The Real Reason Behind America’s Recession
James 5:1-7 — 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 labourers 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. Ye 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 not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
I recently read an article in The Week magazine (Sept. 17, 2010, p. 8) titled: “The Great Recession: Will We Ever Get Out?” It doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Most economists believe we will be stuck in this recession for a long time.
One of the problems hindering a recovery from this economic crisis is the plunging home sales and little growth in the sale of consumer goods. While most politicians and economists blame the banking industry, and massive deficit spending, I have a different theory why we are in this mess. We have more homes, and more products on the shelves than we have people to buy them. The demand for new homes, and products is shrinking. “Why?” Consider… Who consumes the greatest amount of goods in America? It is the “thirty-something” age group. They buy most of the homes and big ticket items. This is the group that pays most of the taxes for Social Security. However this age group has been shrinking over the past few decades. That is why Social Security will be bankrupt within two decades. You have more people now withdrawing funds than contributing (but that’s another story).
The reason there was such a great boom in housing in the 1980’s – ’90’s was the arrival of the “baby-boomers” from the 50’s and 60’s. This generation entered the consumer market in droves. The “X” generation from the 70’s and 80’s began to level off and even began to decline in numbers. It is not difficult to figure out why. Couples were not giving birth to as many babies. They were too busy with their careers to raise children. One of the biggest “stoppers” to new babies being born was the legalization of abortion in 1973 (under Roe vs. Wade). This is the date when the seeds of our current recession were sown. God cannot bless a nation that says it is OK to kill unborn babies.
Here are the cold, hard facts: It has been estimated the number of “legal” abortions between 1973-1996 is over 35,000,000. Think of it—That number represents 35,000,000 people who would have been consumers today if they were alive. More consumers means more demand for products and houses. More demand means more jobs/employment to manufacture these products. BUT, since we don’t have these 35,000,000 people living today to buy things, the demand for houses, cars, and consumable products is down, and unemployment is up. This also accounts for the lack of taxable revenue that results in deficits in our government’s budget. (No, raising taxes is not the answer!)
With the erosion of America’s “middle class” comes a weakening of their “purchasing power” that drives our economy. I see no hope for an economic recovery in the near future. As long as we keep killing off the growth of the next generation we will continue to sink deeper into an economic quagmire.
Everything I’ve written here is spelled out in my opening text from James 5:1-7. Our only hope is the second coming of Christ. “Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
