What do you do when you’re $38 trillion in debt? The answer was given in response on a recent news program from a viewer by Twitter. Their response sadly is pretty typical.
“The necessary cuts needed to curb the debt will never happen, so I’ll just enjoy the gains of the stock market.”
The $38 trillion debt is the United States debt, what the U.S. owes its creditors. Last month it passed the $38 trillion mark with little mention or fanfare. I suppose since it is averaging going up $2 trillion a year it isn’t much news anymore. (Sorry, but you can’t blame the other political party, since it goes up about the same no matter who is in power.)
So what is our attitude about this burden of debt that we owe? Should we be making sacrifices in order to pay down the debt, or at least slow down its growth? No, let’s just continue on as we have been doing and let someone else down the road deal with the consequences. That sounds pretty much like someone from back in Old Testament Bible days.
Hezekiah had been a good king over the nation of Judah. He led the nation during times of challenges from other foreign nations. King Hezekiah had turned the nation back to God, and away from the foreign gods and idols that had been worshiped under former kings. God had given him and Judah great victories, and had even healed Hezekiah when he was near death.
But, after that healing, during the latter part of Hezekiah’s reign, things changed. Hezekiah became prideful and not as dependent of God. He apparently didn’t teach his son God’s ways, because Manasseh would be evil and one of the worst kings that the nation of Judah would have.
Toward the end of his reign, Hezekiah entertained envoys from Babylon, who came with a letter, probably proposing an alliance with Judah against the Assyrians. Hezekiah gladly received them and, when confronted by the prophet Isaiah, said, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.” (Is. 39:4) Hezekiah was proud of his riches, and instead of trusting God, he was considering an alliance with a foreign power.
As a result, Isaiah gave King Hezekiah a message from the Lord. He told Hezekiah that in a future generation, his descendants and Judah would be taken captive to Babylon. (A hundred years later, Babylon would overthrow Judah and take many back to Babylon, where they would remain in captivity for seventy years.)
What was Hezekiah’s response to this stern message? He said it was “good.” His reason was simple, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.” (Is. 39:8) In other words, even if future generations pay the price, he and those around him would not have to face the consequences.
Are we enjoying the benefits of an economy built on increasing government debt, knowing that eventually that debt will come due? But hey, that’s down the road, and we’ll let them figure out how to deal with the overwhelming debt and possible devalued currency.
What about Artificial Intelligence? The race is on for AI. There’s tons of money to be made for whoever is the leader in this technology, and stocks in AI related corporations have been skyrocketing. But what about controls and regulations concerning Artificial Intelligence so that it doesn’t get out of control? Some of the creators in the AI field are
now saying that, without some restraints, it is a real possibility. But hey, it will work out and there’s money to be made right now.
There will certainly be some major problems down the road because we’re not dealing with them. But, at least things are fine now. Maybe we are the Hezekiah generation.