The Hard-bitten Economy

Christians differ on economic and political matters.  Many are likely unified in these days, though, in a recognition that our national economy continues to struggle (to say nothing of the global economy).

Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard has written a tough-minded piece worth reading on our present economic state.  Here’s a bit:

[F]or almost four years, a prolonged and brutal economic slump has coincided with sustained government efforts to bring demand forward and get consumers spending as they did before the crash. The powers that be say they’ve tried everything: temporary tax cuts, public works, Cash for Clunkers, Cash for Caulkers, cash transfers, preferential loans to favored companies, plus two rounds of what’s known as “quantitative easing,” aka money creation. They’ve sent money to states to prevent layoffs of public sector workers. They’ve entangled the government in AIG, GM, and Chrysler and further entangled it in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nothing’s worked.

Continetti does not blame only Barack Obama, but George W. Bush.  He does, however, conclude with hard words:

The fact is that everyone is drowning in debt. Governments, banks, individuals all took on far too many obligations. We’ve been on a sugar rush for a decade—and the president says the answer is just one more Pixy Stix.

Read the piece.  We are in tough times, times that seem to call for drastic financial measures.  Prayer is needed for our leaders and for the development of bright young evangelical minds that can handle these and other matters with biblical fidelity and nuanced insight.  Common sense is hard bitten today; one can hope for a renaissance of it.