https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-christian-economist-by-dave-arnottenChristianityCopyright Dunham+Companyhttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/bdb38c9e8f7e9e0a8040517d4affaefb.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/show/the-christian-economist-by-dave-arnottTue, 08 Apr 2025 05:25:51 +0000Dunham+CompanyDunham+Companyclawson@dunhamandcompany.comThe Christian Economist Dave Arnott discusses Christian economics, conservative economics, and how they relate to current events.falseepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/when-the-government-owns-it-all--65416511https://api.spreaker.com/episode/65416511Tue, 08 Apr 2025 05:23:51 +0000Dunham+CompanyGovernment ownership produces monopolies that harm consumers.  This podcast looks at the threats of monopolies in health care, education, and religion.   In the United States, we’ve been blessed with freedom of choice, which has produced a two-part...681falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/200-vote-with-your-feet--58199067https://davearnott.com/?p=1723Thu, 04 Jan 2024 15:44:33 +0000Dunham+CompanyAmericans are moving from restrictive economies in California and New York to free economies in Texas and Florida, much like the Israelites escaped captivity in Egypt. Let’s Vote! I had five grandkids in the van recently, and we were trying to decide...636false200fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/199-hope-for-the-new-year--58140556https://davearnott.com/?p=1718Thu, 28 Dec 2023 18:29:31 +0000Dunham+CompanyThere are Ten Reasons for Hope in the New Year   I often explain that as an economist, I’m a pessimist, but as a Christian, I have hope. Hope is endemic to the Christian spirit and idea. We believe God is at work, even when the US debt clock shows...612falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/198-christian-colleges-solve-the-woke-problem--58072142https://davearnott.com/?p=1714Wed, 20 Dec 2023 14:30:27 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe market will take care of the woke problem in higher education, as consumers choose Christian colleges over corrupt state institutions.    John Ellis wrote a fire-breathing editorial in the Wall Street Journal titled Higher Ed Has Become a Threat...534false195fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/197-december-is-christian-month--57996751https://davearnott.com/?p=1710Wed, 13 Dec 2023 14:30:54 +0000Dunham+CompanyDecember is Christian Month. It starts with Thanksgiving and ends with Christmas: the most celebrated holiday event in human history.   December is Christian Month. It was not officially declared by any governmental entity. It doesn’t have to be....455falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/196-the-economics-of-imperfection--57929570https://davearnott.com/?p=1704Wed, 06 Dec 2023 14:30:06 +0000Dunham+CompanyEconomics in 2023: we should not expect perfection on this side of heaven. Many people leave the church because they find that their fellow congregants are not perfect. We also hear complaints about the capitalist economy not perfectly serving...630falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/195-from-god-to-government--57847989https://davearnott.com/?p=1691Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:30:34 +0000Dunham+CompanyAdam and Eve ate the apple because they wanted to be God. That desire has not gone away, and recently, we are seeing even more evidence of it. Our society is moving from “God to Government” and the implications don’t look great.   Worldview Christian...557falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/194-thankful-for-private-property--57766711https://davearnott.com/?p=1684Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:00:37 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe Pilgrims tried socialism and it failed. Then private property led to so much prosperity that they hosted the first Thanksgiving.   If you have enough to eat this Thanksgiving, you should be thankful for the private property system that produced...628false194fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/who-is-getting-shanghaied-in-trade--57648942https://davearnott.com/?p=1671Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:30:23 +0000Dunham+CompanyTrade with China makes Americans richer, but China is likely using the profits from their exports to build a military that the US will fight someday.   In the 19th century, if a sailor got too drunk in a port city, he might wake up the next day on a...608false193fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/192-school-choice--57561036https://davearnott.com/?p=1666Wed, 08 Nov 2023 14:30:51 +0000Dunham+CompanySchool Choice: The rich already have the choice to send their children to any school they want.  The poor should have the same choice.   The rich should have a choice that the poor do not have. Really?! Think about it: The rich already HAVE school...635false192fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/191-when-expenses-exceed-revenues--57470868https://davearnott.com/?p=1654Wed, 01 Nov 2023 13:30:53 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe US Federal Government's annual expenses are $1.9 trillion more than its revenues.  That's a violation of the eighth commandment, and it is economically unsustainable.   You will be poorer every day, for the rest of your life, because the Biden...631false191fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/190-we-ve-never-run-out-of-anything--57381144https://davearnott.com/?p=1644Wed, 25 Oct 2023 13:30:43 +0000Dunham+CompanyScarcity thinkers tell us we are running out of resources.  But Christians believe our "Made in the image of God creativity" will continue to find new ways of preserving resources. One of my favorite questions to ask groups is to complete this...663falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/189-karl-marx-and-hamas--57291742https://davearnott.com/?p=1639Wed, 18 Oct 2023 13:30:08 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe powerful religion of Karl Marx and of Islam leads to the powerful political system of totalitarianism, which leads to the powerful economic system of Marxism, which impoverishes its people. How we see God has a lot to do with how we see our fellow...704false189fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/188-more-equal-than-you-think--57213186https://davearnott.com/?p=1634Thu, 12 Oct 2023 15:55:34 +0000Dunham+CompanyAmerican incomes are 3% more equal today than in 1947.   That was the key data point from former Senator Phil Gramm’s recent speech about his new book, titled The Myth of American Inequality.    Don’t Covet Just about every discussion that points out...661false188fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/187-chatgpt-has-assumptions--57057976https://davearnott.com/?p=1627Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:11:51 +0000Dunham+CompanyChatGPT leans liberal and can be deceptive, but Christians should not be afraid of it;  It's simply another machine that will cause creative destruction that makes us economically richer.   Toward the end of last semester, I wrote to my Dean in the...585falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/god-made-us-rich-episode-186--56961499https://davearnott.com/?p=1621Wed, 27 Sep 2023 14:21:13 +0000Dunham+CompanyOur creativity comes from being made in the image of God. That creative innovation is best expressed in time-price, defined as how many hours we work to buy something.  We're rich. Would you like to pay for your breakfast and get eight free?  Wanna...651false186fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/perfection-is-found-only-in-heaven--56872118https://davearnott.com/?p=1616Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:57:15 +0000Dunham+CompanyWe can't make a perfect economic system.  But we can make it better. God is perfect, we’re not.  But that doesn’t stop people from striving for perfection.  So how do we design an economic system for an imperfect world?  That’s the subject of today’s...645false185fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/184-competition-is-more-effective-than-regulations--56788873https://davearnott.com/?p=1606Wed, 13 Sep 2023 14:30:52 +0000Dunham+CompanyChristians are called to take care of widows and orphans, because in the agrarian economy of Biblical times, those were the people who didn’t own land, so they were not capable of economically providing for themselves.  In the 21st century, we as...649false184fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/183-who-should-care-for-the-homeless--56726128https://davearnott.com/?p=1600Thu, 07 Sep 2023 14:46:43 +0000Dunham+Company“Supply causes demand” was the summary statement by the French economist Jean Baptiste Say.  The Biden administration has supplied more than $500 million to alleviate homelessness, and demand for it went up 11%.  The allotment will be quickly consumed...578false183fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/182-your-economic-reputation--56637650https://davearnott.com/?p=1592Wed, 30 Aug 2023 15:31:07 +0000Dunham+CompanyDuring a recent Congressional testimony, John Durham was accused of having a sullied reputation because of his association with President Trump.  His full response is the closing statement of today’s podcast.  For now, I will summarize the part that...613false182fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/181-long-life-economics--56579808https://davearnott.com/?p=1586Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:25:43 +0000Dunham+CompanyPeople are living longer, and it's shaking up the world of money. A Wall Street Journal piece shows that as we age, we stack up more cash. But, with longer lives come bigger economic questions. “You will have a long life on the earth.” This promise...598false181fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/180-we-are-god-s-creative-creatures--56003077https://davearnott.com/?p=1566Wed, 05 Jul 2023 13:45:26 +0000Dunham+CompanyAs long as the fallen nature produces unlimited wants, and the creative nature has unlimited creativity, there will be unlimited employment.   The Bureau of Labor Statistics published a report last year, projecting huge losses in three occupational...699false180fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/179-artificial-intelligence-is-pretty-smart--55418076https://davearnott.com/?p=1560Wed, 28 Jun 2023 15:00:10 +0000Dunham+CompanyArtificial intelligence can view a photo of a person’s face and correctly identify their political leanings 61% of the time.  That’s because conservatives smile and liberals don’t.  If you want to be happy, choose conservatism.   Artificial...608false179fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/178-economic-freedom-must-be-defended--54651963https://davearnott.com/?p=1553Wed, 21 Jun 2023 19:14:12 +0000Dunham+CompanyJust like national freedom, economic freedom must be defended.  When we stop defending it, we are on the Road to Serfdom. Ginger and I attended a family wedding recently where many of the attendees were members of the military.  I mentioned to a small...734false178fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/177-a-culture-of-work--54391364https://davearnott.com/?p=1545Wed, 14 Jun 2023 13:15:59 +0000Dunham+CompanyMost Democrats favor a culture of dependency.  That is not consistent with the Christian worldview that God made humans to work.   “I don’t work because I don’t have to”.  A woman of working age in front of me in the check-out lane explained that to...613falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/176-the-definition-of-poverty--54131864https://davearnott.com/?p=1540Wed, 07 Jun 2023 19:26:44 +0000Dunham+Company The Biden administration is considering changing the definition of poverty to be a relative term related to the lower end of the income spectrum.  That would guarantee that “The poor will always be with you.”  This is perhaps the most important...613false176fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-economic-effects-of-illegal-immigration--54054224https://davearnott.com/?p=1534Wed, 31 May 2023 14:35:20 +0000Dunham+CompanyMost of the six million illegal immigrants who have crossed the US southern border in the last two years are claiming political asylum.  They are being allowed to enter because of election politics.  The real reason is economics. The largest migration...657false175fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/never-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste--53984744https://davearnott.com/?p=1519Wed, 24 May 2023 13:15:09 +0000Dunham+CompanyChristians should not be fooled by the Machiavellian technique of using a crisis to gain political or economic power.    The title of today’s podcast comes from Niccolò Machiavelli, known as one of the most devious of leaders.  Early in the 16th...604false174fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/simple-rules-for-a-complex-world--53907327https://davearnott.com/?p=1511Wed, 17 May 2023 13:41:00 +0000Dunham+CompanyGod gave Moses only ten rules.  But now, we are drowning in a complex maze of political and economic regulations that cede power to the government. God gave Moses only ten rules.  That’s a great example of using simple rules for a complex world.   The...710false173fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/172-when-the-government-owns-it-all--53806318https://davearnott.com/?p=1506Wed, 10 May 2023 13:58:46 +0000Dunham+CompanyGovernment ownership produces monopolies that harm consumers.  This podcast looks at the threats of monopolies in health care, education, and religion.   In the United States, we’ve been blessed with freedom of choice, which has produced a two-part...681false172fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/171-proof-that-men-are-not-angels--53728431https://davearnott.com/?p=1490Wed, 03 May 2023 13:15:41 +0000Dunham+CompanyAn island in the middle of Copenhagen called Freetown Christiania has more rules than just about any place on earth, proving that men are NOT angels, and some form of government is necessary.    “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” ...919false171fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/170-tax-policy-and-the-poor--53653036https://davearnott.com/?p=1479Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:15:29 +0000Dunham+CompanySix tax policies make the poor poorer.  At many levels, governments promote barriers to progress for the poor, whom we Christians care about.    Writing in the WSJ this week, Andy Kessler opined, “There are only four things you can do with your money:...635false170fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/169-how-green-policies-impoverish-the-poor--53582699https://davearnott.com/?p=1471Wed, 19 Apr 2023 13:30:38 +0000Dunham+CompanyChristians are called to care for the poor, but there are 5 “Green Policies” that are making them poorer. “I don’t think we can count on people living an impoverished lifestyle as a solution to climate change,” Bill Gates said recently.  Oh, so...622false169fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/168-how-fiscal-policy-harms-the-poor--53513236https://davearnott.com/?p=1464Wed, 12 Apr 2023 13:15:41 +0000Dunham+CompanyI Timothy 5:18, states, “The worker deserves his wages.”  Five fiscal policies harm the poor by denying fair wages: Inflation, minimum wage, unemployment benefits, favoring unions, and licensing requirements.   I’m from the government, and I’m here to...711false168fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/167-values-and-the-poor--53451229https://davearnott.com/?p=1456Wed, 05 Apr 2023 13:15:59 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe poor get rich by practicing a system of values.  Since Americans are less interested in religion, having children, hard work, community involvement, and education, the passing lane into wealth is wide open.    The Wall Street Journal recently...588false167fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/166-where-dei-goes-to-die--53380796https://davearnott.com/?p=1451Wed, 29 Mar 2023 16:09:35 +0000Dunham+CompanyDiversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs discriminate, so they can’t survive the market. President Biden is requiring all federal agencies to create a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team.  It seems like the Dems want to distribute everything...775false166fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/165-the-economics-of-servant-leadership--53296651https://davearnott.com/?p=1439Wed, 22 Mar 2023 13:15:18 +0000Dunham+CompanyChristian servant leadership gives us our political and legal systems, universities, medical care, child adoption, and freed most of the world from slavery.  And it was all done, almost for free!  It’s free!  Hold it, don’t you often say “There’s no...601false165fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/164-the-redistribution-scheme--53211054https://davearnott.com/?p=1431Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:15:37 +0000Dunham+CompanyMost fiscal policy has become a redistribution scheme because the benefit actually accrues not to the government, but to those on whom the revenue is spent.  That’s not Biblical. When writing about taxes, Gregory Mankiw writes, “The benefit actually...650false164fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/163-who-owns-education--53135149https://davearnott.com/?p=1407Wed, 08 Mar 2023 14:15:04 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe Christian worldview calls for a market in education that provides students with a passport to freedom.     “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.”  I noticed that quote from Oprah Winfrey on the wall of the Nashville...632false163fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/162-voting-for-socialism--53063372https://davearnott.com/?p=1401Wed, 01 Mar 2023 14:15:34 +0000Dunham+CompanyFox business anchor Charles Payne famously said, “You can only vote for Socialism once.”  Another common quip is “You can vote your way in, but you’ll have to shoot your way out.”  Well, 86 US Congressional Representatives just voted for it. ...691false162fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/social-security-work--52814404
Widows and Orphans
James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” It mentions those two groups because they didn’t own land. In the agrarian economy of the first century, if you didn’t own land, you couldn’t supply your own needs. Someone had to do it for you. And, that “someone” was the church, which is made up of neighbors and friends of those widows and orphans.
On August 14, 1935, Congress decided the federal government should take over that role, and social security was born. But here’s the problem: The government has no money. It must take before it can give. So it violates the eighth commandment, against stealing. The church, however, can give without taking.
Abraham Kuyper called this idea Sphere Sovereignty. In Biblical directives, the first supplier of needs for the poor was supposed to be the family, then the church. If a breadwinner died, it was his brother’s responsibility to take care of the destitute family. It’s clearly a violation of Biblical principles for the poor to be cared for by the government. And, as I’ll point out later, the program has grown well beyond caring only for the poor.
The government should punish evil but not do good. The church should do good but not punish evil. Those statements by my fellow Christian Economist Art Lindsley make a clear assignment of God’s missions for the church and the government. But, government just can’t keep it’s hands out of the cookie jar. We really should expect that, shouldn’t we? We know government officials are fallen, so some means of control is necessary. In the first 48 years of the program, they were controlled by keeping social security separate. Then, in 1983, Congress was looking for sources of revenue and spotted the Social Security trust fund. They put their hand in the cookie jar, by borrowing against it.
Here's at least two problems with social security: It’s not social, and it’s not secure.

It's not Social
What’s social about forcing people to give up their hard-earned money, so congress can re-distribute it to someone else? I particularly feel sorry for the 20-year-olds in my class at Dallas Baptist University. They are going to pay for MY social security, yet, they will not get any of their money back. As I was explaining to them, just this week, that’s why we like markets, because they are voluntary. Social security is forced. And, if you want a general trend, it is that the Bible favors voluntary exchanges, not forced extractions from unwilling people.

It’s not Secure
Travis Nix authored an article in the Wall Street Journal recently titled Higher Taxes Won’t Save Social Security.
He points out that “The Social Security administration forecasts that without benefit cuts or structural reforms, the entitlement program will run out of money in 2035.” I cited a Congressional Budget office data recently that pegs the year at 2033.
Social Security is currently funded through payroll taxes paid by both the employer and employee at 6.2% each for the first $162,000 earned.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1396Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:41:27 +0000Dunham+CompanySocial Security is not social, nor secure. It’s not working, because it’s not aligned with God’s design. We were created as social creatures, with the innate need and desire to care for one another. But social security is not a voluntary system, so...
Widows and Orphans
James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” It mentions those two groups because they didn’t own land. In the agrarian economy of the first century, if you didn’t own land, you couldn’t supply your own needs. Someone had to do it for you. And, that “someone” was the church, which is made up of neighbors and friends of those widows and orphans.
On August 14, 1935, Congress decided the federal government should take over that role, and social security was born. But here’s the problem: The government has no money. It must take before it can give. So it violates the eighth commandment, against stealing. The church, however, can give without taking.
Abraham Kuyper called this idea Sphere Sovereignty. In Biblical directives, the first supplier of needs for the poor was supposed to be the family, then the church. If a breadwinner died, it was his brother’s responsibility to take care of the destitute family. It’s clearly a violation of Biblical principles for the poor to be cared for by the government. And, as I’ll point out later, the program has grown well beyond caring only for the poor.
The government should punish evil but not do good. The church should do good but not punish evil. Those statements by my fellow Christian Economist Art Lindsley make a clear assignment of God’s missions for the church and the government. But, government just can’t keep it’s hands out of the cookie jar. We really should expect that, shouldn’t we? We know government officials are fallen, so some means of control is necessary. In the first 48 years of the program, they were controlled by keeping social security separate. Then, in 1983, Congress was looking for sources of revenue and spotted the Social Security trust fund. They put their hand in the cookie jar, by borrowing against it.
Here's at least two problems with social security: It’s not social, and it’s not secure.

It's not Social
What’s social about forcing people to give up their hard-earned money, so congress can re-distribute it to someone else? I particularly feel sorry for the 20-year-olds in my class at Dallas Baptist University. They are going to pay for MY social security, yet, they will not get any of their money back. As I was explaining to them, just this week, that’s why we like markets, because they are voluntary. Social security is forced. And, if you want a general trend, it is that the Bible favors voluntary exchanges, not forced extractions from unwilling people.

It’s not Secure
Travis Nix authored an article in the Wall Street Journal recently titled Higher Taxes Won’t Save Social Security.
He points out that “The Social Security administration forecasts that without benefit cuts or structural reforms, the entitlement program will run out of money in 2035.” I cited a Congressional Budget office data recently that pegs the year at 2033.
Social Security is currently funded through payroll taxes paid by both the employer and employee at 6.2% each for the first $162,000 earned.]]>689false161fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/160-the-truth-shall-make-you-free--52742888THE Truth, as mentioned in John 8:32, means we should seek objective agreement about economic measures.  Accepting THE truth gives freedom, while multiple truths removes freedom. 

Lies, Damned Lies, and Economics
That’s a rephrasing of the old quip attributed to Mark Twain.  In the original version it reads “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned lies and Statistics.”  
Just a few of the economic mistruths stated by President Biden in his recent state of the union speech.
 

“We created more new jobs in two years than any president did in their entire term.” First, the government does not “create” jobs in the private sector.  They could help “Create” them in the public sector, but those are paid for by taxing the private sector.   And, technically, more people found jobs, but that’s because we were on a recovery from the pandemic.  We count the PERCENTAGE change, and the percentage is nowhere near the best in Presidential history.  Here’s how the New York Times explains it, “By percentage, Mr. Biden’s first two years still lag behind the job growth of his predecessors’ full terms. The economy added 8.5 percent more jobs under Mr. Biden so far, compared with 8.6 percent in President Barack Obama’s first term, 10.5 percent in President Bill Clinton’s first term, 11.2 percent in President Ronald Reagan’s second term and 12.8 percent in President Jimmy Carter’s four years in office.”

 
Oh, by the way: If the President is taking credit for creating every new job, is he also taking credit for every job that was destroyed?
 

The President mentioned the term “Fair share” again: I’ve written and spoken about this many times.  It’s a clear violation of the tenth commandment: Don’t covet.  57% of Americans pay no income tax.  What would be their fair share?  How can paying nothing be fair?  The President said confidently, “By the way, there’s a thousand billionaires, and they pay an average of 3 percent in taxes.”  The New York Times points out that the 400 richest families paid 8.2%.  Almost triple what the President said.  To get to the 3% figure the President quoted, you have to include, as income, stocks and other assets that the wealthy own that they did NOT sell.  So the president is complaining, “The rich only pay income tax on their income”, which is the tax code.  As someone who spent his entire adult life in politics, he’s had time to change this if he wanted.


“We’ve reduced the national debt, so far, $1.7 trillion in two years.”  He said debt, but he meant annual deficit.  There’s a big difference.  The New York Times points out, “Total debt has actually increased from $27.8 trillion on his inauguration to about $31.5 trillion as of today.   His former boss, Barack Obama made the same claim some years ago.  Annual deficit was bumping along at about $500 billion a...]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1379Wed, 15 Feb 2023 14:15:22 +0000Dunham+Companyhttps://davearnott.com/160-the-truth-shall-make-you-free/, as mentioned in https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208%3A32&version=NKJV, means we should seek objective agreement about economic measures.  Accepting THE truth gives...THE Truth, as mentioned in John 8:32, means we should seek objective agreement about economic measures.  Accepting THE truth gives freedom, while multiple truths removes freedom. 

Lies, Damned Lies, and Economics
That’s a rephrasing of the old quip attributed to Mark Twain.  In the original version it reads “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned lies and Statistics.”  
Just a few of the economic mistruths stated by President Biden in his recent state of the union speech.
 

“We created more new jobs in two years than any president did in their entire term.” First, the government does not “create” jobs in the private sector.  They could help “Create” them in the public sector, but those are paid for by taxing the private sector.   And, technically, more people found jobs, but that’s because we were on a recovery from the pandemic.  We count the PERCENTAGE change, and the percentage is nowhere near the best in Presidential history.  Here’s how the New York Times explains it, “By percentage, Mr. Biden’s first two years still lag behind the job growth of his predecessors’ full terms. The economy added 8.5 percent more jobs under Mr. Biden so far, compared with 8.6 percent in President Barack Obama’s first term, 10.5 percent in President Bill Clinton’s first term, 11.2 percent in President Ronald Reagan’s second term and 12.8 percent in President Jimmy Carter’s four years in office.”

 
Oh, by the way: If the President is taking credit for creating every new job, is he also taking credit for every job that was destroyed?
 

The President mentioned the term “Fair share” again: I’ve written and spoken about this many times.  It’s a clear violation of the tenth commandment: Don’t covet.  57% of Americans pay no income tax.  What would be their fair share?  How can paying nothing be fair?  The President said confidently, “By the way, there’s a thousand billionaires, and they pay an average of 3 percent in taxes.”  The New York Times points out that the 400 richest families paid 8.2%.  Almost triple what the President said.  To get to the 3% figure the President quoted, you have to include, as income, stocks and other assets that the wealthy own that they did NOT sell.  So the president is complaining, “The rich only pay income tax on their income”, which is the tax code.  As someone who spent his entire adult life in politics, he’s had time to change this if he wanted.


“We’ve reduced the national debt, so far, $1.7 trillion in two years.”  He said debt, but he meant annual deficit.  There’s a big difference.  The New York Times points out, “Total debt has actually increased from $27.8 trillion on his inauguration to about $31.5 trillion as of today.   His former boss, Barack Obama made the same claim some years ago.  705false160fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/159-the-death-of-the-civil-servant--52670720  
What happened to the term “civil servant?”  Honestly, I have not heard that term used in twenty years.  The idea was that workers who earned their living in the public sector were serving society.  Not so much anymore. 
 
Sand on the Tracks
Roy Orr was a Democrat, who served a term as the President of the National Association of Counties.  I was once part of a leadership group interviewing Orr, and he continually used the phrase, “Sand on the tracks…That’s all we were, sand on the tracks.”  Okay, here’s the explanation: If a train gets stuck on a steep hill, or the tracks are iced over, they throw sand on the tracks for traction.  The sand gets smashed by the extremely heavy locomotive.  During a visit to a policy-making committee in Washington, he was dismayed that the staff was not showing much interest in his proposals.  The bureaucrats told him in private, “You’re just sand on the tracks.”  Meaning: Mr. Orr would soon be gone, and the bureaucrat could do what he wanted.  See why this podcast is titled “The Death of the Civil Servant?”  That’s because they are not serving society anymore, they are serving their own self-interest. 
 
Work is Good
It’s the title of podcast #24, and it earns a spot on the ten Biblical Commandments of Economics in the book titled Biblical Economic Policy that I wrote with Sergiy Saydometov.   When folks work in the private sector, they work in a competitive environment.  That means, they must serve the customer before they get served.  It’s one of my favorite lessons of economics that I will explain to my sophomores at DBU next week.  In a competitive environment, the firm must serve the customer first, before the firm gets served.  In a competitive environment, discrimination harms the discriminator. 
But the public arena is non-competitive.  People work in a monopoly: There is only one street department, one sewer department, one police department, and only one public library.  If you don’t like their service, you have no competitive supplier to switch to.
Okay, certainly there are good people who work in government.  In the Christian worldview, we believe everything was made for God’s good purpose.  But all of it CAN be used for bad purposes.  My point today is that public government jobs encourage the fallen nature, while the private, competitive sector punishes the fallen nature. 
Historically, civil servants were paid less than private servants.  The reason was a simple concept from finance: Risk and return.  Working in the public sector was seen as having less risk, so there was less pay.  Now, that kinda makes sense.  When the economy is bad, as it is today – I could read a dozen business headlines about companies laying off employees – workers in the private sector lose their jobs.  In the public service corps, there seldom are staff reductions.  The assumption is that when others lose their jobs, there is even MORE work for the public sector to do, to make up for it.  In economics, John Maynard Keynes said that the government must “spend against the wind,” and he was right.  Banks and other private institutions naturally retreat in the face of a recession.  If every entity does that, it takes a long time to recover.
]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1371Wed, 08 Feb 2023 14:15:39 +0000Dunham+CompanyGovernment employees work in a monopoly where the fallen nature is encouraged.  Private employees work in competitive environments which discourage self-interest.    What happened to the term...  
What happened to the term “civil servant?”  Honestly, I have not heard that term used in twenty years.  The idea was that workers who earned their living in the public sector were serving society.  Not so much anymore. 
 
Sand on the Tracks
Roy Orr was a Democrat, who served a term as the President of the National Association of Counties.  I was once part of a leadership group interviewing Orr, and he continually used the phrase, “Sand on the tracks…That’s all we were, sand on the tracks.”  Okay, here’s the explanation: If a train gets stuck on a steep hill, or the tracks are iced over, they throw sand on the tracks for traction.  The sand gets smashed by the extremely heavy locomotive.  During a visit to a policy-making committee in Washington, he was dismayed that the staff was not showing much interest in his proposals.  The bureaucrats told him in private, “You’re just sand on the tracks.”  Meaning: Mr. Orr would soon be gone, and the bureaucrat could do what he wanted.  See why this podcast is titled “The Death of the Civil Servant?”  That’s because they are not serving society anymore, they are serving their own self-interest. 
 
Work is Good
It’s the title of podcast #24, and it earns a spot on the ten Biblical Commandments of Economics in the book titled Biblical Economic Policy that I wrote with Sergiy Saydometov.   When folks work in the private sector, they work in a competitive environment.  That means, they must serve the customer before they get served.  It’s one of my favorite lessons of economics that I will explain to my sophomores at DBU next week.  In a competitive environment, the firm must serve the customer first, before the firm gets served.  In a competitive environment, discrimination harms the discriminator. 
But the public arena is non-competitive.  People work in a monopoly: There is only one street department, one sewer department, one police department, and only one public library.  If you don’t like their service, you have no competitive supplier to switch to.
Okay, certainly there are good people who work in government.  In the Christian worldview, we believe everything was made for God’s good purpose.  But all of it CAN be used for bad purposes.  My point today is that public government jobs encourage the fallen nature, while the private, competitive sector punishes the fallen nature. 
Historically, civil servants were paid less than private servants.  The reason was a simple concept from finance: Risk and return.  Working in the public sector was seen as having less risk, so there was less pay.  Now, that kinda makes sense.  When the economy is bad, as it is today – I could read a dozen business headlines about companies laying off employees – workers in the private sector lose their jobs.  In the public service corps, there seldom are staff reductions.  The assumption is that when others lose their jobs, there is even MORE work for the public sector to do, to make up for it.  In economics, John Maynard Keynes said that the government must “spend against the wind,” and he was right.  Banks and other private institutions naturally retreat in the face of a recession. ...]]>679false159fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/158-the-market-gives-the-poor-a-raise--52605421 The Democrat party has given up on caring for the poor via minimum wage, and the market has taken over that role.  An article in the Wall Street Journal this week declares, “Biggest Pay Raises Went to Black Workers, Young People and Low-Wage Earners.”  The subtitle reads, “Median weekly earnings rose 7.4% last year, outpacing inflation: Some groups notched double-digit gains.”
For decades, the Democrats claimed to be the patron of the poor by calling for increases in the minimum wage.  Then, strangely, they went silent on the issue.  Either they learned some Christian Economics, or had more fun causing inflation that harmed the poor.  I don’t know.
But the economic fact is that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has been underwater for many years now.  When a minimum wage is below the equilibrium wage, we call that “non-binding.”  So for many semesters now, in my econ class at Dallas Baptist University, I’ve been pointing out that the Buc-ee’s starting wage of $12 is well above the federal minimum wage.
 
The Trump Economy Revisited
Quoting from the WSJ article again, “Black workers, young workers and people on the bottom of the income scale were among those who saw the largest pay increases last year, when employers were readily handing out raises in a tight labor market and high inflation environment.”  Tight labor markets are good for the poor.  The last time we saw the poor get rich at a faster rate than the rich got rich was during the incredible economic growth produced by the Trump administration’s tax-cutting.  That swelled the pockets of the poor faster than any government program in history.  The big difference is this: During the Trump administration, inflation was below 2%, and now it’s in the 7% range.
But The Christian Economist rejoices when the poor make progress, especially when they make more progress than the rich.  More data: The median raise for Black Americans employed full time was 11.3%, compared with the prior year. Weekly pay for workers between 16- and 24-years old rose more than 10%. The bottom 10th of wage earners—those that make about $570 a week—saw their pay increase by nearly 10%.
 
Sorry Mr. Piketty
He’s the guy who is always reminding the nimble-minded about the gap between the rich and the poor.  Well, according to the WSJ, it just narrowed.  Oh, Mr. Piketty was busy in 2021, publishing the book A Brief History of Equality, hmmm maybe that history got extended since folks got MORE equal, as reported this week.  And, he made another contribution to free market capitalism by offering the book for sale titled Time for Socialism.  Get the hypocrisy? He’s selling a book for profit, in a free market economy titled Time for Socialism.  If it really WAS time for Socialism, wouldn’t he be practicing the dicta – From each according to his ability,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1366Wed, 01 Feb 2023 14:15:17 +0000Dunham+CompanyRecent pay increases for the poor have out-paced inflation, which is more support for the idea that the market will take care of the poor, if we just let it operate freely.   The Democrat party has given up on caring for the poor via minimum wage,... The Democrat party has given up on caring for the poor via minimum wage, and the market has taken over that role.  An article in the Wall Street Journal this week declares, “Biggest Pay Raises Went to Black Workers, Young People and Low-Wage Earners.”  The subtitle reads, “Median weekly earnings rose 7.4% last year, outpacing inflation: Some groups notched double-digit gains.”
For decades, the Democrats claimed to be the patron of the poor by calling for increases in the minimum wage.  Then, strangely, they went silent on the issue.  Either they learned some Christian Economics, or had more fun causing inflation that harmed the poor.  I don’t know.
But the economic fact is that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has been underwater for many years now.  When a minimum wage is below the equilibrium wage, we call that “non-binding.”  So for many semesters now, in my econ class at Dallas Baptist University, I’ve been pointing out that the Buc-ee’s starting wage of $12 is well above the federal minimum wage.
 
The Trump Economy Revisited
Quoting from the WSJ article again, “Black workers, young workers and people on the bottom of the income scale were among those who saw the largest pay increases last year, when employers were readily handing out raises in a tight labor market and high inflation environment.”  Tight labor markets are good for the poor.  The last time we saw the poor get rich at a faster rate than the rich got rich was during the incredible economic growth produced by the Trump administration’s tax-cutting.  That swelled the pockets of the poor faster than any government program in history.  The big difference is this: During the Trump administration, inflation was below 2%, and now it’s in the 7% range.
But The Christian Economist rejoices when the poor make progress, especially when they make more progress than the rich.  More data: The median raise for Black Americans employed full time was 11.3%, compared with the prior year. Weekly pay for workers between 16- and 24-years old rose more than 10%. The bottom 10th of wage earners—those that make about $570 a week—saw their pay increase by nearly 10%.
 
Sorry Mr. Piketty
He’s the guy who is always reminding the nimble-minded about the gap between the rich and the poor.  Well, according to the WSJ, it just narrowed.  Oh, Mr. Piketty was busy in 2021, publishing the book A Brief History of Equality, hmmm maybe that history got extended since folks got MORE equal, as reported this week.  And, he made another contribution to free market capitalism by offering the book for sale titled Time for Socialism.  Get the hypocrisy? He’s selling a book for profit, in a free market economy titled Time for Socialism.  If it really WAS time for...]]>601false158fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/157-gridlock-is-good--52584315Gridlock is good, at the national level.  More political and economic decisions should be made at the state and local levels.  The Bible calls for even more decisions at the family and church levels. 
 
A friend asked recently about the “horrible” in-fighting that was necessary to elect Kevin McCarthy speaker of the house.  I responded, “Gridlock is good.”  As the process played out, every day, Congressman McCarthy gave up more power, to gain the election.  This is what the founders had in mind. They did not want a powerful speaker, like Nancy Pelosi.  Power is an economic good: The more of it that is concentrated in the hands of the speaker the less gets distributed throughout the house of Representatives.  So, we have a weak speaker of the House.  That’s good for governance AND for economics.   
One of the best books on this topic is misnamed, but it makes this point very well.  It’s titled Cowards, and it was written by Glenn Beck.  He makes the point that elected government officials are cowards for not standing up to excessive spending that produces national debt.  
 
The Christian Worldview
Michael Horowitz is an agnostic Jew who explains the Christian Worldview very effectively in his book Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America.  He explains how the founding fathers understood the fallen nature of humans and thus designed a three-part competitive system with checks and balances.  Think about it: If you thought people were NOT fallen, you would give them unlimited power.  But they ARE fallen, so we don’t give them power.  Or, we shouldn’t.
The Christian worldview has three elements: Creation, fall, redemption.  Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods and services in a scarce environment.  In the garden, we believe Adam and Eve had work to do, but there was abundance, not scarcity.  Scarcity starts with the fall.  That’s where economics starts.  Without the fall, there is no economics.  The third element in the Christian Worldview is redemption.  In economics, we believe God calls us to redeem resources to their creational intent, to serve our neighbors. 
In our current day, it’s very obvious that our economic system is out of whack and headed for a debt cliff.  Why?  The government has denied the fallen nature.  I’m writing a podcast on the subject of how the Democrat party denies the fallen nature, which will unpack more on that subject, but I will concentrate only on spending today.  Fiscal policy includes two elements: Taxing and spending.  The experience of the Democrats controlling Congress, the Senate, and the Presidency over the last two years, has shown us what happens there is agreement and a LACK of gridlock.  I unpack more details in podcast #146 titled Power Corrupts.
OK, I have presented the Christian worldview, because I’m the Christian economist.  But the Jewish worldview also encourages free debate.  The word Israel, means “To struggle with God,” and disagreement is at the core of Jewish culture.
 
National Debt Limits Freedom
The obnoxious spending of the Biden administration, when the Democrats controlled both houses of the legislature and the Presidency, should be ample evidence of why the founders designed a system of checks and balances.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1360Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:19:39 +0000Dunham+Companyhttps://davearnott.com/157-gridlock-is-good/, at the national level.  More political and economic decisions should be made at the state and local levels.  The Bible calls for even more decisions at the family and church levels.    A friend asked...Gridlock is good, at the national level.  More political and economic decisions should be made at the state and local levels.  The Bible calls for even more decisions at the family and church levels. 
 
A friend asked recently about the “horrible” in-fighting that was necessary to elect Kevin McCarthy speaker of the house.  I responded, “Gridlock is good.”  As the process played out, every day, Congressman McCarthy gave up more power, to gain the election.  This is what the founders had in mind. They did not want a powerful speaker, like Nancy Pelosi.  Power is an economic good: The more of it that is concentrated in the hands of the speaker the less gets distributed throughout the house of Representatives.  So, we have a weak speaker of the House.  That’s good for governance AND for economics.   
One of the best books on this topic is misnamed, but it makes this point very well.  It’s titled Cowards, and it was written by Glenn Beck.  He makes the point that elected government officials are cowards for not standing up to excessive spending that produces national debt.  
 
The Christian Worldview
Michael Horowitz is an agnostic Jew who explains the Christian Worldview very effectively in his book Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America.  He explains how the founding fathers understood the fallen nature of humans and thus designed a three-part competitive system with checks and balances.  Think about it: If you thought people were NOT fallen, you would give them unlimited power.  But they ARE fallen, so we don’t give them power.  Or, we shouldn’t.
The Christian worldview has three elements: Creation, fall, redemption.  Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods and services in a scarce environment.  In the garden, we believe Adam and Eve had work to do, but there was abundance, not scarcity.  Scarcity starts with the fall.  That’s where economics starts.  Without the fall, there is no economics.  The third element in the Christian Worldview is redemption.  In economics, we believe God calls us to redeem resources to their creational intent, to serve our neighbors. 
In our current day, it’s very obvious that our economic system is out of whack and headed for a debt cliff.  Why?  The government has denied the fallen nature.  I’m writing a podcast on the subject of how the Democrat party denies the fallen nature, which will unpack more on that subject, but I will concentrate only on spending today.  Fiscal policy includes two elements: Taxing and spending.  The experience of the Democrats controlling Congress, the Senate, and the Presidency over the last two years, has shown us what happens there is agreement and a LACK of gridlock.  I unpack more details in podcast #146 titled Power Corrupts.
OK, I have presented the Christian worldview, because I’m the Christian economist.  But the Jewish worldview also encourages free debate.  The word Israel, means “To struggle with God,” and disagreement is at the core of Jewish culture.
 
National Debt Limits Freedom
The obnoxious spending of the Biden administration, when the Democrats controlled both houses of the legislature and the...]]>641false157fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/156-digital-marxism--52584316
Karl Marx called for workers to have ownership of the means of production.  When he wrote The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels in 1847 they didn’t.  In 2023, they do.  You see, we’ve moved from a production to an information economy.

Digital Economics
The term digital Marxism was invented by Daniel Pink in his 2002 book titled Free Agent Nation.  The book is mostly about the rise of the gig economy, which I explained in more detail in podcast #51 titled God’s Gig Economy.  One of the enablers of the gig economy is digital Marxism.
Ok, Marx stated that the workers must own the means of production.  This is based on the fallen nature of humans, which we find in the Christian Worldview.  We believe God created a perfect world, fallen humans messed it up, and we find salvation through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our savior.  Clearly, Karl Marx didn’t believe in the first and third parts, but he DID accept the fallen nature.  I have more to say about him in podcast # 106 titled Karl Marx and the Devil.  The fallen nature is important to economics, by the way.  Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods and services in a scarce environment.  Scarcity started with the fall.  And, just about every important economic concept is based on the scarcity assumption.  That’s why digital Marxism is so fascinating. 
So, Marx looked at the fallen nature of demanders of labor in the middle of the 19th century and noticed they were taking advantage of the scarcity they owned: That is, the supply of work.  And, Marx had a lot to complain about: Child labor, terrible, dangerous working conditions, and a six-day workweek were common.  There was more supply than demand for labor, and the factory owners took advantage of labor.  But, then, as the century progressed, things didn’t get worse, as Marx predicted, instead, they got better.  Marx and his patron, Friedrich Engels finally surmised that their prediction was NOT coming true, and workers were NOT going to rebel on their own, so Socialism needed a push, which was provided by the political force of Communism.  Vladimir Lenin enters the picture in the early years of the 20th century, and the economic idea of socialism rightly earns a very bad reputation as it was enforced by political power.  Things haven’t changed much in a hundred years.  Socialism is STILL based in power. 
Karl Marx claimed that workers must own the means of production.  As Daniel Pink points out, in the information age, they do. 
I ask my students at Dallas Baptist University to picture either of their parents at work.  What are they doing?  In the information age, it’s very likely they are staring at a computer or talking on a smartphone.  Three elements are at work here:

Training.  Training is free.  You learn how to run a computer at a tax-supported school that’s free.  
The mechanism.  A computer costs about $500 and a smartphone about the same.  If you can’t afford a computer, you can use one at the public library for free.  If you can’t afford a phone, the government will give you an Obama phone.  And for those of us who know the phrase, “There’s no free lunch,” take a look at your cellphone bill, you paid for it.  
Distribution of information.  It’s free also.  Again: If you use the computer at the library, they are providing internet service for free, and if you have an Obama phone, you get the service for free.


Freedom of Labor
You can work for anyone.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1305Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:15:06 +0000Dunham+CompanyKarl Marx said that workers should own the means of production.  In the digital economy, they do: a computer and a smartphone.  Karl Marx called for workers to have ownership of the means of production.  When he wrote The Communist Manifesto with...
Karl Marx called for workers to have ownership of the means of production.  When he wrote The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels in 1847 they didn’t.  In 2023, they do.  You see, we’ve moved from a production to an information economy.

Digital Economics
The term digital Marxism was invented by Daniel Pink in his 2002 book titled Free Agent Nation.  The book is mostly about the rise of the gig economy, which I explained in more detail in podcast #51 titled God’s Gig Economy.  One of the enablers of the gig economy is digital Marxism.
Ok, Marx stated that the workers must own the means of production.  This is based on the fallen nature of humans, which we find in the Christian Worldview.  We believe God created a perfect world, fallen humans messed it up, and we find salvation through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our savior.  Clearly, Karl Marx didn’t believe in the first and third parts, but he DID accept the fallen nature.  I have more to say about him in podcast # 106 titled Karl Marx and the Devil.  The fallen nature is important to economics, by the way.  Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods and services in a scarce environment.  Scarcity started with the fall.  And, just about every important economic concept is based on the scarcity assumption.  That’s why digital Marxism is so fascinating. 
So, Marx looked at the fallen nature of demanders of labor in the middle of the 19th century and noticed they were taking advantage of the scarcity they owned: That is, the supply of work.  And, Marx had a lot to complain about: Child labor, terrible, dangerous working conditions, and a six-day workweek were common.  There was more supply than demand for labor, and the factory owners took advantage of labor.  But, then, as the century progressed, things didn’t get worse, as Marx predicted, instead, they got better.  Marx and his patron, Friedrich Engels finally surmised that their prediction was NOT coming true, and workers were NOT going to rebel on their own, so Socialism needed a push, which was provided by the political force of Communism.  Vladimir Lenin enters the picture in the early years of the 20th century, and the economic idea of socialism rightly earns a very bad reputation as it was enforced by political power.  Things haven’t changed much in a hundred years.  Socialism is STILL based in power. 
Karl Marx claimed that workers must own the means of production.  As Daniel Pink points out, in the information age, they do. 
I ask my students at Dallas Baptist University to picture either of their parents at work.  What are they doing?  In the information age, it’s very likely they are staring at a computer or talking on a smartphone.  Three elements are at work here:

Training.  Training is free.  You learn how to run a computer at a tax-supported school that’s free.  
The mechanism.  A computer costs about $500 and a smartphone about the same.  If you can’t afford a computer, you can use one at the public library for free.  If you can’t afford a phone, the government will give you an Obama phone.  And for those of us who know the phrase, “There’s no free lunch,” take a look at your cellphone bill, you paid for it.  
Distribution of information.  It’s free also.  Again: If you use the computer at the library, they are providing internet service for free, and if you have an...]]>615false156fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/155-not-the-chinese-century--52584331China will NOT become the world’s greatest economic power, because their economic model is not aligned with reality, as the Christian Worldview is.
 
The 18th and 19th centuries could be considered the centuries of the United Kingdom.  And, the 20th was the century of the United States.  The Chinese are claiming that the 21st century is the Chinese Century, both geo-economically and geopolitically.  But, it’s not going to happen.  China will NOT become the world’s greatest superpower.  Not in 2023, nor 2030, nor 2050.  Why not?  Their economic model is not aligned with reality, or as I like to call it, the Christian Worldview.
 
The Yin Yang
First, just a LITTLE philosophy, and it’s a little because I’m not much of a philosopher.  The Chinese believe that good and bad are intermingled, as shown in the yin-yang.  As it turns, good and bad move together.  Their belief is that the US was on top for a century, and now as the yin-yang turns, they will be on the top.  They believe they have less control over their fate than Christians do.  And, they believe good and evil are intermingled, while we believe that good and evil are SEPARATE entities, and that evil is a parasite on good.  
Now, back to economics.  The Japanese Center for Economic Research issues a periodic assessment of trends in Asia-Pacific economies, and as recently as 2021 it forecast that China’s nominal GDP would exceed America’s by 2029. No longer. The Japanese think tank now estimates that the U.S. will maintain a healthy lead over the People’s Republic, with U.S. GDP exceeding $41 trillion in 2035. China’s will be closer to $36 trillion.
 
Move the Labor Force
When I was a PhD student in the early 1990’s, experts were saying that China couldn’t grow because their infrastructure was undeveloped.  They didn’t have the roads, water & sewer, electricity, telecommunications, nor railroads systems.  They overcame those logistical hurdles by moving the labor force from the countryside to the burgeoning Pearl River delta cities of Guanzhou, Shenzen, and Donguan.  That was pretty easy.  Just make stuff near the port, put it in a sea-going container, and it can reach any port in the world in a few days. 
They have experienced what economists call the “catch-up” effect.  It’s kinda like, if you want to be the most improved basketball team in the conference, you start out as the worst.  China started out as an undeveloped economy when they were freed from Communist Socialism starting in about 1978.  They put their foot in the door of free market capitalism, but now under Xi Jinpeng, they are slamming it shut.  Their economy reportedly grew at 9% for about 20 years.  This year it’s down to five percent.  Okay, mostly because of Covid, but that’s concealing the problem of centralized government.   But the Japanese Economic source I cited earlier, thinks China’s growth will be 2% or lower by 2030, because of the authoritarian rule of President Xi and the one-child policy that has shrunk the labor pool.  That 2% growth compares with 3%, which the US has averaged for over a hundred years.  
 
Economic Freedom
Frederick Hayek made the point that freedom is the underlying concept of an effective economic policy.  It’s the first of the Ten Commandments of Biblical Economics that S...]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1295Wed, 11 Jan 2023 14:15:26 +0000Dunham+Companyhttps://davearnott.com/155-not-the-chinese-century/   The 18th and 19th centuries could be considered the centuries of the United Kingdom.  And, the 20th was the century of the United States.  The Chinese are claiming that the 21st century is the...China will NOT become the world’s greatest economic power, because their economic model is not aligned with reality, as the Christian Worldview is.
 
The 18th and 19th centuries could be considered the centuries of the United Kingdom.  And, the 20th was the century of the United States.  The Chinese are claiming that the 21st century is the Chinese Century, both geo-economically and geopolitically.  But, it’s not going to happen.  China will NOT become the world’s greatest superpower.  Not in 2023, nor 2030, nor 2050.  Why not?  Their economic model is not aligned with reality, or as I like to call it, the Christian Worldview.
 
The Yin Yang
First, just a LITTLE philosophy, and it’s a little because I’m not much of a philosopher.  The Chinese believe that good and bad are intermingled, as shown in the yin-yang.  As it turns, good and bad move together.  Their belief is that the US was on top for a century, and now as the yin-yang turns, they will be on the top.  They believe they have less control over their fate than Christians do.  And, they believe good and evil are intermingled, while we believe that good and evil are SEPARATE entities, and that evil is a parasite on good.  
Now, back to economics.  The Japanese Center for Economic Research issues a periodic assessment of trends in Asia-Pacific economies, and as recently as 2021 it forecast that China’s nominal GDP would exceed America’s by 2029. No longer. The Japanese think tank now estimates that the U.S. will maintain a healthy lead over the People’s Republic, with U.S. GDP exceeding $41 trillion in 2035. China’s will be closer to $36 trillion.
 
Move the Labor Force
When I was a PhD student in the early 1990’s, experts were saying that China couldn’t grow because their infrastructure was undeveloped.  They didn’t have the roads, water & sewer, electricity, telecommunications, nor railroads systems.  They overcame those logistical hurdles by moving the labor force from the countryside to the burgeoning Pearl River delta cities of Guanzhou, Shenzen, and Donguan.  That was pretty easy.  Just make stuff near the port, put it in a sea-going container, and it can reach any port in the world in a few days. 
They have experienced what economists call the “catch-up” effect.  It’s kinda like, if you want to be the most improved basketball team in the conference, you start out as the worst.  China started out as an undeveloped economy when they were freed from Communist Socialism starting in about 1978.  They put their foot in the door of free market capitalism, but now under Xi Jinpeng, they are slamming it shut.  Their economy reportedly grew at 9% for about 20 years.  This year it’s down to five percent.  Okay, mostly because of Covid, but that’s concealing the problem of centralized government.   But the Japanese Economic source I cited earlier, thinks China’s growth will be 2% or lower by 2030, because of the authoritarian rule of President Xi and the one-child policy that has shrunk the labor pool.  That 2% growth compares with 3%, which the US has averaged for over a hundred years.  
 
Economic Freedom
Frederick Hayek made the point that freedom is the underlying concept of an effective...]]>629false155fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/154-predicting-the-future--52584324#154 Predicting the Future
 
Christians should look forward to the future with great anticipation.  Of course the future is uncertain, but that’s what gives us economic freedom.
 
Predictions are difficult, especially about the future.
That quote from Danish physicist Neils Bohr was about the uncertain future use of nuclear power.  But, it certainly applies to economic forecasts.  Almost everyone on Wall Street and in Washington got 2022 wrong.  Well, economically, the folks in Washington are not supposed to have anything to do with the economy, and until about a hundred years ago, they didn’t.  Try finding a newspaper article from 1910 about the economy that blames ANYTHING on the government.  It just didn’t happen.  The economy was seen as a force of nature that humans could not control.  Then with Economic Humanism, which I explain in podcast #21, we decided that WE were in charge of the economy.  
It’s correlational, and maybe it’s causal that the founding of the Fed in 1914 –  which was supposed to deal with monetary policy – coincides with the growth of fiscal policy.  The founding of the Fed was followed by severe regulatory fiscal policy from Franklin Roosevelt, who essentially stole power from the legislative branch to empower the presidency.  
 
Securities are not Secure
“Secure” came into English in the 1530s, from Latin securus. When applied to persons, securus could mean "free from care, quiet, or easy.”  The original meaning in English was “free from danger.”
Initially, the word was applied to property pledged for a loan. That’s logical because the property was intended to make the loan “free from danger” to the lender. Somewhat later the word began to be applied to evidentiary documents verifying loans and collateral, and eventually, all documents that proved financial rights.  Okay, you have a secure LEGAL right to the property in a limited liability corporation, but there is no FINANCIAL security.  Anywhere, anytime, as a matter of fact.  It’s just a fact of human nature.  Nothing is secure, except of course, most Christians view our salvation as secure.  But, we still use the word “security” in finance.  Collateral is security for a loan. Stocks and bonds are securities.
Since we have a human nature that demands security, it gets supplied by many things in life: Money, stocks and bonds, relationships, and self-esteem.  But none of those are secure.  People find happiness when they learn to live in that insecure environment. 
The generation of my sophomores at Dallas Baptist University are the richest generation ever.  I mean…..in the history of the world.  There has NEVER been a richer generation.  Then why do they feel so insecure?  And by “they” I mean the generation.  Why do 22% of them report that anxiety affected their academic performance?  It’s because of today’s topic: They are unable to predict the future.
Currencies are called notes.  During the Gold Standard, they literally were notes.  The British currency is called the pound because it represented a pound of silver.  The Polish currency is called the Zloty because the word means “gold.”  How about the dollar?  It’s from the low German word “daler” which means a coin made from silver from the Joachimsthaler silver mine in what’s now the Czech Republic.  
But,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1293Wed, 04 Jan 2023 14:15:08 +0000Dunham+Companyhttps://davearnott.com/154-predicting-the-future/   Christians should look forward to the future with great anticipation.  Of course the future is uncertain, but that’s what gives us economic freedom.   Predictions are difficult, especially about...#154 Predicting the Future
 
Christians should look forward to the future with great anticipation.  Of course the future is uncertain, but that’s what gives us economic freedom.
 
Predictions are difficult, especially about the future.
That quote from Danish physicist Neils Bohr was about the uncertain future use of nuclear power.  But, it certainly applies to economic forecasts.  Almost everyone on Wall Street and in Washington got 2022 wrong.  Well, economically, the folks in Washington are not supposed to have anything to do with the economy, and until about a hundred years ago, they didn’t.  Try finding a newspaper article from 1910 about the economy that blames ANYTHING on the government.  It just didn’t happen.  The economy was seen as a force of nature that humans could not control.  Then with Economic Humanism, which I explain in podcast #21, we decided that WE were in charge of the economy.  
It’s correlational, and maybe it’s causal that the founding of the Fed in 1914 –  which was supposed to deal with monetary policy – coincides with the growth of fiscal policy.  The founding of the Fed was followed by severe regulatory fiscal policy from Franklin Roosevelt, who essentially stole power from the legislative branch to empower the presidency.  
 
Securities are not Secure
“Secure” came into English in the 1530s, from Latin securus. When applied to persons, securus could mean "free from care, quiet, or easy.”  The original meaning in English was “free from danger.”
Initially, the word was applied to property pledged for a loan. That’s logical because the property was intended to make the loan “free from danger” to the lender. Somewhat later the word began to be applied to evidentiary documents verifying loans and collateral, and eventually, all documents that proved financial rights.  Okay, you have a secure LEGAL right to the property in a limited liability corporation, but there is no FINANCIAL security.  Anywhere, anytime, as a matter of fact.  It’s just a fact of human nature.  Nothing is secure, except of course, most Christians view our salvation as secure.  But, we still use the word “security” in finance.  Collateral is security for a loan. Stocks and bonds are securities.
Since we have a human nature that demands security, it gets supplied by many things in life: Money, stocks and bonds, relationships, and self-esteem.  But none of those are secure.  People find happiness when they learn to live in that insecure environment. 
The generation of my sophomores at Dallas Baptist University are the richest generation ever.  I mean…..in the history of the world.  There has NEVER been a richer generation.  Then why do they feel so insecure?  And by “they” I mean the generation.  Why do 22% of them report that anxiety affected their academic performance?  It’s because of today’s topic: They are unable to predict the future.
Currencies are called notes.  During the Gold Standard, they literally were notes.  The British currency is called the pound because it represented a pound of silver.  The Polish currency is called the Zloty because the word means “gold.”  How about the dollar?  It’s from the low German word “daler” which means a coin made from silver from the Joachimsthaler...]]>608false154fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/153-how-to-destroy-an-economy--52584326#153 How to Destroy an Economy
Four policies are attempting to destroy the US economy.  Let's pray they don't.
 
In the history of mankind, countries, and economies have come and gone.  We know what destroys them.  I’m sorry to observe that the United States economy, the greatest economy in world’s history, is taking steps toward destruction.  
I’m an academic, and I’m pleased and proud to give citations where necessary.  Today’s idea comes from an article in the Epoch Times by Victor Davis Hanson titled, If you really wanted to destroy the US.  He knows more about political history than I do, and his article goes in that direction.  My observations, predictably, are about the economy.  
 
Destroy the Dollar
I unpacked some of this idea in podcasts #101 titled Inflating Inflation, and in podcast #62 The End of Fed Independence. 
As covid was ending and demand was rising, the government used fiscal policy to spend trillions.  The Fed kept interest rates low, as they increased the money supply.  That’s a classic formula for inflation.  If you increase the supply of dollars and keep constant the products they are buying, the currency will depreciate.  Inflation harms the poor, who we Christians care about.  The last two quarterly reports had inflation at 8.5%, then 7.1%.  You realize, that’s four times the goal of 2%.  Think about it: If a sophomore in my econ class was hoping for a B, by earning 80%, and she actually earned 20%, would a parent be proud of that achievement?  But that’s what the administration is doing: They are bragging that, at 7.1%, inflation is only four times what they want it to be.  See if your kids are happy with four times fewer toys at Christmas.  
Why is the dollar still strong on the foreign exchange?  Because, even though the US is doing terrible, the other developed countries are doing terriblier.  We are the best house in a bad neighborhood.  
 
Increase the National Debt
When my sophomores at Dallas Baptist University were born, the national debt was about $5 trillion.  It’s now $31 trillion.  But, millions, billions, trillions, it all gets confusing, so let me give you some context.  When my sophomores were born, the debt to GDP ratio was 56%.  It’s now 121%.  It has more than doubled in twenty years.  And, the last six years have been really frightening.  National debt has ballooned from $20 trillion when my sophomores were in high school, to now $31 trillion, and they’re only half way through college. 
SOME debt is not so bad, it depends on what you do with it.  Using debt as leverage is good.  That’s where Dave Ramsey and I depart.  He says you should have NO debt.  It seems to me that debt as leverage makes you richer.  Of course, there’s risk.  There is always risk.  But the current debt that the United States is accumulating is not being used to build capital infrastructure that creates more value, it is being used to maintain social programs.  Which, by the way, the church is supposed to do, but I’ve spoken quite a lot on that in the last few weeks.  
This year, the government will take in almost $5 trillion and spe...]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1290Thu, 29 Dec 2022 14:15:37 +0000Dunham+Companyhttps://davearnott.com/153-how-to-destroy-an-economy/ Four policies are attempting to destroy the US economy.  Let's pray they don't.   In the history of mankind, countries, and economies have come and gone.  We know what destroys them.  I’m sorry...#153 How to Destroy an Economy
Four policies are attempting to destroy the US economy.  Let's pray they don't.
 
In the history of mankind, countries, and economies have come and gone.  We know what destroys them.  I’m sorry to observe that the United States economy, the greatest economy in world’s history, is taking steps toward destruction.  
I’m an academic, and I’m pleased and proud to give citations where necessary.  Today’s idea comes from an article in the Epoch Times by Victor Davis Hanson titled, If you really wanted to destroy the US.  He knows more about political history than I do, and his article goes in that direction.  My observations, predictably, are about the economy.  
 
Destroy the Dollar
I unpacked some of this idea in podcasts #101 titled Inflating Inflation, and in podcast #62 The End of Fed Independence. 
As covid was ending and demand was rising, the government used fiscal policy to spend trillions.  The Fed kept interest rates low, as they increased the money supply.  That’s a classic formula for inflation.  If you increase the supply of dollars and keep constant the products they are buying, the currency will depreciate.  Inflation harms the poor, who we Christians care about.  The last two quarterly reports had inflation at 8.5%, then 7.1%.  You realize, that’s four times the goal of 2%.  Think about it: If a sophomore in my econ class was hoping for a B, by earning 80%, and she actually earned 20%, would a parent be proud of that achievement?  But that’s what the administration is doing: They are bragging that, at 7.1%, inflation is only four times what they want it to be.  See if your kids are happy with four times fewer toys at Christmas.  
Why is the dollar still strong on the foreign exchange?  Because, even though the US is doing terrible, the other developed countries are doing terriblier.  We are the best house in a bad neighborhood.  
 
Increase the National Debt
When my sophomores at Dallas Baptist University were born, the national debt was about $5 trillion.  It’s now $31 trillion.  But, millions, billions, trillions, it all gets confusing, so let me give you some context.  When my sophomores were born, the debt to GDP ratio was 56%.  It’s now 121%.  It has more than doubled in twenty years.  And, the last six years have been really frightening.  National debt has ballooned from $20 trillion when my sophomores were in high school, to now $31 trillion, and they’re only half way through college. 
SOME debt is not so bad, it depends on what you do with it.  Using debt as leverage is good.  That’s where Dave Ramsey and I depart.  He says you should have NO debt.  It seems to me that debt as leverage makes you richer.  Of course, there’s risk.  There is always risk.  But the current debt that the United States is accumulating is not being used to build capital infrastructure that creates more value, it is being used to maintain social programs.  Which, by the way, the...]]>580false153fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/152-giving-to-the-poor--52584328 The Government is populated by people who serve their own self-interest, by spending other people’s money.  Churches are populated by people who have committed to serve the interest of others, with their own money.
 
Should we give to the poor, or help the poor?  That interesting question was posed by one of you, who listens to the Christian Economist podcast.  
 
When Helping Hurts
The first answer comes from the book When Helping Hurts by Corbett and Fikkert.  I was pleased to meet Brian Fikkert at a meeting of the Christian Economic Forum.  Partly to thank him for his very good book, but also, to discover there IS a Christian Economist taller than me: I’m about 6-foot-4, and Brian is about 6-foot-7.  Oh, the other source is a very good series of videos hosted by Michael Mathison Miller at the Acton Institute, called Poverty Cure.  
I could state numerous scriptures, here are just a couple. Proverbs 29:7 reads, The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.   Matthew 25: 35: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.  
There’s pretty good agreement that Christians are supposed to care for the poor. The question is, “How”? 
 
God’s Sovereignty &Man’s Responsibility
When I posed this question in my Dallas Baptist University class last week, I asked students for a better theological term to describe what I was talking about.  I didn’t get very good answers.  So I will use this title, given to Ginger and I in a Sunday School class some ten years ago.  God is Sovereign and can do whatever He wants.  If he wants to help the poor, he can do it via His miraculous power.  But, for some reason, He chooses to do his work through humans, which means it is man’s responsibility.    So, he puts poor people in front of us, and expects us to care for them.  When do we turn away from the poor and say “God will take care of them,” and when do we jump in and help because it’s man's responsibility?
 
Too Much Freedom
OK, this one is difficult for me, because when Sergiy Saydometov and I wrote Biblical Economic Policy, the first of the Ten Commandments of Economics we found was People Should be Free.  And, as I have studied and learned more in the two years since we wrote the book, I have become even more convinced that the intersection of Christianity and Economics is freedom.
But, you can’t find any society where people are perfectly free.  I’m going to have more to say about this in a future podcast, where I will attempt to explain the term Expressive Individualism, from the best book I’ve read this year, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman. 
But for now, let’s accept that you can’t have a perfectly free society.  And that’s where a recent article in the Wall Street Journal comes in.  Titled ]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1280Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:15:10 +0000Dunham+Company#152 Giving to the Poor The Government is populated by people who serve their own self-interest, by spending other people’s money.  Churches are populated by people who have committed to serve the interest of others, with their own money.   Should... The Government is populated by people who serve their own self-interest, by spending other people’s money.  Churches are populated by people who have committed to serve the interest of others, with their own money.
 
Should we give to the poor, or help the poor?  That interesting question was posed by one of you, who listens to the Christian Economist podcast.  
 
When Helping Hurts
The first answer comes from the book When Helping Hurts by Corbett and Fikkert.  I was pleased to meet Brian Fikkert at a meeting of the Christian Economic Forum.  Partly to thank him for his very good book, but also, to discover there IS a Christian Economist taller than me: I’m about 6-foot-4, and Brian is about 6-foot-7.  Oh, the other source is a very good series of videos hosted by Michael Mathison Miller at the Acton Institute, called Poverty Cure.  
I could state numerous scriptures, here are just a couple. Proverbs 29:7 reads, The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.   Matthew 25: 35: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.  
There’s pretty good agreement that Christians are supposed to care for the poor. The question is, “How”? 
 
God’s Sovereignty &Man’s Responsibility
When I posed this question in my Dallas Baptist University class last week, I asked students for a better theological term to describe what I was talking about.  I didn’t get very good answers.  So I will use this title, given to Ginger and I in a Sunday School class some ten years ago.  God is Sovereign and can do whatever He wants.  If he wants to help the poor, he can do it via His miraculous power.  But, for some reason, He chooses to do his work through humans, which means it is man’s responsibility.    So, he puts poor people in front of us, and expects us to care for them.  When do we turn away from the poor and say “God will take care of them,” and when do we jump in and help because it’s man's responsibility?
 
Too Much Freedom
OK, this one is difficult for me, because when Sergiy Saydometov and I wrote Biblical Economic Policy, the first of the Ten Commandments of Economics we found was People Should be Free.  And, as I have studied and learned more in the two years since we wrote the book, I have become even more convinced that the intersection of Christianity and Economics is freedom.
But, you can’t find any society where people are perfectly free.  I’m going to have more to say about this in a future podcast, where I will attempt to explain the term Expressive Individualism, from the best book I’ve read this year, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman. 
But for now, let’s accept that you can’t have a perfectly free society.  And that’s where a...]]>677false152fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/151-expressive-individualism--52584334 Individualism is aligned with God’s design, expressive individualism is not.
 
Homo economicus is a Latin term that explains what happens when humans are reduced only to economic maximizers.  Unfortunately, we are headed toward the eventuality at a frightening speed.  It’s explained in maybe the best book I read this year, titled, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, by Carl Trueman.  Throughout the book, he continually asks how a person can say, “I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body.”  I’m old enough to remember when a comedian named Sid Caesar said something that silly, we would all laugh and wait for the next punchline.  But Trueman helps us understand, not only why we take such an objectively untrue statement – not only seriously – but we are encouraged to HELP the person discover the woman inside the man.  
 
Relativism
As Grandma Ginger says, “One of our grandsons claims to be Spiderman half the time, but we don’t believe him.”  Then why are we forced to believe the obviously false statement, “I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body?”  Because who OWNS the body determines what we can do with it.  If God owns it, we ask Him.  But, increasingly folks are taking only the economic, self-interested view, and are claiming they can make of their bodies whatever the economic environment demands. 
It's really the nadir of relativism, which says, “My idea – that all ideas are equal – is better than your idea.”  Okay, that makes no sense, at least to a rational economic decision maker.  That’s what economists assume we are.  But, as Trueman writes, “When the agreed-upon rational basis for debate is gone. All that is left is emotional preference.” He explains the philosophical under-pinnings this way, “With Nietzsche we see clearly two pathologies of our present age receiving philosophical explication: the tendency to be suspicious of any claims to absolute moral truth, and a rejection of religion as distasteful.”  
Look, when Abraham decided there was ONE God, the world changed, and it’s never gone back.  His idea – or God’s idea – was planted into an environment of multiple gods.  They still exist.  I’ll do a podcast sometime where I review the book God is not One by Stephen Prothero.  For brevity’s sake today, let me just summarize that the one god believers, mono-theists as they are called, started with Judiasm, which fathered the other two popular monos: Christianity and Islam.  The world’s five major religions are rounded out by the two polytheist belief systems: Buddhism and Hinduism.
So what Trueman is helping us understand here, is that expressive individualism is when EACH person is their own God.  Well, people have tried that since Eve.  The serpent told her that God didn’t want her to eat the apple, because she would become like God.  Tricky little guy, that serpent.  And, he never takes a day off.  He’s still encouraging people to try to become their own god.  It never works, but people keep trying. 
 
God creates, Humans Discover
This key assumption of the Christian Worldview is best explained by Albert Wolters in his rather theologically based book Creation Regained.  He says that God created the world, and our job as humans is to discover his creation.  He writes, “There are two kinds of law: laws of nature and norms.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1274Thu, 15 Dec 2022 14:17:46 +0000Dunham+Company#151 Expressive Individualism Individualism is aligned with God’s design, expressive individualism is not.   Homo economicus is a Latin term that explains what happens when humans are reduced only to economic maximizers.  Unfortunately, we are... Individualism is aligned with God’s design, expressive individualism is not.
 
Homo economicus is a Latin term that explains what happens when humans are reduced only to economic maximizers.  Unfortunately, we are headed toward the eventuality at a frightening speed.  It’s explained in maybe the best book I read this year, titled, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, by Carl Trueman.  Throughout the book, he continually asks how a person can say, “I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body.”  I’m old enough to remember when a comedian named Sid Caesar said something that silly, we would all laugh and wait for the next punchline.  But Trueman helps us understand, not only why we take such an objectively untrue statement – not only seriously – but we are encouraged to HELP the person discover the woman inside the man.  
 
Relativism
As Grandma Ginger says, “One of our grandsons claims to be Spiderman half the time, but we don’t believe him.”  Then why are we forced to believe the obviously false statement, “I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body?”  Because who OWNS the body determines what we can do with it.  If God owns it, we ask Him.  But, increasingly folks are taking only the economic, self-interested view, and are claiming they can make of their bodies whatever the economic environment demands. 
It's really the nadir of relativism, which says, “My idea – that all ideas are equal – is better than your idea.”  Okay, that makes no sense, at least to a rational economic decision maker.  That’s what economists assume we are.  But, as Trueman writes, “When the agreed-upon rational basis for debate is gone. All that is left is emotional preference.” He explains the philosophical under-pinnings this way, “With Nietzsche we see clearly two pathologies of our present age receiving philosophical explication: the tendency to be suspicious of any claims to absolute moral truth, and a rejection of religion as distasteful.”  
Look, when Abraham decided there was ONE God, the world changed, and it’s never gone back.  His idea – or God’s idea – was planted into an environment of multiple gods.  They still exist.  I’ll do a podcast sometime where I review the book God is not One by Stephen Prothero.  For brevity’s sake today, let me just summarize that the one god believers, mono-theists as they are called, started with Judiasm, which fathered the other two popular monos: Christianity and Islam.  The world’s five major religions are rounded out by the two polytheist belief systems: Buddhism and Hinduism.
So what Trueman is helping us understand here, is that expressive individualism is when EACH person is their own God.  Well, people have tried that since Eve.  The serpent told her that God didn’t want her to eat the apple, because she would become like God.  Tricky little guy, that serpent.  And, he never takes a day off.  He’s still encouraging people to try to become their own god.  It never works, but people keep trying. 
 
God creates, Humans Discover
This key assumption of the Christian Worldview is best explained by Albert Wolters in his rather theologically based book Creation Regained.  He says that God created the world, and our job as humans is to discover his creation.  He writes, “There are two kinds of law: laws of nature and norms.]]>765false151fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/150-the-avatar-election--52584325  
Political candidates present Avatars of themselves, hoping to get elected.  Christian Economists seek reality, not fake people. 
 
In the recent election, we were encouraged to vote for a representation of a representative, not for a real human.  Many candidates avoided debate, stayed out of the public, and hoped their constituents would have a greater fear of the competition, than appreciation for the candidate.  Many Avatars won. 
 
What is an Avatar?
The first definition is from the Hindu belief system.  An avatar is a manifestation of a deity.  The second definition is the one we are most familiar with, “A figure representing a person.”  An Avatar is a representation of a human.  They are NOT human.    
I took one of my granddaughters to see the movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  I have often said, “If you want to see divorce and bankruptcy, go talk to your neighbor.  We pay $15 and invest over two hours of time to escape reality.”  But the latest Wakanda movie is just too far for me.  There is so much sci-fi content that I didn’t enjoy the movie.  I really liked the first one, by the way.  That’s because it developed the characters, and I gained an appreciation for them.  But, undeveloped strivers who can’t make a decision bore me.  I’m not even going to get into the Anti-Christian and anti-American themes in the movie.  I’ll let you invest your own $15 and 160 minutes for that information.  It’s just a bunch of fake good people, fighting fake bad people, and I didn’t much care about either of them. 
Oh, there is an economics story in the movie.  It’s fake also.  They assume that Wakanda got rich by hoarding its supply of Vibranium in a closed economy.  That’s never happened in the real world.  Closed economies die, and open economies thrive.  
 
The Basement Election
Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, campaigning mostly from his basement.  Humans are pretty simple creatures in this regard: We observe what works, and do more of it.  Students in my class at Dallas Baptist University have figured out that class attendance correlates with higher grades.  National Football League teams have figured out that passing wins more games than running.  My grandkids have figured out that I will buy them any flavor of Slurpee at 7-11.  Candidates figured out that they can win an election by hiding in their basements.  That’s dangerous.  
It's dangerous to vote for a candidate you don’t know.  It’s dangerous to accept a religion you can’t explain.  And, it’s dangerous to participate in an economy you don’t understand.  
 
Feeling vs Thinking
So, if there was a lack of debates and public information, how do voters make their choices?  Mostly from the impact of ads.  Those ads are NOT about the candidate, they are about the avatar that the political campaign creates.  I unpack feeling vs thinking in podcast #97.  When voters can’t get factual information about the candidate, they vote based on feelings, not facts.  And they are more motivated by fear.
Ginger reminds me that #88 Don’t Fear the Future is the most viewed of my podcasts.  But people DO fear.  They fear the future, they fear a lot of things.  Fear is a good motivator, and it’s becoming the greatest motivator in elections.  Think about it: Most of the campaigns smeared the opposition, they didn’t build up their own candidate.  
Back to my previous discipline of management, it’s often said that there are two motivators: Carrots and sticks.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1269Thu, 08 Dec 2022 14:15:05 +0000Dunham+Company#150 The Avatar Election   Political candidates present Avatars of themselves, hoping to get elected.  Christian Economists seek reality, not fake people.    In the recent election, we were encouraged to vote for a representation of a...  
Political candidates present Avatars of themselves, hoping to get elected.  Christian Economists seek reality, not fake people. 
 
In the recent election, we were encouraged to vote for a representation of a representative, not for a real human.  Many candidates avoided debate, stayed out of the public, and hoped their constituents would have a greater fear of the competition, than appreciation for the candidate.  Many Avatars won. 
 
What is an Avatar?
The first definition is from the Hindu belief system.  An avatar is a manifestation of a deity.  The second definition is the one we are most familiar with, “A figure representing a person.”  An Avatar is a representation of a human.  They are NOT human.    
I took one of my granddaughters to see the movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  I have often said, “If you want to see divorce and bankruptcy, go talk to your neighbor.  We pay $15 and invest over two hours of time to escape reality.”  But the latest Wakanda movie is just too far for me.  There is so much sci-fi content that I didn’t enjoy the movie.  I really liked the first one, by the way.  That’s because it developed the characters, and I gained an appreciation for them.  But, undeveloped strivers who can’t make a decision bore me.  I’m not even going to get into the Anti-Christian and anti-American themes in the movie.  I’ll let you invest your own $15 and 160 minutes for that information.  It’s just a bunch of fake good people, fighting fake bad people, and I didn’t much care about either of them. 
Oh, there is an economics story in the movie.  It’s fake also.  They assume that Wakanda got rich by hoarding its supply of Vibranium in a closed economy.  That’s never happened in the real world.  Closed economies die, and open economies thrive.  
 
The Basement Election
Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, campaigning mostly from his basement.  Humans are pretty simple creatures in this regard: We observe what works, and do more of it.  Students in my class at Dallas Baptist University have figured out that class attendance correlates with higher grades.  National Football League teams have figured out that passing wins more games than running.  My grandkids have figured out that I will buy them any flavor of Slurpee at 7-11.  Candidates figured out that they can win an election by hiding in their basements.  That’s dangerous.  
It's dangerous to vote for a candidate you don’t know.  It’s dangerous to accept a religion you can’t explain.  And, it’s dangerous to participate in an economy you don’t understand.  
 
Feeling vs Thinking
So, if there was a lack of debates and public information, how do voters make their choices?  Mostly from the impact of ads.  Those ads are NOT about the candidate, they are about the avatar that the political campaign creates.  I unpack feeling vs thinking in podcast #97.  When voters can’t get factual information about the candidate, they vote based on feelings, not facts.  And they are more motivated by fear.
Ginger reminds me that #88 Don’t Fear the Future is the most viewed of my podcasts.  But people DO fear.  They fear the future, they fear a lot of things.  Fear is a good motivator, and it’s becoming the greatest motivator in elections.  Think about it: Most of the campaigns smeared the opposition, they didn’t build up their own candidate.  
Back to my previous discipline of management, it’s often said that there are...]]>614false150fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/149-growing-or-dying--52584329Negative growth via socialism is being forced to live with less.  Growth via free market capitalism is choosing to do more with less. 
 
It’s all about power.  The serpent told Eve that if she ate the apple, SHE would be God.  Things have not changed that much.  People still want to be god, and they attempt to become god by having power over others.  In a previous generation, the political term was Communism which used the Economic concepts of Socialism.  Today, they’re calling it The Great Reset.  It’s the title of my podcast #112.  Their long-term plan is to cause so much chaos that we will beg them to take over.  I asked Ginger, “Why would George Soros donate money to defund the police in Austin, Texas?  Answer: When chaos breaks out, we cede more power to the government to quell the violence.
Harking back to my days in Management, I used to tell groups, “They call it an ORGANIZATION because it is a growing thing.  Like your skin, which is shedding cells as we’re sitting here, the organization is an organ.  It’s either growing or dying.  There is no stable state.”
Yet, we as humans WANT a stable state.  Sorry, not on this side of heaven.  Your organization is either growing or dying.  Your business is growing or dying.  Your church is growing or dying.  Your marriage is growing or dying.  The economy is growing or dying.  
In the economics textbook, I use at Dallas Baptist University, the author Gregory Mankiw states it very clearly: Policies either cause efficiency when society gets the maximum benefits from its scarce resources.  This is called growing the size of the pie.  Or Policies seek equality, where there is a distribution of economic prosperity uniformly among the members of society.  These policies are concerned with how the pie is divided into individual slices.  Everything involving redistribution is no-growth because it steals productive capital and uses power to give it to someone else.  This violates the 8th commandment: Don’t steal.  
I boldly announce in class: Each policy can be put into only one category, meaning: The policy either grows the pie or divides the pie.  My students are watching one of the clearest examples of both, in back-to-back presidential administrations: Trumpenomics grew the pie, and Bidenomics is distributing it. 
 
The Degrowth Craze
Andy Kessler, writing in the Wall Street Journal recently, calls it “The Deadly De-Growth Craze: Stagnant societies eventually slide into oppression, chaos, anarchy and ruin”  
Mr. Kessler writes, “The modern world is constantly subjected to crackpot movements that eventually fail, but not before causing serious damage. Karl Marx was a crackpot.  The latest is Modern Monetary Theory and unlimited dollar creation for government spending, which caused today’s runaway inflation.”  I explain in greater detail the foolishness of Modern Monetary Theory, in podcast # 31 titled the Myth of Modern Monetary Theory.  But for today, I’ll summarize by emphasizing it IS a myth.  You can change economic policy, but you can’t change economic law.  Modern Monetary Theory attempts to change economic law and fails miserably. 
Mr. Kessler reports that the no-growth crowd demands that we put well-being ahead of profit.  Hold it.  Let’s take a peek behind the curtain of these great Oz pretenders.  They’re assuming that profit does NOT produce well-being.  Profit is well-being because it creates more jobs instead of government honeypots to pay people not to work. Growth is fuel. That computer you’re watching this podcast on: ...]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1244Thu, 01 Dec 2022 14:15:14 +0000Dunham+Companyhttps://davearnott.com/149-growing-or-dying/ via socialism is being forced to live with less.  Growth via free market capitalism is choosing to do more with less.    It’s all about power.  The serpent told Eve that if she ate the apple, SHE would be...Negative growth via socialism is being forced to live with less.  Growth via free market capitalism is choosing to do more with less. 
 
It’s all about power.  The serpent told Eve that if she ate the apple, SHE would be God.  Things have not changed that much.  People still want to be god, and they attempt to become god by having power over others.  In a previous generation, the political term was Communism which used the Economic concepts of Socialism.  Today, they’re calling it The Great Reset.  It’s the title of my podcast #112.  Their long-term plan is to cause so much chaos that we will beg them to take over.  I asked Ginger, “Why would George Soros donate money to defund the police in Austin, Texas?  Answer: When chaos breaks out, we cede more power to the government to quell the violence.
Harking back to my days in Management, I used to tell groups, “They call it an ORGANIZATION because it is a growing thing.  Like your skin, which is shedding cells as we’re sitting here, the organization is an organ.  It’s either growing or dying.  There is no stable state.”
Yet, we as humans WANT a stable state.  Sorry, not on this side of heaven.  Your organization is either growing or dying.  Your business is growing or dying.  Your church is growing or dying.  Your marriage is growing or dying.  The economy is growing or dying.  
In the economics textbook, I use at Dallas Baptist University, the author Gregory Mankiw states it very clearly: Policies either cause efficiency when society gets the maximum benefits from its scarce resources.  This is called growing the size of the pie.  Or Policies seek equality, where there is a distribution of economic prosperity uniformly among the members of society.  These policies are concerned with how the pie is divided into individual slices.  Everything involving redistribution is no-growth because it steals productive capital and uses power to give it to someone else.  This violates the 8th commandment: Don’t steal.  
I boldly announce in class: Each policy can be put into only one category, meaning: The policy either grows the pie or divides the pie.  My students are watching one of the clearest examples of both, in back-to-back presidential administrations: Trumpenomics grew the pie, and Bidenomics is distributing it. 
 
The Degrowth Craze
Andy Kessler, writing in the Wall Street Journal recently, calls it “The Deadly De-Growth Craze: Stagnant societies eventually slide into oppression, chaos, anarchy and ruin”  
Mr. Kessler writes, “The modern world is constantly subjected to crackpot movements that eventually fail, but not before causing serious damage. Karl Marx was a crackpot.  The latest is Modern Monetary Theory and unlimited dollar creation for government spending, which caused today’s runaway inflation.”  I explain in greater detail the foolishness of Modern Monetary Theory, in podcast # 31 titled the Myth of Modern Monetary Theory.  But for today, I’ll summarize by emphasizing it IS a myth.  You can change economic policy, but you can’t change economic law.  Modern Monetary Theory attempts to change economic law and fails miserably. 
Mr. Kessler reports that the no-growth crowd demands that we put well-being ahead of profit.  Hold it.  Let’s take a peek behind the curtain of these great Oz pretenders.  They’re assuming that profit does NOT produce well-being.  Profit is well-being because it creates more...]]>707false149fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/148-it-is-better-to-supply-than-to-demand--52584335 We used to get our identity from what we supplied, now we get our identity from what we demand.  Christians should get their identity from being made in the image of God. 

Your Name
What’s your name?  Even more interesting, what’s it mean? That is the beginning of an interesting exercise in class at Dallas Baptist University.  If it's Mill, like the philosopher John Stuart Mill, someone in your lineage ran the mill.  If it’s Smith, like that guy, Adam Smith, someone was a black smith or tin smith or silver smith.  Farmer is obvious, as is Shumacher.  A cooper made wooden barrels, and a winnegar tended a vineyard where they made wine.  Examples go on and on.  So, at one time in history, people had no choice.  If your Dad ran the mill, you were going to run the mill.  If he was a farmer, you were going to be a farmer.  But in modern life, people have a choice.  Oh, historically women had NO choice.  It is estimated that at the time of Jesus, women had to have nine pregnancies, to produce one child who would reach the age of reproduction to keep the population stable.  Think about it: If women averaged eight, we wouldn’t be here.  So in modern times, women have been freed to pursue any field of economic production they choose.  
When Jesus first started preaching, they asked, “Who is this man, and where is He From?”  In New Testament times, a person’s identity was tied to his family lineage, and geography.  In John 1:46, Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  In Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias makes this point.  When he would lecture back in his home country of India, he was known for his family’s lineage, which was impressive.  My paternal grandmother’s family lived on the Thames river, just south of London.  Since they lived at the water, the family name was “Atwater.”   
Oh, my title today, “It’s better to supply than demand, " is a re-wording of the old bromide, “It’s better to give than to receive.”  I sometimes use that quip in a quite sarcastic way when handing out a quiz to students at Dallas Baptist University. 

Supply Side vs Demand Side
The field of economics can be divided into two groups: Austrians and Keynesians.  I am an Austrian, following the lead of Ludwig von Mises, then Frederick Hayek….yea, THAT guy, and Milton Friedman.  We believe in GROWING the pie via producing on the supply side.  Keynesians follow John Maynard Keynes, who was succeeded by Paul Samuelson and Paul Krugman and now just about every political operative on the left, who wants to redistribute the supply of goods and services.  They believe in DIVIDING the pie, by distributing goods on the demand side.  In podcast #116 titled “The Resurgence of Socialism,” I point out that Socialists are great at demand, but terrible at supplying demand.  
So here’s the interesting part.  Carl Trueman is a theologian from the UK who teaches at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.  There he is with DBU President Dr. Adam Wright, during an appearance at my University recently.  In his chapel speech at DBU he invoked the same concept I use in class: That some last names indicate job titles: Mill, Smith, Farmer, Shoemaker, etc.  And he said that, historically, that’s where we received our identity.  But NOW, we receive more of our identity from what we CONSUME.  So our identity has changed from production to consumption.  From supply to demand.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1199Thu, 17 Nov 2022 14:15:50 +0000Dunham+Company#148 It is Better to Supply than to Demand We used to get our identity from what we supplied, now we get our identity from what we demand.  Christians should get their identity from being made in the image of God.  Your Name What’s your name? ... We used to get our identity from what we supplied, now we get our identity from what we demand.  Christians should get their identity from being made in the image of God. 

Your Name
What’s your name?  Even more interesting, what’s it mean? That is the beginning of an interesting exercise in class at Dallas Baptist University.  If it's Mill, like the philosopher John Stuart Mill, someone in your lineage ran the mill.  If it’s Smith, like that guy, Adam Smith, someone was a black smith or tin smith or silver smith.  Farmer is obvious, as is Shumacher.  A cooper made wooden barrels, and a winnegar tended a vineyard where they made wine.  Examples go on and on.  So, at one time in history, people had no choice.  If your Dad ran the mill, you were going to run the mill.  If he was a farmer, you were going to be a farmer.  But in modern life, people have a choice.  Oh, historically women had NO choice.  It is estimated that at the time of Jesus, women had to have nine pregnancies, to produce one child who would reach the age of reproduction to keep the population stable.  Think about it: If women averaged eight, we wouldn’t be here.  So in modern times, women have been freed to pursue any field of economic production they choose.  
When Jesus first started preaching, they asked, “Who is this man, and where is He From?”  In New Testament times, a person’s identity was tied to his family lineage, and geography.  In John 1:46, Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  In Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias makes this point.  When he would lecture back in his home country of India, he was known for his family’s lineage, which was impressive.  My paternal grandmother’s family lived on the Thames river, just south of London.  Since they lived at the water, the family name was “Atwater.”   
Oh, my title today, “It’s better to supply than demand, " is a re-wording of the old bromide, “It’s better to give than to receive.”  I sometimes use that quip in a quite sarcastic way when handing out a quiz to students at Dallas Baptist University. 

Supply Side vs Demand Side
The field of economics can be divided into two groups: Austrians and Keynesians.  I am an Austrian, following the lead of Ludwig von Mises, then Frederick Hayek….yea, THAT guy, and Milton Friedman.  We believe in GROWING the pie via producing on the supply side.  Keynesians follow John Maynard Keynes, who was succeeded by Paul Samuelson and Paul Krugman and now just about every political operative on the left, who wants to redistribute the supply of goods and services.  They believe in DIVIDING the pie, by distributing goods on the demand side.  In podcast #116 titled “The Resurgence of Socialism,” I point out that Socialists are great at demand, but terrible at supplying demand.  
So here’s the interesting part.  Carl Trueman is a theologian from the UK who teaches at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.  There he is with DBU President Dr. Adam Wright, during an appearance at my University recently.  In his chapel speech at DBU he invoked the same concept I use in class: That some last names indicate job titles: Mill, Smith, Farmer, Shoemaker, etc.  And he said that, historically, that’s where we received our identity.  But NOW, we receive more of our identity from what we CONSUME.  So our...]]>679false148fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/147-the-digital-dollar-deceit--52584320 As the Christian Economist, I worry about the threat to privacy posed by central bank digital currencies. 

The US government first issued paper currency in 1861.  For over 160 years, we have used dollars as our currency.  You might even say, cash has been king. But it might be replaced by another king: The digital dollar, issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.  
 
A Fiat is More than a Car
In the context of cars, FIAT is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino.  Worth coming to class, I didn’t know that.  But, we’re talking about fiat money, not cars.  In this context, Fiat means “Let it be done.”  In economics it means an arbitrary or authoritative command.  Many currencies still have the face of the national sovereign on them.  It recalls the classic case when the Pharisees were testing Jesus by asking if his disciples paid the temple tax.  In response, in Matthew 22 Jesus asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  Oh, a couple observations: They were testing Jesus, who we believe was God.  Not a good idea.  And we often miss the most important part of that verse.  Jesus responded, ”Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” is the first part.  Now the important part, “…and render unto God what is God’s.”  That means you and me.  We are made in the Image of God, which I unpack in podcast #32 by that name.  So, the coin goes to Caesar, and we go to God.
But, back to the Fiat idea.  The king or queen issued the currency, so he or she was in control of it.  Samuell Gregg, writing in his book For God and Profit, pointed out that the king could call money value up or down, depending on whether the debt was owed to him, or from him.  You’re welcome to notice that the government is now calling the money value DOWN, via inflation, because its debt has increased from $20 trillion to $30 trillion in just a few years.  
 
The Great Reset
Writing in the Epoch Times recently, an article by John Mac Ghlionn is titled A Digital Dollar is Coming: Americans should be concerned.  He says, “A large number of Americans still believe, somewhat naively, that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance. They’re not… central bank digital currencies are the next step in the evolution of money.”
I challenged the World Economic Forum in podcast #112 titled The Great Reset.  My basic argument is that Christians believe in two great resets: 1. Christ came to earth as the god man.  2. He’s coming back.  Those are two great resets.  In the meantime, how are Christians expected to produce and distribute goods in a scarce environment?  My work as the Christian Economist is to seek answers to that question.  Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized and designed for privacy, digital currencies are centralized and public. They are, in many ways, the antithesis of cryptocurrencies; because they are NOT private.  
The United State is one of over 100 countries who are looking into digital currencies.   Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell generally suppor...]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1196Thu, 10 Nov 2022 14:15:59 +0000Dunham+Company#147 The Digital Dollar Deceit As the Christian Economist, I worry about the threat to privacy posed by central bank digital currencies.  The US government first issued paper currency in 1861.  For over 160 years, we have used dollars as our... As the Christian Economist, I worry about the threat to privacy posed by central bank digital currencies. 

The US government first issued paper currency in 1861.  For over 160 years, we have used dollars as our currency.  You might even say, cash has been king. But it might be replaced by another king: The digital dollar, issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.  
 
A Fiat is More than a Car
In the context of cars, FIAT is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino.  Worth coming to class, I didn’t know that.  But, we’re talking about fiat money, not cars.  In this context, Fiat means “Let it be done.”  In economics it means an arbitrary or authoritative command.  Many currencies still have the face of the national sovereign on them.  It recalls the classic case when the Pharisees were testing Jesus by asking if his disciples paid the temple tax.  In response, in Matthew 22 Jesus asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  Oh, a couple observations: They were testing Jesus, who we believe was God.  Not a good idea.  And we often miss the most important part of that verse.  Jesus responded, ”Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” is the first part.  Now the important part, “…and render unto God what is God’s.”  That means you and me.  We are made in the Image of God, which I unpack in podcast #32 by that name.  So, the coin goes to Caesar, and we go to God.
But, back to the Fiat idea.  The king or queen issued the currency, so he or she was in control of it.  Samuell Gregg, writing in his book For God and Profit, pointed out that the king could call money value up or down, depending on whether the debt was owed to him, or from him.  You’re welcome to notice that the government is now calling the money value DOWN, via inflation, because its debt has increased from $20 trillion to $30 trillion in just a few years.  
 
The Great Reset
Writing in the Epoch Times recently, an article by John Mac Ghlionn is titled A Digital Dollar is Coming: Americans should be concerned.  He says, “A large number of Americans still believe, somewhat naively, that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance. They’re not… central bank digital currencies are the next step in the evolution of money.”
I challenged the World Economic Forum in podcast #112 titled The Great Reset.  My basic argument is that Christians believe in two great resets: 1. Christ came to earth as the god man.  2. He’s coming back.  Those are two great resets.  In the meantime, how are Christians expected to produce and distribute goods in a scarce environment?  My work as the Christian Economist is to seek answers to that question.  Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized and designed for privacy, digital currencies are centralized and public. They are, in many ways, the antithesis of cryptocurrencies; because they are NOT private.  
The United State is one of over...]]>650false147fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/146-power-corrupts--52584338 One-party rule threatens the power structure as well as the economy, not only within the United States, but China, and the rest of the world as well.
 
In a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  He was writing about Pope Pius the ninth in 1868.  The Pope had rigged the vote to determine his infallibility.  Ok, you’re welcome to notice the irony: He cheated to prove he was not capable of cheating.  
His full name was Sir John Dalberg-Acton, which is a mouthful, so we’re thankful that most of the time, we just call him “Lord Acton.”  He was a mid-19th century polymath.  He studied many subjects and was highly respected.  My generation recalls the very effective TV ads for an investment firm, “When EF Hutton talks, people listen.”  That was true of Lord Acton.  He was listened to, in his home country of England, but also on the continent, and in the United States.  In the book by Gertrude Himmelfarb, she writes, “A familiar description of Action was that he was the most erudite man of his times. …..his friends said he was the nearest thing to omniscience they have ever seen.”
His namesake think tank in Grand Rapids, MI, today is the best source of Christian economics information in the world.  I attend the Acton Institute every summer, I read their books, and my Dallas Baptist University students just watched their series of videos titled Poverty Cure for extra credit last week. 
 
The Chinese Communist Party
Acton’s famous quote was ringing in my head this week when I read multiple news stories, explaining how Chinese president Xi Jinpeng was taking greater control of his country.  
In an article titled, “China’s Xi Jinpeng Moves to Extend Rule as Top Communist Party Rivals Retire,” The Wall Street Journal reported this week, “China’s Communist Party set the stage for its leader, Xi Jinping, to extend his rule into a second decade, nudging his rivals into retirement and positioning his loyalists for promotion into the top echelons of power.”
Delegates to the once in five-years Chinese Communist party congress recently reaffirmed President Xi’s role as the party’s single leader and enshrined his policies as part of the party’s governing charter.”  One of my favorite sayings in my DBU econ class is, “You can change economic policy, but you can’t change economic law.”  The Chinese are about to find out that their leader’s policies are not perfect.  
Mr. Xi recently used his political muscle to take a third term as general secretary, breaking from the 10-year leadership cycle that his predecessor had set.  He has not designated any potential successors, since doing so would undermine his own authority.  This should give Americans pause, because of the remarkable similarity to President Biden’s unwillingness to appoint a party successor at his advanced age of 79.  It also shows us the corruption that occurs with one-party rule in America.   
 
 One Party Rule in the US
]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1184Thu, 03 Nov 2022 13:15:51 +0000Dunham+Company#146 Power Corrupts  One-party rule threatens the power structure as well as the economy, not only within the United States, but China, and the rest of the world as well.   In a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to... One-party rule threatens the power structure as well as the economy, not only within the United States, but China, and the rest of the world as well.
 
In a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  He was writing about Pope Pius the ninth in 1868.  The Pope had rigged the vote to determine his infallibility.  Ok, you’re welcome to notice the irony: He cheated to prove he was not capable of cheating.  
His full name was Sir John Dalberg-Acton, which is a mouthful, so we’re thankful that most of the time, we just call him “Lord Acton.”  He was a mid-19th century polymath.  He studied many subjects and was highly respected.  My generation recalls the very effective TV ads for an investment firm, “When EF Hutton talks, people listen.”  That was true of Lord Acton.  He was listened to, in his home country of England, but also on the continent, and in the United States.  In the book by Gertrude Himmelfarb, she writes, “A familiar description of Action was that he was the most erudite man of his times. …..his friends said he was the nearest thing to omniscience they have ever seen.”
His namesake think tank in Grand Rapids, MI, today is the best source of Christian economics information in the world.  I attend the Acton Institute every summer, I read their books, and my Dallas Baptist University students just watched their series of videos titled Poverty Cure for extra credit last week. 
 
The Chinese Communist Party
Acton’s famous quote was ringing in my head this week when I read multiple news stories, explaining how Chinese president Xi Jinpeng was taking greater control of his country.  
In an article titled, “China’s Xi Jinpeng Moves to Extend Rule as Top Communist Party Rivals Retire,” The Wall Street Journal reported this week, “China’s Communist Party set the stage for its leader, Xi Jinping, to extend his rule into a second decade, nudging his rivals into retirement and positioning his loyalists for promotion into the top echelons of power.”
Delegates to the once in five-years Chinese Communist party congress recently reaffirmed President Xi’s role as the party’s single leader and enshrined his policies as part of the party’s governing charter.”  One of my favorite sayings in my DBU econ class is, “You can change economic policy, but you can’t change economic law.”  The Chinese are about to find out that their leader’s policies are not perfect.  
Mr. Xi recently used his political muscle to take a third term as general secretary, breaking from the 10-year leadership cycle that his predecessor had set.  He has not designated any potential successors, since doing so would undermine his own authority.  This should give Americans pause, because of the remarkable similarity to President Biden’s unwillingness to appoint a party successor at his advanced age of 79.  It also shows us the corruption that occurs with one-party rule in...]]>677false146fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/145-all-dogs-go-to-heaven--52584323 “Pets as children” violates the Christian Worldview.  Humans should spend more of their scarce time with other humans, rather than pets.
 
Something I wanted to say to Dennis Prager during the fireside chat, when his dog Otto was sleeping between us, "All dogs may go to heaven, but taxes don’t."  You see, the Christian purpose of taxes is to protect us from evil in a fallen world.  In heaven, there won't be a fallen nature, so we won't need taxes.
 
Economics
70% of American households own a pet.  Americans spend about $123.6 billion in 2021, up 19% in just the last year!  Wow, a 19% increase in one year!  Giving to church and parachurch organizations is stuck around $115 billion, up a paltry 1% in the last eight years, according to Christianity Today.  While pet spending has more than doubled in the same time period.  Somethings going on here.  Why are people spending so much on pets?  I like pets.  I’m merely seeking a clear Biblical answer about the Christian Economics of pet ownership. 
In recent years, Americans have spent more money buying Halloween costumes for their pets than the amount given to reach the unreached, reports Andrew Scott, president of Operation Mobilization U.S.
45% of American pet owners spend the same amount or more on their pets’ healthcare as they do their own healthcare.  
 
The Christian Worldview
When God created animals, he declared their creation to be “good” in Genesis 1:25.  At the conclusion of the creation account in Genesis 1, God looked at “all he had made” and declared it “very good.”  Humans are the crowning achievement of God’s creative activity, and as His image bearers, we possess something of the divine.  For more on that topic, I will refer you to podcast #32 Made in God’s Image.  
Humans are made above animals.  When I was a child, one of my aunts traveled cross-country with her small dog.  I remember watching her buy a McDonald's hamburger, and giving the meat to her dog.  I was horrified.  I still have that picture in my mind.  She wasted human food on a dog.  But that’s common practice today.   
Elena Kadvany reports for the San Francisco Chronicle about a dog restaurant in her town where owners can buy a $75 tasting menu for their dogs.  She writes, “Dogue, which opened last week with a $75 tasting menu and French-inspired pastries just for dogs, feels emblematic of  everything wrong with San Francisco right now — a place where dogs are treated better than humans.”  “This signals the collapse,” one Instagram commenter wrote.
Albert Wolters explains it well in his book Creation Regained,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1175Thu, 27 Oct 2022 13:15:26 +0000Dunham+Company#145 All Dogs Go to Heaven “Pets as children” violates the Christian Worldview.  Humans should spend more of their scarce time with other humans, rather than pets.   Something I wanted to say to Dennis Prager during... “Pets as children” violates the Christian Worldview.  Humans should spend more of their scarce time with other humans, rather than pets.
 
Something I wanted to say to Dennis Prager during the fireside chat, when his dog Otto was sleeping between us, "All dogs may go to heaven, but taxes don’t."  You see, the Christian purpose of taxes is to protect us from evil in a fallen world.  In heaven, there won't be a fallen nature, so we won't need taxes.
 
Economics
70% of American households own a pet.  Americans spend about $123.6 billion in 2021, up 19% in just the last year!  Wow, a 19% increase in one year!  Giving to church and parachurch organizations is stuck around $115 billion, up a paltry 1% in the last eight years, according to Christianity Today.  While pet spending has more than doubled in the same time period.  Somethings going on here.  Why are people spending so much on pets?  I like pets.  I’m merely seeking a clear Biblical answer about the Christian Economics of pet ownership. 
In recent years, Americans have spent more money buying Halloween costumes for their pets than the amount given to reach the unreached, reports Andrew Scott, president of Operation Mobilization U.S.
45% of American pet owners spend the same amount or more on their pets’ healthcare as they do their own healthcare.  
 
The Christian Worldview
When God created animals, he declared their creation to be “good” in Genesis 1:25.  At the conclusion of the creation account in Genesis 1, God looked at “all he had made” and declared it “very good.”  Humans are the crowning achievement of God’s creative activity, and as His image bearers, we possess something of the divine.  For more on that topic, I will refer you to podcast #32 Made in God’s Image.  
Humans are made above animals.  When I was a child, one of my aunts traveled cross-country with her small dog.  I remember watching her buy a McDonald's hamburger, and giving the meat to her dog.  I was horrified.  I still have that picture in my mind.  She wasted human food on a dog.  But that’s common practice today.   
Elena Kadvany reports for the San Francisco Chronicle about a dog restaurant in her town where owners can buy a $75 tasting menu for their dogs.  She writes, “Dogue, which opened last week with a $75 tasting menu and French-inspired pastries just for dogs, feels emblematic of  everything wrong with San Francisco right now — a place where dogs are treated better than humans.”  “This signals the collapse,” one...]]>761false145fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/144-be-anxious-about-nothing--52584318 Anxiety is becoming its own industry which will slow GDP Growth, but for Christians, “…the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
 
I said to a young woman in my class recently, “You’re in the happiest group in the world.  A Christian American woman.  Now, if you get married, your chances of being happy increase even more.”  Much of the data for that description comes from the book Gross National Happiness by Arthur Brooks.  

Anxiety is Growing Faster than GDP
But many people are not happy, and are suffering from anxiety.  Especially since the pandemic.  Here are a few data points: 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults age 18 or older, or 18.1% of the population every year (Anxiety and Depression Assn. of America).
Some 12.5 million working days a year are lost due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety.
50% of employees in one survey said that stress and anxiety impact the quality of their work (Anxiety and Depression Assn. of America).

By definition, anxiety is the body’s way of telling us something isn’t right. Every person aligns their life with something.  It’s called worldview.  Christians align with the Christian worldview: Creation, fall, redemption.  This definition of anxiety suggests that the person’s life is aligned with something else.  I’m humble about this.  Professionally, I am not a psychiatrist, and personally, I have been blessed to have generally good emotional health.  I have great sympathy for people who suffer from anxiety, and I’m not here to offer simple bromides like, “Nail it to the cross” because I don’t know which hammer and nails you would use.  I will try to stay on the Christian economics viewpoint on this difficult and complex subject. 
Daniel Henninger’s article in the Wall Street Journal recently was titled, The Next Pandemic: Anxiety Over Life Itself.  He wrote, “A medical advisory group to the federal government has just recommended that all adult Americans age 19 to 64 be screened for anxiety.  One could see this coming: The ultimate pandemic is now life itself. “
 
Economics
In an interview earlier this summer, Dennis Prager asked if I was an optimist or a pessimist.  I answered that as the Christian Economist, I operate in two camps, and I have two different answers.  
First, the pessimistic economist.  Since my DBU sophomores were born in the year 2000, the US debt to GDP ratio has doubled from 57% to 124% and it’s getting worse every day.  Inflation is making people poorer, and it is especially impactful on the poor, whom we Christians care about.  The Fed is no longer independent,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1166Thu, 20 Oct 2022 13:34:03 +0000Dunham+Company#144 Be Anxious about Nothing Anxiety is becoming its own industry which will slow GDP Growth, but for Christians, “…the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”   I said to a young... Anxiety is becoming its own industry which will slow GDP Growth, but for Christians, “…the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
 
I said to a young woman in my class recently, “You’re in the happiest group in the world.  A Christian American woman.  Now, if you get married, your chances of being happy increase even more.”  Much of the data for that description comes from the book Gross National Happiness by Arthur Brooks.  

Anxiety is Growing Faster than GDP
But many people are not happy, and are suffering from anxiety.  Especially since the pandemic.  Here are a few data points: 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults age 18 or older, or 18.1% of the population every year (Anxiety and Depression Assn. of America).
Some 12.5 million working days a year are lost due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety.
50% of employees in one survey said that stress and anxiety impact the quality of their work (Anxiety and Depression Assn. of America).

By definition, anxiety is the body’s way of telling us something isn’t right. Every person aligns their life with something.  It’s called worldview.  Christians align with the Christian worldview: Creation, fall, redemption.  This definition of anxiety suggests that the person’s life is aligned with something else.  I’m humble about this.  Professionally, I am not a psychiatrist, and personally, I have been blessed to have generally good emotional health.  I have great sympathy for people who suffer from anxiety, and I’m not here to offer simple bromides like, “Nail it to the cross” because I don’t know which hammer and nails you would use.  I will try to stay on the Christian economics viewpoint on this difficult and complex subject. 
Daniel Henninger’s article in the Wall Street Journal recently was titled, The Next Pandemic: Anxiety Over Life Itself.  He wrote, “A medical advisory group to the federal government has just recommended that all adult Americans age 19 to 64 be screened for anxiety.  One could see this coming: The ultimate pandemic is now life itself. “
 
Economics
In an interview earlier this summer, Dennis Prager asked if I was an optimist or a pessimist.  I answered that as the Christian Economist, I operate in two camps, and I have two different answers.  
First, the pessimistic economist.  Since my DBU sophomores were born in the year 2000, the US debt to GDP ratio has doubled from 57% to 124% and it’s getting worse every day.  Inflation is making people poorer, and it is especially impactful on the poor, whom we Christians care...]]>652false144fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/143-why-work--52584321 Three million Americans quit working, but how are they living when “there is no free lunch”? We are Biblically commanded to work in order to serve our neighbors.  
 
How can three million people leave the workforce and still make a living?  Good question.  There is no free lunch, but these folks are eating something from somewhere. 
 
Poppy Fields
Andy Kessler writes in the Wall Street Journal recently and offers a couple of answers in his column titled, A Nation of Quitters.  The subtitle gives away the answer: A new class avoids work while living off their affluent parents.  Oh, so someone IS paying their bills, it’s just not them.  I read this quote from Mr. Kessler’s article to my sophomores at Dallas Baptist University this week, as an encouragement to them:  It is cultural malaise, motivational submission. Society now promotes mediocrity and calls it equity—witness the scarcity of SAT test-score requirements for college. Too many got a taste of not working and liked it.  Why is it an encouragement to them?  Because this does NOT apply to my DBU students.  The easiest way to be a big fish is to find a suitably small pond.  They are big fish in this pond of lazy, non-workers.  
Who is paying?  Parents. They can afford it: As of March, baby boomers were sitting on a whopping $71 trillion to spoil their kids with. Did you know that half of U.S. households currently support an adult child?
The Statler brothers sang Countin’ flowers on the wall in 1965 and the rockabilly remake by Eric Heatherly in 2009 is worth a listen.  A few lines: Countin' flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all.  Playing solitaire til dawn with a deck of 51.  Smoking cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo, now don’t tell me, I’ve nothing to do.  
Someday I will write an entire podcast on The Wizard of Oz as a political/economic allegory.  But I will limit myself to only one observation today.  The poppy field prevented Dorothy and her friends from reaching the land of Oz.  It represented things that distracted people from real life when L Frank Baum wrote the story in 1900.  Opium is made from poppies.  Today, it’s marijuana, video games, and Facebook.  The video game “Fall Guys” has 50 million players.  
Socrates said, “A life unexamined is not worth living.”  I like Oscar Wilde’s take, “A life unlived is not worth examining.” During a small family work project in the pasture last weekend, our granddaughter reminded her five-year-old brother, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”  That’s probably pretty good advice, and it’s Biblical.  When Paul gave folks that advice, in second Thessalonians, they were being lazy, because of their expectations.  They expected Jesus was going to return soon, so they were not working.  I like how Eugene Peterson worded it in The Message, 10-13 Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep
Oh, this will surprise you: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is getting Biblical on us:  She predicted in 2019 that the “world is going to end in 12 years....]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1160Thu, 13 Oct 2022 13:15:11 +0000Dunham+Company#143 Why Work? Three million Americans quit working, but how are they living when “there is no free lunch”? We are Biblically commanded to work in order to serve our neighbors.     How can three million people leave the workforce and still make a... Three million Americans quit working, but how are they living when “there is no free lunch”? We are Biblically commanded to work in order to serve our neighbors.  
 
How can three million people leave the workforce and still make a living?  Good question.  There is no free lunch, but these folks are eating something from somewhere. 
 
Poppy Fields
Andy Kessler writes in the Wall Street Journal recently and offers a couple of answers in his column titled, A Nation of Quitters.  The subtitle gives away the answer: A new class avoids work while living off their affluent parents.  Oh, so someone IS paying their bills, it’s just not them.  I read this quote from Mr. Kessler’s article to my sophomores at Dallas Baptist University this week, as an encouragement to them:  It is cultural malaise, motivational submission. Society now promotes mediocrity and calls it equity—witness the scarcity of SAT test-score requirements for college. Too many got a taste of not working and liked it.  Why is it an encouragement to them?  Because this does NOT apply to my DBU students.  The easiest way to be a big fish is to find a suitably small pond.  They are big fish in this pond of lazy, non-workers.  
Who is paying?  Parents. They can afford it: As of March, baby boomers were sitting on a whopping $71 trillion to spoil their kids with. Did you know that half of U.S. households currently support an adult child?
The Statler brothers sang Countin’ flowers on the wall in 1965 and the rockabilly remake by Eric Heatherly in 2009 is worth a listen.  A few lines: Countin' flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all.  Playing solitaire til dawn with a deck of 51.  Smoking cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo, now don’t tell me, I’ve nothing to do.  
Someday I will write an entire podcast on The Wizard of Oz as a political/economic allegory.  But I will limit myself to only one observation today.  The poppy field prevented Dorothy and her friends from reaching the land of Oz.  It represented things that distracted people from real life when L Frank Baum wrote the story in 1900.  Opium is made from poppies.  Today, it’s marijuana, video games, and Facebook.  The video game “Fall Guys” has 50 million players.  
Socrates said, “A life unexamined is not worth living.”  I like Oscar Wilde’s take, “A life unlived is not worth examining.” During a small family work project in the pasture last weekend, our granddaughter reminded her five-year-old brother, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”  That’s probably pretty good advice, and it’s Biblical.  When Paul gave folks that advice, in second Thessalonians, they were being lazy, because of their expectations.  They expected Jesus was going to return soon, so they were not working.  I like how Eugene Peterson worded it in The Message, 10-13 Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep
Oh, this will surprise you: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is getting Biblical on us:  She predicted in 2019 that the 143fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/142-the-church-of-environmentalism--52584337 The latest pagan form to fill the God-shaped vacuum in humans is called environmentalism.  It has its own church, high priests, and eschatology, but the economics don't work. 

Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods and services under scarcity.  When applied to religion, we understand that people HAVE to believe something.  Even the most ardent existentialist BELIEVES only in what exists.  So here we are in the early part of the 21st century, and people are believing in new gods.  As it says in Ecclesiastes 1:9 There is nothing new under the sun.  Environmentalism is simply the latest god of some humans. 

A God-Shaped Vacuum
A paraphrase of Blaise Pascal's work goes like this “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every [person] which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”
I just read a new book by Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley from the Cato Institute, titled Superabundance.  Their point is that increasing the world population INCREASES resources.  It does not reduce them.  My summary of the increasing population concept is written in my little book Economics and the Christian Worldview, and is as follows: There is a limited amount of land and God isn’t making any more.  But He IS making creative people who are finding more efficient ways of using it.”  The authors of Superabundance clearly state that they are writing from a secular worldview.  So you can imagine my surprise to find a section titled, “Is environmentalism becoming a secular religion?”  
Environmentalism fulfills the same psychological needs as religion does, because it is transcendent.  It allows humans to be a part of something greater than themselves.  
Michael Crichton in a speech in San Francisco in 2003 said, “Environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st-century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs.  There’s an initial Eden which is a paradise.  Then there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all.   Mr. Crichton continues to explain that we are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek the salvation of sustainability in the church of the environment.  
Deirdre McCloskey in her 2010 book Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics can’t explain the modern world, explains that environmentalism is taught now as a civic religion in American schools.  The environmental left has now worshipfully adopted Malthus. 
….”in the absences of traditional religion, the need for the transcendent is being filled by something else,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1153Thu, 06 Oct 2022 13:15:21 +0000Dunham+Company#142 The Church of Environmentalism The latest pagan form to fill the God-shaped vacuum in humans is called environmentalism.  It has its own church, high priests, and eschatology, but the economics don't work.  Economics is the study of the... The latest pagan form to fill the God-shaped vacuum in humans is called environmentalism.  It has its own church, high priests, and eschatology, but the economics don't work. 

Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods and services under scarcity.  When applied to religion, we understand that people HAVE to believe something.  Even the most ardent existentialist BELIEVES only in what exists.  So here we are in the early part of the 21st century, and people are believing in new gods.  As it says in Ecclesiastes 1:9 There is nothing new under the sun.  Environmentalism is simply the latest god of some humans. 

A God-Shaped Vacuum
A paraphrase of Blaise Pascal's work goes like this “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every [person] which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”
I just read a new book by Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley from the Cato Institute, titled Superabundance.  Their point is that increasing the world population INCREASES resources.  It does not reduce them.  My summary of the increasing population concept is written in my little book Economics and the Christian Worldview, and is as follows: There is a limited amount of land and God isn’t making any more.  But He IS making creative people who are finding more efficient ways of using it.”  The authors of Superabundance clearly state that they are writing from a secular worldview.  So you can imagine my surprise to find a section titled, “Is environmentalism becoming a secular religion?”  
Environmentalism fulfills the same psychological needs as religion does, because it is transcendent.  It allows humans to be a part of something greater than themselves.  
Michael Crichton in a speech in San Francisco in 2003 said, “Environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st-century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs.  There’s an initial Eden which is a paradise.  Then there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all.   Mr. Crichton continues to explain that we are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek the salvation of sustainability in the church of the environment.  
Deirdre McCloskey in her 2010 book Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics can’t explain the modern world, explains that environmentalism is taught now as a civic religion in American schools.  The environmental left has now worshipfully adopted Malthus. 
….”in the absences of traditional religion, the need for the transcendent is being filled by something else,]]>707false142fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/141-christianity-is-good-for-you--52584336 An “investment” in Christianity pays twice: Here on Earth, AND in Heaven.
As the Christian Economist, I operate in two camps: Christians are concerned about the means, and economists are concerned about the ends.  It just happens that being a Christian is good for both.  The ends are good because we “end up” in heaven, and the means, here on Earth, are a bonus.  The apostle Paul said “To live is Christ.  To die is gain.”  We win either way.  

Christianity is a “Two-For”
CS Lewis quipped, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.  Aim at Earth, and you will get neither.”  Ginger and I sometimes call this a “twofer.”  You get twice what you expect.  Some call Christianity “fire insurance,” because it keeps you out of hell.  But, it’s a very different kind of insurance, because, instead of paying premiums, you receive premiums.  Let me explain.
As Dennis Prager asked me in an interview this summer, “If people are not getting their ideas from the Bible, where ARE they getting them?”  Well, the answer is: Their answers DO come from the Bible, and more specifically from the Christian view of the Bible.  They just don’t know it.  So much of the cultural water that we swim in, comes from Christianity.
In the book titled Martin Luther, Eric Metaxes makes it clear that there would have been NO American revolution, without the Protestant Reformation.  He’s right.  So the outcome of America itself is a testimony to the power of Christianity.
William Wilberforce said, “God has set before me two great objects:  The suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”  By manners, he meant morality.  I like the book titled Amazing Grace, but there are other Wilberforce books that are good also.  You may have noticed I cited two Eric Metaxes books in a row.  He has a gift, and his writing IS a gift to current-day Christians.  A member of the royal family was keeping track of how many women he slept with.  The number was in the thousands.  The point is: That was acceptable until the very committed Christian named Wilberforce changed culture’s view of “manners” as he called them.  While caring for the poor has a long history in Christendom, Wilberforce also renewed that call.  
Oh, and about slavery: William Wilberforce was a devout Christian who ended slavery in the UK 30 years before we did in the US.  His crusade was clearly an expression of his Christian belief system.  And, his counterpart who ended it in the United States, Abraham Lincoln said “God told me to free the slaves.”  

Economics
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber did what all good social scientists do: He showed a difference.  After the reformation in 1517, northern Italy went protestant and capitalist.  Southern Europe remained Catholic and feudal.  There are still remnants of this difference.  Simply looking at a map of Europe, you can draw a straight line through the four countries that struggle in the EU.  They are the PIGS countries: Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.  I often express it this way, “How I see God determines how I see my fellow man.”  There, a Baptist just crossed himself.
Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opium of the masses.”  Well, it’s better than taking real opium.  It does enable us to live in a fallen world with greater joy, that’s absolutely clear.  But while opium only helps you FORGET your troubles, while disabling you from fixing the world, Christianity BOTH heals your current wounds and gives you the impetus to go out and do something about the fallen world.  It’s a two-for!  
John Stonestreet at the Colson center is one of the smartest people I know, operating in the Christ and Culture space.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1150Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:27:14 +0000Dunham+Company#141 Christianity is Good for You An “investment” in Christianity pays twice: Here on Earth, AND in Heaven. As the Christian Economist, I operate in two camps: Christians are concerned about the means, and economists are concerned about the ends. ... An “investment” in Christianity pays twice: Here on Earth, AND in Heaven.
As the Christian Economist, I operate in two camps: Christians are concerned about the means, and economists are concerned about the ends.  It just happens that being a Christian is good for both.  The ends are good because we “end up” in heaven, and the means, here on Earth, are a bonus.  The apostle Paul said “To live is Christ.  To die is gain.”  We win either way.  

Christianity is a “Two-For”
CS Lewis quipped, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.  Aim at Earth, and you will get neither.”  Ginger and I sometimes call this a “twofer.”  You get twice what you expect.  Some call Christianity “fire insurance,” because it keeps you out of hell.  But, it’s a very different kind of insurance, because, instead of paying premiums, you receive premiums.  Let me explain.
As Dennis Prager asked me in an interview this summer, “If people are not getting their ideas from the Bible, where ARE they getting them?”  Well, the answer is: Their answers DO come from the Bible, and more specifically from the Christian view of the Bible.  They just don’t know it.  So much of the cultural water that we swim in, comes from Christianity.
In the book titled Martin Luther, Eric Metaxes makes it clear that there would have been NO American revolution, without the Protestant Reformation.  He’s right.  So the outcome of America itself is a testimony to the power of Christianity.
William Wilberforce said, “God has set before me two great objects:  The suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”  By manners, he meant morality.  I like the book titled Amazing Grace, but there are other Wilberforce books that are good also.  You may have noticed I cited two Eric Metaxes books in a row.  He has a gift, and his writing IS a gift to current-day Christians.  A member of the royal family was keeping track of how many women he slept with.  The number was in the thousands.  The point is: That was acceptable until the very committed Christian named Wilberforce changed culture’s view of “manners” as he called them.  While caring for the poor has a long history in Christendom, Wilberforce also renewed that call.  
Oh, and about slavery: William Wilberforce was a devout Christian who ended slavery in the UK 30 years before we did in the US.  His crusade was clearly an expression of his Christian belief system.  And, his counterpart who ended it in the United States, Abraham Lincoln said “God told me to free the slaves.”  

Economics
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber did what all good social scientists do: He showed a difference.  After the reformation in 1517, northern Italy went protestant and capitalist.  Southern Europe remained Catholic and feudal.  There are still remnants of this difference.  Simply looking at a map of Europe, you can draw a straight line through the four countries that struggle in the EU.  They are the PIGS countries: Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.  I often express it this way, “How I see God determines how I see my fellow man.”  There, a Baptist just crossed himself.
Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opium of the masses.”  Well, it’s better than taking real opium.  It does enable us to live in a fallen world with greater joy, that’s absolutely clear.  But while opium only helps you FORGET your troubles, while disabling you from fixing the world, Christianity BOTH heals your current wounds and gives you the impetus to go out and do something about the fallen world.  It’s a two-for!  
John Stonestreet at the Colson center is one of the smartest people I know, operating in the Christ and Culture space.]]>676false141fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-irs-targets-the-proletariat--52584327  
The terribly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act contained an $80 billion increase in the IRS budget.  
The IRS says they will hire 87,000 new agents with the money.  In defense of those hirings, they claim they will increase government revenue by $204 billion.  As I often say in the classroom, “on the other hand…” you could properly say they hope to remove $204 billion from the productive sector of the economy.  In economics we often use the phrase “opportunity cost.”  We want to know where that $204 billion would be if the IRS did not extract it from the productive part of society. 
The purpose of taxing is to maintain a civil society in a fallen world.  One of my fellow Christian economists, Art Lindsley says it this way, “The government should punish evil but not do good.  The church should do good, but not punish evil.”  If the $204 billion is being used to punish evil, Christians would be pleased about it.  But, it’s not.  Remember, it’s the government, not the "givernment."  Their role is to govern.  But instead of governing, the money will be used to perform the federal government’s view of good.  For more on that, take a listen to podcast #69 titled, Who Cares?
So, if the church’s purpose is to “do good,” how does your church increase revenue?  When’s the last time your church hired more “fund-raisers?”  Uh-huh, just what I thought.  Your church operates by free-will giving, not by forcibly extracting revenue from its parishioners.  It seems like your church is raising money the right way, don’t you think?  Isn’t society better when we reduce the use of power?
In I Samuel 8, the Israelites asked Samuel to appoint a King.  Apparently, they wanted to be just like the other countries.  Samuel warned them that a King would take their sons and make them serve in the army.  He continued his warning in verse 16: “ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”  Seems like that’s what’s happening, when the IRS takes 87,000 of the best workers out of the productive economy. 
 
Three Buckets
OK, let’s make this simple.  Money can go only three places: Saving, spending, or taxes.  We’ll include giving in the spending bucket for simplicity’s sake.  Saving is the best place for your money, because it lowers the interest rate and encourages the development of the economy.  It happens to be Biblical also.  Spending is the second-best place, because the money gets multiplied throughout the economy.  If you buy a new dress, the shop pays rent and labor and the supplier of the dress.  They, in turn, pay their rent, employees, etc, and the money gets multiplied.  Taxes is the worst bucket.  As mentioned earlier, it gets diverted from the other two buckets and put into the “protection” economy.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Police and accountants consume wealth, they don’t create it.  They consume value that is created by others.  We need police and accountants – and you can add IRS agents in that mix – because we live in a fallen world.  But the less we spend on them, the richer we all become.  Keeping money in the value creating system,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1147Thu, 22 Sep 2022 13:15:20 +0000Dunham+CompanyThe IRS is getting 87,000 new agents.  It would take only 25,000 to audit every millionaire, and the bottom 57% pay no taxes.  They will target the middle class.   The terribly misnamed...  
The terribly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act contained an $80 billion increase in the IRS budget.  
The IRS says they will hire 87,000 new agents with the money.  In defense of those hirings, they claim they will increase government revenue by $204 billion.  As I often say in the classroom, “on the other hand…” you could properly say they hope to remove $204 billion from the productive sector of the economy.  In economics we often use the phrase “opportunity cost.”  We want to know where that $204 billion would be if the IRS did not extract it from the productive part of society. 
The purpose of taxing is to maintain a civil society in a fallen world.  One of my fellow Christian economists, Art Lindsley says it this way, “The government should punish evil but not do good.  The church should do good, but not punish evil.”  If the $204 billion is being used to punish evil, Christians would be pleased about it.  But, it’s not.  Remember, it’s the government, not the "givernment."  Their role is to govern.  But instead of governing, the money will be used to perform the federal government’s view of good.  For more on that, take a listen to podcast #69 titled, Who Cares?
So, if the church’s purpose is to “do good,” how does your church increase revenue?  When’s the last time your church hired more “fund-raisers?”  Uh-huh, just what I thought.  Your church operates by free-will giving, not by forcibly extracting revenue from its parishioners.  It seems like your church is raising money the right way, don’t you think?  Isn’t society better when we reduce the use of power?
In I Samuel 8, the Israelites asked Samuel to appoint a King.  Apparently, they wanted to be just like the other countries.  Samuel warned them that a King would take their sons and make them serve in the army.  He continued his warning in verse 16: “ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”  Seems like that’s what’s happening, when the IRS takes 87,000 of the best workers out of the productive economy. 
 
Three Buckets
OK, let’s make this simple.  Money can go only three places: Saving, spending, or taxes.  We’ll include giving in the spending bucket for simplicity’s sake.  Saving is the best place for your money, because it lowers the interest rate and encourages the development of the economy.  It happens to be Biblical also.  Spending is the second-best place, because the money gets multiplied throughout the economy.  If you buy a new dress, the shop pays rent and labor and the supplier of the dress.  They, in turn, pay their rent, employees, etc, and the money gets multiplied.  Taxes is the worst bucket.  As mentioned earlier, it gets diverted from the other two buckets and put into the “protection” economy.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Police and accountants consume wealth, they don’t create it.  They consume value that is created by others.  We need police and accountants – and you can add IRS agents in that mix – because we live in a fallen world.  But the less we spend on them, the richer we all...]]>710false140fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/139-the-economics-of-virtue-signaling--52584332 We’re all bad men. Some bad men have good policies, some bad men have bad policies, but the policy of virtue signaling is always “bad” economics.
 
Virtue signaling became popular during the waning days of Covid, when people would wear a mask as a way of indicating they were better than others.  One definition of virtue signaling is “A public act with very little associated cost that is intended to inform others of one's socially acceptable behavior.” 
 
Christians should use ONE virtue signal: We identify as followers of Christ.  
In a recent article in the Epoch Times, Philip Carl Salzman wrote that “Woke’ Ideology Is the Way the Elite Says They’re Superior to You.”  He continued, “What do you think “virtue signaling” is about? The point of it is to claim superiority for the speaker, and inferiority for the listener. It means “I am a good person, and, if you do not agree with me enthusiastically, you are a bad person.”  When Hilary Clinton said that half of Trump voters were “a basket of deplorables": she was saying, “They are bad people, very different from us, who are good people.”
Virtue signaling is a component of status competition. Those who aspire to power and fame will strive to be seen as having more virtue than others, and thus worthy of special esteem and status.  What a silly, junior high concept. 
In supplying demand, marketers rely heavily on virtue signaling. 
 
Curing Disease
Marketers take advantage of consumers’ “disease.”  Except it’s broken into two words: DIS EASE.  They try to tell consumers, “You have dis-ease, which can be cured by this car, or this dress, or this lipstick or this beer.”  It’s such a simple appeal, I’m surprised people still fall for it. 
Marketers know that consumers buy products to establish their identity.  That’s stupid.  Ginger likes to quote Dave Ramsey saying, “You borrow money to buy a car you can’t afford to impress people you don’t know.”  Meaning, those people you pass on the freeway.  Such is the strength of our fallen need to be better than others.  We want a better house and car, vacations, and education.  But Christians are supposed to find their identity in their relationship with Christ, not from their affiliation with a car or a perfume or wine.  Almost the entire luxury product industry exists as virtue-signaling.  While some luxury products deliver marginal increases in economic utility, most of the extra price is justified by status. 
This is the trick that the Democratic party is trying to foist on us this week, when President Biden claimed that MAGA Republicans are semi-fascist.  He was virtue-signaling the following message: If you want to be a GOOD person, come over to the democrat party.  Really?!  Democrats are good people?
A few words from Lance Morrow.  He authored the book titled God and Mammon, but don’t bother reading it.  There are some interesting details of political intrigue over his 50 years in Washington, but his publisher just slapped the title God and Mammon on the cover for some reason.  But here’s what he wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week: “Mr. Biden’s opinions have hardened into absolute faith that any party or political belief system except their own is illegitimate—impermissible, inhuman, monstrous and (a nice touch) a threat to democracy.” And then Mr. Morrow mentions the economic source of this idea, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” Or against the party. (People forget, if they ever knew it,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1143Thu, 15 Sep 2022 13:15:13 +0000Dunham+Company#139 The Economics of Virtue Signaling We’re all bad men. Some bad men have good policies, some bad men have bad policies, but the policy of virtue signaling is always “bad” economics.   Virtue signaling became popular during the waning days of... We’re all bad men. Some bad men have good policies, some bad men have bad policies, but the policy of virtue signaling is always “bad” economics.
 
Virtue signaling became popular during the waning days of Covid, when people would wear a mask as a way of indicating they were better than others.  One definition of virtue signaling is “A public act with very little associated cost that is intended to inform others of one's socially acceptable behavior.” 
 
Christians should use ONE virtue signal: We identify as followers of Christ.  
In a recent article in the Epoch Times, Philip Carl Salzman wrote that “Woke’ Ideology Is the Way the Elite Says They’re Superior to You.”  He continued, “What do you think “virtue signaling” is about? The point of it is to claim superiority for the speaker, and inferiority for the listener. It means “I am a good person, and, if you do not agree with me enthusiastically, you are a bad person.”  When Hilary Clinton said that half of Trump voters were “a basket of deplorables": she was saying, “They are bad people, very different from us, who are good people.”
Virtue signaling is a component of status competition. Those who aspire to power and fame will strive to be seen as having more virtue than others, and thus worthy of special esteem and status.  What a silly, junior high concept. 
In supplying demand, marketers rely heavily on virtue signaling. 
 
Curing Disease
Marketers take advantage of consumers’ “disease.”  Except it’s broken into two words: DIS EASE.  They try to tell consumers, “You have dis-ease, which can be cured by this car, or this dress, or this lipstick or this beer.”  It’s such a simple appeal, I’m surprised people still fall for it. 
Marketers know that consumers buy products to establish their identity.  That’s stupid.  Ginger likes to quote Dave Ramsey saying, “You borrow money to buy a car you can’t afford to impress people you don’t know.”  Meaning, those people you pass on the freeway.  Such is the strength of our fallen need to be better than others.  We want a better house and car, vacations, and education.  But Christians are supposed to find their identity in their relationship with Christ, not from their affiliation with a car or a perfume or wine.  Almost the entire luxury product industry exists as virtue-signaling.  While some luxury products deliver marginal increases in economic utility, most of the extra price is justified by status. 
This is the trick that the Democratic party is trying to foist on us this week, when President Biden claimed that MAGA Republicans are semi-fascist.  He was virtue-signaling the following message: If you want to be a GOOD person, come over to the democrat party.  Really?!  Democrats are good people?
A few words from Lance Morrow.  He authored the book titled God and Mammon, but don’t bother reading it.  There are some interesting details of political intrigue over his 50 years in Washington, but his publisher just slapped the title God and Mammon on the cover for some reason.  But here’s what he wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week: “Mr. Biden’s opinions have hardened into absolute faith that any party or political belief system except their own is illegitimate—impermissible, inhuman, monstrous and (a nice touch) a threat to democracy.” And then Mr. Morrow mentions the economic source of this idea, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” Or against the party. (People forget, if they ever knew it,]]>619false139fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/138-the-soul-of-a-nation--52584333 In the Christian worldview, nations don't have a soul, only individuals do.  There is no soul in Socialism, only power. 
 
President Biden gave a speech recently addressing the “Soul of the Nation.”  President Biden said, in part, “The soul is what makes us, us.”  Well, it doesn’t.  It’s a singular, not a plural term.  
The first definition of soul is “The spiritual part of a human being that is immortal.”  Another definition more specifically says “…in an individual life.”   Based on that definition, the nation does not have a soul.  One theologian goes as far as to say that the word “soul” means “the individual.”    
There are at least 95 citations for soul in the Bible.  One of the verses I use the most in Christian Economics includes the term “soul:” In Matthew 22:37-39:  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.   This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”  That second commandment forms the heart of free market economics, because it’s only in free markets that we can love others and ourselves at the same time. 
My PhD dissertation was on US-Russian joint ventures.  I’ve visited the country three times, and know something about the Russians, although I should not be considered an expert on Russian culture.  I am fascinated by the phrase “The Russian Soul.”  I tend to think it has something to do with an inner strength that I see in the Babushkas, a demographic of middle-to-older aged women who tend to control the culture.  I don’t have much evidence on this, but I think Russia withdrew from Afghanistan because Babushkas protested the death of their young sons in a meaningless war.  But I digress.  Oh, I would also say there’s something in the Russian soul that grows out of centuries of struggle: Both physical, emotional, and economic.
Often, when counting people aboard a ship, they will say “2000 souls on board.”  Why do they use that phrase?  Because they often refer to passengers and crew as different categories, but they all have “souls” so that if something terrible happens, they want the rescuers to know how many people to look for. 
Does a Country have a Soul?
So what about the American soul?  Do we have one?  There is no American people group.   There are Russian people, German people, French people, and even Native American people, but there is no American people group.  We are all immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants.  President Biden was correct when in the speech, he said, “America is an idea.”  He’s right.  America is not a people, it is an idea.  It’s an idea that anyone, from any people group can get in on, by stating their agreement with the American idea.  What is it?  Dennis Prager says the idea is contained on the coin in your pocket or purse: Liberty, In God we Trust, and E Pluribus Unum. 
A country can have a culture and societal norms, but it can’t have a soul. 
President Biden tried to degrade E Pluribus Unum in his Soul of the Nation Speech.  He proclaimed that there are people who support the soul, and those who don’t.  Thus, he tried to change E Pluribus Unum to E Pluribus Pluribus.]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1141Thu, 08 Sep 2022 13:15:58 +0000Dunham+Company#138 The Soul of a Nation In the Christian worldview, nations don't have a soul, only individuals do.  There is no soul in Socialism, only power.    President Biden gave a speech recently addressing the... In the Christian worldview, nations don't have a soul, only individuals do.  There is no soul in Socialism, only power. 
 
President Biden gave a speech recently addressing the “Soul of the Nation.”  President Biden said, in part, “The soul is what makes us, us.”  Well, it doesn’t.  It’s a singular, not a plural term.  
The first definition of soul is “The spiritual part of a human being that is immortal.”  Another definition more specifically says “…in an individual life.”   Based on that definition, the nation does not have a soul.  One theologian goes as far as to say that the word “soul” means “the individual.”    
There are at least 95 citations for soul in the Bible.  One of the verses I use the most in Christian Economics includes the term “soul:” In Matthew 22:37-39:  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.   This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”  That second commandment forms the heart of free market economics, because it’s only in free markets that we can love others and ourselves at the same time. 
My PhD dissertation was on US-Russian joint ventures.  I’ve visited the country three times, and know something about the Russians, although I should not be considered an expert on Russian culture.  I am fascinated by the phrase “The Russian Soul.”  I tend to think it has something to do with an inner strength that I see in the Babushkas, a demographic of middle-to-older aged women who tend to control the culture.  I don’t have much evidence on this, but I think Russia withdrew from Afghanistan because Babushkas protested the death of their young sons in a meaningless war.  But I digress.  Oh, I would also say there’s something in the Russian soul that grows out of centuries of struggle: Both physical, emotional, and economic.
Often, when counting people aboard a ship, they will say “2000 souls on board.”  Why do they use that phrase?  Because they often refer to passengers and crew as different categories, but they all have “souls” so that if something terrible happens, they want the rescuers to know how many people to look for. 
Does a Country have a Soul?
So what about the American soul?  Do we have one?  There is no American people group.   There are Russian people, German people, French people, and even Native American people, but there is no American people group.  We are all immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants.  President Biden was correct when in the speech, he said, “America is an idea.”  He’s right.  America is not a people, it is an idea.  It’s an idea that anyone, from any people group can get in on, by stating their agreement with the American idea.  What is it?  Dennis Prager says the idea is contained on the coin in your pocket or purse: Liberty, In God we Trust, and E Pluribus Unum. 
A country can have a culture and societal norms, but it can’t have a soul. 
President Biden tried to degrade E Pluribus Unum in his Soul of the Nation Speech.  He proclaimed that there are people who support the soul, and those who don’t.  Thus, he tried to...]]>554false138fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/137-student-loan-forgiveness--52584339
Student loan forgiveness decreases the incentive to work: it is regressive.  It makes the Federal Government the owner of the education of 40 Million Americans.  What will the government expect in return?
 
Christians tend to believe that only God can forgive sin.  But increasingly, it’s looking like government officials think they can.  An article in the WSJ this week titled, “Biden’s Half-Trillion-Dollar Student-Loan Forgiveness Coup,” explains how student debt will be forgiven for some 40 million borrowers. The government will cancel $10,000 for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 for students who received Pell grants. 
 
I analyzed the student debt problem almost two years ago in podcast #57 titled Canceling Student Debt.  I seldom write about the same subject twice, but this new development demands another analysis by the Christian Economist. 
Policies that Promote Production
Think about a person with student loans, making $120,000 a year who is offered a raise to $130,000.  She would turn it down, to keep her salary below the $125,000, so she could get the student debt forgiveness.  
As I explain in podcast #27 there is only one thing that separates rich from poor nations: Policies that promote production.  As we’ve seen in this example, student debt forgiveness is a policy that encourages sloth, not production. 
Oh, another part of the announcement that didn’t get as much attention is that President Biden is cutting undergrad payments to a mere 5% of discretionary income.  So that means student debt holders are further encouraged to under-produce.  If you keep your income low, it decreases your loan payment.  That’s a formula for making the country poorer.   

There is no Free Lunch
Nina Turner’s view of canceling student debt is as follows:  "FYI—Student debt cancelation isn’t paid for by the taxpayers, the federal government is the lender.”  Wow.  That level of ignorance is just frightening.  I unpack this idea in more detail in podcast #79 titled, There is no Free Manna.
The government has no money!!!  This is stealing, which is a violation of the eighth commandment.  When Sergiy Saydometov and I wrote Biblical Economic Policy, we found ten Biblical Commandments of Economics, and “Don’t Steal,” is one of them. 
Let’s check our definition here:  “Taking another person’s property without permission or legal right.”  Yes, President Biden’s decision to move the debt from one person to another person will require stealing the second person’s money to pay for it.  I repeat: The government has no money.  
Think about this with me: As government subsidies increase, will the price charged by the supplier increase or decrease?  Government subsidies PUSH the supplier price higher.  So we can fully expect tuition rates to increase as a result of the student debt forgiveness, just as they increased when government provided the subsidy.  
The Wall Street Journal editorial board explained it this way,]]>https://davearnott.com/?p=1136Thu, 01 Sep 2022 13:15:25 +0000Dunham+Company#137 Student Loan Forgiveness Student loan forgiveness decreases the incentive to work: it is regressive.  It makes the Federal Government the owner of the education of 40 Million Americans.  What will the government expect in return?   Christians...
Student loan forgiveness decreases the incentive to work: it is regressive.  It makes the Federal Government the owner of the education of 40 Million Americans.  What will the government expect in return?
 
Christians tend to believe that only God can forgive sin.  But increasingly, it’s looking like government officials think they can.  An article in the WSJ this week titled, “Biden’s Half-Trillion-Dollar Student-Loan Forgiveness Coup,” explains how student debt will be forgiven for some 40 million borrowers. The government will cancel $10,000 for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 for students who received Pell grants. 
 
I analyzed the student debt problem almost two years ago in podcast #57 titled Canceling Student Debt.  I seldom write about the same subject twice, but this new development demands another analysis by the Christian Economist. 
Policies that Promote Production
Think about a person with student loans, making $120,000 a year who is offered a raise to $130,000.  She would turn it down, to keep her salary below the $125,000, so she could get the student debt forgiveness.  
As I explain in podcast #27 there is only one thing that separates rich from poor nations: Policies that promote production.  As we’ve seen in this example, student debt forgiveness is a policy that encourages sloth, not production. 
Oh, another part of the announcement that didn’t get as much attention is that President Biden is cutting undergrad payments to a mere 5% of discretionary income.  So that means student debt holders are further encouraged to under-produce.  If you keep your income low, it decreases your loan payment.  That’s a formula for making the country poorer.   

There is no Free Lunch
Nina Turner’s view of canceling student debt is as follows:  "FYI—Student debt cancelation isn’t paid for by the taxpayers, the federal government is the lender.”  Wow.  That level of ignorance is just frightening.  I unpack this idea in more detail in podcast #79 titled, There is no Free Manna.
The government has no money!!!  This is stealing, which is a violation of the eighth commandment.  When Sergiy Saydometov and I wrote Biblical Economic Policy, we found ten Biblical Commandments of Economics, and “Don’t Steal,” is one of them. 
Let’s check our definition here:  “Taking another person’s property without permission or legal right.”  Yes, President Biden’s decision to move the debt from one person to another person will require stealing the second person’s money to pay for it.  I repeat: The government has no money.  
Think about this with me: As government subsidies increase, will the price charged by the supplier increase or decrease?  Government subsidies PUSH the supplier price higher.  So we can fully expect tuition rates to increase as a result of the student debt forgiveness, just as they increased when government provided the subsidy.  
The 777false137full