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and passed legislation requiring all provinces to provide Medicare coverage for their citizens. Other safety net programs followed. As we became comfortable with some services, we demanded more and governments, in the name of “serving the people,” gave us more. Were we happy? No. The more we got, the more we wanted. And if someone in authority said: “No, you can’t have what you want,” we took to the media and to the streets to voice our displeasure.

As a result, annual government expenses often exceed tax revenues. But, rather than raise taxes or cut expenses (and risk defeat in the next election), governments choose to borrow money to cover their deficits. We get the services we demand—but the debt continues to grow. Today, 50 per cent of the income you and I generate each day goes to pay federal, provincial and local taxes, levies, service fees and interest on government debt.

King Solomon was right. We have become slaves in our own land—slaves to those who loan our governments the money they need to provide the services we demand. The fault lies with us, as does the cure. Next week—step one to economic freedom.