An Hypothesis Relative to the American Economy

"Just where are we headed here in America?" " Will the days of prosperity ever return again?" "What can we expect as far as jobs, opportunities, and economic gains?" " Has our mountain of prosperity now become just a plateau or a plain?" "Where do we, our families, and our futures stand as we look ahead?"

The answers to these prominent questions are being asked each and every day. If only we knew the answers to these questions, all Americans would be able to reconfigure their lives to make the needed adjustments for survival. We have long tended to rely upon recognized analysts to give us the answer to these questions, and yet, try as they may, their projections have not proven accurate. They can only see a part of the picture, and it appears that the big picture is constantly changing right right before our eyes. People are scared today of tomorrow.

I would like to hypothesize on the American economy based on a Biblical insight found in James 5:1- 6, as well as some personal observations and conversations that I have had with thinking people. James 5:1- 6 speaks ably about the economic conditions that would exist in the last days of this earth's history and I quote:"Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire of the laborourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton: ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth resist you. " What you have just read is a description of greed. This, greed, is the basis of the erosion of the American economy. In this you also see a stratification of the distribution of wealth.

Based on this text alone, I hypothesize that until there is honesty, equity, and fairness in employer versus employee treatment, until all people recognize that they cannot defraud others without being defrauded, the American economy will not regain its footing, and that prosperity, as we have known it, will only be a thing of the past. We will have to turn back the clock on our lifestyles, and understand that the American dream has been trimmed, cut, and reconfigured to become only a dream. While in conversation with a gentleman I met while taking a summer course, I asked him where he thought America was headed in the future. He told me as far as he could see, the economic conditions that we might be facing will be parallel to those in much poorer countries. Already we are evidencing fuel prices skyrocketing as the common citizen struggles to pay enormous prices to drive to and from work.

Already , right before our eyes, we see the stock market having roller coaster cycles, and often staggering as a drunk man. People, who thought they had stable jobs are being awakened to the fact that their company's doors are closing, and they will have to stand in the unemployment line for how long. State budgets, all over our nation are being scraped, sliced, and scrapped. Even government jobs are not immuned anymore. The stability we once encountered is fleeing out of the door. And all of this being dealth with while wars are being fought abroad. We have traveled in cars, buses, and trucks for many decades. The future may see us walking more, on bikes, riding trains, and riding in smaller fuel efficient vehicles.

We may return to utilizing trains and ships as opposed to trucking goods for long distances in and out of cities. Certainly the cost of transporting goods in such large lots may help us to see a slower escalation of prices at cash registers. Truckers would have shorter runs, and thus conserve on their deisel bills. Because the American dollar has taken a beating, our dollar no longer has the same purchasing power. Minimum wages are indeed at a minimum. Jobs are becoming increasingly harder to find, and the wages offered can barely support one person, not to think of a family. So, as a result, people are working more jobs, or longer hours just to pay their bills. Employers are being strangled with the enormous insurance increases in health care.

Those who are in a position to halt the giant leaps refuse to do so. We are basically choking each other because of greed, and in turn, are being choked. Students who go to college and graduate will find a different scenario upon graduating. Some will land good paying jobs, while others will surely suffer for prolonged periods while they seek for a job that will help them pay off their huge student loans debts, and at the same time, enable them to maintain a decent standard of living. If they have time, Americans may opt to have small gardens and fruit trees right in their back yards. I'm really saying, we may have to even resort to a semi- agrarian lifestyle.

Increased fishing and small game hunting may be revisited. We may have to turn back our clocks to almost a century ago in many ways. No human can adequately predict the future. It is not in our power. God alone knows the future, but He gives us eyes to see, ears to hear, and minds to realize that we can no longer sit still and pretend things can or will remain the same. We may have to capture the spirit of the pioneers of old who reached out into the unknown determined to find a better way. And that they did. It is up to us know, to find, for ourselves, our better way.