So we have a President in office who is essentially Keynesian (ok, neo-Keynesian); who believes that the economy can not right itself but the government can. Therefore, we are, as John McCain describes, stealing trillions from future generations of Americans. However grossly oversimplified my Keynesian definition, it does bring up an interesting question: "How the heck did American get here again?"From what I have seen, most media have focused exclusively on the last 15 years in the housing/lending/banking industry, trying to make sense out of the last few steps that led us (excuse my terminology) "over the cliff."
I am more interested in the long view... who cares about the last few steps? How did we get on this road? Were there any signs saying, "Cliff ahead!" or "Watch out, road appears to be going up a glorious hill but suddenly ends"?
I have no problems with capitalism... however, capitalism is only as perfect as the humans who comprise each economy. As a nation, we are suddenly seeing the great benefits of swift action, and many have begun to say, like ancient Israel, "give us a king!" And our President has tried to perform as swiftly as a king could, but alas, he can not. In the reality of the endless beauracratic halls of our complex system of government, we have lost our ability to respond to anything very quickly.
The economic dream of America reminds me of two things... the modern dream of progress, which in turn reminds me of the tower of Babel. Many of us Christians have bought into this dream, that, believing in the ultimate goodness of man, we can somehow manage a meager American utopia... we call it the American dream. Yet, as they found in Babel, God is not always interested in fulfilling our dreams if He isn't in the ending.
[Picture from flickr martinstelbrink]
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