By Dr. Douglas F. Levesque, Founder of The Levesque Institute
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD;” -Psalm 33:12
“I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:” -Genesis 12:3
An MIT or Harvard degree in Macroeconomics does not necessarily make one a good advisor of financial policy or a qualified predictor of national growth and decline. In fact, most recently, “enlightened” economists have gotten it wrong time and time again! A recent New York Times article entitled How did Economists get it so Wrong? (September 2, 2009) exhausts the same old rhetoric as to our economic woes and seeks to explain the downfall of a formerly revered profession. Nobel recognized economist, Paul Krugman reviews the recent woes and opines the calamitous counsel of such sage advisors as Olivier Blanchard (IMF Chief), Robert Lucas (Former President of the American Economists Association), and Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Federal Reserve), as well-meaning, but at the whim of sinister forces of greed. Such damage control on the part of yet another economist on behalf of said species is all part of the voodoo rhetoric meant to soothe the masses into believing the nation’s economy is in good hands.
After another elitist lecture on the history of economic theory, Krugman falls back into a defense of Keynesian economics which basically states that the government is justified, yea, must be involved in even more regulation and manipulation (a.k.a. soft socialism). The salvation of American markets is ‘more of the same?’
What both right and left alike have in common today is that they believe with religious fervor their philosophies as to the flow of money can ‘manage’ inflation and depression. “Trust the markets” is countered by “remember 1929!” Neither side looks to the creator of money and manager of wealth – Jehovah God, as an economic factor of any consequence. Neither would allow the Bible or it’s principles into the discussion. Yet, both sides practice their own “voodoo” doctrines with far less substantiated proofs, citing only “consumer confidence” and “market trends” and “successful European models”. Are we mesmerized by such shamanism?
Adam Smith’s treatise “Wealth of Nations” in 1776 claimed there is an “unseen hand” in free market economies that equates to a miraculous ‘X factor’, a veritable missing link, making ‘capitalism’ the better ideology. The Apostle Paul would have responded to that notion something like this, “The economic ‘unseen hand’ you ignorantly worship, declare I unto you.” [See Acts 17:23 for allusion].
God almighty controls oil deposits and gold discoveries, crop successes and weather catastrophes, winners in war and losers in politics. He is the one rock of economic sureness that Americans have counted on. Does not our national anthem plead in prayer, “may God thy gold refine”? We must continue to trust and obey the not so secret hand that feeds us. Righteousness and morality, generosity and hard work, responsibility and friendship toward Israel are as keen of economic indicators as are interest rates and trade tariffs. Forming NAFTA or EU like trading blocks will just bring larger cycles of flash and then bang! Let’s quit listening so intently to the Economist and start looking to the Book of Books for our personal and national policies. The Creator of wealth and nations has much to say about it. (See Dr. Levesque’s “The Design and Destiny of Nations” online at www.biblenation.org)
